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Tom Dixon, a classical-music announcer on L.A. radio for more than 50 years, is dead at 94

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Tom Dixon, whose mellow baritone was heard on L.A.’s classical music radio stations for more than half a century, has died in Burbank. He was 94.

Dixon was ‘a total pro and a consummate gentleman of the old school,’ said Jim Svejda, an announcer at classical-music station KUSC-FM. ‘He was just the nicest guy, totally knowledgeable, totally prepared. He loved the subject, never got tired of the subject, and he always made you feel that he was as excited to discover the stuff as you were.’

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In 1946, Dixon became a host on KFAC, where he stayed for 40 years. After being fired in 1987 during a management change he worked at KUSC from 1987 to 1988 then moved to KKGO-FM. When he retired in 1998 at 82, he was known as the longest-running radio host in the L.A. area.

‘By having a knowledge of classical music, I fell into a format that never changes,’ Dixon once told the Los Angeles Times. ‘If I had been a red-hot disc jockey for a trend--big bands or whatever--I would have been gone. . . . Classical music, from the time I started at KFAC in 1946, is the same commodity.’

For more on Tom Dixon please see his full Los Angeles Times obituary.

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