Pete Fornatale, pioneering NY rock DJ, dies at 66

Rock music fans Thursday were mourning the death of Pete Fornatale, a beloved New York radio disc jockey who promoted the best new musicians for decades in his easy, free-form style. He was 66.

Fornatale died in New York a week after suffering a stroke, his son, Peter Thomas Fornatale, told AP. “He represented the golden age of progressive FM radio,”

When The Beach Boys “were the most uncool thing in the world,” he said, his father had the clout, in the 1970s, to help make them popular again””by introducing them on the Carnegie Hall stage. Fornatale entered with a surfboard.

“It’s a very sad day for radio,” said songwriter Paul Simon. “New York has lost one of its most acclaimed and wonderful radio personalities.

_{(photo:Don Thiergard)}