Dr. Demento is the stage name of Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), a raio disc jockey specializing in novelty songs and pop music parodies. He created the persona in 1970 while working at Los Angeles station KPPC-FM. After Hansen played "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus on the radio, DJ Steven Clean said that Hansen had to be "demented" to play that. Thereafter, the name stuck. His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 and from 1978–92 was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Networks. It is still on the air as of 2008.