Jazz host by day, DJ Detective tonight

Dick Stein's got a thing for secret identities. Clark Kent. Bruce Wayne.

And so tonight, the KPLU "Midday Jazz" host unveils an alter ego: Jimmy Jazzoid, DJ Detective.

"Beloved media icon by day, crime-fighting detective at night."

In the annals of radio history, today (Oct. 30) is already a legendary day for radio drama — the date 1938) Orson Welles terrified the masses with his "news" account of Martians invading Planet Earth.

About the only thing that should terrify listeners tonight, though, when Stein's own radio drama premieres, is the jazz host's surplus of wit. And the fact that he can almost carry a tune.

Jimmy Jazzoid takes on a mad scientist and his minion of half-men/half-birds. "Mirds!" Stein chirps.

Tonight's performance of "Jimmy Jazzoid, DJ Detective, and the Death Beak of Ballard," performed live at Seattle's Museum of History and Industry, is sold out. But a live broadcast airs tonight at 8 on KPLU-FM (88.5) and will be rebroadcast Tuesday at noon.

Stein has penned plenty of prose before. His most famous work to date might very well be his "How To Cook Fried Squid" poem that he recited as part of the station's "Jazz Kitchen" series. (No longer on the air but archived at www.kplu.org).

"Jazz Kitchen" was allegedly about food and eating, but each program was essentially a three-minute play.

"I just opened my big mouth, and I had a ball," says Stein, who's been with the station since 1992 and midday jazz host for about a year.

But for two decades, Stein swore off radio. It happened after a stint doing talk in Anchorage in the early 1970s. "All those angry people, all those lonely people, burned me out," he says. So he quit.

He wrote ad copy, ran a chimney-sweep company and did voice work including narrating a talking dictionary. His favorite word: absquatulate. (You'll impress Stein if you know the word's meaning. Better yet if you can pronounce it.)

And so when Stein eventually made it back into the broadcast booth, and he began blossoming as a dramatist, he made sure to insert that favorite word into his 19-page "Death Beak" script. (It's sure to be recited with plenty of the Stein gusto his listeners have come to know. Stein's signature greeting when he opens his show: "Hi Ho, Jazzoids!")

Stein has always been a fan of mystery and film noir. And science fiction. The latter spawned a favorite film, "Alien," which in turn has infiltrated his wardrobe.

During a recent interview at KPLU's Seattle studios, Stein sports a brown leather jacket with an arm patch that reads, "USCSS Nostromo" — the spaceship that was home to warrant officer Ellen Ripley and that nasty Xenomorph.

One of the things he loved about that movie, he says, was the way it portrayed women. They weren't sexual objects; they were equals just doing a job.

Three subjects that Stein can talk long about: all the "Alien" movies, poker and singer Ann Hampton Callaway.

Stein grew up in New Rochelle, N.Y., and at 61, he's old enough to remember when radio dramas could enthrall. "The Romance of Helen Trent." "Richard Diamond, Private Detective."

As a KPLU personality, he's been a regular actor in MOHAI's "Radio Theatre!" December productions. But this time he also wanted to be the guy in charge.

The "Death Beak" cast also includes KPLU personnel Paige Hansen, Robin Lloyd and Rich Germaine — as well as jazz singer Greta Matassa and vocal group the Fabulous Fenderskirts.

Except for those few times he's on stage, Stein appreciates the anonymity of radio. But there was that one time ...

"I was shopping at Sears. And I asked, 'Where's the power drills?' And someone said, 'Hey. You're Dick Stein!' "

Florangela Davila: 206-464-2916 or fdavila@seattletimes.com