Pete Fornatale

Peter Thomas ("Pete") Fornatale is a New York City disc jockey, who was born on August 23, 1945. He was an important figure in the progressive rock era of FM broadcasting.

Starting with WOR-FM in 1966, FM was demonstrating a large rift from AM broadcasting. Fornatale was a key figure in this trend with his weekly program, "Campus Caravan," which was heard on Fordham University's WFUV from 1964 to 1970. He began professionally in 1969 at WNEW-FM and also worked at WXRK (nee WKTU). He returned to WFUV in 2001 and is heard weekly on his current shows, "Mixed Bag" and "Mixed Bag Radio," which is also on XM satellite radio. He won the Armstrong Excellence in Broadcasting Award in 1983.^[1][2]

He is a native of the Belmont section of the Bronx and attended Fordham Preparatory School and Fordham University, where he received a B.A. in Communication Arts in 1967. He is a member of the board of World Hunger Year and currently resides in an apartment that is directly on the Atlantic Ocean in Rockaway Park, New York.

Fornatale has also written many books on popular music culture. He has hosted many rock-related programs on WNET, PBS's station in New York City. He has been an on-air consultant for rock music shows and specials on VH1, MTV and HBO.^[3]

Bibliography

• The Story of Rock 'n Roll' (William Morrow & Co, 1987) ISBN 0688062776
• All You Need Is Love: And 99 Other Life Lessons from Classic Rock Songs (Topeka Bindery, 2003) ISBN 0613656377
• Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends (Rock of Ages) (Rodale Books, 2007) ISBN 1594864276

As co-author:

• Radio in the Television Age (Overlook TP, 1983) ISBN 0879511729
• Miracle Ball: My Hunt for the Shot Heard 'Round the World (with Brian Biegel, Crown Publishing Group, 2009) ISBN 9780307452689

Notes

References