Roughly 30 years ago, Dr. Don Carpenter stepped out of a Veterinary Hospital and into a radio station ..and he’s never looked back. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where his adoptive parents raised him on the music of Bob Wills, Eddy Arnold and Boots Randolph. Doc’s exposure to today’s country stars started early: He met Reba McEntire when she was just a little girl performing the National Anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They talked at a concession stand. Technically, this was probably the first country music star interview Doc ever did.

Doc became one of the youngest people to graduate from High School in Tulsa, and, at 16 years of age, was one of the youngest ever to begin classes at the University of Tulsa. He graduated with two degrees.

Tulsa is also where Doc met his lovely wife, Kaylyn. They’ve been married for 26 years and she still fixes him breakfast every morning before his show. God bless her. Kaylyn’s a frequent guest on the show and her award-winning recipes are available on WYCD’s website.

His country radio career began in 1980 at KFSB-AM in Joplin, Missouri. From there, he moved to KWTO in Springfield, Missouri. A few more hops through Tampa, Des Moines and Pittsburgh and he landed at Detroit talk station WOW-FM. When the station switched to country in 1993, the owners opted to keep Doc as he was the only air personality who routinely wore cowboy boots and a cowboy hat and a country accent. That station became WYCD.

In addition to his radio show, Doc writes “The Dr Don Prepsheet,” which provides over 100 radio stations with comedy, show ideas and the latest country music news from Doc’s own Music Row sources. The Prepsheet is coming up on its 20th anniversary.

Being a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, Dr. Don is involved in all kinds of charitable work, from Child ID programs to raising money for the Mason-run Children’s Learning Center, in Dearborn, which works with kids with dyslexia. He’s also been involved with Detroit’s Ronald McDonald House for a number of years. Doc also does writing seminars and lectures for area schoolkids. Since his wife is a Paramedic, Doc has hosted the annual Michigan Emergency Medical Services Awards Banquet. The American Cancer Society had Doc emcee their annual Cattle Baron’s Ball, last fall. They were so impressed, he’s been asked back to host it, again, this year. And the Goodwill Bowl-a-Thon he hosted is also becoming an annual event. Being a diabetic, Dr. Don’s also active in diabetes education.

Doc and Kay live with three parrots and four refrigerators. One for food and the rest for beer.

Read Doc's Blogs

Visit Dr. Don on MySpace

Send an Email to Dr. Don