Dean Edell

Dean Edell (born March 26, 1941) is an American physician and broadcaster who hosted the Dr. Dean Edell radio program, a syndicated radio talk show which aired live from 1979 until December 10, 2010.

He was also nationally syndicated in television as a medical news reporter and host of his own television shows including NBC's Dr. Dean.

Born in Newark, New Jersey on March 26, 1941, Edell's father was a vitamin manufacturer in the 1940s and 50s.

He spent the next several years experimenting with lifestyles that included buying and selling antiques, acting as a silversmith and goldsmith, organic farming, painting, living in a 1950s-vintage bus and engaging in a self-described hand-to-mouth existence that included scavenging for food thrown out by grocery stores.

During this period he describes himself as a hippie.

Edell studied zoology at Cornell University and earned his M.D. from Cornell University Medical School in 1967.

Edell later opened a private ophthalmology practice in San Diego, California and acted as an instructor of Anatomy and a clinical instructor at the University of California, San Diego.

In the late 1970s, Edell worked for an antique auction gallery and also had a jewelry and antique shop of his own in Sacramento, California.

To supplement his income he served as medical director of the County Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Center in Sacramento, California.

A co-worker introduced Edell to the owner of country music station KRAK and suggested Edell try doing a talk show.

Edell soon quit medical practice altogether in 1973.

He later said that he "... didn't like medicine originally...I kind of found the thing I love the most, which is really the information and communicating the information".

He did 6 call in-shows for that station in 1978.

His radio career began.

In 1979, Edell began broadcasting regularly on KGO radio in San Francisco.

At that time talk radio had never been successfully syndicated.

From 1979, when Edell was the only physician in America employed full-time by a local television news station, until March 2007, Edell did nightly health reports for KGO-TV news, the local ABC station in the San Francisco Bay Area.

He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1980, and currently lives in rural Mendocino County.

Edell maintains collections of Chinese art, Chinese snuff bottles, and rare books on anatomy.

In 1986 Ed McLaughlin, then president of ABC Radio's failed attempt to syndicate talk radio, quit his job and teamed up with Edell.

The show soon reached 350-400 markets with 8.5 million weekly listeners.

They also launched Medical Minutes, 60 second medical news segments into 400 markets.

McLaughlin proved radio talk shows could be successfully syndicated.

He then turned his attention to a then unknown radio personality from Sacramento named Rush Limbaugh, who by summer of 1989 surpassed Edell in ratings and went on to become the most successful talk radio host in America.

For most of the 90's Edell was the second most listened to radio talk show in America.

By 2005, the Dr. Dean Edell radio program was syndicated to over 200 markets by Premiere Radio Networks, and aired weekday afternoons on America's Talk on XM Radio.

The program was estimated to have 1.5 million unique listeners a week.

The program's format was unique.

Edell answered personal medical questions from callers and

included commentary on articles that appeared in medical journals as well as opinions about controversial medical issues.

From the beginning of his career, Edell was a strong advocate for the scientific method and often criticized the media for unnecessarily publicizing unsupported health scares without proper scientific investigation.

He was very concerned about the decline in scientific literacy in America.

He railed against pseudoscience and magical thinking and was very critical of unproven alternative healing methods, the vitamin and herbal supplement industry, fad diets and diet pills, and many anti-science groups opposing vaccines, or fluoride or other scientifically accepted practices.

He also questioned many mainstream medical practices like newborn circumcision, cesarean sections, hysterectomies, and the over diagnosis of fad health maladies.

He was an early supporter of medical marijuana and research into the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs.

He generally opposed the war on drugs.

On October 5, 2007, Christie's held an auction of Edell's anatomy art collection.

Edell's sister is a Hollywood costume designer.

On December 1, 2010, Edell announced his retirement from radio.

In 2010 Edell was named by Talkers Magazine to be among the 100 most important radio talk show hosts of all time.