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Thursday, Apr 26, 2012 11:15 PM UTC

Pete Fornatale, pioneering NY rock DJ, dies at 66

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Topics: From the Wires,

NEW YORK (AP) — Rock music fans are mourning the death of Pete Fornatale (FOHR’-nah-tahl), a beloved radio disc jockey who promoted the best new musicians for decades in his easy, free-form style.

Fornatale was 66 when he died Thursday in New York.

At New York’s Fordham University, his alma mater, president Joseph McShane called the DJ “the voice of several generations” who interviewed the hottest musicians and played their new songs.

As a DJ on WNEW-FM in the 1970s, his format was to play lesser-known artists and album cuts beyond the hit singles.

Until his death, Fornatale still hosted a Saturday show for Fordham University’s WFUV-FM station.

The Bronx native was a Fordham student DJ when he developed the style that grew into the kind of FM rock broadcasting listeners still enjoy.

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