Kool DJ Red Alert Is Retiring From Radio — His Final WBLS Broadcast Is November 30

Kool DJ Red Alert Is Retiring From Radio — His Final WBLS Broadcast Is November 30

Salute a pioneer while he’s here to receive it. Kool DJ Red Alert — the Harlem-born architect who carried hip-hop onto New York radio — announced Monday (Nov. 2) that he is retiring from radio, closing a run that spans more than four decades on the air and a full 50 years behind the turntables.

Story: Kool DJ Red Alert’s announcement on Instagram (Nov. 2), reported by XXL and RadioInsight. Announcement video via @XXL.

He made the announcement himself, in a video posted to Instagram: “Today I stand before you to announce that I’m saying farewell to radio.” No drama, no rollout — just the OG telling his city directly, the same way he’s talked to it for 40-plus years.

The farewell is set. His final broadcast is Monday, November 30 — a special four-hour farewell mix on his current home, 107.5 WBLS, closing out his run on WBLS and Hot 97. The timing is poetic: the final show lands three days after he turns 70 on November 27, in the same year he marks 50 years as a DJ.

Before the last show, New York gives him his flowers in person. The Red Alert Experience Gala takes over Sony Hall on Tuesday, November 24 (doors 6 PM, show 8 PM) — a black-formal tribute with Teddy Riley, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Kid Capri, DJ Brucie B, DJ Spinna, Rashad “Ringo” Smith, DJ Joe Cool, and DJ Str8Heat on the bill, plus surprise guests.

Understand what this man means to the culture. Red Alert started on radio in 1983 at 98.7 KISS-FM, became a central figure in the Roxanne Wars and Bridge Wars era, and took hip-hop national with KISS-FM’s Five O’Clock Free Ride. He broke A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, and Black Sheep to the world. Entire generations of New Yorkers learned what hip-hop was supposed to sound like from his voice.

And he’s not disappearing. Retiring from radio isn’t retiring from the craft — he says he’ll keep DJing special events and community celebrations: “I will continue to bring the sounds, the energy and the vibe to the people through DJing special events and community celebrations.”

Fifty years behind the turntables. Over forty on the radio. One of the last original architects still standing. Which Red Alert era raised you — KISS-FM, Hot 97, or WBLS? Tell us in the comments.