Don “Don O.” Ottensman has been playing the blues on KNON-FM, Dallas’s noncommercial 55,000-watt radio station, for 35 years. Ottensman’s show has been one of the biggest fundraisers during the station’s pledge drive for over 30 years. He has interviewed dozens of artists and blues celebrities for his show, including B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Little Milton, Denise LaSalle, Sonny Rhodes, Johnny Copeland, Jimmy Rogers, Sam Myers, and many more. On his radio show, musicians such as Larry Garner, Joe Louis Walker, Tutu Jones, and more were interviewed and played on the radio for the first time or very early in their careers. For 33 years he has produced an annual Freddie King birthday tribute and was part of the team that arranged for Gov. Ann Richards to declare Freddie King Day in the state of Texas on September 3, 1993. In 2002, he organized Dallas-Fort Worth Blues History Week around the 65th anniversary of Robert Johnson’s Dallas recording session.
