(Note: the Roanoke Star first told the story of DJ Big Dose early in 2013. Christopher Thorne died in a tour bus accident on January 16 while visiting Panama. He was 45, and leaves behind a mother in South Carolina and two brothers.)
Arriving on the local radio scene in October 2013, “DJ Big Dose,” or just “Dose” (real name Christopher Thorne) was a DJ and promotions director for The Vibe-FM in Roanoke.
He made several trips to Panama – including his ill-fated recent journey – and had been to several countries in Africa. He was also syndicated on several radio programs featuring various sorts of music worldwide, to African nations and elsewhere. India was on Dose’s itinerary this year.
The nickname Dose came from an old Pepto-Bismol commercial…instead of a dose of that pink, chalky medicine, Thorne decided he could give people “a dose of my talent. One thing led to the next and I was DJ Dose.”
Thorne liked to soak up the sights, local culture and yes, the music when he hit the road. Often a paying gig paid the way for the Brooklyn-born DJ, who also had steady work at The Park dance club in downtown Roanoke. “You gotta have side gigs,” he insisted.
“I started deejaying as a hobby in ’84,” Dose told the Star last year. That’s when he was living in Atlanta and going to college at the time. Then he created a mix show [dance music] for radio. Soon it was on to mix radio for a station on the Georgia State campus.
A commercial station in Atlanta (WVEE) hired him for weekend R&B/Hip-Hop work some time later. He fell into work in the “Quiet Storm,” slow jazz format in the ‘90’s. “Pillow talk type stuff,” noted Dose. It wasn’t his preferred format but it allowed him to stay in radio. The Quiet Storm work grew. “The rest is history.”
In 2001 he wound up at a Clearchannel broadcasting group in Hampton Roads, staying for the next decade. Dose was out after some downsizing in 2011 and eventually landed in Roanoke last October after being off local radio for over a year.
Syndicated for the past five years, DJ Big Dose was heard in Denmark, France, South Africa, Kenya and Curacao. The Sol Kafe was “earthy R&B, a real laid back…soul-type show,” he said last year. The other program was Dance Nation, featuring a pop-electronica dance music format. He often incorporated world music – perhaps something he heard while on the road.
The radio business and the music has changed over the past three decades and Dose thought about retiring from it at one point: “You have to wear so many different hats [now] and do so many different jobs. Sometimes it gets really challenging. It’s hectic in radio now.”
He decided to sign on with The Vibe and Wheeler Broadcasting again; his off-air role found him setting up promotions and remotes for the station, as well as creating “compelling content.” DJ Big Dose gave Wheeler President Leonard Wheeler major kudos for his business acumen, surviving in a radio world dominated by much larger broadcasting conglomerates.
Syndication companies helped get him in to international markets. He put the shows together at a home studio and as a musician himself (keyboard) released his own album of electronic dance music. “I play by ear,” said Dose, who listened to a variety of music and talk radio. Classical and Caribbean music were often on his play list.
DJ Big Dose had been to many European countries; he traveled to Tunisia, Ghana and Egypt, and “all over the Caribbean.” Thailand was also on his to-do list. He liked to observe a “different outlook on life,” and brought along his music – never knowing when there might be a chance to DJ in a club. He spun local favorites as well while doing that.
You can still hear DJ Big Dose’s music mixes at reverbnation.com. At an appreciation for Dose – Christopher Thorne – last week at 419 West, held for Wheeler Broadcasting employers who worked with him, there were tears and laughter from Vibe program director Kianna Price Wade and others who worked within the Wheeler family of stations. “Dose” as most simply knew him will he missed by those people – and by loyal listeners of the Classic Soul/R&B station.
By Gene Marrano
