By Sasha Park · Originally reported by Richard Horgan (2012) · Wayback archive →
In late December 2012, syndicated weekly Animal Radio announced it would re-air its final interview with Davy Jones — the Monkees frontman who had died in February 2012 of a heart attack at 66. The interview had been one of the last extended broadcast conversations with the singer.
Then
Animal Radio was a syndicated U.S. weekly radio show focused on pets and the broader animal-and-human relationship. The Davy Jones connection was specific — Jones had been an active horse-rider and animal-welfare advocate, and the interview had focused on those activities rather than on his Monkees career.
Now
Animal Radio has continued as a syndicated weekly across the entire interval. The show is now in its 33rd year (as of 2026) and is one of the longer-running syndicated-radio programs in U.S. broadcasting. The Monkees as a band has continued to have its 1960s-and-1970s cultural reception revisited. Peter Tork died in 2019; Michael Nesmith died in 2021. Micky Dolenz, the last surviving member, has continued performing as a solo touring act and has carried the band’s catalog into the 2020s.
More from the FishbowlLA archive
- Adam Klugman’s January 2011 Treason workshop — and the Klugman family arc across LA’s broadcasting-and-theater history
- KPCC’s 2012 visit to the church where Aretha recorded ‘Amazing Grace’ — and the film that finally arrived
- Localore lands at KCRW and KQED — the 2012 AIR demonstration project and what it modeled