Rebecca Pratt, a former radio host from New Orleans mentioned for her blunt on-air persona and strong connection to listeners handed away at age 55. According to a police report and WWL-AM, Pratt changed into found dead in her unit by way of constructing managers on Thursday in the 900 block of Poeyfarre Street. It is unknown what prompted and how the loss of life befell.
As a part of a 2008 reorganization, Pratt, a transgender girl formerly called John Osterlind or with the aid of the on-air moniker Ozone, turned into one of the out-of-town hosts hired with the aid of the conservative talk station WRNO-FM.
Pratt delivered a “rock-and-roll mentality” to the comparatively subdued airwaves of New Orleans, in keeping with Michael Castner, WRNO’s morning anchor at the time, drawing on earlier residencies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. “Why Today Doesn’t Suck,” a comedian history lesson on the contemporary date, became one recurring characteristic.
Other hosts praised Pratt for her “non-forestall” wit, consistent with Castner. Castner claimed that Pratt had “something inappropriate as a moniker for pretty much every body,” consisting of other radio station personnel.
Rebecca Pratt phrases once in a while got her into problem. Rebecca Pratt turned into dismissed from a Boston speak radio station for creating a derogatory remark in the direction of Palestinians. According to the station, she advised a conversation participant about suicide bombers that Palestinians “needed to pass.”
Pratt once in a while flouted what Castner called the primary rule of radio by using having beverages with listeners whilst off-air. Although Pratt turned into now not a local of New Orleans, Jim Fisher, a former program director for WRNO, stated that her handy rapport with the general public made it work.
In 2015, Pratt’s tenure at WRNO came to an quit. The former record spinner at Boston’s WAAF-FM made a go back to her roots at her next area, the rock station WKBU-FM.
Pratt notified pals approximately her gender transition about a yr earlier, in line with Castner, even though she become now not on the air on the time of her loss of life. Pratt discussed her transition all through a May internet radio interview with Parker.“I understand she would like for absolutely everyone to understand the fact,” Parker said.
Rebecca Pratt’s adolescence as John Osterlind John Osterlind was born on March 10, 1967, in Norwalk, Connecticut. In 1985, he received his degree from Roger Ludlowe High School in Fairfield, Connecticut. In 1987, he graduated from Dean Jr. College in Franklin, Massachusetts, where he labored as a DJ for his or her campus radio station, 88.Three FM WGAO.
From 1987 to 1988, He broadcast overnights on 103.7 FM WWRX, a conventional rock station in Providence, Rhode Island. He broadcast inside the afternoons and evenings at the rock station WCCC-FM in Hartford, Connecticut, from 1989 to 1992.
Rebecca Pratt, New Orleans radio personality known as Ozone, dies at 55 https://t.co/kllzyUuUbY
— NOLA.com (@NOLAnews) January 2, 2023
He additionally broadcast in the evenings on the rock station WAAF FM in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1992 to 1994, and from 1994 to 2001. On WAAF, he became the noon jock and tune director. From 2001 to 2003, he co-hosted the morning display on WRKO AM in Boston with former Massachusetts congressman Peter Blute.
He turned into the famous nighttime talk host on WRNO FM in New Orleans, Louisiana. Until the night of January 7, 2015.
The bogus non-earnings “Pencils for Poor People,” which Osterlind and his producer James Parker invented as one of the many strolling jokes on The John Osterlind Show. Served as the foundation for the protest Osterlind’s New Orleans supporters staged against WRNO after his firing.
After leaving WGSO on November 2, 2015. Osterlind hosted the morning pressure-time display on 95.7 FM BAYOU before being eventually changed via a syndicated application The WISE Guys. Osterlind then started out broadcasting middays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans.