Kool DJ Red Alert Announces Radio Farewell After Decades Of Breaking Hip-Hop Legends

Kool DJ Red Alert is leaving radio with a four-hour farewell set on WBLS after more than four decades of helping Hip-Hop reach new listeners.

The New York pioneer announced the sendoff on Instagram, calling it his final broadcast on the station that now carries his mixes.

“KOOL DJ RED ALERT FAREWELL TO RADIO!” he wrote in the announcement on his official Instagram account.

For listeners who grew up taping his shows, that farewell closes a run that helped shape which rappers New York heard first.

Before radio, the Harlem DJ drew inspiration from Kool Herc and brought his own turntables into neighborhood parks.

Red began broadcasting on KISS-FM in October 1983, bringing records from the clubs onto a commercial station while Hip-Hop was still building its audience.

His support gave early exposure to Boogie Down Productions and Native Tongues artists, including Jungle Brothers, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest.

Queen Latifah and Black Sheep also benefited from his ear for new talent, long before streaming playlists offered artists another path to listeners.

Red’s ties to those acts went beyond choosing records, with his nephew Mike G helping form the Jungle Brothers alongside friends.

NAMM’s oral history also documents Red Alert Productions, his management company that worked with Jungle Brothers, Tribe, Monie Love and Black Sheep.

His KISS-FM platform became part of the Bridge Wars as he championed KRS-One and Scott La Rock against the rival WBLS camp.

Mr. Magic and Marley Marl backed MC Shan, while Red played BDP’s “South Bronx” as the records turned radio competition into rap history.

“We always kept everything on records and everything verbal,” Red told The Village Voice in a 2012 interview about that rivalry.

His own radio path later took him through Hot 97 and back to KISS, with WBLS becoming another home for the veteran DJ.

AllHipHop reported his KISS return in 2001 after he left Hot 97, when he described an outlook that had carried him through change.

“The main thing is, if one door closes, another one opens,” Red said at the time about that move.

His four-hour farewell DJ set is scheduled for Monday, November 30, 2026, on New York’s 107.5 WBLS.