Former WNEW-FM morning DJ Dave Herman was arrested yesterday in St. Croix, U. S. Virgin Islands, where he maintains a home. He was charged with attempting to transport a seven year old girl from Bergen County, N.J., to the Virgin Islands for the purpose of sexually abusing her. According to the Office of the U. S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, over the past year, Herman had been communicating with an undercover officer from the Bergan County New Jersey Prosecutor’s Office who had pretended to be a 36 year old mother with a young daughter. Of course, these are solely charges and under U. S. law, Herman is not presumed to be guilty unless found to be guilty in a court of law.
This story is troubling on two levels. The first, of course, is the nature of the charges themselves. The other is the fact that Dave Herman, to many who listened to WNEW-FM back in the 70s was almost like family. Together with Scott Muni, Jonathan Schwartz, Pete Fornatale, Allison Steele, Vin Scelsa, Dennis Elsas and Richard Neer, Herman was part of a stable of DJs on a station which, in my house, at least, seemed to be on almost all of the time. And to think that he may be something other than his warm and friendly on air persona is, in this instance, chilling.
