In 2001, I was working the night shift at Woodward Academy in Woodward, Iowa. We played 1040 WHO all night long. At the beginning of the shift was 11 pm. Michael Reagan was on then, followed by The Truckin’ Bozo, Dale Sommers.

When the attacks on 9/11 happened, I was a political ignoramus. I didn’t know the difference between the left wing and a chicken wing.

I listened to Dale Sommers almost every night following the attacks. He helped me understand what was going on and who the major players were. He, along with Mancow Muller and Michael Reagan, opened my eyes to the fact that I was a conserva-tarian.

Dale Sommers died this morning. He was 68:

Born Bruce Dale Sommers on Nov. 26, 1943 in Humboldt, Tenn., he moved to Cincinnati with his family at age 15 and started working at WAEF-AM a year later, in 1959.

After radio jobs in Indianapolis, Seattle, San Diego, Miami and Kansas City, he returned to Cincinnati in 1984 to do the overnight show for 20 years on WLW-AM. He retired in April 2004 “due to health concerns,” the station announced at the time, and was replaced by his son, Steve.

His retirement in Florida didn’t last long. Soon he was doing afternoons on the XM radio Open Road Channel (now the Road Dog channel on XMSirius. He gave up the satellite radio show earlier this year.

He was one of the greats, and he’ll be missed.