Joe Gagnon, whose honest approach and expertise at appliance repair made him a star of Detroit radio, died Thursday, Aug. 13, at age 84, according to his former station, WJR-AM (760).
Known as "the Appliance Doctor," Gagnon spent decades on the air providing consumer advice and helping callers figure out what was wrong with their dishwashers, refrigerators and more.
When he launched his show in 1985 on WCAR-AM (1090), he paid most of the $175 cost for each episode himself. As he told the Free Press a year after its debut, “I just got so fed up with people getting ripped off.”
In the same interview, he estimated that people who get an appliance repair have a one-in-three chance of being cheated.
Gagnon hailed from Timmins, Ontario, and moved to East
Lansing in 1964, where he played hockey for the semi-pro Lansing Senators and worked for a refrigeration company. He later moved to the Detroit area and owned an appliance shop in Garden City.
Through the years, he hosted programs on several stations. He began working at WJR in 1995, moved to WXYT-AM (1270) in 2002, then switched to WTKA-AM (1050) in 2016. Before retiring from the airwaves in 2023, he returned to WJR for his final three years in radio.
Through his radio shows, a newspaper column and two books, Gagnon "helped consumers make informed purchasing decisions, avoid unnecessary repairs, and recognize fraudulent business practice," wrote WJR in tribute.
In addition to his media legacy, Gagnon investigated fraud for the Detroit consumer affairs department and the Michigan attorney general's office. In 2002, his dedication to consumer advocacy was honored when the Joe Gagnon Appliance Repair Act to protect consumers was named after him.
A funeral for Gagnon will take place at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18 at the Elton Black Funeral Home in Highland Township, with visitation prior to that from 1:30 to 4 p.m.
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Joe Gagnon, Detroit radio's 'Appliance Doctor' for decades, dies at 84
