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The story
Radio DJ Katsuya Kobayashi (85) has announced he will hold a concert titled “See You,” billed as a “living funeral,” in Tokyo on February 3rd next year. The Alfee’s Yukinojo Sakazaki, Masatoshi Nakamura, and Naoto Takenaka are among those set to perform. On 5ch’s Entertainment/Sports Breaking News+ board, posters marveled at how youthful his voice still sounds at 85, and at the stamina it takes to keep hosting his weekly 9-hour live radio show “Funky Friday.” Meanwhile, several posters jumped in to correct broadcast-history details about whether “Best Hit USA” originally started on TV or on radio, pointing out errors in the original article.
Sports Nippon
[ November 13, 2026, 09:00 ]
Radio DJ Katsuya Kobayashi (85) will hold a concert titled “Katsuya Kobayashi Living Funeral Concert: See You” on February 3rd next year
Source: sponichi.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
The radio show "Best Hit USA" (FM NACK5) that started in '81…
That's getting mixed up with something else
so maybe this ends up happening without him actually there
I loved Snakeman Show (the comedy audio troupe he was part of)
I love watching him interview artists from overseas and go "you've aged, huh" "so have you" 😆
That 9-hour live broadcast is amazing — he's talking nonstop through knowledgeable song intros, reading listener emails, and segment after segment, there's even a radio drama in there
And he still lines up sponsors without needing a shopping-channel segment to fill time
>The radio show "Best Hit USA" (FM NACK5) that started in '81
Come on, don't skip over the fact that the TV version came first, you hack writer
The TV version is still running too, you know
Just on BS (satellite) now
Best match!
This guy's just superhuman
I was totally convinced it was "drink up, Sakamoto" lol
If Masato Ibu is performing too, I'd want to go see it
He actually talked about that on Funky Friday last week (I think it was last week)
I thought I'd turned into an old man myself just from listening to his radio show
but now it's switched over to Billboard
Wasn't it a ranking based on how many times a song got played across all US radio stations?
Back in the days when "air-checking" off the radio was even a phrase,
being able to watch promo videos of hit songs was that show's biggest strength.
It aired on terrestrial TV late Saturday nights, so it was easy to catch.
Artists would come on for glamorous interviews too.
That ran until around 1989 I think — once it moved to satellite broadcast in 2003, I stopped watching.
Once the internet and streaming services took over, showing promo videos just wasn't a job that needed doing anymore.
Figured I'd leave a comment, seeing as it's a living funeral.
I used to watch Best Hit USA and Sports USA as a pair
Aussie Rules football was fun to watch
They're lined up Sakurai-Sakazaki-Takamizawa, and during the intro the camera cuts to each of them in turn,
then when it's finally time to sing, it's Sakurai on the far left who actually sings,
and some grandma who has no clue who The Alfee are goes "Oh, YOU'RE the one who sings?! ^^"
that bit was priceless
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Katsuya Kobayashi is best known as the host of “Best Hit USA,” which began on TV in 1981; the FM NACK5 radio version came later. Because the original article described it as having “started as a radio show in ’81,” the thread saw a string of posts pointing out that the show’s broadcast history gets conflated between its different versions. The term “living funeral” sounds ominous, but it’s really a celebration staged with loved ones while he’s still alive — it doesn’t signal a serious health problem. Still, the gap between his age (85) and the sheer workload of hosting a weekly 9-hour live broadcast on “Funky Friday” was the main source of astonishment, with many posts half-jokingly worrying about his health. Rather than any real disagreement, the thread was mostly long-time listeners setting the broadcast history straight and praising just how active he still is.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports Breaking News+) thread “Katsuya Kobayashi: “You’d Better Buy Your Tickets Fast!” — “Living Funeral” Concert Next February, With The Alfee’s Sakazaki, Masatoshi Nakamura, Naoto Takenaka and More Performing.”
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