Reacting to news that Donny Osmond will soon be hosting a daily syndicated radio show, Klone Networks (Fluffycloud's syndication arm) is putting out an all-points bulletin for former teen idol Tony DeFranco.A daily radio show similar to Osmond's is reportedly the offer on the table. "We won't be Seacrested again," says Klone's VP/Programming Emma Tate, apparently in reference to the ubiquitous Ryan Seacrest, with whom Klone attempted to compete by rolling out the unsuccessful Ruben Studdard show last year.
DeFranco rose to stardom in the early seventies when he and his DeFranco Family charted with "Heartbeat It's A Lovebeat," a teen-friendly song in a style that can most generously be called derivative of groups like the Osmonds and Jackson 5.
DeFranco's Internet blog, which hasn't been updated since the death of Michael Jackson, says that the former heart throb front man is alive and working somewhere in Southern California, but does not give details. The blog, with its linked web store of DeFranco family merchandise and memorabilia, is the only known clue to Tony DeFranco's whereabouts.
"We hope he'll call us at his earliest opportunity," Tate said, adding that DeFranco's joining Klone would fulfill the company's new mantra and advertising slogan, "Serving the nation with the best imitation."
