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Murray Saul, the WMMS Get Down Man, gestures as he talks about the 1970s in his apartment as he turned 80 in May 2008.

(Gus Chan, Plain Dealer file photo)

Murray Saul, the Get Down Man whose Friday afternoon riffs and rants on WMMS FM/100.7 made him a local celebrity in the 1970s, has died at the age of 86, according to longtime colleague and former WMMS music and program director John Gorman.

Gorman posted on his Facebook page late Sunday night that Saul had died, just days after Saul had celebrated his 86th birthday.

"It is with great sadness I must inform you that our dear close friend and colleague Murray Saul passed away this evening," Gorman wrote.

No details on Saul's death were available late Sunday evening. Saul still lived in Cleveland.

Saul became a radio icon in Cleveland with his Friday Get Down rants, in which he talked about about heartless bosses, boring jobs and the screwed-up state of the world. Whipped to a frantic pitch, he'd scream, "Gotta -- gotta -- gotta -- get doooooowwwn!"

"It was a salute to the weekend," Saul said in an interview with The Plain Dealer in 2008 during a celebration of his 80th birthday. "It was about shedding the workday grind and putting on the party life. Get ready to enjoy the weekend in all the different ways we know about." (Go here to listen to one of Saul's rants.)

On Tuesday, Saul posted on his Facebook page, "Turning 86, quite a journey, Toto." On Wednesday, he posted, "Thanks for all the birthday wishes, it was a real nice simple day."

"RIP Murray Saul, one of the great voices of WMMS/Buzzard during its heyday," Gorman wrote on his Facebook page. "Murray was a character in the best sense of the word. I still think of him frequently when it's 6 p.m. on a Friday night and I'm ready to drop the work week and GET DOWN. RIP."

Saul grew up in Cleveland listening to jazz and swing music, but became a rock fan after seeing the Beatles on the "Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964. He joined WMMS as a salesman after the station switched to a rock format.

Saul fit in well at the station even though he was in his 40s. When he saw a co-worker dancing, he yelled "Get down, Walt!" Gorman overheard it and got the idea for the Get Down rants.

He became a part of the heyday of WMMS, which included on-air personalities like Kid Leo, Denny Sanders, Matt the Cat, Betty Korvan, Len Goldberg and the BLF Bash.

"Sometimes when an icon passes away you say stuff like, "Oh yeah! I remember him!" wrote John Tomasko on Gorman's Facebook Page "It's a little different with Murray. ... I can't begin to count the number of my Fridays that were launched by him. His passing touched me more than I thought it would. ... On behalf of a lot of Clevelanders, Murray will be remembered for a long time as the gatekeeper to the weekends!"