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Jerry Williams was born 100 years ago today

Fenway1912

Fenway1912

381003690_715899627234183_7183021786335410597_n.jpg


Jerry Williams was a complex individual but almost overnight he became a power broker in Boston.

My Mom would ignore the radio all day until 10 PM when Jerry Williams came on at 10 PM on WMEX. She would call her sister in West Newton nightly and put the phone next to the speaker as WMEX had signal issues west of downtown.

Maxwell Richmond the eccentric owner of WMEX brought Williams to Boston in 1957 from Philadelphia looking to emulate what WMCA in New York had done with Barry Gray. Teenagers had to go asleep for school so Top 40 became talk radio late at night. Richmond believed every hour could be profitable and he struck gold.

Jerry left WMEX in 1965 for WBBM in Chicago but 3 years later was out of a job when the Chicago station was ordered by CBS to go all news. WBZ decided to hire Williams and cut ties with Bob Kennedy who ironically would go to Chicago and was beloved before dying of cancer in 1974 at the age of 41.

Jerry's bugaboo was TV, he was simply awful on camera.





WMEX 1964

WBZ

A goodbye show that could never happen today

WRKO 1992
www.c-span.org

The Jerry Williams Show

Cameras in the studio of WRKO-AM in Boston recorded Jerry Williams as he responded to callers' comments on the 1992 presidential election. Callers included pollster Claibourne Darden, correspondents from newspapers, and 1992 Democratic presidential candidate Paul Tsongas.
www.c-span.org www.c-span.org

and the WRKO years would feature Jerry's Sex Surveys if ratings needed a spike and this is the most infamous call he ever got.

Williams - Washing Machine Lady.mp3

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
Jerry on WRKO: "I'm back, Kevin, I'm baaaack!" (He was addressing then-Mayor Kevin White.) He also did some hilarious bits with comedian Steve Sweeney, who did some rather wild imitations of White. Then there was Grace, queen of the cockamamies.
 
Jerry Williams was a complex individual but
Click to expand...
I don't see him as particularly complex...he fit a certain style. Now Brudnoy because he was a personality that was shading a number personal issues, it all seemed like a game at times.

One day Jerry did his "State of the Union Program" where he -to the caller- would say " TSOTU?" (and pause). On this occasion the woman says "the state of the Union sucks" which GW promptly bleeped claiming he coudn't say that on the air (perhaps he couldn't). But the standards have changed as has talk radio forever.
 
Greek for "Without a name."
 
I remember when Williams beat the "personal freedom" drum so loudly against Massachusetts' then-new seat belt law that he actually helped get the law rescinded for a spell after a referendum. The signs at the state lines that read "Massachusetts requires the use of safety belts" had to be updated, with a metal plate reading "suggests" placed over "requires." The state Legislature reinstated the law at its next session.
 
CTListener said:
I remember when Williams beat the "personal freedom" drum so loudly against Massachusetts' then-new seat belt law that he actually helped get the law rescinded for a spell after a referendum. The signs at the state lines that read "Massachusetts requires the use of safety belts" had to be updated, with a metal plate reading "suggests" placed over "requires." The state Legislature reinstated the law at its next session.
Click to expand...
It was several years as I recall, and they promised at the time that they would never make it something that could be used as a primary offense, but that promise held up just as well as most political promises.
 
CTListener said:
I remember when Williams beat the "personal freedom" drum so loudly against Massachusetts' then-new seat belt law that he actually helped get the law rescinded for a spell after a referendum. The signs at the state lines that read "Massachusetts requires the use of safety belts" had to be updated, with a metal plate reading "suggests" placed over "requires." The state Legislature reinstated the law at its next session.
Click to expand...
The amazing thing was the repeal was passed by virtually every city and town in the WRKO signal area but the repeal lost in areas that could not hear Williams.
 
freqlost said:
Still a secondary offense I believe.
Click to expand...
So if a cop or state trooper is driving alongside you and sees no shoulder strap in place, he or she can't pull you over for that infraction unless you're also seen speeding, driving erratically, drinking, talking on a handheld phone, etc.?
 
CTListener said:
So if a cop or state trooper is driving alongside you and sees no shoulder strap in place, he or she can't pull you over for that infraction unless you're also seen speeding, driving erratically, drinking, talking on a handheld phone, etc.?
Click to expand...
Correct.

They are afraid POCs who feel unfairly targeted by the police would join a repeal movement and push it into the majority.
 
freqlost said:
Correct.

They are afraid POCs who feel unfairly targeted by the police would join a repeal movement and push it into the majority.
Click to expand...
Couldn't the police prevent that through an informal, unwritten, nobody-talks-about-it policy of not pulling over "POCs" whose only apparent offense is being strapped in?

Serious, what person of any race wouldn't want the police to stop treating a victimless "crime" like not wearing a seat belt the same as reckless or distracted driving, which can cause accidents that kill other drivers? I was living in Connecticut at the time and recall agreeing with Williams, believing that belts might actually cause fatalities in the case of car fires in which panicky drivers couldn't get untangled from their shoulder straps. But I obeyed Connecticut's belt law at all times. Since then, I've accepted the idea that the belts don't generally interfere with one's ability to exit the vehicle in an emergency.
 
Fenway1912 said:
381003690_715899627234183_7183021786335410597_n.jpg


Jerry Williams was a complex individual but almost overnight he became a power broker in Boston.

My Mom would ignore the radio all day until 10 PM when Jerry Williams came on at 10 PM on WMEX. She would call her sister in West Newton nightly and put the phone next to the speaker as WMEX had signal issues west of downtown.

Maxwell Richmond the eccentric owner of WMEX brought Williams to Boston in 1957 from Philadelphia looking to emulate what WMCA in New York had done with Barry Gray. Teenagers had to go asleep for school so Top 40 became talk radio late at night. Richmond believed every hour could be profitable and he struck gold.

Jerry left WMEX in 1965 for WBBM in Chicago but 3 years later was out of a job when the Chicago station was ordered by CBS to go all news. WBZ decided to hire Williams and cut ties with Bob Kennedy who ironically would go to Chicago and was beloved before dying of cancer in 1974 at the age of 41.

Jerry's bugaboo was TV, he was simply awful on camera.





WMEX 1964

WBZ

A goodbye show that could never happen today

WRKO 1992
www.c-span.org

The Jerry Williams Show

Cameras in the studio of WRKO-AM in Boston recorded Jerry Williams as he responded to callers' comments on the 1992 presidential election. Callers included pollster Claibourne Darden, correspondents from newspapers, and 1992 Democratic presidential candidate Paul Tsongas.
www.c-span.org www.c-span.org

and the WRKO years would feature Jerry's Sex Surveys if ratings needed a spike and this is the most infamous call he ever got.

Williams - Washing Machine Lady.mp3

drive.google.com drive.google.com
Click to expand...
In my opinion Jerry Williams was the best communicator I ever heard on the radio. I listened to him in Chicago from 1965-68 and then put up with static to hear him from Boston. To this day I never tried Braverman’s Corned Beef in Chicago, but I excitedly remember how mouth watering delicious he made their corn beef sound. Don’t remember if Braverman’s was a type of corned beef or a restaurant.

As a youngster who started listening to Jerry at age 12, I didn’t understand his political views but loved hearing his voice on all subjects.

Boston was lucky to have such a fun and talented personality as Jerry with a perfect voice and delivery. I put up with Static on WBZ to hear Jerry 1,000 miles away and still enjoyed listening to him.
 
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