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Jack Armstrong Dead

Jack was just one of the greatest guys who ever worked in radio. Do not blame Randall Bliss. He was merely the "button man." The orders were issued by Brent Millar. Millar is a classic bean-counting bottom- line P&L corpo-weasel with all the warmth and charm of Don Rumsfeld. It is schmucks like Millar who engineer the firing of legends like Jack Armstrong and who are turning what was once a glorious medium into an industry of voice-tracking drones. As we speak, Jack Armstrong is doing the afternoon drive shift on the coolest radio station in heaven. Go with God, Jackson.
 
I agree with the sentiments about avoiding a board-brawl and not spoiling the memories. Being a PD was never an easy job, even in the glory days. It's become even more difficult in the last ten years. Even the best PD's lose a round or two when it comes to dealing with corporate. I worked for Keymarket (as PD/OM of WGR News Radio 55), River City and Sinclair when they owned the radio group; after they sold, I got pink-slipped by Entercom, but I figured it's like The Godfather, "it's business, nothing personal." Some days we eat the bear, some days the bear eats us. Jack would've wanted everybody to get along here... even with the bean counters... he was the ultimate survivor. Even now, he lives on in our memories.
 
Re: Jack Armstrong Dead-Your help is needed for a tribute!

This is an invitation to all of Jacks friends and former co-workers...I am producing an aircheck tribute to Jack that I hope to post on my site, www.bigappleairchecks.com on Friday night, and am looking for you to record a remembrance of Jack. Please make it a minute or so in length, introduce yourself, your relationship to Jack, and anything you care to talk about. You can email it to me as an attachment, matt at bigappleairchecks.com. Thanks in advance!
 
As I said on another post, he probably died of a broken heart over what has happened to his beloved radio industry. :'(. But at least he will live on in airchecks and Youtube videos. :)
 
I was PD at WKYC in the 60s and hired Jack away from WIXY. He was a talent we just had to have at any cost.

WKYC was owned by NBC at the time and was an internal political mess of egos and silly games. Jack never got involved in anything political or in any games. He stayed above it, always. He only focused on doing a great job and that he did.

I have remembered him fondly through the years as one of the great talents with only one agenda and that was doing an outstanding job.

News of his passing was, indeed, a great shock.
 
Thanks for that Deane. I don't think anyone has described the Jack Armstrong I knew any better.
 
Hello Guys (and Gals) ... Even though I've been sitting this one out, I thought I'd toss in my copper Lincolns. For a while I took a beating because I was the guy who took Jack's job. It's odd because it was Jack who took the same job from me in 97. When I came back to Oldies 93 in 99 Jack was the first one to welcome me back. We had more than a few conversations (old radio guy to old radio guy) about the state of the industry and how it was moving. Jack's place in history and the hearts of many, including me, is secure. If I can add this ... putting any blame on the demise of Oldies 93 on the shoulders of Randall C Bliss only shows the lack of all the details. RCB and I spent months (no exageration) talking about the future of the franchise. The airstaff we had was the best I had ever worked with, and I've worked with more than a few. The reality is that Entercom gave up on the format. When you lose that support you are doomed. We all wrung our hands when they decided to launch the Wolf. As it turns out, it was a good move. A lot of very talented people were sent to the "beach". I worked that last morning alongside Randy on the morning show and the pain that he was feeling could be cut with a knife. He couldn't save Jack and he couldn't save Oldies 93. To suggest that he should've fallen on a sword is idiotic in these economic times. Randy offered his help to all of us and for that I'm grateful. He was my friend then and he's my friend now. OK now I'm just rambling. And as Dennis Miller is fond of saying "that's my opinion ... I may be completely wrong"

Rest In Peace Jackson ...

Max McGann
 
We are going to pay tribute to Jack on our show tonight. We interviewed him a few months ago and it was great to speak with him. Beginning at 9pm Eastern we'll be replaying parts of that interview, as well as some of Jack's airchecks from various stations.

Our live show starts at 10pm and we'll be speaking with some of Jack's close friends, including legendary programmer John Rook and nationally syndicated talker Rollye James.

You can listen to our show at our website, www.radioracket.com.

Hope to see you all tonight for our tribute to Jackson Armstrong!
 
I cannot stop weeping. For Jack. For his daughters. For radio as it was and will never be again. For those of us who stole defeat from the jaws of televison victory in the '60s; only to lose it again in 1996. Those of you who have taken radio from us - and you know who you are, with your millions and billions - may you rot, may your deals go south, may CNBC say bad things about you, may your stock fall below $1 - and stay there.

Jackson Armstrong, The All American Boy - My Leeeeeder; may YOU RIP. I love you, man.
-NamJock
 
The memorial service for Jack was held late Friday afternoon in High Point, NC. Attended by about 75 caring people, it was most gratifying to see and hear the impression he made as a man on so many, way beyond the personality/character that we radio folks knew him for. Jack's 3 daughters are wonderfully decent women. And if the measure of any of us is the progeny we leave behind, he was a heluva guy. Jack's older brother spoke beautifully of him. Many who more recently worked with Jack at Oldies 93 in Greensboro made it quite clear that his dedication and professionalism and true belief in (what's left of) the business was as real as we all hoped it would be.
And that commitment was verified by Bob Weiss, one of the orginal owners of WIXY in Cleveland, who hired Jack over 40 years ago when he was a 20 year-old.

Clearly, Jack's health had been noticably failing the past few months, and one of his closest relatives, in the midst of the tributes, let us all know that "when he couldn't get back into radio, God came and took him at the right time... he died of a broken heart."

I only met Jack personally once, but he was always willing and gracious with his time when called upon. I asked him to talk to us on WBT a few years back right after George Harrison died. He said yes, of course, and proceeded to stay with us for a full hour, taking calls and telling his great up-close-and-personal story of introducing the Beatles in Cleveland and the accompanying mahem of the moment.

Let there be no doubt that Jack Armstrong's radio legacy lives on not just through the left-behind airchecks and YouTube stuff, but through all of us still hanging in there who he inspired those many years ago via Cleveland, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, LA and beyond....

Brad Krantz
WZTK, Greensboro/Raleigh-Durham
 
Brad said it as well as anyone could. Just let me add this. Jack's memorial service was to say the least "Jacked Up". Not many of us there but it was a great service. Walking down the hall to the chapel you could hear Johny B Good coming from the sound system. A lot of great stories from family, colleges, friends and people he touched who had never met him. Jack Armstrong was one of a kind and so was John Larsh. He will forever live on in the hearts of those of us who loved him.
To those who bash others they think may have done him wrong.....give it a rest. Jack is in a better place and life goes on. Radio isn't what it was and never will be again. Let's be thankful for what Jack left us and taught us. Rest in Peace my leader.
 
There are a few songs about DJ's out there but the one that seems like it fits Jackson Armstrong the best would have been "Pilot Of The Airwaves" by Charlie Dore......but she probably had never heard of him seeing as how she was from London, England. Jackson had an amazing flight but, eventually, we all have to land.
 
Allan Handelman's syndicated show this weekend will feature more excerpts from his last interview with Jack. Additionally, we will be posting the entire interview on our website fmtalk1011.com in the near future. Right now, there are a couple of short highlights posted (click "netcast central"). I've been looking back through this thread for airchecks and youtube bits that we can link with. Naturally, there is an avalanche of available material. However, If anyone has mp3 archives that you consider to be "must hear" highlights of Jackson Armstrong, by all means, send them to me at [email protected], and we'll try to figure out how to organize them in some logistically sensible way.

I was puzzled and disappointed that there was so little media coverage of J. Armstong's passing, with the exception of some of his past employers. As far as I can tell, local TV never touched it. I suppose they can plead ignorance, since the golden age of personality-driven radio is a distant, fuzzy memory. Nonetheless, our "brethren" on the TV side ought to at least show some minimal grasp of the background of this region, beyond the the latest scandal story in the state legislature being fed to them by AP.

Pete Davis
Producer, The Allan Handelman Show
 
You didn't watch us...

We did a report, and played a lengthy excerpt from the YouTube video of Armstrong on the WIXY reunion.

Later....
Matt Smith
[url]http://www.wgsr.tv [/url]
 
ummm....Matt.

(don't take this the wrong way)

NO ONE WATCHES YOU!

NOT EVEN YOUR FAMILY!
 
ummm..yeahh...I found out that LPTV stations are a goldmine when teamed up with local cable systems.....

Caught allan handleman show tonight on WZTK, they rebroadcasted the last interview jack armstrong did...I sat in my vehicle for 20 min listening to it
 
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