• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Jackson Armstrong Dies

From the Raleigh-Greensboro board.....

<<<<Sad news. He was found dead in his home yesterday. From his myspace page:


Extremely saddening news... I hoped I never had to write... Our extremely amazing Dad and your friend Jack Armstrong aka John C. Larsh passed away yesterday March 22, 2008 at his home in North Carolina. I wish there was a better way to get the word out but this seems to be the fastest means of communication that he favored. If you knew him at all, you would know that he wouldn't want you to be sad for a moment. He would want you to remember all the good times, what he gave to radio and to the world. He would also want you to help fight to bring back the personality in radio if at all possible. He loved being a DJ almost as much as he loved being a father and that says A LOT. He put his blood, sweat and tears into both and never gave up what he believed in. He was honest, brave and could tell a joke like no other!! He was the best at everything he did and I know that he touched each and every one of us. I dont know how he would sign off this letter, maybe it would be "Yoooooouuuuurrr LLLlleeeadaaa!" or just straight up "Jack it up" either which way he would have done it better than anyone. Please remember him in all that you do, pass on kindness, be true to yourself and to those you love. If you have any questions, please email me at [email protected] Very sad, devon larsh fischer ....Jack's middle daughter who loves him greatly - he was an exceptional person

.Jack was a radio annuncer (DJ) for over 47 years! >>>>>>>>


I never met him but he inspired me to be on the radio when I first heard him on 'KB...because he made radio come alive with that larger-than-life personality. A real sad day. My sincere symapthy to his family. It sounds like he excelled at both radio and, more importantly, being a Dad.
 
I received this email from Jack's daughter today:



Extremely saddening news... I hoped I never had to write...
Our extremely amazing Dad and your friend Jack Armstrong aka John C. Larsh
passed away
yesterday March 22, 2008 at his home in North Carolina. I wish there was a
better way to get the word out but this
seems to be the fastest means of communication that he favored.

If you knew him at all, you would know that he wouldn't want you to be sad
for a moment. He would want you to remember
all the good times, what he gave to radio and to the world. He would also
want you to help fight to bring back the
personality in radio if at all possible. He loved being a DJ almost as much
as he loved being a father and that says A LOT.
He put his blood, sweat and tears into both and never gave up what he
believed in. He was honest, brave and could tell a joke like no other!!
He was the best at everything he did and I know that he touched each and
every one of us.

I don't know how he would sign off this letter, maybe it would be
"Yoooooouuuuurrr LLLlleeeadaaa!" or just straight up "Jack it up"
either which way he would have done it better than anyone. Please remember
him in all that you do, pass on kindness, be true to yourself and
to those you love.


Very sad,

devon larsh fischer



I don't know if I'll be able to call to confirm this shocking news, but I know other people have received this email as well. There is no word of how he died.
 
Incredibly sad news about a guy who was an inspiration to more than one generation of broadcasters in Buffalo.

I thought that'd I'd post the links to NERW and his MySpace page for easy access:

Jack's MySpace Page

Scott Fybush's NERW

There are some great pictures, and great memories on his MySpace page.
 
Remembering Jack Armstrong

Wow. It's hard to believe that Jack is gone. He was far too young at 62 to be taken from us. It doesn't seem possible that the energy that was Jackson Armstrong is now at rest. RIP, Jack.

I remember meeting Jack when he was at 'KB, and I was hanging around with guys like Don Kobiela and Craig Kozinski (sp) from Buffalo State. They'd worked their way into the building, and some of the other guys from the old WSCB radio station at Buffalo State got to peek into The Mighty 'KB thanks to them. I got to meet Jack, and he was as big a personality in real life as he was on the air. He was very focused, but still swapped wisecracks with a punk kid without making him feel like (more of) a doofus.

I met Jack again many years later when I board-oped - or rather showed him the mic pot and got out of the way - for one of the WHTT Reunion weekends. Watching him work was even more fun than listening to him. You didn't need studio monitors. His headphones would provide plenty of volume. The lines came as fast off the air as they did on, and he would have been scorchingly funny on a satellite channel with fewer humor restrictions.

I know that family was very important to him, and that he ended up back in NC to take care of his ailing Dad. It shouldn't be a surprise that he was an amazing Dad in his own right, and it's bittersweet to learn of his daughter's feelings for him in this manor.

He was unique. There will never be another. If there is a Rock & Roll Heaven, Jack is cranking out the hits, hitting the post, and Leeeeeeaaaaaading the way.

Peace be with you, Jack, and with your family and friends.

Brian J. Walker
 
I was shocked to read about this on All Access myself. I remember when WWKB had their sadly short-lived Oldies format, I picked up the station here in CT. Jackson Armstrong came on...and I was like NO WAY IN HELL could I do that big a job he did. He was a mack whack named Jack. And I was hoping here in the NYC area WCBS-FM could get him. Well I guess that idea goes out the window, although they do have a sound-alike in Broadway Bill Lee in terms of energy.
 
I was in college in the Poconos in eastern Pa. in the early 1970's and WWKB was one of the few & strongest top 40 stations to come in at night, and listening to Jackson Armstrong was a great treat - a true talent in using the music, the jingles & in between the music to create 'radio magic' each night - in a class with John Records Landecker at that time. When he returned for the WWKB revival a couple years back he was still in great voice and great talent - a big loss of a great 'LEEEEEder' at an early age!
 
I just missed hearing Jackson back in the 70s, I started listening to radio after he had moved on. It was a treat though to hear him a few years ago during the "KB Comeback". What a great personality! I was going through a very tough family illness at that time and he helped make the time a little more bearable. My thoughts are with his family...

JC
 
My humblest regards to Jack's family.

The first thing I did after I read about this, was grab a photo of the last HTT reunion I attended, which is proudly displayed in my living room here in Mississippi. (BTW, I just learned that I ain't got near enough varmint in my diet.) The photo at the Tralf with Danny and all of his family, Shane, Kevin O, Russo kneeling in front of Artie, and I'm lucky enough to be in this one, albeit way in the back behind Al W, and next to Donahue.

As I scoured the pic for Jack, I remembered that some tard at ENTERCOM forbade both Sandy and Jack from attending because HTT was hosting. Twit. What else can I call this idiot that won't get me bounced from this board? These companies who eat their young and crap on the skilled tradesman. These are the mindsets we deal with. These are the dolts that write the checks. These are the talentless turds that couldn't find the post if it hit them in the nose or bit them in the ass. Talent, is walking "Stairway" to the post with a stream of consciousness that leaves them needing more. Talent is spending 5 more minutes with Pierre Puck. Guys like Jack, Shane and Sandy have it...I'm still trying. Those guys made me want to...need to do it.

I was only a couple of months sober the first time I subbed for Rob on Sandy's show...what an education! What a beating! But, the best week of schooling I could get back then.

I learned from all these guys. Bob, Harv, JP, Brian. I look at that photo and there are still guys on the air back home that love the craft for what it is. I am so lucky to be in a stituation here where the inmates run the asylum, but that's a post for another time.

I've shared my KB story here too many times, so I'll just close by saying...Jack was the man. He'll get respected and loved here.

I got a little from all of you. Thanks.

Humbly submitted,

Magoo
 
Jack's death is the saddest news I have received in a long time. Jack was a great friend and one of the finest people I have ever known in this business. We had a conversation only a few weeks ago and he was in great spirit.

Jack had just finished a 500 page book about his adventures in radio and was hoping to have it published this year. I hope that we will all eventually be blessed by being able to read a living document about the halcyon days of contemporary radio.

This passing hopefully reminds us all that we have much greater things to which we should aspire. Jack was symbolic of the inventive, original dynamic and individuality that is missing in this business today.

He is one of the few who conveyed the magic through the speakers that inspired me to pursue radio.

Jack Armstrong was a big man with a big heart and he shared that heart with his audience, his family and the radio business. This truly marks the end of an era.

If there is a rock n' roll heaven..you got one hell of a jock.

Peace forever, Jack

Cleveland Wheeler

www.voxjox.com
 
I heard about Jack's passing while driving into the Charlotte area tonight.  What sad news!  I first heard Jack's work on airchecks of WIXY in Cleveland about 1967 and later when he crossed the street to work at NBC-owned WKYC. Of course, later it was WPOP, CHUM, KB and 13Q among others. 

I had the pleasure of meeting him at a Niagara Dragstrip event in '69(?) during his time at CHUM, but I can't say that I knew him. I rank him as one of the greats of the Top 40 era, right up there with Joey Reynolds, Dan Ingram, Art Roberts and Larry Lujack.

It would be wonderful if there were some way of getting Jack's book published online. I know there are a few radio veterans that have had books published in this way.

My sincere condolences to Devon and his family. 
 
Jack Armstrong was a legendary radio performer who helped make some of America’s (and Canada's) great radio stations legendary. He raised the bar for the guys who worked with him, making jocks at his station better while making those who had the task of competing against him better… there was no choice, it was get better or find a gig in another market.

Like most kids who grew up with a transistor radio glued to his ear, I first heard Jack Armstrong when he did nights on the 50 thousand Watt blowtorch, 1100 WKYC Cleveland. I was immediately hooked. He was playin’ the hits and smokin’! He defined the meaning of “having fun on the radio.”

Being a radio geek, I’d tell all my friends about this great d-j that I’d discovered while scanning the AM dial and why they just had to listen to him because he was unlike any other d-j I’d heard. WKBW 1520 and WYSL 1400, were #1 and #2 on my radio presets, but there were many nights when I’d tune down the dial to hear Big Jack doing his amazing act on 1100 WKYC.

It was great to hear Jack Armstrong riding the airwaves little bit closer to home on Toronto’s 1050 CHUM and when WKBW Program Director Jeff Kaye hired Jack to take over the 7 to midnight show at “KB,” it was as if he'd come home. The best of both worlds.

A few years later I met Jack and was awestruck. Standing in the control room of WKBW as a potential candidate for summer weekend job that I didn’t get until a year later, I watched him work. What a master!

When I got a chance to talk to him, I chronicled his career like some kid who recites the stats of his favorite athlete… “I first heard you on WKYC, then you went to… and then… and when you went to CHUM you sounded great… and then you came to KB…” I suspect he’d heard it all before from better jocks than me and he took it with an "ah shucks" attitude.

Night after night, Armstrong put on a clinic, especially useful for the for radio freshmen and sophomores: Great on air production, superb pacing, funny lines, between the lines humor, double entendre and great voices, especially that of his sidekick, the Gorilla. And then there was his patented sign off at 100 miles an hour but clearly intelligible... "who he, he who; it's nice to be important but more important to be nice; wash face in morning, neck at night; don't let your six shooter get rusty..." There were guys who knew it by heart. And when radio geeks got together, somebody would inevitably break out an Armstrong cassette aircheck to hear his act. You'd hear guys say, "rewind that, play that back..." We were lucky to hear him in our own home town.

Years later, I talked to him at the Oldies 104 WHTT reunion. We talked some shop, but he was more interested in talking about family and his father who was in poor health. When I told him my family and I had enjoyed vacationing on Carolina’s beautiful Outer Banks, he recounted roaming the beaches of the Outer Banks long before they became over-built with condominiums, hotels and commercial strip malls. And he made me laugh when he offered, “I used to go to Nags Head when there was nothing out there except a few piers and fishing shacks. Now it looks more like the other end of the horse!” Classic Jack.

Armstrong may have signed off this earthly wavelength, but he lives on in the memories of thousands of listeners and hundreds of radio people on whom he left his mark. He remains the epitome of a “personality jock” who set the bar high and always surpassed it.

Just consider this, since he was on FM in some markets, his voice is out there traveling through the universe.You can imagine intelligent life in some distant galaxy picking up the FM signals, hearing Jack and saying "hey, there is intelligent life on planet Earth. Check this guy out, he's great!"

Eternal peace, Jack.

---

Hey Magoo! Good to see you again posting here. You've probably learnt by now that Varmint is rich in B vitamins, including the all important Niacin, flavinoids and omega three fatty acids, as long as it's not deep fried. On another point from your post, I was PD/OM at WGR when the edict came down from on high prohibiting Armstrong and Beach from appearing on the WHTT reunion. I took a lot of heat from certain quarters regarding that decision, some suspecting that I was behind it. I wasn't. If memory serves correct, Sinclair owned the Buffalo and Carolina stations at the time, which means Entercom gets a pass. And where am I working these days? Yeah. Only in Buffalo, eh?
 
One of the last audio interviews Jack did was with me (ha! once he got on the show I was relegated to background noise! ;D) last October. Portions of that interview will be posted as of some time tomorrow at www.sowny.ca.

If there's any question what passion for the ART of radio is, just listen to Jack's voice when he talks about the medium he loved so much and at which he was so damn good.

Respect always, my friend. You can hijack my interview any time you want.

don berns
 
He taught us all how to do what we do, with passion, adventure, and a sense of pure joy...and now we find out from his family, that the way he did radio was the way he lived when the mike was off, too. :)

Thanks for being our teacher, Jack...and you'll always be our leeeeeeader!!!!
 
*The All American Boy* was without equal. KB was home to many great air personalities like Nelson, Roberts, Neaverth, Balou, Biondi, Klestine, Berns, Wade, Roddy, Kaye, Shane, Quinn and many others. All were impressive in their own right, but Jack Armstrong was the guy who hit teens right between the eyes. We can only hope there's some guys (and ladies) doing CHR or Urban who know about The Master and appreciate what he did. There was no equal and very likely, we'll not hear one like him again.
 
When I was a kid growing up in Maine, KB boomed in at night and Jack Armstrong was the guy I listened to and, more importantly, the air personality -- and I do not use that term loosely -- that influenced me to pursue my own career in radio. When I was interviewed for overnights at 13Q in Pittsburgh in 1972, Jack had moved there to do afternoon drive. I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with him while he was on the air and he was as frenetic in person as he sounded over the air. What a guy!

Despite institutional radio's late-life professional rejection of Jack, he was arguably one of the most legendary and influential personalities of the great Top 40 era of the mid-sixties through the late eighties. Perhaps if the radio powers that be today could understand that it was people like Jack Armstrong that created the Baby Boomers' long love affair with radio, the medium would be more relevant to younger people.

To all of Jack's family and many, many friends I can only say I am sorry for your loss; for those of use who loved and admired Jack from afar, I can tell you from personal experience that we truly feel your loss.

God bless you, Jack.
 
I think Tom Donahue nailed it in his comments for WGRZ TV. Many of us wanted to be like Jack. But it didn't take us long to realize we couldn't. Jack Armstrong was truly a singular talent. Indeed, we will never see and hear his likes again. My condolences to Devon and the rest of Jack's family.
 
I could never be like Jackson Armstrong. He was perfect for KB. The man deserved 50,000 watts to be heard and his rapid fire patter cut through the static for miles at night.

I still remember the comments made by Jeff Kaye on the "Programmer's Digest" LP. It was followed by an awesome Armstrong aircheck.

When Jack got back on the 1520 skywave at night I wrote him an email and received a very nice reply. He was a classy guy.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom