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Jackson Armstrong Dies

Over 20 airchecks of Jack at www.reelradio.com

YouTube has some vids, Jack at the 1988 WMJI/WIXY Cleveland Reunion Weekend, and at KKHR/Los Angeles. SEE Jack in action!

I have two airchecks from the 1997 WMJI/WIXY Weekend


Jack on remote with former WMJI pm driver Scott Howitt, who holds his own with Jack, and the other is Jack later that night, running the board himself at WMJI.

www.chuckmatthewsvoice.com/downloads/misc

Also on the aircheck, former WIXY Superman Billy Bass and Jim LaBarbara

Big Apple Airchecks plans a tribute to be posted Friday
www.bigappleairchecks.com
 
Very saddened to hear of the very premature passing of one of the true greats in the biz, Jackson Armstrong. I especially was in awe of his frenetic delivery on 13Q in Pittsburgh. Back in the mid 70's I had the chance to meet Jack and Joey Reynolds in their hotel room in Framingham, Mass. at a radio conference (Anti-Muscolo I think). Just to be "a fly on the wall" was unbelievable as they swapped war stories. What struck me about Jackson Armstrong was his friendliness and intelligence...qualities you often times don't find in radio then or now. It was great to listen to him once again on WWKB when they tried the oldies thing. It was great to hear him still at the top of his game! We'll miss ya
 
A true legend. He seemed like he always poured his heart into his show. I remember posting on this board a few years back when he was voicetracking evenings on the revised KB: getting to hear him at night on KB again was perhaps best use of voicetracking since VT technology became available. Hearing him a few years back, you could almost pretend he was still doing his original live KB show in the old Main Street studios, just like back in the early 70s.

Thanks for all the great radio(and inspiration) Jack. Rest in Peace.
 
Thanks for the links Roxalot.

One of the true greats of old school radio companionship, with a unique presentation and wit too. I listened and loved him for years. Seriously too young for him to go.

Is there anybody in the USA doing an amazing "jock" presentation, with a unique voice, and something to really say? I will follow any link any of you might have.
 
You can hear a lot of guys giving it their best shot, doing what they can as they grapple with liners and three live talk breaks per hour they're given. 97 Rock, Q-107 and some CHR stations are noteworthy. But the days of the wild child "Free Form Top 40" jocks who were entertainers and comedians are long over. Thank you Bill Drake, Lee Abrams and Kent Burkhart.

-9-
 
Jackson Armstrong Interview

From reading this thread, it's somewhat comforting I suppose to at least know I'm not the only one still in shock over this terrible news.

As inappropriate as it may seem to plug something at a time like this, with your gratitude I shall, as some of you may be interested to know that our Radio Racket had what's unfortunately become one of the final interviews with Jack-- done just before this past Christmas. We're re-running that tonight at 9PM Eastern on Audio 18, followed by some airchecks. On the live show after that we're scheduled to chat with two radio pros who knew Jack both professionally and personally, veteran Top-40 programmer John Rook (who hired Jack) and talk show host Rollye James. Hopefully we'll hear from listeners who'll want to share their stories about Jackson as well.

Thanks in advance for allowing me to get the word out about this.

It's good to know that at least there is a good amount of tape extant. Hopefully it'll all be preserved for future generations who most likely won't get the opportunity to experience the kind of radio talent many of us took for granted back-in-the-day.

www.Audio18.com
 
Jack also did an interview last August that can be heard at www.sowny.com. Click on SOWNY shows and scroll to Aug 27, 2007. The first 10 minutes or so are with some guy named Berns (with an "e"), but once Jack gets on, it's all him...and some really good stories as well.

What really comes through on these interviews is Jack's passion for the art of the medium he loved so much.

Radio's loss is all the greater because it doesn't have room for anyone like Jack any more. And before you take me to task for that statement, ask yourself, if radio does have room for a unique talent like Jack, why wasn't he working when he died?
 
Don Berns said:
What really comes through on these interviews is Jack's passion for the art of the medium he loved so much. Radio's loss is all the greater because it doesn't have room for anyone like Jack any more. And before you take me to task for that statement, ask yourself, if radio does have room for a unique talent like Jack, why wasn't he working when he died?
Click to expand...

Don, you raise a legitimate question. WHY, indeed!

In the years to come, we may find that there is room for air personalities. I'm not talking about the "bells, gongs and whistles" guys, but the craftsmen and masters like Jack who know how to work the format outside the lines yet still keep it moving in the right direction, much like great (jazz) musicians. If Peter Frampton, Mick Jagger, McCartney and Billy Joel can keep working and touring, why not the guys who played their hits back in the day?

It's sad to think that Jack Armstrong may have "died of a broken heart." Cynics and media moguls might coldly and calculatedly offer that guys like Jack "should get a life," but the fact is, as you have well-noted Don, the man had a passion for the art of the medium. Have mercy Miss Percy, he was good. Jack could have worked any format, any daypart, as he proved by doing mornings for six years at WMQX. (BTW, still looking for an aircheck of Jack's work at KDKA Pittsburgh after he left 13-Q to hear his diversity going from smoking at 13-Q to the more subdued presentation of KDKA.)

As one of Jack's co-workers at WKBW (and not a half bad jock in your own right), you both made us better performers for having had the opportunity to hear you and study your acts. None of us will ever be a Jack Armstrong, Don Berns, (the real) Don Wade or Joey Reynolds, but we're better air personalities for having heard them on WKBW.

Most of us understand the art, science and financial components of the business we're in today. We only wish radio's heart beat with the same fervor as did Jack's.
 
Thanks, Rox...I was having a senior moment there... :-\

And thanks for the nice words, JPB. Funny you should mention Don Wade. When I was all of three months into the biz, he was the first air personality to agree to give me a critique of my work. It was because he agreed to meet me at WDRC that I got to meet Charlie Parker, which led to a job at my hometown station in the summer of '67 (working there with Sandy and Joey was an education in itself).

Don Wade didn't have to agree to listen to a very raw kid...nor did he have to do it right there at WDRC with me present...but he did, and I'll always be grateful for his kindness and the lifelong lesson he (and others) taught me: the future of this business resides with the up-and-comers. Ignore them and radio has no future. Oh, I'm sorry, group PDs and managers, did I say something there you didn't understand?
 
Very good interview, DB, thoroughly enjoyable, yet tragic in a way. And when Jack talks about life and death it's eerily prophetic. Makes you wonder. Gone too soon.
 
Great interview with Jack.  Reflecting back on Jack's daughter's memorial service comments about his Bible reading and prayer each night(as reported by Call Me Sherlock), the one blank spot in the interview is interesting.

Jack:  "As Mike...As Vic said today, he said "I turned my life over to (silence).  Alright fine, I did that a long time ago.  If God wants me to make this happen it, it'll happen.  If not, it won't!"

Don, do you have any idea why the blank spot appeared where/when it did?  Only a guess, but it appears the missing word was "God".
Seems an odd time to edit a word or hit a delay button.
 
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.
 
Hello...Living in Central New York, I never got to hear Jack Armstrong on other stations except KB in Buffalo. I have been able to view other air checks of him since his passing, and I am speechless, like I have been, when I listened to him. Nobody like Jack Armstrong. He was so darn good, that I had no idea he was voice tracking from his home in North Carolina, to KB in Buffalo when they revived the oldies format for three years before pulling the plug last year. If I did not read about him tracking, I would have never known. He was unbelievable. He sounded like he was having so much fun tracking to Buffalo, and he used his voice range up and down so much during this format, that I do not think anyone could have ever duplicated this.

He will always be remembered to the professionals and avid listeners that love what radio was. By the way, I read in two newspapers that he fell down the stairs. Not sure if that is true or not.
 
yugoidar said:
Don, do you have any idea why the blank spot appeared where/when it did? Only a guess, but it appears the missing word was "God".
Seems an odd time to edit a word or hit a delay button.
Click to expand...

It wasn't an edit, just a glitch...most likely in the phone line. The interview is a pod cast and therefore is archived exactly as it aired, which was live and uncensored.

As for the cause of Jack's death, I too have heard it was a fall down the stairs.

BTW-Here's a link to the best footage of Jack on the air that I have seen:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=esgxuzDw1cY
 
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