Radio Names

[John FL]

For as long as I can remember (and that's a long time) most jocks on non-Ethnic formats had "Waspy" names for lack of a better term. Do we know if this is still a common practice or has there been changes? There was a radio station in Miami(Classic Hits WMXJ) that was rebranded a number of years ago from "Magic" to "The Beach." Almost everyone offering critique said for starters the station needed to have a jock with a Hispanic surname. Some joked that someone should have assumed a Hispanic surname and be done with it.

That also got me to thinking if there is talent who is not a part of a minority group but uses a surname indicating he/she is. Just curious more than anything. Probably not easy to determine. But with diversity in the center of much, I wonder if we see enough of that in radio to reflect changing demos.

 

[CTListener]

Italian names have been OK for years in Connecticut, which his the highest percentage of Italian-Americans in the nation. Mike Lapitino is a fixture at WPLR. Al Terzi and son Tony have used their real names proudly as news and sports anchors. That's not going to change.

 

[John FL]

Italian names have been OK for years in Connecticut, which his the highest percentage of Italian-Americans in the nation. Mike Lapitino is a fixture at WPLR. Al Terzi and son Tony have used their real names proudly as news and sports anchors. That's not going to change.

I never knew that about Connecticut. As someone who has Italian heritage on both sides of the family, my assumption was it had to be New York or New Jersey. That's all I knew as family lived only in both those states in neighborhoods that were hugely Italian-American.

With regards to sports anchors, I think this is where we see far more instances of using one's real name than on the music side.In my own experiences having heard many local sports and news hosts over the years and in various markets, there's a sense of realism with names that sound like a typical person from that community.

In listening to locally hosted radio and syndicated programing in my neck of the woods, I notice mostly names that sound like the ones you'd find in an old 50s or 60s comedy. I suspect most average listeners, outside of morning drive, couldn't tell you the names of who is on the air unless it's that high-profile personality or in a non-music format such as sports or news.

What I do suspect is a diverse number of people have made radio their career and that's not just because of ethnic formats. I only brought this subject up because in my little corner of the world which is small town suburbia, radio names sound very vanilla. Perhaps there's a different reality in large markets with a local host. At least I hope so!

 

[CTListener]

I never knew that about Connecticut. As someone who has Italian heritage on both sides of the family, my assumption was it had to be New York or New Jersey.

I believe that both Connecticut and Rhode Island are more Italian than New York and New Jersey by percentage. Of course, there are far more actual residents of Italian descent in NY and NJ, which are more populous states.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Yes, radio names are still common today

I had a PD in western PA whos has a completely different radio name than his real name.. and no his real name isnt very ethnic at all nor hard to spell/pronounce.

I work/worked with another guy whos radio name is his real first name and his middle name

With one early exception, I've always used my real name on the air.. people think its made up.. and i reply "id come up with something alot better than this!"

 

[John FL]

Yes, radio names are still common today

I figured that was the case. Before this goes further, I erred in calling this string what I did because I'm not looking for a discussion about names but rather diversity in radio, especially in non-ethnic formats. Before getting into that more, I would like to add my two cents about using real names on the air.

One day I googled my own name and was shocked what I found. There was all kinds of info about me. If my actual address wasn't bad enough, there was a drone pic of my home. That, in particular, bothered me a lot. It took me months to opt out of so many info sites. Something always resurfaces. It's hard to maintain your privacy nowadays.

So, if I were a broadcaster, I would no doubt use a radio name. There's too many nut jobs around.

But here's what I'm really after. There's another string that is discussing Black jocks who had a career in CHR in the 70s. Yes. Some of the names mentioned so far are ones I was familiar with in growing up in the NYC area. From what I can tell, there was still this mass-appeal mentality in hit contemporary music. Motown/soul and eventually disco in the late 70s. There was a good percentage of hits that had a rhythmic vibe.

As time moved along, music formats became more fragmented. Yes, this is not news. There's obviously urban, rhythmic, ethnic formats to name a few. One would expect minority and ethnic personnel working there. Given where we were in the 1970s, I'm wondering just how common it is to find diversity in non-urban music formats. Is this more the thing of a large and diverse radio market?

 

[TheBigA]

One radio name you might be familiar with is Scott Muni. He spent most of his career in NYC. I originally thought he was Italian. Turns out I was wrong. His born name was Munoz, which is Columbian in derivation. Not sure when or why he took on the other name.

 

[John FL]

One radio name you might be familiar with is Scott Muni. He spent most of his career in NYC. I originally thought he was Italian. Turns out I was wrong. His born name was Munoz, which is Columbian in derivation. Not sure when or why he took on the other name.

Holy crap, Batman! I'm blown away. Like you, I assumed he was a Paisan all these years. Incredible set of pipes and talented too. Can't help but think of "Hello, Dolly" every time I think of him. Oh, how he hated that song! You know, things can be more diverse than we think!

 

[CTListener]

Holy crap, Batman! I'm blown away. Like you, I assumed he was a Paisan all these years. Incredible set of pipes and talented too. Can't help but think of "Hello, Dolly" every time I think of him. Oh, how he hated that song! You know, things can be more diverse than we think!

The name-changing Paisan in NY radio in those days was on the AM side of the dial -- Bob (Gigante) Grant.

 

[Kemosabe]

That also got me to thinking if there is talent who is not a part of a minority group but uses a surname indicating he/she is.

Sometimes program directors selected on-air names for their staff. When Rick Sklar hired a jock who called himself Bob Morgan on WLCY (St. Petersburg, Florida), he insisted his new overnight DJ use his real name, Bob Cruz, on WABC. An upstate PD changed Dick Ulrich's name to Johnny Donovan (who spent 43 years at WABC). A program director at Philly's WIBG compelled John Records Landecker to call himself Scott Walker.

 

[CTListener]

Sometimes program directors selected on-air names for their staff. When Rick Sklar hired a jock who called himself Bob Morgan on WLCY (St. Petersburg, Florida), he insisted his new overnight DJ use his real name, Bob Cruz, on WABC. An upstate PD changed Dick Ulrich's name to Johnny Donovan (who spent 43 years at WABC). A program director at Philly's WIBG compelled John Records Landecker to call himself Scott Walker.

WMEX Boston ran through a succession of Dan Donovans during its Top 40 days in the '60s and early '70s. "Fenway" -- after Fenway Park -- was another name used by more than one jock. They were like the Joe Rockhead character on "The Flintstones," whose appearance changed in every episode he was used in -- interchangeable parts.

 

[Kemosabe]

WMEX Boston ran through a succession of Dan Donovans during its Top 40 days in the '60s and early '70s. "Fenway" -- after Fenway Park -- was another name used by more than one jock.

The late Malcolm D. Soll was known to WODS ("Oldies 103") listeners as Austin of Boston. (He was born in London and moved to Long Island, N.Y. when he was 10.)

 

[Kemosabe]

I'm sure there are many cases in which a real name slips out unintentionally. Jack Morgan, a former WDRC morning disc jockey, inadvertently used his real name, Jack Tupper, from time to time. The situation was reversed after he left Hartford for Maine, where he went by his real name on the air, but accidentally uttered the name Jack Morgan on occasion.

There was also the following slip by morning traffic reporter Bernie Wagenblast (who was supposed to identify himself as Jack Packard on WABC) leading up to the Ingram open.

 

[CTListener]

I'm sure there are many cases in which a real name slips out unintentionally. Jack Morgan, a former WDRC morning disc jockey, inadvertently used his real name, Jack Tupper, from time to time. The situation was reversed after he left Hartford for Maine, where he went by his real name on the air, but accidentally uttered the name Jack Morgan on occasion.

There was also the following slip by morning traffic reporter Bernie Wagenblast (who was supposed to identify himself as Jack Packard on WABC) leading up to the Ingram open.

And Ingram let a healthy g-- d--- fly in his reaction!

 

[Kemosabe]

And Ingram let a healthy g-- d--- fly in his reaction!

That may not have been quite so bad as his failed attempt at a tongue twister involving Schickhaus franks.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

And Ingram let a healthy g-- d--- fly in his reaction!

I was doing a live legal id for a station i was at along the NH Seacoast...i was leaving soon for another job, a week or two later.. and this one particular time, i took half of the 10 second window and did a legal id for the station i was moving to before i caught myself and quickly did the right ID

 

[CTListener]

I was doing a live legal id for a station i was at along the NH Seacoast...i was leaving soon for another job, a week or two later.. and this one particular time, i took half of the 10 second window and did a legal id for the station i was moving to before i caught myself and quickly did the right ID

I worked for three newspapers and spent at least a month at the last two before I could consistently answer the phone with the name of the one I was currently working for.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I worked for three newspapers and spent at least a month at the last two before I could consistently answer the phone with the name of the one I was currently working for.

I was working for Brian Dodge at this particular station. Yeah, i knew what i was getting into, but i wanted out at that point

I have a volunteer dj here whos the manager of our local grocery store and more then once, shes answered the phone as if she were at the store.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

I was wondering what would happen if a station hired a talent who wanted to keep his own name. Radio is an itinerant business, with talent moving from one station to another, often in the same market. So when an established talent moves to a new station in the same market, it's possible that he might want to bring his listener base along with him by keeping his name from the previous station. ( There's very little live on-air talent any more, so maybe this is a moot point).

 

[davideduardo]

One radio name you might be familiar with is Scott Muni. He spent most of his career in NYC. I originally thought he was Italian. Turns out I was wrong. His born name was Munoz, which is Columbian in derivation. Not sure when or why he took on the other name.

Just a clarification: Muñoz is a Spanish name, and is one of the "Jones-Smith" commonest names all over Latin America, not just Colombia. In fact, Puerto Rico's fist locally elected governor was Luis Muñoz Marín, just one of the very well none people with that name.