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Who was the greatest DJ of the 60s?

jfrancispastirchak said:
Ditto, Ditto, and more Dittos for the Wolfman! So stenciled on the conscience of American pop music that he was honored with a tribute by The Guess Who, Clap for the Wolfman !! Wolfman Jack's memory is a shrine at the gates of Rock 'n Roll heaven.

BTW, do you remember Wolfman playing himself in American Graffiti? Looked to me like this part, though brief, showcased an otherwise concealed dynamic of his soul, that of a genuinely sweet and compassionate human being. Are you listening Howard Stern?
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By all acounts that I've seen "Wolf" was a pretty good guy...and a hard worker. My wife's brother met him at a personal appearance in Southern California in the early 90s. Said he couldn't have been more gracious.

"Clap for the Wolfman" trivia....

One of the few Guess Who sides actually recorded in Canad. (They did most of their recording sessions in Chicago...But "Clap" was recorded in Toronto).

Wolfman ad libbed much of his contribution to the record.

The giggling girls on the record were totally unplanned. Wolfman had been doing an appearance at a nearby car show (or something like that), met several "groupie"-type girls and dragged them along to the studio. The result was spontaneous....and largely X-rated (from Wolf)! But everything from the girls that did make it onto the record was completely unrehearsed. A good time was reportedly had by all.

I had also heard....and I stand to be corrected if this is untrue....that Burton Cummings had originally written the song quite some time before the the recording session about a local Winnipeg jock. (Presumably on CKY) Then the song was later re-worked to its final version as a Wofman tribute.
 
cyberdad said:
jfrancispastirchak said:
Ditto, Ditto, and more Dittos for the Wolfman! So stenciled on the conscience of American pop music that he was honored with a tribute by The Guess Who, Clap for the Wolfman !! Wolfman Jack's memory is a shrine at the gates of Rock 'n Roll heaven.

BTW, do you remember Wolfman playing himself in American Graffiti? Looked to me like this part, though brief, showcased an otherwise concealed dynamic of his soul, that of a genuinely sweet and compassionate human being. Are you listening Howard Stern?
Click to expand...

By all acounts that I've seen "Wolf" was a pretty good guy...and a hard worker. My wife's brother met him at a personal appearance in Southern California in the early 90s. Said he couldn't have been more gracious.

"Clap for the Wolfman" trivia....

One of the few Guess Who sides actually recorded in Canad. (They did most of their recording sessions in Chicago...But "Clap" was recorded in Toronto).

Wolfman ad libbed much of his contribution to the record.

The giggling girls on the record were totally unplanned. Wolfman had been doing an appearance at a nearby car show (or something like that), met several "groupie"-type girls and dragged them along to the studio. The result was spontaneous....and largely X-rated (from Wolf)! But everything from the girls that did make it onto the record was completely unrehearsed. A good time was reportedly had by all.

I had also heard....and I stand to be corrected if this is untrue....that Burton Cummings had originally written the song quite some time before the the recording session about a local Winnipeg jock. (Presumably on CKY) Then the song was later re-worked to its final version as a Wofman tribute.
Click to expand...

In addition Burton Cummings has also stated the the group had been touring with Wolfman and they were having one helluva party on the road together. Soon after that "fabulous" tour is when they decided to do the tribute song.

Cyberdad--I never knew they did most of their recordings in Chicago. Do you have anymore info on that?
 
Re: Guess Who recording venues. I believe I saw that on the expanded liner notes of a "greatest hits" CD. ("Track Record"?), which listed recording session info. Just about all of their U.S. hits were recorded in Chicago. Canadian recordings in addition to "Wolfman" include two Canada-only hits "Running Back to Saskatoon" and "Follow Your Daughter Home", a reggae-influenced tune and IMHO, one of their best. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkUfCRiB-wg. (And yes, I heard it a couple of times when I was in Winnipeg this past weekend).

And finally, back to the topic of DJs....although not of the 60s....Burton Cummings launched a second career hosting afternoon drive on CKY for a couple of year in the mid 90s. And he was quite good at it, as I've posted in other threads. He's a very knowledgable record collector, who brought in a lot of stuff from his own collection to play on the air. He was also a great story teller, and told about a lot of the band's "back in the day" exploits on the air. He was even good at reading live spots, weather reports, etc.

And with 50kw at 580...along with great ground conductivity...he had quite a blowtorch to work with!
 
Since I was born in 1957 I didn't know what radio was until about 1964 when the Beatles invaded our shores. Where can a fan hear airchecks of some these DJs being mentioned? I'm already familiar with reelradio.com.
 
Jmb 65 said:
Tough choice, but here goes:

1--Boom Boom Brannigan
2--Bruce Bradley
3--Hy Lit
4--Jack Armstrong
5--Bob Lewis
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Bob "Baba Lu" Lewis, one of my all time favorites. He was possible the first DJ who could "rap" the way he could talk up a record in the early 60s--and who can ever forget his "Divariable veeble vurtzer?"
 
radioman148 said:
Jmb 65 said:
Tough choice, but here goes:

1--Boom Boom Brannigan
2--Bruce Bradley
3--Hy Lit
4--Jack Armstrong
5--Bob Lewis
Click to expand...

Bob "Baba Lu" Lewis, one of my all time favorites. He was possible the first DJ who could "rap" the way he could talk up a record in the early 60s--and who can ever forget his "Divariable veeble vurtzer?"
Click to expand...

Never heard Lewis, but I'll take everyone's word for how good he was. I'd definitely include Hy Lit and Bruce Bradley on my list....which would certainly wind up being much longer than 10!

The mention of Bradley, along with the earlier mention of Dick Summer, is a reminder of how absolutely brilliant WBZ was back in the early-mid 60s before the suits started dismantling it. Bradley and Summer representing the more "laid back" element of these lists. Dave Maynard and Carl De Suze among other 'BZ jocks worthy of note.
 
How about
a. George Michael
b. Jim Nettleton
c. Frank Kingston Smith
d. J. J. Jeffrey
e. Jim O'Brien
Of course I agree with others mentioned before, Dan Ingram, Herb Oscar Anderson, Charlie Greer, Robert W. Morgan, Casey Kasem, Jack Armstrong so many to choose!
 
I will second the Great Dick Summer.
Worked with Jack Armstrong who was a kick.
Joey Reyonlds
Big Dan Ingrahm
Cousin Brucie
Dave Maynard
Gary Stevens
JJ Jeffrey
The Famous Jim Sands
Pete Meyers
Lee Babi Simms
Juicy Brucie Bradley
 
Dan Ingram was the very best all around Top 40 jock. Best voice, best wit, best timing. He could talk up a record better than anyone and his remarks in and around the commercials were fabulous.
 
Many many greats listed in this thread, but I have to go with Jack Armstrong as the guy who was simply born to be a 60's DJ. He had it all and always gave 100%. It's a shame today's youth doesn't know what it means to listen to a radio program more for who the DJ is than for the music he played.
 
Lots of names and great talents, but let's not forget Larry Lujack. He was the first DJ I heard who used sarcasm and negativity to create humor.
 
All these guys were great, but the question was...greatest jock of the sixties. Some of those mentioned were on the air in the 70s....and although we love them all, not all of them had the best content, the best timing, the best approach and consistency. Here's my favs:

THE REAL DON STEELE

KHJ might not have made it without him. Great timing, painted incredible images with his voice and energy level. He WAS the sixties in LA.

KING GEORGE MICHAEL

If you missed him in Philadelphia, you missed one of the most consistent nighttime radio people ever. No matter what energy level, George was still talking to YOU.

JOEL SEBASTIAN

The most under-rated radio guy of the sixties; from WXYZ to WINS in the '60s, to 'WCFL...smoothness, timing, content, consistency

JIM NETTLETON

One of the greatest voices of the sixties, WDRC, WFIL.

JACK ARMSTRONG

There was only one.
 
fennessy said:
JOEL SEBASTIAN

The most under-rated radio guy of the sixties; from WXYZ to WINS in the '60s, to 'WCFL...smoothness, timing, content, consistency
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+1

Excellent creative and entertaining jock who's worthy of inclusion with the names being discussed here. Versatile, too. He handled various formats with ease, but was tailor-made for "Super CFL". He left us way too soon.
 
cyberdad said:
fennessy said:
JOEL SEBASTIAN

The most under-rated radio guy of the sixties; from WXYZ to WINS in the '60s, to 'WCFL...smoothness, timing, content, consistency
Click to expand...


+1

Excellent creative and entertaining jock who's worthy of inclusion with the names being discussed here. Versatile, too. He handled various formats with ease, but was tailor-made for "Super CFL". He left us way too soon.
Click to expand...


And what a great voice.
 
cyberdad said:
fennessy said:
JOEL SEBASTIAN

The most under-rated radio guy of the sixties; from WXYZ to WINS in the '60s, to 'WCFL...smoothness, timing, content, consistency
Click to expand...


+1

Excellent creative and entertaining jock who's worthy of inclusion with the names being discussed here. Versatile, too. He handled various formats with ease, but was tailor-made for "Super CFL". He left us way too soon.
Click to expand...


Joel always played this when started each day at WCFL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fDaw1kTmDE

BTW - he may not have been the best but in the late 60's he had more listeners than anyone doing overnight at WABC (Charlie Greer)
He may have had 10,000,000 listeners overnight

http://www.musicradio77.com/images/greer69.mp3
 
I remember Joel Sebastian playing the Jack Jones version of "My Kind of Town" at the top of his show.

And I agree that Charlie Greer was an excellent jock. Where I was in college in Iowa in the late 60s, we'd often flip over to WABC when Wolfman Jack finished up for XERF Most nights XERF only had him on for an hour (sometimes more, sometimes less). But my memory of WABC overnights in those years was Ron Lundy. Back then, WABC still had a fairly decent signal by the time it got to the Mississippi river.
 
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