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Wolfman Jack saw it coming

You may be able to guess at the timeline by the Wolfman's reference to listening to cassettes.
 
I was thinking while I watched it was sometime in the 80's (The Decade The Music Died).

Interestingly, I didn't necessarily like Wolfman when he was on-air but he was a knowledgeable guy in his biz and when you catch him in a quiet mood he is interesting.
 
landtuna said:
I was thinking while I watched it was sometime in the 80's (The Decade The Music Died).

Interestingly, I didn't necessarily like Wolfman when he was on-air but he was a knowledgeable guy in his biz and when you catch him in a quiet mood he is interesting.
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Yeah he was a Legend back in the 60's and 70's. Sadly I am betting that most people studying Communications right now don't even know who the guy is. They will get their first job in radio and not have a clue who he is. I never met Wolfman Jack as far as I can remember. But I do recall that my brother met him and brought home his autopgraph for me when I was a little kid. Then there was the time that Wolfman was on Howard Stern as a Mystery Guest back in the 80's. This is when I first started listening to Stern and I had no idea how to play Mystery Guest. So Howard got impatient and hung up on me. Wolfman Jack had a good laugh over that one.
 
There was an episode of WKRP. Venus decided to look into a pd gig at another station. When he arrived for the interview, & went on a tour of the station. He asked, "where are the jocks"? The GM proudly said, "there are no jocks". And showed Venus the computer that runs the station.
 
Skynet74 said:
landtuna said:
You may be able to guess at the timeline by the Wolfman's reference to listening to cassettes.
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Well he passed away in July of 1995, so I'm guesing that it was before that. ;)
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In fact, on June 30 he performed his last live broadcast from Planet Hollywood, in Washington, D.C. He told those of us who were listening to him that he was "draggin'", as I recall. He finished his show, got on his plane and went home to North Caroliina, where he died apparently in the wee hours of July 1, 1995. A week later he was inducted into The League of St. Jude as a perpetual member (deceased) and a year later he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. He authored a book, appeared in the movies, had a tv show.
 
I heard that as soon as he got home, he hugged his wife and told her "It's great to finally be home". Then he collapsed in her arms where he died from a heart attack. That sure is a sad ending to a great life. But then again..... passing away while hugging your wife might be the best way you could die. It just happened way to young. He was only 57.
 
He did not get the average 70 years in, it's true, but the world did not spin around so fast that he lost track of life and didn't get all caught up in superficial things. He came from a time when some things were still sacred - not much, but the things that mattered.

Have Mercy!: Confessions of the Original Rock 'N' Roll Animal
 
Worth it to rent "American Graffiti" to check out the scene when Ron Howard enters the local radio station and finds Wolfman Jack, all by himself, in the studio..one of the highlights of the film...
 
And The Wolfman LIVES...in syndication...

His voice-from-the-grave, repackaged for radio, and heard (at least for a while...not sure if he's still there) on satellite radio, SOUNDS GOOD. Even -- perhaps ESPECIALLY -- knowing-that-he's-on, it works.

Little-known-fact: Wolfman Jack's very last interview with with an ex-Providence radio voice, Bill Thompson, who was WSNE News Director when I was PD there, and later followed me to WTOP/Washington. The Wolfman was heading home to North Carolina, and died in his driveway upon arriving there. The day-before, Thompson interviewed him for WTOP and AP Radio, and said "he looked awful."

RIP Wolfman Jack
HC
www.HollandCooke.com
 
Actually the official story, which has been consistent from day 1, was that he flew home from Washington, DC, arrived home, told his wife it was good to be home , took her in his arms and said, "Just once more", before he died -at home in the arms of the woman he loved. That is how it happened.

I heard his last show from Planet Hollywood, which was also on the radio, broadcast not on WTOP, but on Xtra 104.1 out of Washington, DC. Not only did he look rough, he said he was "draggin'". That is first hand, not from someone who interviewed him and passed it along.

How long does the tradition of misinformation go on anyway?

Wolfman Jack saw it coming.
 
Incidentally, what you post reflects upon what you are, not who I am.
 
QUICK! Switch to de-caf...

Silkie said:
what you post reflects upon what you are, not who I am.
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'Guess so, if you're posting anonymously.

To-the-extent-that the discrepancy you amplify is relevant to the-point-of-this-tread: we owe our New England readers a clarification.

Wolfman's X-tra104 appearance sure did turn-out-to-be his last show...after-which he gave WTOP an interview, which CBS News called his last. That day -- day-after his X-tra104 show, as I recall -- he was leaving town on-what-turned-out-to-be his last trip home.

Feel free to update Wikipedia as-you-see-fit. Produced at WTOP, and distributed by AP Radio, the interview was part of Bill Thompson's "Eye on Books" series. Wolfman Jack was in-town-to-begin-with as the final (planned) stop on a book tour. As I recall, he also did NPR and The Washington Post while in town...might've also done Larry King Live.

Sorry if this re-telling touched a nerve.
We should all recall this special character fondly.
Sadly, the on-air presence depicted in "American Graffiti" is a kind of radio that now seems quaint.
These characters are harder to find now.

Heck, even Oldies STATIONS are dropping-like-flies.
X-tra104, a rimshot signal licensed to off-the-Beltway LaPlata, Maryland, was on-a-roll then...but soon challenged by WBIG Oldies100.
Now, neither play Oldies.

And the-point-I-was-trying-to-make is that hearing-Wolfman-now, in syndication, not only DOESN'T-suffer "from the grave," it's all-the-more-special.
 
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