R.I.P.: Ed Weiss, Syndicated Beach Music Radio Host

Ed Weiss (1942-2022)

Ed Weiss, a longtime radio DJ credited with helping to bring Beach music into the mainstream, died at home Saturday night, his wife posted on Facebook. 

The News-Observer reports Weiss, better known by his on-air name “Charlie Brown” (a 1959 hit by the R&B group The Coasters) was 80. 

His radio show, “On The Beach,” was syndicated on about 40 stations across the Southeast, making him one of the most well-known voices in Beach music radio. 

Beach music, R&B music largely recorded by Black artists, started gaining traction among young, white North Carolinians in the ‘50s and ‘60s.