January 21 Radio History

➦In 1919...actress/radio-TV host Jinx (Eugenia) Falkenburg was born in Barcelona Spain. She was a movie actress & popular model before & during World War II , after which she and her husband Tex McCrary were hosts of “Meet Tex and Jinx” a local radio talk show on WEAF, WNBC they conducted from Peacock Alley in New York’s Waldorf Astoria. They also hosted NBC TV’s At Home show, while she was a regular on TV’s charades show Masquerade Party. She died a month after her husband Aug 27, 2003 at age 84.

➦In 1927...the first opera broadcast on a national Radio network occurred. Radio listeners in Chicago, Illinois heard music from Faust.

➦In 1935...WFI-AM in Philadelphia merged with WLIT to become WFIL.

WFIL was formed by a merger of two stations that were launched in 1922. One used the call letters WFI, the other was originally WDAR. Each was owned by a major Philadelphia department store; WFI was operated by Strawbridge and Clothier, while WDAR was run by Lit Brothers.

While operated independently of each other, the two were able to work out amicable share-time agreements (hundreds of other American stations at the time were unable to do so, and frequently engaged in "jamming wars"). Around 1924, WDAR applied for and received the custom call-sign WLIT. By the late 1920s, the two stations were working jointly on various programs, promotions, and sponsorship efforts. In 1935, the two operators agreed to merge with each department store having representation on the new board of directors.

The new call-sign became WFIL, a combination of the two previous identifiers (the fact that the new call letters were close to a phonetic spelling of "Philadelphia" was merely a happy coincidence).

➦In 1938...the legendary deejay known as Wolfman Jack was born Robert Weston Smith in Brooklyn. His unique radio style made him an icon of ’60s radio, broadcasting from XERF, then XERB in Mexico and heard throughout a major part of the U.S.; On TV he was announcer for NBC’s The Midnight Special. He died following a heart attack July 1, 1995 at age 57.

Smith was the younger of two children of Anson Weston Smith, an Episcopal Sunday school teacher, writer, editor, and executive vice president of the Financial World, and his wife Rosamond Small. His parents divorced while he was a child. To help keep him out of trouble, his father bought him a large Trans-Oceanic radio, and Smith became an avid fan of R&B music and the disc jockeys who played it, including "Jocko" Henderson of Philadelphia, New York's "Dr. Jive" (Tommy Smalls), the "Moon Dog" from Cleveland, Alan Freed, and Nashville's "John R." Richbourg, who later became his mentor.

After selling encyclopedias and Fuller brushes door-to-door, Smith attended the National Academy of Broadcasting in Washington, D.C. Graduating in 1960, he began working as "Daddy Jules" at WYOU in Newport News, Virginia. In 1962, he moved to country music station KCIJ 1050 AM in Shreveport, Louisiana as the station manager and morning disc jockey, "Big Smith with the Records". He married Lucy "Lou" Lamb in 1961, and they had two children.

Disc jockey Alan Freed had played a role in the transformation of black rhythm and blues into rock and roll music, and originally called himself the "Moon Dog" after New York City street musician Moondog. Freed both adopted this name and used a recorded howl to give his early broadcasts a unique character. Smith's adaptation of the Moondog theme was to call himself Wolfman Jack and add his own sound effects. The character was based in part on the manner and style of bluesman Howlin' Wolf. It was at KCIJ that he first began to develop his famous alter ego Wolfman Jack.

Wolfman Jack played role of a DJ in 'American Graffiti'

According to author Philip A. Lieberman, Smith's "Wolfman" persona "derived from Smith's love of horror flicks and his shenanigans as a 'wolfman' with his two young nephews. The 'Jack' was added as a part of the 'hipster' lingo of the 1950s.

'The Fat Man'

➦In 1946...“The Fat Man” began its 5-year run on ABC radio. J. Scott Smart, who played the portly detective, weighed in at 270 pounds in real life.

➦In 1978... the soundtrack of “Saturday Night Fever” reached #1 on the album charts — a position it held for the next 24 weeks. It sold over 30 million copies world wide, making it the best selling soundtrack album of all time.

➦In 1984...singer Jackie Wilson died at the age of 49. He had been in a coma since his 1975 heart attack during a concert in New Jersey. His funeral was held in Detroit.

➦In 1997...music industry legend Col. Tom Parker, the immigrant Dutch promoter who guided Elvis Presley to stardom, died in Las Vegas from complications from a stroke. He was 87.

➦In 1996...WYNY 103.5 FM NYC confirmed rumors that they were dropping country.

➦In 1998...WNSR 105.1 FM NYC became WBIX "Big 105"

➦In 2005...College DJ, Dave Plotkin, from Rollins College's WPRK-FM in Winter Park, Florida, set a record for the world's longest continuous broadcast by a single DJ. He stayed on the air for 110 hours.

➦In 2006...after 18 years Bob Kingsley gave up his hosting of the syndicated radio show “American Country Countdown.” He was succeeded by singer Kix Brooks of Brooks and Dunn, who is still doing it.

➦In 2010...WWRL 1600 AM NYC dropped “Air America” progressive talk format.

➦In 2013...WRXP 94.7 FM NYC becomes Country “NashFM”, soon changing call letters to WNSH.

Jill Eikenberry is 76

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Opera singer Placido Domingo is 82. 
• Actor Jill Eikenberry is 76. 
• Guitarist Jim Ibbotson (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 76. 
• Singer-songwriter Billy Ocean is 73. 
• Actor Robby Benson is 67. 
• Actor Geena Davis is 67. 
• Actor Charlotte Ross (“NYPD Blue”) is 55. 
• Singer Marc Gay of Shai is 54. 
• Actor Karina Lombard (“The L Word”) is 54. 
• Actor Ken Leung (“Marvel’s Inhumans,” ″Lost”) is 53. 
• Rapper Levirt of B-Rock and the Bizz is 53. 
• Drummer Mark Trojanowski of Sister Hazel is 53. 
• Singer Cat Power is 51. 
• DJ Chris Kilmore of Incubus is 50. 
• Singer Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) of the Spice Girls is 47. 
• Actor Jerry Trainor (“Wendell & Vinnie,” ″iCarly”) is 46. 
• Singer Nokio of Dru Hill is 44. 
• Actor Izabella Miko (“Coyote Ugly”) is 42. 
• Actor Luke Grimes (TV’s “Yellowstone,” film’s “Fifty Shades”) is 39. 
• Actor Feliz Ramirez (TV’s “Grand Hotel”) is 31.

✞DEATH ANNIVERARIES

• In 2002..Peggy Lee, Singer ("Fever"; "Is That All There Is?"), songwriter ("Mañana"), and actress (Pete Kelly's Blues; Lady and the Tramp), dies of a heart attack at 81
• In 2019..Maxine Brown, Country music singer (Browns), dies at 87
• In 2022..Louie Anderson, Comedian, Emmy Award-winning actor (Baskets; Life With Louie; Coming To America), TV game show Host (Family Feud, 1999-2002), and writer, dies of cancer at 68