catesta Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 W O R G! This is a thread about radio DJ's and the names they go by. No offense to anyone that does this, I know it's kind of a tricks of the trade thing. Here in Phoenix on one of the country stations we have a dude that goes by "Big Shoe Stu", the classics stations has "Camelback Jack", and the NPR station has a chick that does the early evening jazz program that calls herself "Blaze Llantana". B) List your local disc jockey names here. Quote
ghost of miles Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 We're jes' plain, simple, ordinary DJ folk around here (southern Indiana) for the most part. The community radio station has a few--the Kentucky Kid, Travis T., a duo called Gus and the Old Professor... I sometimes fantasize about broadcasting a late-night jazz show from some remote Olympic Mountains station as "The West Coast Ghost," but right now I just go by my own name. When a friend of mine & I did a vintage show together a few years back I invented a character named "Hawtooth," a backwoods fellow who delivered addled commentary on current events... It was sort of a parody of infamous sidekick characters. Quote
JSngry Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 (edited) Some favorites of mine from days gone by: The Weird Beard Cousin Linnie The Real Donnie Steele Clean Gene Kent Hubcap Carter (still active, but a shadow of his former bad self) Peoples, do yerselfs a flavor and pick up this badboy rat heah: Radio will never be like this again. Edited December 17, 2003 by JSngry Quote
jacman Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 The Real Donnie Steele i remember his TV show. imagine American Bandstand filmed inside an insane asylum. Quote
ghost of miles Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 (edited) Peoples, do yerselfs a flavor and pick up this badboy rat heah: And tell 'em SANGREY SENT YA!! I love this CD. They basically edited a number of Dewey's broadcasts into a pretty seamless-sounding show. There's more background on Phillips in Peter Guralnick's two-volume Elvis Presley biography as well. Phillips actually had a TV show as well, but he got fired after one of his sidekicks humped a cardboard figure of a woman on-camera. I think it was an on-air blunder that ended his radio career as well; Dewey (who had developed some pretty bad substance-abuse habits) said, "Hold on, Phillips, that's not the right request... I got a morphine shot in me and I can't see too well." "It's Friday, tomorrow's pay day and bath day, that's a good deal." It sure is! Edited December 17, 2003 by ghost of miles Quote
ghost of miles Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 For more on radio craziness--particularly Tex-Mex south-of-the-border shenanigans--check out the following book, which was OOP for awhile before resurfacing in a new edition last year: This book covers everybody from the Carter Family to Wolfman Jack--great for anybody interested in vintage country, as a number of country musicians got national exposure via border radio. The infamous "Goat Doctor" John R. Brinkley is a key player as well: he purchased the Mexican station XERA to broadcast ads for his, uh, "practice," which consisted of transplanting goat gonads into men as a means of re-invigorating their libidos. (The Viagra of its time!) XERA got up to 500,000 watts and then eventually 1,000,000; it used to overpower NBC's signal as far north as Chicago. Birds that flew too close to its tower were "cooked," to put it lightly. A far cry from Clear Channel, this history. Quote
JSngry Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 Do they talk about the Rev. James Charles Jessup? My first exposure to no-holds-barred (and I DO mean NO) fire-and-brimstone radio evengelism. On XEG if I remember correctly. The guy used to scare me at first (MAN, he worked himself into a frenzy), but after a while, me and a cuppla buddies used to listen to him and cop the best bits to freak out out least favorite teachers, which in 6th-7th grade was most all of them, God bless'em. Radio used to be fun. BIG fun. Quote
ghost of miles Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 Do they talk about the Rev. James Charles Jessup? My first exposure to no-holds-barred (and I DO mean NO) fire-and-brimstone radio evengelism. On XEG if I remember correctly. Jim, I don't remember, but I'll check when I go home tonight. They probably did, as they discussed evangelism at great length. In some ways that's how modern-day media evangelism got its start, through border radio. It's also why the Mexican government eventually shut it down, by passing laws in the mid-1980s that required most or all programs to be broadcast in Spanish. (I think they felt that the carpetbagging evangelicals had worn out their welcome, and that Mexican radio should be targeting a Mexican audience rather than an American one.) Quote
Dan Gould Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 To get back on the specifics of the thread subject, I can tell you that when I got my start at WTNT-Tallahassee, a country station, the Program Director suggested that I come up with an alternative to "Dan Gould" because, I assumed, the hick country listeners wouldn't take to a Jewboy on their station. So, looking for a name I thought wouldn't be hard to remember, I used my mother's maiden name to become "Dan Cunningham;" this led the jock who I followed to refer to me as "Richie Cunningham's little brother." Quote
catesta Posted December 17, 2003 Author Report Posted December 17, 2003 the Program Director suggested that I come up with an alternative to "Dan Gould" because, I assumed, the hick country listeners wouldn't take to a Jewboy on their station. So, looking for a name I thought wouldn't be hard to remember, I used my mother's maiden name to become "Dan Cunningham I thought you were going to say you ended up picking the name"Gene Harris Fanatic." "This is the Gene Harris Fanatic, and you're listening to WTNT, Tallahassee's best country, and now some more music for you. I know you've all heard of and love George Jones, but did you know he had a brother? Well he did, and his name was Hank, so let's give a little listen to some Hank Jones shall we.... Quote
Dan Gould Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 Actually, I did have a thought of slipping in Gene Harris' version of "I Can't Stop Lovng You" in the middle of the night, see if anyone was listening. Quote
maren Posted December 17, 2003 Report Posted December 17, 2003 My ex used to do news, documentaries and a late-night music and call-in show on WBAI in New York under the name "BUD STRUGGLE" -- a frequent listener and caller who soon became a friend and then an occasional studio visitor dubbed himself "AHMED STRUGGLE" -- in private, as "BUD'S" wife, I referred to myself as "CONSTANCE STRUGGLE" -- but that's a whole other story! Quote
sidewinder Posted March 23, 2008 Report Posted March 23, 2008 (edited) For more on radio craziness--particularly Tex-Mex south-of-the-border shenanigans--check out the following book, which was OOP for awhile before resurfacing in a new edition last year: This book covers everybody from the Carter Family to Wolfman Jack--great for anybody interested in vintage country, as a number of country musicians got national exposure via border radio. The infamous "Goat Doctor" John R. Brinkley is a key player as well: he purchased the Mexican station XERA to broadcast ads for his, uh, "practice," which consisted of transplanting goat gonads into men as a means of re-invigorating their libidos. (The Viagra of its time!) XERA got up to 500,000 watts and then eventually 1,000,000; it used to overpower NBC's signal as far north as Chicago. Birds that flew too close to its tower were "cooked," to put it lightly. A far cry from Clear Channel, this history. Up for this thread - BBC Radio 4 is doing a 2-part feature on Wolfman Jack and station XERA and the 'Border Blasters' at the moment. A very interesting broadcast - and they also mention the goat gonad injections ! The AM signal could apparently be picked up in continental Europe if the tropospheric conditions were right. The birds flying near the transmitter tower literally dropped out of the sky. and it would seem that, prior to arriving at XERA, Wolfman Jack started off as a DJ playing soul-jazz stuff by Jimmy Smith, Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis etc. Edited March 23, 2008 by sidewinder Quote
Christiern Posted March 23, 2008 Report Posted March 23, 2008 (edited) Decades ago, in my radio years, I was, variously, Gamma Globulin, Cynthia Camembert (the big cheese from New York), or Fred Nurdley, but mostly, Uncle Chris. David Amram still refers to me by the latter name. When I was on WHAT-FM, in Philly, one of my AM colleagues had a popular gospel show for which she identified herself as "The Gospel Queen" and regularly reminded her listeners that "the Lord is with us," etc. The same young lady moonlighted (somewhat literally) on our competing station (WDAS) as "Tiger Rose." On the latter, she was sponsored by a wine company and did a lot of very sexy purring. Edited March 23, 2008 by Christiern Quote
Free For All Posted March 23, 2008 Report Posted March 23, 2008 Cynthia Camembert (the big cheese from New York) Quote
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