Obbzervations from Driving Home
So I'se got my car radio scanning the stations, and I hear the Hollies' "The Air That I Breathe" on KSPA and stop the scan. I hadn't heard the station in a while, and thought that this was a little bit of a new song for the station (which, last I remembered, played songs from the Sinatra/Dean Martin genre of music).
After the song was over, I heard a guy doing a bad Wolfman Jack imitation, then the station played "Jump" by Van Halen. (Note to self: eventually comment on the ultimate dissatisfaction in listening to an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo.)
As the station continued to play songs - Devo's "Whip It," for example - the radio station made an announcement that this was the Wolfman Jack show.
"Huh?" I thought. "How can they legally rip off a dead man by claiming that he's doing a radio show today? The nerve of this imposter. I'm surprised Wolfman Jack's family hasn't sued."
Well, I continued listening to the songs - an Air Supply song, the Stones' "Emotional Rescue," Abba's "Waterloo" - and it hit me. These are old songs. This is an taped broadcast of the real Wolfman Jack.
Several hours later, I confirmed that this is what happened:
** MEXICO [non]. CLAP FOR THE WOLFMAN: The Next Great Syndicated offering may involve the late Wolfman Jack, to whom many of us listened in awe circa 35 years ago, over Mexican border blasters XERF/1570 and the old XERB/1090. SoCal broadcaster Art Astor and partner Bob Wilson have resurrected a supply of pre-produced tapes of The Wolf's old syndicated weekly program. These shows are now airing on Art's two stations, KSPA/1510 in Ontario, and KCEO/1000 in San Diego. Bob says he's starting with shows featuring hits from the 1970s and '80s; shows spotlighting older tunes are slated to emerge in 2005. Bob and Art were instrumental in running the old KDAY/1580 in the early '70s, when they brought The Wolf "officially" into the L.A. market for the first time. The exposure did well for the Wolfman, who shortly thereafter went to NBC-TV, to host the "Midnight Special" concert series, on late-Friday nights after Carson. Soon after that, the Wolf found himself doing morning drive on the old WNBC/660 in NYC, pre-Imus. The Wolf, formerly Bob Smith of Brooklyn, passed away on his North Carolina front porch of a heart attack in 1995, at the young age of 57 (Greg Hardison, Broadcast Band Update Sept 15 via DXLD)
Here comes another one:
Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2004
Wolfman Jack Show Returns To Radio Dial
The voice of Wolfman Jack one of America's most famous all-time radio personalities will once again be heard on the radio dial, as Radio & Records founder Bob Wilson and Astor Broadcast Group head Art Astor have teamed in syndicating vintage episodes of The Wolfman Jack Show.
The radio host, who became world famous for his role in the film American Graffiti and as host of NBC-TV's Midnight Special, died in 1995, and Wilson and Astor successfully worked with the Wolfman's estate in retrieving long-lost tapes of the show and digitially enhancing the program to meet today's broadcast standards.
The reemergence of the Wolfman Jack-helmed radio shows officially came over Labor Day weekend, as Astor-owned KCEO/Oceanside, CA and KSPA/Riverside aired the show's first installment. Astor and Wilson in 1972 helped make Wolfman Jack a bigger legend in the U.S. by luring him to their KDAY/Los Angeles from megawatter XPRS/Tijuana-San Diego-L.A.
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