Recognize this guy?
If you do, chances are you’re a radio veteran who’s likely now to be a member in good standing of AARP.
It’s Wolfman Jack (a.k.a. Robert Weston Smith) who was a legendary radio disc jockey back in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s mostly. Like a lot of the iconic jocks of his era, the Wolfman worked during an era where personalities were as big – if not bigger – than the great music they played.
Wolfman knocked around U.S. radio for a few years before being sent to Mexico and the mega tower and transmitter of XERF-AM, and later XERB where he was on the air at night. At 250,000 watts, the station’s signal – and Wolfman Jack’s gravelly voice – could be picked up all over the U.S., and up and down the California coast.
While he eventually ended up at WNBC in New York City for a time during the ’70s, he returned to the West Coast to focus on a syndicated show.
The Wolfman was an enigma, heard more than seen. And while he changed up his appearance especially in his early years, it wasn’t until he was featured in George Lucas’ first film in 1973, the classic American Graffiti that most of us actually got a look at him.
Wolfman didn’t just star in the movie – he was its soundtrack as the teens raced and cruised up and down Modesto’s main drag.
I was on an airplane the other night, and DirecTV wasn’t working, forcing me to watch a movie. And for some reason, I stopped on American Graffiti and ended up seeing it for the first time in years.
As an ode to radio in the lives of teens, it is a special film loaded with famous names who went on to superstardom. American Graffiti was produced by the great Francis Ford Coppola, and stars Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfus, and Cindy Williams. And Harrison Ford makes his screen debut as a drag racing “heavy” who wears a cowboy hat.
But it is Wolfman Jack who sets the tone for what radio, the music, the memories, and the mystique meant to kids who grew up in this era.
We don’t see him until near the end of American Graffiti, but it’s a magical moment. Richard Dreyfus plays Curt, a bright kid conflicted with going away to college or staying in town with his high school friends.
Early in the film, he catches a fleeting look of a beautiful blond driving a hot white T-Bird (Suzanne Sommers) and spends the rest of the night trying to reconnect with her.
Hoping Wolfman might be able to go on the air to help find her, Curt walks into the local radio station at night where he bumps into the jock on the air.
Watch this 4-minute video segment from American Graffiti. It’s loaded with lessons for today’s radio personalities that could only be delivered by Wolfman Jack. I went back and watched it a second time on the plane, marveling at some of the basic lessons I took away from this brief encounter with a DJ. It is truly a story within a story.
1. Radio stations are especially cool places at night when hardly anyone’s around – Curt makes his way through the rack room and into the studio, taking it all in. There’s a romantic quality to stations during these late, late moments, something George Lucas clearly sensed when he was writing the script. Much of that magic has been lost over the decades when there’s no one in the station during these hours connecting with the overnight audience.
2. Curt turns to the radio station during his dire time of need – And why not? That’s what many people did (and still do) when they need help, answers, or both. A lost pet, a broken heart, that song you have to hear RIGHT NOW. Where else but one’s hometown radio station.
3. Prerecorded radio is inherently disappointing – Curt learns Wolfman Jack may not be physically present at the station during this pivotal moment in his life, and it’s a huge letdown. “You mean, the man’s on tape?” he ask cynically. He’s been listening to the Wolfman paint pictures on the radio all night, and he’s now shattered to learn his radio hero isn’t even in the building, much less in the same state. It’s truly “the man behind the curtain” moment in Lucas’ great film.
4. For radio personalities, mystique matters – The guy behind the console responds, “The Wolfman is EVERYWHERE!” as if the man, the myth, and the moment are omnipresent, bigger than life, well beyond the confines of walls, land, and water. There are no boundaries to a true radio star.
5. Accessibility and eye contact are great radio strengths – The moment the Wolfman sees Curt looking around, he invites him in. He offers Curt a seat in the studio…and a popsicle. This young listener is welcomed and made to feel comfortable in this environment.
6. There’s a lot to be learned sitting in the control room and hanging out with a veteran DJ – How many of us spent hours, days, entire shows sitting where Curt sits – right across from the veteran on the air? It’s where you learn the trade, and maybe even a little something about life. Many of us have sat in Curt’s chair, learning “the ropes” this way by just being in the presence of a great radio personality in their milieu – their element. Watching them cue up records, changing carts, filling out the log, taking calls – those routine tasks were all part of the process of becoming a radio personality. And along the way, you might just pick up a little homespun philosophy about relationships, music, the world, and life.
7. The “go for it” spirit is part of the radio experience – Wolfman urges Curt to “get out of Dodge,” and see the world, above and beyond the narrow confines of one’s hometown. And he reminds the kid his own world view has been shaped by travel and life experience. It’s what makes you a better radio person.
8. Radio is a cool way to make a living – Sure, this is a movie, a fantasy, and it’s set more than six decades ago. Still, being in that station is rarefied air. Wolfman’s alter ego tells Curt how he feels gratitude about what he does and the breaks he’s received along the way.
9. The element of surprise is a radio DJ superpower – Just when Curt (and us) is beginning to believe the Wolfman isn’t even in the same state, he looks back at the control room glass only to learn he’s been talking to his hero all along.
10. Radio is a soundtrack – Or at least it was. For American Graffiti, the music and the DJs provided the continuity for the entire film. Decades later, Quentin Tarantino used the same technique for Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood. The right song for the moment, a smart quip that’s timely and relevant, a moment talking to a listener tuning in just like we are, a connection to something about the place where we live and work – all of that is how radio can play its lifestyle role so well.
Now I know some of you reading this are going to instantly dismiss these comments as the nostalgic ravings of a radio remnant from another era. And perhaps you’re thinking radio today bears about as much a resemblance to Wolfman’s station in American Graffiti as the teens in the film do to Generation Z’s of today.
And while the actors in Lucas’ film aren’t staring at their phones, posting on Instagram, or scrolling for dates on Hinge, they’re very much going through many of the same motions and emotions
as today’s teens do – figuring out life after high school, will they go to college, who are they, where do they belong, and how are their identities changing as they leave adolescence and head into adulthood.
That doesn’t mean a radio station of today could hope to replace Spotify or YouTube in their lives. I think George Lucas would agree that while 1960s America was light years different than the country we live in today, the struggles of people – of kids, in particular – are pretty darn universal. They had the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Civil Rights Movement as their existential moments and threats, not that far afield from what today’s teens obsess about. It’s why American Graffiti clicked in 1973 when it was released, and it still works today, decades later.
Even if you dismiss my observations and think I’m reading too much into an old rock n’ roll-infused movie, it’s not hard for us radio vets to see a lot to like in Wolfman Jack and the radio experience depicted in “American Graffiti.
And no, you can’t bum a smoke.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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‘Graffitti, ‘That Thing You Do’ and ”Once Upon a Time In Hollywood’ are among my favorite ‘radio’ films. Perhaps some of the truest reflections of real radio back then. And, as you point out, some of the same rules still apply.
If you have a moment, catch Bob Pittman’s interview in this week’s NYP “https://nypost.com/2023/06/01/iheartmedia-ceo-bob-pittman-sings-radios-praises/ – He points out, that even today, when people listen to the radio, they’re looking for connection, companionship and someone to hang with.’
He’s not wrong, of course. It has just become more difficult for the average talent to make that connection.
The “magic” of all that you describe Fred, was killed from within…..Radio killed itself. The proverbial Trojan Horse. It is very sad. I still maintain that a “technology” that can create a local sense of place, with real personalities, broadcasting to many in real time, that is offered for free on a device that is inexpensive and reliable……might just catch on.
Phil, from your lips…
The time has passed for over the air radio re-innovation. Bottom line dictates.
Even if articles like this one inspired an upcoming radio talent to emulate, it would be a waste of time. It just wouldn’t be allowed at today’s corporate run radio stations.
I agree with you, Fred. I found “The Boat That Rocked” aka “Pirate Radio” with Philip Seymour Hoffman as compelling as Wolfman and “American Graffiti.” Maybe it’s only because of what I wanted to and have done with my career. But both films show exactly how we can connect with the audience. Our daily work has to be engaging on a level that much of radio management has forgotten. I don’t think the frontline personalities have forgotten. Even in prerecorded breaks markets away, I know folks still look to connect with the listener. I mean, really, what else is there? As a personality, you are wired to try to make that connection. And the good ones still make you want to go hang out at the station.
And that magical moment where Dreyfus realized he’d been talking to THE DJ really rings the bell.
Thanks for sharing this moment.
Thanks for chiming in, Chris.
As a former Top 40 radio personality from back in the day, I found “The Boat That Rocked” aka “Pirate Radio” with Philip Seymour Hoffman a horrible depiction of radio and DJ’s. They talk with no music under them, they have no fast paced jingle oriented shows and the program director is in his 60’s. The program director for radio Carolina was 23 years old. Nothing about that movie rings true top real personality driven Rock and Roll radio.
Today’s consolidators can’t afford talent like the Wolfman. They are too busy servicing their debt. As soon as anyone at a station or cluster reaches this secret salary number, they have a target on their backs for the next RIF cuts.
Carter, I understand the cynicism. I know many others reading this will, too.
Carter, you and I have disagreed many times in the past, but this comment is right on the mark.
I would add a couple of relevant thoughts: First, that we allowed ourselves to elevate talent beyond where they should have been by escalating salaries beyond rational levels. By doing that in the past few decades, we didn’t keep enough money in the bank to pay those who REALLY deserved it what they were worth. In other words, too many “superstars” who were really just “best of mid-level”.
The other thing we did was embrace out-of-market voicetracking, which makes it much easier to replace someone who — as you put it — “reaches the secret salary number” with someone at a co-owned cluster somewhere else, who probably already had too much to do but will be convinced to take on that extra voicetracking work by making them think THEY might be the next to leave otherwise.
Personally, I have always been my happiest when I made enough to pay the bills and put a little in the bank, and just having fun doing what I do. Yeah, I’m not famous, and I’m not rich, but I also never got “salaried out” of a gig.
What was that first video on MTV? That’s right, Video Killed the Radio Star. And who was around at the start of it? Oh yeah, he programmed a great station in Chicago.
I wish and hope that there is still a market for over the air radio. When Tina Turner died recently I find it hard to believe that a sub channel on HD couldnt be programmed to run a tribute like the satellite company did so quickly.
I’d get rid of the satellite subscription (that the car company was successful in getting me to pay for) if HD radio were somewhat equivalent. But that would also require equipment to use at home.
Don’t forget: never watch “Play Misty for Me” before the overnight shift or you might be peeling yourself off the ceiling at the “bell” from the tele-type machine in the news room.
I blogged about “Play Misty For Me” a number of years ago, the most scary movie ever for a late night radio host. Thanks for that memory, Jerry!
I listened to Wolfman on XERF when I was in high school, and worked at a station in the `70s that aired his syndicated show. He was an inspiration to me. I knew I couldn’t be like him, but I enjoyed the music and being the only one in the building late at night. “Streaking” was popular in Colorado Springs in 1974–especially if you worked at the CHR station! I watched “American Graffiti” last week, and there is a celebration every year in Sonoma County because parts of the film were shot here. Radio will never be like that again, but it was a great time to break into the business.
Definitely, Mike. Thanks for the great stories.
This really moved me.
I’ve been lamenting the loss of the music radio big personality.
Nothing has changed about human nature, or the need for human intimate and immediate connections. Instead of a talent with a soul curating and discovering the cream of the crop, algorithms predict what you will like by spying on you through the rear view mirror.
Other industries have healthy evangelists promoting things they love for free. On YouTube a star product “DJ” can have huge followings. They are called “Influencers” and they get you excited about what’s cool very effectively.
But if I wanted to explore and promote groundbreaking songs and artists as an individual dj today I would be violated for copyright infringement on social media, or be a voice tracing board op playing the safest music a computer playlist can generate.
Surely radio is ready for a movement to compete once again on an artistic level of excellence. I see hot young people being themselves on Tik Tok every day. Those are your stars. Let them in the door. Give them a mission. Then step out of the way.
Cost isn’t the issue.
So true. Great personalities were the original influencers. Their opinions mattered and we trusted them.
No, cost is NOT the issue. It is willingness to let go, give up control, and let personalities be themselves. I love this comment, Bob. Thank you.
Naw, I prefer “Your number one station for hits from the 70s, 80s, 90s and today with our morning zoo, stunt-boy and worthless text to win contests. Stick around for Madonna”
Great piece, Fred. I was Wolfman’s last Program Director and I’ll tell you something else amazing about him…..He demanded feedback about his performance. I had arranged for a new partner / writer to join him – the talented Wes Johnson – to insert scripted live bits into the show, which he loved. He called me into his limo and informed me that it was high time for us to go over tape. I really couldn’t believe it…a true legend, who still thought he could improve. It’s a lesson for every talent. I miss him very much. Saw his former Manager, Lonnie Napier, in Nashville recently for the first time in decades…still at with Brooks & Dunn’s syndicated show. Big personality will always win.
Wow, and aircheck session with Wolfman Jack!
Thanks Mark!! Those were so great times!!
Thank YOU, Lonnie for all the good times. I hope to see you again sometime soon.
What memories! I had my own “I ain’t the Wolfman” moment. I was working by myself at a small AM that was being spun off by Cox. The station was carrying Westwood One’s Adult Standards format. A guy comes in and wants to leave something for morning man Jeff Rollins. I had to tell him that Jeff was not actually here, but in Denver (I think). I explained that a 250-watt station like ours couldn’t afford even one of these talented professionals. However, when 250 or so stations like ours pool their resources, we can bring these personalities to you, while we take care of your local news, weather and information” (I guess he bought it)
Wolfman’s autobiography, “Have Mercy” https://www.amazon.com/Have-Mercy-Confessions-Original-Animal/dp/0446517429, is a must-read for all radio pros and fans. In it, you’ll note that Wolfman was Robert Smith, General Manager by day at XERF and XERB. His story about taking partial possession of XERF involved the possibility of a long time in prison, “learning chain gang songs from the original artists”
Thanks for a great post!
Appreciate you adding to the stories, Brad.
I did not study in an academy to do radio. I learned to do it by imitating unforgettable radio personalities like the great Wolfman Jack, who inspired me for my radio career.
Living in Colombia, I asked my friends who traveled to the United States in the early 70s to record their “Midnight Special” on Betamax and VHS for me. When they returned, I gave myself a feast enjoying their show.
The lessons you mention in the article are not the only ones for me. His unique style, his outgoing personality, his distinctive howl, the joy he conveyed, the way he enjoyed presenting the artists, the magnetism he generated with the audience…many things to admire, real incentives for me to try to become a great radio personality as he was.
Obviously I can’t compare to his greatness, but his inspiration made me a better radio pro…
Thanks for the memory, Fred!
Love this comment, Tito. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Would you believe it there are those who still embrace bill Drake after all these years, he had his place in top40 radio title and artist and liner cards and talking no more than 10 secs won’t cut it if you want to be a Personality, neither will doing a morning zoo that talks endlessly about nothing and laughs at themselves, as if anyone cares. Whatever happened to entertaining the audience along with playing their favorite music? Where are the Dan Ingram’s, Larry lujack’s and yes even wolfman Jack’s?
Dear Doug,
I so appreciated your two opening humorous sentences starting with “Recognize this guy?” and ending with “AARP”.
Even more enlightening was your deep understanding of how George Lucas wanted both Wolfman and the American Graffiti soundtrack to be more than the thread-of-continuity from the beginning to the end of the film.
As you noted, “But it is Wolfman Jack who sets the tone for what radio, the music and the memories meant to kids who grew up in this era”.
George had personally selected all of the songs and strategically placed them to set up and comment on key scenes or bits of dialogue throughout the film. He also wanted Wolfman to insert already recorded conversations with his XERB radio audience that focused on an audience of one listener!
Your over-all perceptiveness of a fifty year old film was highly impressive!
Thank you.
Wolfman Jack and I were partners from October, 1969 to October, 1984 and we both worked with his lawyer Jake Bloom and Gary Kurtz his producer in early 1973 for several months to obtain clearances and music rights for what became a multi-platinum double album for George.
You nailed everything that attracted me to the business to begin with. But today’s version makes me glad I’m closer to the end than the start. Thanks for a great read.
And I so agree, Peter. The romance of the business in those days…the magic of the signal and the studios themselves. The piece Fred shared reminded me how important it is for all of us to be mentors, to help forward some of that magic into the present and future. And that radio and the people on it should strive to be bigger than life.
Good to hear from you, Bob. And you’re right about the mentoring piece – an important part of passing it on.
Hello again Fred! With the 50th anniversary of Oscar-winning American Graffiti, your subject is alive once again! A lot of the magic I got from your piece is also in yesterday’s story in the WSJ. Hope you are well. – Bob
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-wolfman-jack-launched-my-career-in-radio-4519b439?st=gtlf4tnzu1hevsw&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Bob, great story from a great public radio personality & journalist. Thanks for sharing.
I was 10 years old when I caught the radio bug in 1963 after visiting a radio station for the very first time with a grade school buddy who’s brother worked at WRUN, Utica, NY. Walking in the door I was in awe of the studio, the electronic “smell” the clattering teletype machine and the essence and aura of putting a voice and music through thin air. Only later I find out that the iconic DICK CLARK had begun his radio career there in the early 50’s! A decade later I was beginning a 50-year broadcasting career that took me to major markets like Phoenix, Baltimore and Indianapolis. I still have that passion on a daily satellite-Internet show on 55 Country radio affiliates. Maybe I’ll retire someday. For now, it’s still FUN.
Thanks for the great radio story, Jim.
As I was heading to Vietnam in 1969 we had to stop at Elmendorf airbase to refuel. As we started our approach to land I put my portable radio next to the window and I heard, loud and clear, the Wolfman on XERB. I grew up in the ’60’s listening to him and he was the last thing I heard before the final leg to Tan Son Nhut Air Base in RVN. My last connection to the world. Something I’ll never forget.
Thanks for this Fred. I think we all watched this again with a flutter in our hearts and maybe a lump in our throats at the line “I’m not a young man anymore…”
And what a superbly written and filmed scene, huh? The “board op” protects the mystery, and then when it’s all revealed for Curt and all of us,, through that small back angle window…wow! Every detail about how it was written, staged and filmed is perfect.
Personality is all but gone from radio, in this age of Spotify-like playlists, BOB FM, and tired DJs who open the mike once an hour. Management actually discourages announcers from saying too much about anything. Some folks say radio is dead, but if there is an event, tornado, earthquake, fire or hurricane you can bet your ass that everyone will be tuning in.
“American Graffiti” is my favourite movie, with Wolfman Jack as the unifying character. It was Harrison Ford’s first big role, but he actually made his screen debut in a bit part as a bellhop in “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round” (1966).
I once called Detroit’s Mickey Shorr a “Star Disc Jockey”. He looked me dead in the eye and said: ” No such thing as a Star ( laughing) Disc Jockey. “A Disc Jockey is nothin’ but an actor with a bad part”
Great line.
I was Wolfman‘s publicist through the 80s and also a huge fan. Like many young people who became DJs, I was inspired by Wolf when he was at XERF and I was a young teen in Oklahoma. The idea that radio is dying in mid-to-small markets, isn’t wrong. And it’s probably too late to go back in time and undo all the deregulation, consolidation, shareholder, greed, and poor management from the top down. Sure, I know the media landscape has changed dramatically to say the least. But there’s still a place for radio that entertains and talks directly to each listener one-on-one. Local and live, is it still possible across the landscape of America?
Dan, the romantic in me says “maybe yes.” The realist worries that ship has sailed. But as the post suggests (and “Enter Sandbox” does as well), we won’t know if we don’t try. Appreciate the comment, and the Wolfman insight.
I started listening to AM and than FM radio in the late 1960s.Much of the magic was evident in the hosts and DJs in that time,but as time has passed,the magic has gone away. Stiff formats,automation and station ownership consolation were responsible for most of the losses seen in the industry.
I don’t listen to very much commercial radio as it sounds cold and useless.I listen more to public radio now as those stations carry the music I love,jazz and classical.That along with informative public affairs programs make it the place to be.The hosts show themselves to be knowledgeable on the topics and music they present.
The bottom line for me is these stations have the content people want to hear.Just like Wolfman Jack of the past,the hosts bring content in a form people want to hear.
There is still enough variation in radio up and down the AM and FM dials to satisfy a variety of tastes. But I wish we addressed more of them – especially those under 25 and those over 54. Thanks for chiming in on this.
I was privileged to have been able to sit in a radio studio while Wolfman Jack worked his magic ca. 1976. I was living in Tokyo at the time and was a greenhorn disc jockey for a cable radio station, still very much wet behind the ears. Wolfman was visiting Tokyo at the invitation of Pioneer Electronics, who had just signed him to an endorsement deal for Pioneer’s domestic Japan sales. While there, someone had arranged for him to host a special edition of “All Night Nippon” on TBS … midnight to maybe three or four a.m. … taking requests from his Japanese fans. (He had had a nightly show already for a few years heard throughout the country broadcast on AFRTS’ Far East Network, and his “American Graffiti” appearance just made his presence that much more known.)
I wasn’t the only person in the studio; there were perhaps a dozen of us sitting on the floor in a semicircle around the board. At the end of the show, he very graciously stayed on to sign autographs for everyone. Mine reads “Ain’t life grand!” I mentioned I was just beginning my radio trip and did he have any career advice for a young’n like me? “Never turn down a gig, man.”
I never did.
Steve, what a great story. I wish I had the pleasure to say I met him. Thanks for sharing.
Both your article and the comments are spot-on. My love of radio and the great talents was born in the sixties and seventies but limited talent and maturity kept me from pursuing a career as a DJ. I was, however, blessed to get the chance to be a part-timer in the late eighties and now, thirty plus years later, I am working with an online “station”, and am free to program my own music from my own database and have created an imaginary studio inside our imaginary employee cafeteria and run by our imaginary lunch lady. There are limitations and a minor stroke continues to hamper my spontaneity but the spirits of the Wolfman and many other truly great DJ’s are right there with me in everything I do,
Steve, that’s the way to do it. Appreciate you sharing the story.