If you never heard of Jerry Williams, then you missed something. Jerry Williams was one of, if not THE pioneering talk show host in the early days of the format. More popular in Boston than Bob Grant was in New York City, often more controversial than the news which surrounded him, Jerry Williams enjoyed a career that spanned over 50 years – just about all of that as a talk show host and most of it at a time when Rock & Roll was the hottest thing on the AM dial.
More about Jerry in a moment.
Jordan Rich is a talk show host in a special category of his own. Rich is a voiceover talent lending his voice to thousands of commercials and other projects. Rich was heard on the morning show on WRKO back when the station played music, where he was co-host to the great Charlie Van Dyke (and often was heard doing the weather “direct from the National Weather Service”). He also hosted morning drive on WSSH 99.5 Lowell from 1982-1996 before moving to WBZ in October of ’96, taking over for Norm Nathan who passed away earlier that month.
SOURCE: Wikipedia (//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Rich)
This is the Jordan Rich Show on WBZ. This came in with no date whatsoever, and so I was left trying to guess when this was recorded. Judging by the quick comment in context spoken by Jordan Rich about Osama Bin Ladin, this, presumably, was recorded sometime between 9/11/2001 and Jerry Williams’ death on April 29, 2003. Sometime in ’02, perhaps? Someone out there knows for sure.
Jerry Williams was heard on WBZ from 1968-1976, and concurrently on WBZ-TV 4 1968-1969, then from 1981-1998 he was on WRKO as one of the original “Talk Masters” on WRKO’s new Talk Radio format… it’s here, in the 1990s, where a much younger Howie Carr was invited by Williams to talk about the controversial seat belt law – as Carr was a columnist at the Boston Globe. Eventually, Carr went on to take over Jerry William’s program, and then it would be syndicated as it is today. But that’s a different story.
View this aircheck from our Official Airchexx Classic Radio YouTube Channel (below)
Often, when someone invites a guest who used to be in the business to come on his/her show, they come in, talk about old times and sometimes things can get boring. Not here! Jerry Williams is sharp as a tack and remembers his callers names! In a number of cases, the callers pick up whatever subject they last talked with Williams about right where they left off! It’s a very exciting almost 1 hour of the Jordan Rich show, but it’s really just an hour of Jerry Williams interacting with callers as he did all the years he was heard in drive time.
So, if you never heard of Jerry Wiliams, you’ll really want to listen!
About the Contributor
David Boucher is known for his nights on WMJX “Magic 106.7” Boston. He has made numerous recordings of Boston and the surrounding smaller market stations and has decided to share what he has with us.
