Wolfman Jack, 66 WNBC New York //First Show | August, 1973

Wolfman Jack at WNBC, 1970s
Making one of those rare memorable appearances where you actually hear the Wolfman say the station call letters, here’s the late, great Wolfman Jack, allegedly on his first show at WNBC New York!

By this time in Wolfman’s career, he was in great demand and making appearances at stations all over the country. If this IS indeed his ‘first’ show at WNBC, it was one that would last for quite a while, replaced by crosstown WABC Jock Cousin Bruce Morrow a few years later. (an interesting side note, “Battlestar Galactica 1980” would feature an episode where the Cylons befriend the Wolfman and get invited to ‘WNBC”‘s studios – because the Cylons needed a high powered transmitter to tell the Cylon fleet where Earth is so they can come and invade. Only, truth is, the clip is actually made in the sister FM studio (WYNY)!)


Watch the episode with Wolfman Jack… in parts)

13 Comments

  1. mike hotaling

    WNBC the strongest NYC signal upstate almost local. Does anyone know how Imus and Wolfman did in thier individual dayparts verses WABC? I know mon-sun 12+ it was not even close, im curious if star power had any impact at all?

  2. Nick

    This aircheck was actually from August of ’73. It’s interesting, on one hand you had Wolfman and Imus. And on the other hand you had Big Wilson in middays.

  3. calradiopd

    Imus had great ratings (and better 18-49 demos than WABC). Wolf got killed by Cousin Brucie.

  4. Mr C

    “Killed”..I doubt it. Wolfman was quickly becoming a millionaire & this was just another gig. He spread himself thin, but NY loved all that old corny stuff, all the WABC jocks besides the afternoon guy were pretty lame and very old. Brucie was flat out bad.

  5. Nick

    I agree with you about the corny factor, but let’s not overrate Wolfman. While there is quite a bit of excitement, and more dynamics than I expected, to this aircheck, Wolfman is hardly the antythesis of corny. Now, had the subject in question been someone like a Lary Lujack, then you could criticize New Yorkers for leaning on their nostalgic favorites. Plus, someone like a Walt Baby Love had much of the excitement of a Waolfman without all the gymicky stuff which got old in a hurry. That said, I remember being excited about his arrival and this aircheck holds up well.

  6. Calradiopd

    Mr. C: No room for doubt…Wolf got crushed by Brucie bad enough that it was over in a year…and WNBC replaced him with Brucie.

    That didn’t last long either, as most of Brucie’s fans stayed loyal to WABC.

  7. jim

    hi i just got the cd in the mail cant wait to listen wolfman sings or tries its called wolfman and the wolfpack order from grammercy.com thanks jb

  8. hi check out his autobiography have mercy never get sick of reading it ahhhhhhhhhhh

    • Gary Kerns

      Do you mean “Have Mercy!”? I read that book cover-to-cover in early ’97.

  9. Gary Kerns

    I started listening to the Wolfman when I was 11 (I’m 51 now). I heard him on his syndicated radio show. I really miss WNBC and “The Time Machine”.

  10. Gary Kerns

    Another thing. I got a copy of his book “Have Mercy!” in either late ’96 or early ’97. I highly recommend it.

  11. Gary Kerns

    Check out “Brother Louie” at 8:00. When it came out in ’73, I could’ve sworn it was an African-American woman doing the vocals. Not much later on, however, I learned it was a white man (namely Ian Lloyd).

  12. Gary Kerns

    At 12:41, “Little Darlin” segued into a WNBC “Crocodile Rock” jingle. Seems to me “Crocodile Rock” could be described as a psychedelic version of “Little Darlin”. Sir Elton himself said it had elements of that, plus Neil Sedaka’s “Oh, Carol” and some other stuff.

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