Joe O'Brien

Joe O'Brien is a legend in New York radio. Originally from Yonkers NY, Joe was an aspiring actor when he answered a help wanted ad requesting radio announcers at the age of 19. He was hired to work for a wire service (known as "Teleflash") that delivered race results.

Joe's job was to make this service sound like a radio station in between race results so he played some music and did some talking. A horse racing fan named Bob Carter who worked for WMCA heard Joe and offered him a job at WMCA in 1936 as a sports announcer.

Joe and the original Good Guys

During World War II he served as Chief of Production for the Armed Forces Radio Network. Back to WMCA, he moved to mornings as part of the team Gallagher and O'Brien. He briefly moved to afternoons at WMCA just before the Good Guy era when Roger Gallagher left the station. Joe returned to mornings in 1960 and remained at the station through the Good Guy Era and became one of New York's most recognized morning radio personalities. He always had a joke ready. and he created one of New York's best known radio side kicks named "Benny".

Here's Joe and "Benny" at WMCA on February 24, 1965.[ LISTEN ]

Benny was created by Joe when 45 rpm acetate records came in. Joe recorded Benny at 33 1/3 and played it back at 45 rpm to create a high sounding voice for his wise cracking sidekick.

WMCA February 24, 1965

In the beginning it was difficult for the engineers to handle since the playback was on a record with the needle in just the right spot on the acetate disk. As Joe pointed out, the trick was not so much in the technology to create the effect as it was in using it in just the right way in just the right places. It took a fair amount of effort and organization to make Benny work.

Joe left WMCA in 1968 to become the morning air personality for competitor WNBC. He remained there for three years. He then did some fill in work for WHN and even some fill work doing talk back at WMCA for a short while.

Then, in what has to be one of the most intelligent decisions ever made by a radio station living in the shadows of New York City, Joe was hired by WHUD-FM in Peekskill, New York to become its morning air personality. He started there on February 14, 1972.

This was a stroke of genius because WHUD had just gone on the air as a separate station from its AM sister station WLNA. His arrival created instant credibility for the new station. With Joe at the helm for the next 14 years it grew into a tremendously successful FM suburban radio station with a fifty thousand watt signal heard clearly in New York City. Joe retired in 1986 and WHUD, having learned the power of having a "Good Guy" in mornings, hired Joe's good guy friend Ed Baer to take his place. Joe happily retired in upstate New York, but he still managed doing a once a week Sunday morning show for WHUD.

Joe O’Brien died July 24, 2005 in a car accident in Lenox, Massachusetts. He was 90 and left behind an unmatched radio legacy, and untold numbers of fans and admirers.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Musc Radio 77.