George Oxford

A true Son of the South, Jumpin' George Oxford spun rhythm and blues platters — what many called "race records" back in the day — and targeted the local black audience. With his smooth, deep Southern drawl and hip patter, many listeners automatically assumed that G.O. was black. Indeed, he wasn't.

Jumpin' George and KSAN were pioneers in broadcasting to the black audience in the Bay Area, along with Oakland's KWBR, which later became KDIA. Until the mid-1950s, the relative handful of stations on the air locally devoted little time to "ethnic" programming of any kind, with the exception of KSAN and KWBR, which also broadcast programs intended for the Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, German and Japanese communities.

After working at both KWBR and KSAN in the 1950s, George Oxford moved to KDIA as its morning man. In the Summer of 1966, near the end of his career, he was moved to a part-time weekend position at the station.

The original KSAN, not to be confused with the local FM stations that have used the same call letters more recently, was born in June 1925 as KGTT. In 1929, it became KGGC and, in 1938, it became the first local station to use the KSAN call letters — again, not to be confused with the local FM stations that have used the same call letters more recently. In 1958, KSAN switched to a fulltime rhythm and blues music format, targeting black listeners in the Bay Area, the first station on the local dial to broadcast R&B around the clock.

George at KDIA in San Francisco on Friday, February 22, 1963. [ LISTEN ] (10:28)

You may be familiar with the re-creation of a KSAN Jumpin' George Oxford show from '55 on the CRUISIN' 1955 LP. THIS is the real thing, recorded off-the-air in '63 when G.O. was the morning host on 1310 KDIA.

By this date, Oxford was no longer using the "Jumpin'" monicker, having lost the right to do so in a dispute with former employer KSAN. [ LISTEN ] to the CRUISIN' LP version. (32:47)

On July 3, 1964, KSAN was sold to John F. (Les) Malloy and Delmor A. (Del) Courtney, two well-known San Francisco radio and television personalities; Les Malloy was for many years a star on local radio and had hosted a popular TV talk show on KGO in the 1950s, while Del Courtney found fame as a bandleader and personality on KSFO. With Malloy as president and general manager, KSAN became KSOL on its first day under new ownership, hoping to better emphasize its "Soul Radio" format, which it continued until September 1970.

DIX VS. OXFORD

Here's what all the fuss was about. Mike Dix as Jumpin' George on KSAN in June/July 1963. [ LISTEN ] (34:22)

Newspaper articles, from the March 30, 1960, and May 27, 1960 (left), editions of the Oakland Tribune, reported on the lawsuit filed by Golden Gate Broadcasting, owners of San Francisco's KSAN (1450 AM), against Oakland's KDIA (1310 AM) and George Oxford to stop the venerable disc jockey from using the well-known "Jumpin' George" nickname on the air.

According to the March 30 article, KSAN had obtained a temporary restraining order one day earlier barring Oxford from identifying himself on KDIA's air as "Jumpin'." The complaint noted that Oxford had been hired by KDIA on January 26, 1960, despite being under contract to KSAN.

As detailed in the May 27 article, the suit was resolved when Judge Joseph W. Murphy accepted an agreement between the two stations that allowed Oxford to legally work at KDIA beginning on July 1, 1960, but barred him from using either "Jumpin'" or "Ole" as part of his air name. More surprisingly, the agreement stopped Oxford from using his signature sign-off — "I love everybody ... especially you, baby" — on the air until after January 1, 1961.

As a result of KSAN retaining the "Jumpin' George" moniker, the station chose to hire a new morning personality, Mike Dix, who went on the air under that name. Another revelation comes in the final paragraph of the earlier article, which notes the $200,000 "payola" lawsuit filed on March 28 by KSAN against Oxford and twenty unnamed record distributing and manufacturing companies. The suit charged that Oxford had "plugged" records on KSAN's air time in exchange for payments from the record companies. This suit was covered in more detail by the Tribune in an article published in the March 29, 1960 edition.

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Coyote McCloud

Born William Lehmann on August 31, 1942, Coyote McCloud was a popular radio disc jockey in Nashville, Tennessee. For over 30 years, he was a drive-time personality at several Nashville radio stations.

He first became well known in the early 1970s on WMAK-AM, then a market-dominant rock and roll station, as host of its 7 p.m.–midnight program. He was called "legendary" among fellow DJs. Later, McCloud became one of the most controversial deejays of the late 1980s when he was the lead man on "The Zoo Crew" on Nashville's Y107 (WYHY).

Early in his career, he was an afternoon drive personality at WGOW-AM (owned by Ted Turner) in Chattanooga, using the name Bill Scott.

Coyote rockin' on WQXI in 1976. McCloud literally shook the transmitters when he broadcast his Top 40 show. [ LISTEN ] (58:51)

In 1976, his recording of "Nitty Gritty Rock and Roll" was released as 45 rpm record on the Midland South label, distributed by RCA. The song included the catch-phrases he used as a nighttime deejay on WQXI "Quixie" in Atlanta.

Your official fan club card! Where is Teri Zaleski now?

While enormously popular amongst his target demographic, his outlandish on-air personality drew the ire of many within the community as being a "bad influence" on teenagers. He was one of the subjects of a CBS 48 Hours documentary in 1992 about "shock radio". McCloud enjoyed his highest level of popularity while working for Y107, and had his own fan club. He worked at the station for over 10 years, from 1984 to 1995. McCloud was featured frequently in Billboard Magazine.

Early in 1983 while hosting the morning show at Kix 104, McCloud was selected by Country Music Television network founders Glenn D. Daniels and co-founder G. Dean Daniels to be the first on-air "voice" of the network. When CMT (originally called "CMTV") launched on March 5, 1983, McCloud provided the first vocal announcement heard on the network under an animated "CMTV" logo with the words, "You're Watching CMTV...Country Music Television...in stereo." He remained the on-air "voice" of the network from 1983 through 1984.

McCloud also worked at Kix 104 (WWKX) in the early 1980s, Power Country 103 (WZPC) in the mid-1990s, and Oldies 96.3 (WMAK) in the early 2000s. Along with Cathy Martindale, he hosted Coyote & Cathy In The Morning on 96.3 (WMAK FM) and 97.1 WRQQ until late November 2006.

In 1984, McCloud, also a sometime songwriter, wrote a song entitled "Where's the Beef?" as a promotion for Wendy's restaurants' famous advertising campaign featuring Clara Peller.

Listen to "WHERE'S THE BEEF?" with Coyote McCloud and Clara Penner.

McCloud retired from radio after his "Coyote and Cathy In The Morning" show on WMAK-FM and WROQ ended in 2006. He passed away of cirrhosis of the liver on April 6, 2011, aged 68.

Coyote at WMAK Nashville with one of the last radio interviews of Jim Croce. Audio courtesy of Programmers Digest 1973.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Rock Radio Scrapbook.

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Pete Myers

“The Mad Daddy”

Pete Myers (aka “The Mad Daddy”) was the wildest Disc Jockey from America’s golden age of Rock & Roll radio – a cat who drove around in a pink Pontiac wearing a Dracula cape and ‘Batty Bucks’ (bat-winged sneakers).

The greatest scientist of the 20th Century, Albert Einstein, was estimated to have had an IQ of 160. Pete Myers boasted an IQ of 172. The difference though, is that Einstein used his flabbergasting grey matter to quantify the theory of relativity while the mentally superior Myers spent his intellect inventing hepcat teenspeak like “zoomeratin'”, “atom-smashin'”, “wavy gravy” and “mello jello”.

Myers was first and foremost a failed thespian (studying at one time at RADA in London), though whatever acting ability he possessed definitely aided him as a broadcaster.

During a stint in the US Army, he convinced the North Korean enemy that they were about to be attacked by a giant sea monster with a frighteningly convincing ‘Mayday!’ transmission.

It was prankster tendencies like these which were to serve him well when making the transition to commercial radio upon his Army discharge. His ghoulishly brilliant ‘Mad Daddy’ first appeared on Cleveland’s WHK in 1958.

Mad Daddy on WHK in Cleveland on November 11, 1958. [ LISTEN ] (58:28)

Working without a script, Myers’ cackling, express-paced banter between hot waxings from the likes of Link Wray and Howlin’ Wolf was like listening to verbal diarrhoea being spun into poetic gold.

A Gillette razor commercial Mad Daddy style.

These ingenious, effects-drenched rhymes (“roopity doopity skippity flop!”), skits about “winky blinky juice”, screwball dedications (“howdy doody little stinkers!”) and bizarre advertisements for his show’s sponsors were all completely improvised.

Sadly, Myers’ talents were hindered by a professional restlessness and the constant nagging of bigger, frustrated ambitions.

WJW Cleveland
January 4, 1958

An attempt to break into television – presenting a late-night horror show – failed; his insistence on being filmed upside down like a bat hanging from the ceiling proved just too weird for audiences to stomach.

When he broke his radio contract by signing a deal with a rival station, The Mad Daddy was served with an injunction banning him from the airwaves for three months.

Desperate to stay in the public eye, he retaliated by parachuting into a lake dressed as Zorro.

WHK Cleveland
June 25, 1959

He had travelled cross-country from KCBQ San Diego where he was struggling to find work as an actor. He moved his rhyming, fast-paced patter to WJW Cleveland in 1958 then zipped over to cross-town rival WHK later that year for twice the money. Myers moved to New York in 1959 but his manic antics and spooky laugh did not play well at WNEW. He lasted exactly one shift at staid old 'NEW as Mad Daddy but continued there as "lovable, laughable Pete Meyers." He revived his Mad Daddy persona in WINS from 1963 until the station went to an all-news format in 1965.

Myers, an excellent middle-of-the-road announcer in his own right, returned to that style at WNEW-AM from 1965 to 1968. Tragically, and without warning, he shot himself to death on October 4, 1968. The New York Times reported that a note was found near his body saying Myers was despondent about his shift moving from afternoons to evenings.

Myers named his own place and price, but its promise of fame and fortune was never fulfilled. Though a major pioneer in radio and rock history and one of the great radio gurus of both the '50s and '60s rebellious youth cultures, Myers' name is no hip household word; you won't find it in Gene Sculati's Encyclopedia of Cool.

Myers was a bonafide genius, a notably brilliant artist whose pure vision collided violently with his desire for material success - an irreconcilable conflict. In 1959, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts graduate, originator of a nationally broadcast style, used his immense talents to hew a lucrative radio market from local youth's alienation and boredom. He was Cleveland radio's prodigal son.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Rock Radio Scrapbook.

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