Tom Shannon

They say "the sun never sets on the Shannon empire." And for half a century in radio and TV, that was certainly true.

Shannon started at the old WXRA in 1955 while still a student at Bishop Ryan High School. His big break came in 1957 when he was hired by 50,000-watt WKBW in the days of the Hound Dog, KB Cook, The Clock Watcher, and Spotlight Serenade. When the station went rock and roll in 1958, Tommy would dominate western New York, along with a multitude of other states.

Tom at WKBW on July 25, 1961
[ Part 1 ] and [ 2 ]

He was a member of the staff that included Perry Allen, Russ "the Moose" Syracuse, Art Roberts and Dick Biondi along with Jack Kelly. In later years Tommy would also work with the like of Gene Nelson, Danny Neaverth, Sandy Beach, Jim Pastrick, Tom Donahue, John Summers, Hank Nevins, Bob Christian, Jim Flynn, Jack Armstrong, Irv Weinstein, and Bob Diamond.

It was also at KB, that Shannon teamed with Phil Todaro to write "Wild Weekend." A local group called the Rebels recorded the instrumental version, and it became a Top 10 hit.

Tom explains his theme song and subsequent recording of Wild Weekend.

After a short stint at WGR-AM in 1963, Tommy moved to the Motor City in 1964 and took a job at CKLW, another 50,000-watt AM monster with a vast audience, in Windsor, Ontario, near Detroit, where he established himself as one of the area's top night-time jocks during his five-year stay (1964-1969).

CKLW July 28, 1965 [ LISTEN ] (21:16)

CKLW August, 1965 [ LISTEN ] (5:47)

The physical station was in Windsor, Ontario, Canada (just a mile across the river from Detroit) and it was #1 in Detroit, Toledo, Ohio huge in Cleveland, Ohio and another long list of states at night. His work there won him the 1968 Bill Gavin Award, given to the nation's top disc jockey in the years before the Billboard magazine awards were established. He also did a morning show at WXYZ-TV in Detroit.

In 1969, Shannon moved to WXYZ radio in Detroit, then in 1972 it was on to Denver for TV work at KWGN-TV and radio at KHOW and KLZ. Shannon returned to 'CK in 1975, moving across the river to WTWR Detroit in 1980. He was back in Buffalo in 1982, with his outstanding Pure Gold midday show on WKBW.

Returning to Detroit in 1986 at WMJC, Shannon came back to Buffalo for a brief stay as WGR's morning man in 1988. But in 1989, he was back in Windsor-Detroit at CKLW-FM.

In 1993, Tom returned to his TV roots at the Shop at Home network in Tennessee before coming back to Buffalo in 1997. Tom spent eight years in afternoon drive at WHTT-FM (Oldies 104) before retiring from a full-time shift on March 13, 2005. He continued with the station doing special features.

He is a member of the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame and Buffalo Music Hall of Fame.

WHERE DID TOM WORK? Here is the list: WXRA, WKBW, WGR, CKLW, WXYZ, WTWR, and WHTT.

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