Some loved the lifestyle and made overnights their brand. WJR’s Jay Roberts was one of the most famous, helping listeners drift off to sleep for over two decades as the captain of “Nightflight 760”. So when Keener DJ Bill Phillips left the overnight shift open at Keener 13 in mid-1965, Frank Maruca, station program director for WKNR at that time, promptly filled the void. He knew who to call. He made the call for Jim Jeffries from sister-station WKFR “Keener 14” in Battle Creek, Michigan.
These were the night owls who worked the third shift at Ford, patrolled Dearborn’s streets from behind the wheel of American made police cruisers, baked Silvercup Bread and brewed Stroh’s beer. These were the countless security guards who kept watch over Hudson’s, Federal’s, Cobo Hall and Olympia, and the union jacks who delivered Motown’s newspapers from the presses to the hundreds of street corners where young boys and girls piled them onto bicycles to prepare a slowly awakening Motor City for the new day.
The station is WKNR and the jock is Jim Jeffries on May 31, 1965. [ LISTEN ]
This was Jim Jeffries domain. For the bulk of WKNR’s brief prime, he sat behind the controls, the solitary human presence at 15001 Michigan Avenue, and entertained his unique and demanding audience.
While doing the overnight 1AM to 6AM shift, Jim's popularity rose to prominence at WKNR. Jim connected well with his audience with his blend of personality, humor, exuberance and warmth. The Jeffries brand soon became the overnight sensation during his entire radio stay in Detroit. By mid-1966, arbitrarily, Jeffries became the most listened to deejay doing the all-night show in Detroit at the time.
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The show was, of course, different than what listeners heard during other parts of the day. The intensity was turned down a notch, and people would hear a bit larger swath of music than was typically found on the tight 31 song WKNR Music Guide. But all the rest of the Keener magic was there. The contests, the promos, and the personal relationship that still puts WKNR in a special place in everyone's memory.
But before the end of 1967, Jim Jeffries would set sail for newer horizons outside of Detroit. This time he was offered a ‘prime-time’ radio slot for another radio market outside of Michigan. Keener newsman Bob Neal, along with Keener DJ Bob Harper, would soon follow Jim Jeffries down to WQXI in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Even though our shifts and schedules only allowed for minimal day to day contact (beyond regular DJ meetings) , Jim was one of a very tight fraternity,” remembers long time WKNR program director Bob Green, “And whether you happened to be a listener or an insider, there was no question that Jim enjoyed what he did. That element of ‘fun’, so much a part of what made Keener special, was highly evident… from the man and from his on air presence.”
Jeffries c.1965Later, like many others in the trade, Jim became a promoter for the record companies that plied their product to music directors in hundreds of markets.
MinnieHe was head of Epic and Associated Labels Promotion in the mid 70’s. He had hits with Dan Fogelberg ‘Part Of The Plan’, Minnie Riperton ‘Loving You’, Michael Murphey ‘Wildfire’, Lou Rawls ‘You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine’ and the Isley Brothers’ ‘Who’s That Lady’. Jim also contributed to the success of Philadelphia International artists like the O’Jays and Harold Melvin and The Bluenotes success.
Keener’s Scott Regen remembers Jim as a kind heart. He recollected, “I was just thinking, radio made each of us, the station staff and the audience, a family. It happened in a way that did not, could not exist before the electronic age. We were the players on that electronic stage. That, I think, was and still is what radio can do best: bring people together in a common purpose .”
To Jim Jeffries, family was the most important dimension of life. The itinerant broadcasting road game often made it hard to sustain a long term relationship. Not so for Jim Jeffries. He found true love with his bride Debbie and together, they built a family over a 32 year marriage that ended only when he left suddenly, at age 66.
Jim Jeffries will always be remembered, along with Dick Purtain, Mort Crowly, Swingin Sweeney, Ted Clark, Jerry Goodwin, Bob Green, Gary Stevens, Scott Regen and J. Michael Wilson as the greatest of the Keener Key Men of Music.
Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Motor City Radio Flashbacks.
