Known as “Smilin’ Jack,” the Rochester native joined WBBF (950 AM) in the late 1950s and was the morning deejay there until 1978. Then, he helped revolutionize local FM radio as part of an ownership group that bought WVOR (100.5 FM) and turned it into the top station in town.
As an emcee, Palvino introduced to Rochester audiences everyone from Ronald Reagan to Mickey Mantle. He once had a private concert by the Beach Boys before the band was given the OK to go onstage here.
The radio career wouldn’t have happened if his parents — who wanted him to become a lawyer — had their way. Palvino was attending law school at the University at Buffalo when the radio bug bit.
“I was in the law library on a Saturday night, looking up legal cases,” he said from his Rochester home in late December. “All my radio friends …were having a wonderful time heading off to a ‘record hop.’ I thought, ‘I belong with them. I love radio.’ And I still do.”
Convincing his parents wasn’t easy. His brother, Larry, himself a lawyer, helped break the news.
WBBF: January 11, 1967. Part I.
“They were about ready to shoot me,” Palvino said with a laugh. “But they said, ‘If you really want to join the crazy world of radio, we’ll support you.’ Rock and roll was just hitting at the time.”The first stop was at WSAY, a station that used to operate at 1370 AM. Palvino performed under various on-air names like “Jerry Jack,” “Mac Maguire” and “Tommy Thomas.” All the deejays did the same, Palvino said. The station owner wanted the deejays to be interchangeable, in case someone didn’t show up or one of the deejays moved on.
He got hired at WGVA in Geneva and worked there until WBBF called in 1958. AM radio dominated the airwaves, and WBBF was Rochester’s most popular station.
“BBF was bigger than life, this little 1,000-watt station,” Palvino said. “BBF played Top 40 in a tight rotation, 24 hours a day, pumping out the top music.”
Jack Palvino is seen last month in his Rochester home.
“Palvino in the Morning” became huge with its comedy edge. Don Ariano, the show’s longtime engineer, recorded one-liners from comedians like Jonathan Winters and Don Rickles and tried to crack Palvino up.
WBBF: January 11, 1967. Part II.
“He threw ’em at me at 6 in the morning. He kept me on my toes,” Palvino said.The music legends he met include Ray Charles, the Supremes and perhaps most memorably, Jimi Hendrix. Palvino was on the air when President Kennedy was killed. The station manager, Bob Kieve, immediately switched to classical music, and for the next three days, Palvino said, WBBF played no commercials, just somber music.
Most of the time was much more upbeat. Palvino referred to radio as “Theater of the Mind,” and his morning show included bits like “The Last Contest” and promotions like “The Chicken Man.”
Palvino joined WVOR shortly after he left WBBF in December 1978. As part of the station’s ownership team, the Lincoln Group, he served as vice president/general manager but went back on the air as the morning man before long.
“I was the cheapest option we could find,” he said with a chuckle. He wound up doing that for several years until signing off for good to concentrate on the behind-the-scenes business.
FM radio in the late 1970s was primarily limited to niche musical formats, Palvino said. WVOR officials chose to become “a full-fledged AM (style) station with news, business reports and live personalities on the air 24 hours a day,” Palvino wrote in his book, On the Air/My Life in Radio.
The format worked and WVOR moved to the top of the radio ratings.
“We transplanted AM features to the FM dial,” Palvino said. “Then, people followed us, big time.”
During his career, Palvino met plenty of VIPs, including several presidents. Jimmy Carter was a guest on the morning show in 1977 and requested an Allman Brothers tune. Ronald Reagan was campaigning for re-election in 1984; Palvino introduced him at a rally at the War Memorial and remembered Reagan as “ramrod straight, good posture.” George H.W. Bush was at a fundraiser at the Burgundy Basin Inn and told Palvino, “Never forget, this is the greatest country in the world.”
The Lincoln Group eventually owned several other stations, including WHAM (1180 AM), before it was sold in 1997.
Palvino remains heavily involved with St. John Fisher College. The college created the Jack Palvino Communication/Journalism Hall of Fame in his honor, and Palvino established a scholarship that aids two communication/journalism students each year.
He was elected to the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2015, and to the Rochester Music Hall of Fame in 2013.
As of 2016, Palvino and his wife, Joyce, have been married 55 years. The family includes three children and eight grandchildren. The “crazy world of radio” that his parents feared turned out pretty well.
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