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.