WMCA Good Guys

“Good guys, playing for you, We’re more laughs than a trip to the zoo
Here where the fun never quits, Dial us good guys first with the hits”

During the 60s, New York Top 40 radio station WMCA employed a lineup of DJs known as the ‘WMCA Good Guys’, including Joe O’Brien, Harry Harrison, Jack Spector (whose closing line was “Look out street, here I come!”), “Dandy Dan” Daniel, a lanky, smooth-talking Texan who presented a daily countdown, Gary Stevens and his “Wooleyburger” bear, B. Mitchel Reed – “BMR, Your Leader” Reed, and Dean Anthony.

In December 1963, Jack Spector earned the distinction of being the first New York City DJ to play The Beatles‘ single I Want to Hold Your Hand.

The WMCA Good Guys subsequently enjoyed a close relationship with the Fab Four during their US tour.

The Good Guys had the same clean-cut hairstyles, wore matching suits and worked together at record hops and personal appearances. They also sang as a group and released an album.

The station’s yellow “Good Guys” sweatshirts became highly sought after, and many British Invasion groups were photographed wearing them.

B Mitchel Reed (pictured) died from a heart condition on 16 March 1983 at the age of 56. Jack Spector died from a heart attack in March 1994 at the age of 65. Joe O’Brien was killed in a car crash in July 2005, aged 90.

Dan Daniel died on 21 June 2016, after falling in his home. He was 81. Harry Harrison died on 28 January 2020 at his home in Westwood, New Jersey, aged 89.