Wolfman Jack

1 9 3 9 – 1 9 9 5

With the on-air cool of Alan Freed and the smokestack growl of Howlin’ Wolf, Robert Weston Smith – a young white man born in Brooklyn in January 1938 – remade himself as DJ legend Wolfman Jack.

Broadcasting from super-power Mexican transmitters from 1958 to 1966, Jack covered the US with his lawless mix of blues, rock & roll, R&B and jazz, punctuated by hip growls and howls.

More than any other radio presenter, Wolfman Jack created the role of the ‘personality’ DJ with his instantly distinctive, exaggeratedly raspy, piercing voice and pumped-up between-song chat, which were as crucial to his program’s appeal as the heady musical mix he beamed across America at a time when such music was hard to find on the radio.

His eclectic tastes were not popular with everyone – the Ku Klux Klan is reported to have planted a burning cross outside his house, which perhaps encouraged his anonymity and the move to Mexico.

The Wolfman’s mysterious identity was ultimately revealed in the movie American Graffiti (1973), in which he appeared as himself.

The Midnight Special was the first American television series to feature live rock-and-roll performances (as opposed to lip-synching and miming).

The Wolfman convinced the producer that he was the person who could coax the best possible live television performance by the guest-star musicians. And so Wolfman Jack appeared on more than 400 episodes of The Midnight Special.

He subsequently appeared in several films, including A Session with the Committee (1969), The Seven Minutes (1971), Deadman’s Curve (TV) (1978), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), Hanging on a Star (1978), More American Graffiti (1979), Motel Hell (1980), Galactica 1980 (1980), Mortuary Academy (1988), and Midnight (1989).

Canada’s CBC network signed the Wolfman to front a musical variety series titled The Wolfman Jack Show. Wolfman Jack then returned to California to focus on his syndicated radio show, which was broadcast on KRLA-Pasadena from 1984 to 1987.

His other television appearances included The Odd Couple (1975), Emergency! (1975), What’s Happening!! (1976), Police Story (1978), Vega$ (1980), Wonder Woman (1978), The Hollywood Squares (1979), Wolf Rock TV (1984), Swamp Thing (1992), Married . . . With Children (1995), and more.

He also provided voiceovers for Garfield in Paradise and Garfield and Friends (1986), and The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang series (1980).

In the 1980s, he did a brief stint at XEROK 80, then went to Y95 in Dallas, Texas. From 1975 to 1980, he hosted the annual “Halloween Haunt” event at Knott’s Berry Farm. It was the most successful special event of any theme park in the country, and often sold out.

Wolfman Jack died of a massive heart attack on 1 July 1995 at his home in Belvedere, North Carolina.