Updated 04-May-2020.
Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about WOLFMAN JACK!
The family of Wolfman Jack, who died July 1 at age 57, is planning a park and museum in his honor that will pay tribute to legends of rock, blues and country music, said his wife, Lou Smith.
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: Robert Weston Smith, known as Wolfman Jack, was an American disc jockey . famous for his gravelly voice, he credited it for his success . he lived on 12th and 4th streets and went to his parents divorced while he was a child . to help keep him out of trouble, his father bought him a large trans-oceanic radio . Smith became an avid fan of R&b music and the disc Disc jockey Alan freed originally called himself the “Moon Dog” after street musician Moondog . freed used a recorded howl to give his early broadcasts a unique character . in 1963, Smith took his act to the border when the inter-American radio advertising’s Ramon Bosquez hired him and sent him to the studio and transmitter site of XERF-AM at Ciudad Acu most border stations broadcast at 250,000 watts, five times the U.S. limit . the border stations made money renting time to preachers and psychics . they took 50 percent of the profit from anything sold by mail order XERB was the original call sign for the border blaster station in Rosarito beach, Mexico . the station boasted “50,000 watts of Boss Soul Power” XERB has an office in the rear of a small strip mall in Chula Vista, California . it was not unlike the small broadcast studio depicted in the film American Graffiti . rumored that Smith left Mexico after eight months and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to run station KUXL . he was still broadcasting as Wolfman Jack on XERF via taped shows he sent to the station . Kelley saw the potential for Wolfman Jack to become more than a radio personality . he promoted Smith to the major media and formed enduring relationships with journalists . in 1971, the Mexican government banned Pentecostal preachers Smith edited his old XERB tapes and sold them to radio stations everywhere . he also appeared on Armed Forces radio from 1970 to 1986 . at his peak, Wolfman Jack was heard on more than 2,000 Wolfman Jack moved to Belvidere, north Carolina, in 1989, to be closer to his extended family . in the 80s, he did a brief stint at XEROK 80, another border blaster station recordings of Wolfman Jack’s old shows reintroduced to syndication a decade after his death . recordings remain available to local stations, currently through Envision Networks as of 2020 . ambiguity of his audience finally got a good look at him when he appeared in the 1969 film A Session with the Committee . he started his recording career in Minneapolis, Minnesota while working at KUXL Radio in 1965 . in 1978, he appeared as Bob “The Jackal” Smith in a made-for-TV movie Deadman’s Curve . he also appeared in the film’s 1979 sequel More American Graffiti . Jim Morrison was the regular announcer and occasional host for The Midnight Special on NBC from 1973 to 1981 . he was also the host of his variety series The Wolfman Jack Show, which was produced in Canada by CBC the estate of wolfman jack released a hip hop single in 2012 . in the single version of the track includes a shouted talk-over intro by the Wolfman . on the album version version Rundgren perform in 2016, clips from the Wolfman Jack Radio Program were used in the film 31 . because of the laws passed in the UK in 1967, it became necessary for the sales operation to be situated in the us . for a time, tapes are traded among collectors of his work . buried at a family cemetery in Belvidere.