Robert Weston Smith, known as Wolfman Jack (January 21, 1938 – July 1, 1995) was a gravelly voiced American disc jockey, famous in the 1960s and 1970s.
While still a teenager, Smith spent time at WNJR-AM in New Jersey to learn what he could about Radio. When he was almost 21, he left home and wound up in Alexandria, Virginia where he lived with his sister for two years. There he attended the National Academy of Broadcasting in Washington, D.C. where he obtained his F.C.C. engineering license.
1960: Smith's first job was at WYOU-AM in Newport News, Virigina where he renamed himself "Daddy Jules".
1962: Began working at legendary XERF - a 250,000 watt monster station just over the border into Mexico which covered all of North America.
Sometime later, Wolfman Jack moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and ran a small Radio and continued to send tapes to XERB.
1966: He and a partner opened their own Radio station on Sunset Strip which did well until 1971.
Afterward, Wolfman took a low-paying job at KDAY but also began hosting "Midnight Special", which aired on NBC from1972 to 1981. Later he worked on WNBC-AM, New York.
By the mid-1990s, Wolfman Jack was hosting a syndicated program on WXTR-FM, "Live from Planet Hollywood".
In 1995 he published his autobiography and after completing a publicity tour for it, suddenly died of a heart attack at his home in Belividere, North Carolina.
While still a teenager, Smith spent time at WNJR-AM in New Jersey to learn what he could about Radio. When he was almost 21, he left home and wound up in Alexandria, Virginia where he lived with his sister for two years. There he attended the National Academy of Broadcasting in Washington, D.C. where he obtained his F.C.C. engineering license.
1960: Smith's first job was at WYOU-AM in Newport News, Virigina where he renamed himself "Daddy Jules".
1962: Began working at legendary XERF - a 250,000 watt monster station just over the border into Mexico which covered all of North America.
Sometime later, Wolfman Jack moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and ran a small Radio and continued to send tapes to XERB.
1966: He and a partner opened their own Radio station on Sunset Strip which did well until 1971.
Afterward, Wolfman took a low-paying job at KDAY but also began hosting "Midnight Special", which aired on NBC from1972 to 1981. Later he worked on WNBC-AM, New York.
By the mid-1990s, Wolfman Jack was hosting a syndicated program on WXTR-FM, "Live from Planet Hollywood".
In 1995 he published his autobiography and after completing a publicity tour for it, suddenly died of a heart attack at his home in Belividere, North Carolina.