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Memories of XERB Redux

T

tideshea

Hey everybody!

Really enjoyed reading about everybody's memories on the old thread. I'm an author at Rowman & Littlefield and I'm considering writing a book on Wolfman Jack's time on the border blasters and his early life. I have a book out now. It's a biography on the Mamas & the Papas and I'm currently working on a Waylon Jennings biography that focuses on the first 15 years of his career; from his time as Buddy Holly's protégé to the start of his outlaw country movement. I am so fascinated by Wolfman Jack's time as a cult figure in the 1960s and want to tell the story. I'd love to chat with people here who lived through it and could provide me any fun stories, trivia or insight into the man and the legend. I'm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as Scott Shea - Author. If you're interested in participating or send me an email at [email protected]. Note to administrator: Please forgive me if I'm violating any community standard by posting this. I'm just looking to spread the word and share a great story. No offense taken if you decide to remove this post.

Best,

Scott Shea
 
I think it will be fascinating! I don't know anyone of my general age group that grew up in SoCal that was not a fan of the late great Wolfman, AKA Mr. Bob Smith, Esq of Brooklyn, NY. He was someone that most of us truly miss hearing on the airwaves! He was unique...an American original.
 
Wow, if you write a book (printed or e-book, please let us know! He does have his own auto-biography published but still...
 
tideshea said:
Hey everybody!

Really enjoyed reading about everybody's memories on the old thread. I'm an author at Rowman & Littlefield and I'm considering writing a book on Wolfman Jack's time on the border blasters and his early life. I have a book out now. It's a biography on the Mamas & the Papas and I'm currently working on a Waylon Jennings biography that focuses on the first 15 years of his career; from his time as Buddy Holly's protégé to the start of his outlaw country movement. I am so fascinated by Wolfman Jack's time as a cult figure in the 1960s and want to tell the story. I'd love to chat with people here who lived through it and could provide me any fun stories, trivia or insight into the man and the legend. I'm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as Scott Shea - Author. If you're interested in participating or send me an email at [email protected]. Note to administrator: Please forgive me if I'm violating any community standard by posting this. I'm just looking to spread the word and share a great story. No offense taken if you decide to remove this post.

Best,

Scott Shea
Click to expand...

Scott:

Good luck with your project. You may or may not be aware of Wolf's own autobiography, which covers a lot of that ground:

www.publishersweekly.com

Have Mercy!: Confessions of the Original Rock 'n' Roll Animal by Wolfman Jack, Wolfman Jack

Host of America's first syndicated rock-and-roll radio program and the inspiration for George Lucas's American Graffiti, Bob Smi...
www.publishersweekly.com www.publishersweekly.com

There's also Bill Crawford's 2002 book "Border Radio":

utpress.utexas.edu

Border Radio

Before the Internet brought the world together, there was border radio. These mega-watt "border blaster" stations, set up just across the Mexican border to ...
utpress.utexas.edu utpress.utexas.edu


Both of those being 20+ years old, it would be nice to see some new ground broken.
 
michael hagerty said:
Scott:

Good luck with your project. You may or may not be aware of Wolf's own autobiography, which covers a lot of that ground:

www.publishersweekly.com

Have Mercy!: Confessions of the Original Rock 'n' Roll Animal by Wolfman Jack, Wolfman Jack

Host of America's first syndicated rock-and-roll radio program and the inspiration for George Lucas's American Graffiti, Bob Smi...
www.publishersweekly.com www.publishersweekly.com

There's also Bill Crawford's 2002 book "Border Radio":

utpress.utexas.edu

Border Radio

Before the Internet brought the world together, there was border radio. These mega-watt "border blaster" stations, set up just across the Mexican border to ...
utpress.utexas.edu utpress.utexas.edu


Both of those being 20+ years old, it would be nice to see some new ground broken.
Click to expand...
Thanks Michael! I am aware and have both of those books as resources. I know that Wolfman's has some discrepancies so I'm looking to analyze those and peel back the layers a bit. Plus, at this stage, I'm not planning for it to be just a straight up biography. I want the focus to be on his early life and up until American Graffiti (1973) and the effects he had on the culture. That's why I want to talk to folks who listened to him regularly and may have even had interaction with him, either in person or on the phone. This would be a study of his period as a cult figure.
 
TomásEstefan said:
I think it will be fascinating! I don't know anyone of my general age group that grew up in SoCal that was not a fan of the late great Wolfman, AKA Mr. Bob Smith, Esq of Brooklyn, NY. He was someone that most of us truly miss hearing on the airwaves! He was unique...an American original.
Click to expand...
Tomas, hit me up if you were a listener and if you'd like to chat about your memories of him. Doesn't have to be anything remarkable or grandiose. Contact information is above if you're interested.
 
Looking forward to this one! Anything and everything regarding Wolfman has got to be fun. I first heard him on XERF back when it was the blowtorch from Del Rio. The U.S. Army brought me to Hunter Ligget Military Reservation in 1970 and the Toshiba transistor radio I got while in Viet Nam was perfect to hear XERB (1090) and Wolfman. We would work late into the night -and Wolfman (and Art Laboe and others) kept us company. Thanks to Wolfman I got to hear the 20 minute version of "Get Ready" by Rare Earth. Nightly. It took a few years (and the internet) to understand his tactic of preachers in the daytime and Rock 'N Roll at night. At WBBF in Rochester (1975) we ran Wolfman on Saturday nights- my job (after my shift) was to splice in Wolfman saying our call letters. At WGR in Buffalo- we had exquisite board ops who'd drop in the calls over the song intros. At 55 KRC in Cincinnati - we had a brilliant producer writing lines for Wolfman-and we'd feed them down the phone lines when people called with requests. We made it sound like they were actually talking to Wolfman. In the midst of it all I had my first opportunity to have lunch with Wolfman in 1983. I ended up cancelling the lunch - (I had to see Michele Donnely)-but did get to meet Wolfman during a live remote week. I think I have the video somewhere of Larry O'Brien and (the late) John Garry in Hollywood...and me sitting with Wolfman. We used to deal with his representative as well - -I can't remember his first name (I think it was "Kent" -but not sure) - not realizing it at the time that it was his son! A great entertainer who didn't always get the recognition he deserved.
 
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