#109: Wolfman Jack –
Snippet Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So here’s one of those. [Tapper’s Jewelry Ad] Dave Young: Hey guys and gals, midnight Pals, Dave Young here with Stephen Semple, and Stephen whispered in my ear Just now that today we’re going to talk about Wolfman Jack, famous disc jockey, American disc jockey on a Mexican radio station. Stephen Semple: Can you do the howl? Can you do the howl, David? Dave Young: Not really. No. Stephen Semple: You’re not even going to try, are you? Dave Young: He had a really interesting voice, Wolfman Jack. Right, he did. He was the first guy to do that with his voice. Kind of what made Famous in American Graffiti, in the movie. I mean, I think he was regionally famous before that, but became a part of the whole public consciousness, probably as a result of American Graffiti. And now we’re to the point where I don’t know a whole lot else. Stephen Semple: American Graffiti put him on the map. Midnight Special. He was on the Odd Couple. He was a regular guest on the Howard Stern Show. And look, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dave Young: A guest on Howard Stern way before Howard Stern was Howard Stern. Stephen Semple: Yes. But I felt like I needed to do this one because a couple of reasons. So many of our partners come from a radio background and Wolfman had such an influence in that space. Plus it closes a loop on Episode 23 on Dr. Brinkley. Remember Dr. Brinkley? Dave Young: Oh yeah. The guy that, do we… Stephen Semple: Well let people go back and listen to it to really get the punchline on it. But when we think about one of the things that happened with Dr. Brinkley, Dr. Brinkley was such a quack and such a thief that he was kicked off of radio stations in the United States. So he went south of the border into Mexico, built this radio tower that had such a strong frequency that he could blanket all the US and even into Canada. And guess what? That was the station that Wolfman Jack found himself on. Dave Young: Nice. Stephen Semple: So to me, it kind of closes this loop because this is the station where Wolfman Jack became famous and became an icon, and as we said, was in American Graffiti, Midnight Special, the Odd Couple, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Broadcasters Association. He’s in broadcast pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame. The list goes on and on. He had a big influence in not only radio but pop culture. Dave Young: Sure. When did he start on that station? When did he get a foothold? Stephen Semple: Basically, 1960 is when he got a foothold in that station. Now his real name is Robert Weston Smith, and he was born on January 21st, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of a truck driver and he had this passion for music and entertainment at a young age. Wolfman Jack’s family later moved to Norfolk, Virginia where he attended high school and got his start in radio. He started on air as Daddy Jules on the radio station, Newport News in Virginia in the 1950s. And one night while playing music, he howled like a wolf and a listener commented, “It sounds lik
