Thank you all for the birthday wishes. It's great to see how many out there love the wolfman
OOOOWWWWWooooooooo. Get Nekkkid!
Yeah baby this here's the Wolfman.
My real name is Robert Weston Smith, but in 1962 the world knew me as Wolfman Jack.
Back in the 60's I would say things on the radio when I was on Mexican stations that would have gotten U.S. stations in big trouble.
Where ever ya are and whatever ya doin' lay back, lay ya hands on da radio, and squeeze my knobs.
I was a huge fan of Alan Freed, he was my inspiration.
I got started at WYOU-AM in Newport News, Virginia and later moved to KCIJ-AM in Shreveport, Louisiana. There was a radio battle in Shreveport and I ended up working with Larry Brandon, Don Logan, and Buddy Blake in Mexico on XERF to compete in Shreveport.
Back then we had what was called "border blasters." There were a few very powerful stations in Mexico, just over the border, pumping out their signals all over North America, much stronger than U.S. or Canadian stations. We were buying the evening hours, brokered air time as it's now known. Not sure how strong that signal was. They had a 250,000 watt RCA transmitter in Ciudad Acuña Coahuila. It probably made a lot more power and was heard at times all over the world. That was where I was no longer Bob Smith, I became Wolfman Jack. The shows were on tape at first.
2 years there, I left for Minneapolis, but that was too cold. Those early days in Mexico were rough. Jealousy over money, and trying to stay out of trouble. I'd been shot at, sued, and had to be on guard all the time. So I began doing shows from a studio in Los Angeles. Tapes were sent down to another Mexican station, XERB. They weren't quite as powerful as XERF, but that sure was a good time. XERB Served South Cali with ease. After a while XEG and XELO were added. It was great to be in L.A. I moved across the street from Jamie Lee Curtis.
In 1969 I landed at KDAY in L.A. and later at KRLA in Pasadena. I eventually went back home to New York and worked for WNBC.
I did some syndicated radio along the way. In 1973 I was in American Graffiti, playing myself. After that I made quite a few TV and movie appearances.
I also hosted "Midnight Special" for 8 years. Best of "Midnight Special" has recently been released on a DVD set.
I was inducted into the Radio Hall Of Fame in 1996.
You can hear my syndicated radio show from the 80s on XM satellite radio.
