Rock Radio Scrapbook

AIRCHECK OF THE WEEK
For week of March 18, 2012
Edition #672

Talent: JACK ARMSTRONG
Station: WKYC Cleveland
Date: January, 1967
Time: 10:49

For a time, one of Top 40 radio's greatest jocks couldn't use his own air name.

In January, 1967, Jack Armstrong started at WKYC after breaking his contract at Cleveland rival WIXY. Because of the contract breach, Armstrong was not allowed to call himself Jack Armstrong on-air at WKYC, so he used "Big Jack" instead, later calling himself "Jack W. Armstrong."

WKYC was one of more than two dozen North American stations Armstrong jocked at starting with WCHL in Chapel Hill, N.C. in 1960 at the age of 14. His last radio gig - at WWKB Buffalo, N.Y. - ended in 2006. Jack Armstrong died March 22, 2008 after a fall at his home in High Point, N.C. He was 62.

Enjoy Jack Armstrong on WKYC here.

(The Don Shuttleworth Collection)

More 1967 airchecks here!

Talent: JACK ARMSTRONG
Stations: Various
Date: 1965 to 1997
Time: 9:31 (Upgraded 3-15-12)

He is the undisputed champion of rock radio's screamers. Nobody rocked the airwaves like Jack Armstrong.

Armstrong started his radio career at WCHL Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1960. His final stop was a voicetracked show at Buffalo's WWKB, ending in 2006. In between, there were about two dozen stops at stations as far north as CHUM Toronto, as far south as WHYI Miami, as far east as WMEX Boston and as far west as KFRC San Francisco.

Jack Armstrong died March 22, 2008 after a fall at his home in High Point, N.C. He was 62.

Here's a time sweep of his career, with clips from 19 of the stations he worked at.

(Produced by Dale Patterson)

AUDIO ENHANCEMENT by Andy Rebscher

Here's a chronology of the stations Jack Armstrong jocked at:

1960 - WCHL Chapel Hill, N.C. * he was only 14 years old!
1960 - WCDJ Edenton, N.C.
???? - WSSB Durham, N.C.
1962 - WCOG Greensboro, N.C. (as John Larsh)
1964 - WDJK Atlanta
1965 - WAYS Charlotte, N.C. (as John Larsh)
1966 - WCOG Greensboro, N.C. (as John Larsh) * again
1966 - WIXY Cleveland
1967 - WKYC Cleveland
1968 - WMEX Boston
1968 - CHUM Toronto * only Canadian station
1969 - WPOP Hartford
1970 - WNTC Potsdam, N.Y. * just one shift
1970 - KTLK Denver
1970 - WKBW Buffalo, N.Y.
1973 - WJAS-WKTQ Pittsburgh
1975 - WHYI Miami
1975 - KDKA Pittsburgh
1977 - WIFE Indianapolis
1978 - KTNQ Los Angeles
1979 - KHTZ Los Angeles
1980 - KFI Los Angeles
1982 - KFRC San Francisco
1984 - KKHR Los Angeles
1988 - KBOS Fresno, Calif.
1997 - WMQX Greensboro, N.C.
2003 - WWKB Buffalo, N.Y. * voicetracked from his home in North Carolina

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