If Barney Pip's on-air style sounded a little manic, there's a good reason for it: he was.

Born Bernard G. Pippinger II in 1936, Pip suffered from bipolar disorder which in his time was called manic depression. The condition forced the trumpet-playing jock into hospital twice while jocking at WCFL in the 1960s, and eventually he left the air. He resurfaced at WHHY Montgomery, Alabama, in 1970, and from there went to KXOL in Fort Worth, Texas.

Pip entered radio's biggest stage in 1972 when he was hired for evenings and the music director's job at WPIX-FM New York. Pip got a four share in the spring of '72, while the rest of the station managed only a 2.9 the rest of the day. He was fired in a cost-cutting move in 1973.

Pip came back to the airwaves in the mid-'80s for a nine-month stint in mornings at WGLI in Babylon, New York. It was his last time on the air, concluding a career that also included stops at WISH Indianapolis, WEEP Pittsburgh, WOKY Milwaukee, WJET Erie, Pennsylvania and WHOT Youngstown, Ohio.

Pip died in February 1994 in an automobile accident. He was 57.

Enjoy Barney Pip on WCFL (UNSCOPED) here.

(The Don Shuttleworth Collection)