Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You Don Cannon?

Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You Don Cannon?

By Jack Coll

One of my all-time favorite radio personalities Disc Jockey, Don Cannon passed away on Friday August 22, 2014 at Lankenau Medical Center, Don had been retired for ten years and was 74 years old.  Don had Conshohocken ties, he lived on Spring Mill Road for many years just off Ridge Pike, and his house was actually just behind the old WIBG Radio Station located next to Green Valley Country Club on Ridge Pike.  Don would frequent the Plymouth Square Shopping Center on a regular basis talking to the merchants and often walking the streets of Conshohocken on his daily workout routine in his younger days.  Don was known for spinning records at the Conshohocken Fire Company No. 2 Friday night dances back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, he was also very giving of his time helping out with different charities and organizations not to mention a few church functions from over the years.

Don worked at a half a dozen radio stations in the Philadelphia area over the years and I listened to him at every one of them.  In the summer of 1969 I got my driver’s license, and paid fifty dollars for my first car, a 1961 Plymouth station wagon, it had a push button transmission, there was no shifter on the steering column, just push buttons, that’s the year I found Don Cannon on my car radio and couldn’t get enough of him.  Don was young and bright, funny, and brought a new type of radio show to the Philadelphia area.

When I was a kid I had a transistor radio strapped to my ear from the time I was six years old, the little music box, the size of a pack of cigarettes fascinated me.  Of course I wasn’t all that smart, I think I was twelve when I realized that all the bands playing on the radio, actually weren’t in my radio, meaning I thought every band was actually at the radio station, I mean when the disc jockey said “and now we’re gonna have Dean Martin play for you,” I took that as Dean Martin was at the station.

As I grew older I came to terms with what a radio station was, and what it did, I was just fine listening to guys like Ken Garland, Bill Weber, and Tom Moran, but then I found WIBG sometime in 1963 or 64, I can’t remember but man they were the hip station, I remember Rockin Joe Niagara, he was he man, WIBBAGE. I would thumb a ride to the Plaza record shop every Saturday to get a “Top 99” record countdown survey of the best records of the week.  They had a saying at WIBBAGE for their disc jockey’s, they were the “WIBG WIBBAGE Good Guys” with jocks like Bill Wright, Hy Lit, Dean Tyler, Jerry Stevens, Frank X. Feller and a few others that slipped my mind.

WIBBAGE on air jocks were the best, the station was the coolest, how cool was it? Consider this, top radio stations today because of the amount of stations available to the listeners might get nine to ten percent of the listening audience tuned in to their station, and that is the number one station in Philadelphia.  WIBBAGE had 38 percent of the listening audience at the station peak of popularity.

Then came WFIL, looking to over-take WIBBAGE, I remember being a young teenager debating with friends who the better station was, we didn’t know these guys on WFIL and they didn’t have a chance, but they had a plan.  If I remember this right, WFIL played the same songs as WIBBAGE, but WIBBAGE had become so popular that you couldn’t get commercial time on the station during prime time, as a result, the station played less music and more commercials.  I think WFIL came on the air in 1966, and didn’t play any or very few commercials for the first couple of months.  Another problem was I remember listening from my transistor radio or the radio in my bedroom and every night about seven o’clock the WIBBAGE signal would fade, (remember this was back in the days when most radio stations played the Star Spangled Banner at two in the morning and then go off the air.)

Before long, WFIL passed WIBG in the all-important ratings with a tighter song list, by the late 1960’s radio was all about the WFIL Boss Jocks with guys like Jim Nettleton, Jay Cook, George Michael, and Dave Parks.  Then came the double decker bus and along came morning man Dr. Don Rose, who pounded the air waves with joke after joke along with sound effects followed by Jim O’Brien, Dick Heatherton, and Banana Joe Montione.

In 1968 WIBG changed formats soundly defeated by WFIL, but in 1969, WIBBAGE took one last shot at the top spot by bringing in this young New Yorker for the morning show, Don Cannon.  Typically if you could get a listening audience for your morning show the ratings would carry-over into the afternoon and all important drive home audience, and Don Cannon was the right morning man.

Cannon proved himself very funny, sharp, and his listening audience couldn’t get enough.  However the WIBBAGE gig was short lived and Cannon moved to WIP before moving on to WFIL, Cannon found something he liked about Philly and Philly found a whole lot they loved about Cannon, and I was one of them.

Cannon was a stunt man, he could find key words that just sounded good coming out of his mouth, “Captain Fantastic  and the Brown Dirt Cowboy,” “don’t do it” he would say as he introduced “Someone  Saved My Life Tonight” by Elton John, as if to say don’t get married, he loved playing Rod Stewart.  When signing off on a lot of mornings Cannon could be heard saying through the intro of a song “I gotta get outta here.”  He was a big Phillies and Eagles fan, loved going to Wildwood, and then would talk about it the following week, repeating time after time, “Watch the tram car please,” making you wish you were there.

I remember he once left the show early sometime in the early 1970’s, a man was holding a hostage, or was threating to kill himself and was holding the police at bay, something like that. It was a life threating situation.  The distraught man requested to speak to Don Cannon, a policeman arrived at the radio station while Cannon was on the air to ask him if he would be willing to go to the scene.  (When I say while Cannon was on the air I don’t mean the cop and Cannon had this discussion on air, I mean during Don’s time on the air)  Cannon went to the scene and talked the guy out of whatever it was he intended doing, the scene played out on the six o’clock news that night, Don always played the situation down.

I do remember Don looking to get into the Guinness Book of World Records by staying on the air for 99 hours straight, I remember that like it was yesterday, I think the record only lasted for about six months before some other jock went longer. Don would often talk about getting engaged with his and hers engagement rings, his ring had a beeper in it so she could track him at all times.

At WIFI Cannon worked with Dennis Malloy, a comic impressionist and Cannon would talk to different personalities on the phone throughout the morning, Cannon would be talking and you would hear the phone ringing in the background, he would say “excuses me while I get this,” it would be Malloy imitating Mayor Frank Rizzo, or Mayor Bad Wilson, referring to Wilson Goode.  Malloy would imitate presidents and celebrities and sports figures.

Don worked with other radio personalities like Tony Bruno back in the late 1970’s, and finally in 1990, Cannon was able to get out of a contract with WSNI and go to work at WOGL 98.1.  I remember Don stating that he felt at home on the oldies station back with Hy lit and a number of other on air personalities like Mike St. John, Christy Springfield and Charlie Bennett.  Cannon had a pretty good morning show back in the early 1990’s with Jennifer Stephens, Captain Bill and later Bill Zimpfer.  Valeri Knight, an Upper Merion Grad joined the Cannon in the morning show sometime in the early 1990’s and proved to be a good addition to the morning show.  It was sometime during that time period that Cannon started playing the song “On The Way To Cape May”, a summer tradition that members of the morning team still sing today.

I crossed paths with Cannon many times over the years, I can’t remember the first time I met him but I remember being back stage with him at Penn’s Landing when he brought Bobby Rydell onstage, which I think he did many times over the years, the two were pretty good friends.  I remember being with him in 1994 at the Valley Forge Music Fair with Little Anthony and The Imperials, Peter Noone and Ronnie Spector, Cannon also spent a lot of time with Peter Noone introducing him on stage.  I remember when WOGL would have these Rib Festival’s, I think it lasted for two years where a dozen or so Rib Vendors would show up at the Spectrum parking lot, and these performers and bands would play through the day and evening, I remember Cannon introducing Peter Noone and Johnny Rivers, along with Ben E. King, as a matter of fact I think Peter Noone forgot his jacket for that show and Don lent him his, Cannon must have talked about that for two years.

I remember talking to Don at the Fort Washington Expo Center, I forgot what year it was but I remember Harvey Holiday broadcasting live, and talking to Don and Hy lit standing next to Harlod Melvin and the Blue Notes behind the curtain.  I don’t think Harlod Melvin was with the group back then, I can’t remember for sure, but another great day.  I spoke with Don at the shore on a number of occasions including the night he introduced Chubby Checker on stage, Gary U. S. Bonds, and I think   Martha Reeves played the same night.  I remember taking pictures of Martha on the boardwalk, after heading back into the casino following the show and I remember seeing Gary U. S. Bonds on a pay phone inside the casino talking and laughing following the show.

  Don Cannon’s passing sent a ripple throughout the Philadelphia area, he was known for using his celebrity to raise money for dozens if not hundreds of charities.  For a number of years I ran into him at Veterans Stadium when the Phillies would host a media soft ball game, Don would be pitching, from behind his back or some other entertaining way, he played a lot of softball over the years.  I remember seeing him play at Walker’s Field in Upper Merion Township one night, I think the radio station was playing the King of Prussia Fire Company or Upper Merion Police Department to raise money for one thing or another.

Cannon passed away on Friday August 22, the WOGL morning crew paid tribute to Cannon the following Monday morning with phone calls from former colleagues and friends, the Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer paid nice tributes.  A nice tribute came from former Mayor of Philadelphia and Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell calling him “an incredible citizen.”

Perhaps, what I felt was the greatest tribute to Don Cannon, came from long time disc jockey Pierre Robert, a 34 year veteran broadcaster at WMMR 93.3 radio.  WMMR 93.3 is the class of Philadelphia radio, and Robert, pronounced “Ro-bear” is the class of all time Philadelphia radio disc jockeys.  Robert returned from vacation on Tuesday August 26, and during his lunchtime program, (where Robert plays blocks of music from different bands) he stopped to pay homage to Cannon.

This is very rare in the radio business where any part of any station would ever mention another station on the air, but as I stated WMMR is the class of Philadelphia Radio and a station that has been known to bend the rules and the listeners have come to expect nothing less of the area’s top DJ Robert.

During the lunchtime hour and while in the middle of a block by the Kinks, Robert took the time to acknowledge the passing of Don Cannon. Robert talked about what Cannon meant to Philadelphia radio, and even though Cannon hasn’t been on the air for ten years stated that he will be sorely missed.

Robert dedicated a song by the Kinks called “Around The Dial,” and explains that one of the lines in the song is “one of our D.J.’s is missing,” simply a fitting tribute, the first few lines of the song go something like this.

Radios of the world are tuning in tonight

Are you on the dial, are you tuned in right

One of our D. J.’s is missing

Are you listening?

Are you listening to me? Can you hear me?

Can you hear me clearly?

Around the dial

A fitting tribute by Robert, and the reality sets in, one of our D.J.’s really is missing tonight, thanks Pierre, thanks for your 34 years of bringing us the back stories, and the class to reach out even when it involves other stations.

Thanks Don Cannon, you made my life a little better, for more than 30 years I looked forward to waking up to the sound of your voice, and you delivered every day.

As Don would say, “It’s 6:15 on a Monday you better get a move on it, I know, tough weekend,” I can still hear him saying that.

One of our D. J.’s is missing this morning, and every morning, R. I. P. Cannon in the morning, R. I. P.

Editor’s Note:

Jack Coll writes a bi-monthly music column called “Talkin Music With Jack,” these articles can be found at Conshystuff.com.   Jack also lives on the radio, staying up on nearly every station on the FM dial.