Wolfman Jack – By Jack Coll

HOWL, HOWL, HOWL:
Wolfman Jack
Thanks For The Memory
By Jack Coll
January 21, 2015

“Clap for the Wolfman
He gonna rate your record high
Clap for the Wolfman
You gonna dig ‘Til the day you die”
Lyrics from the Guess Who song, “Clap For The Wolfman”

Not many radio stations in this area will celebrate what would have been Wolfman Jack’s 77th birthday, born Robert Weston Smith. Robert legally changed his name to Wolfman Jack in the early 1960’s while working as a disc jockey just over the border in Mexico.
Wolfman Jack was born on January 21, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York and passed away on July 1, 1995, hard to believe that come July of this year that Wolfman will be dead twenty years.
Also hard for me to believe, that it was twenty five years ago come September that I met, and partied with the Wolfman in King of Prussia back on September 29, 1990. Wolfman Jack served as the Master of Ceremonies at a show held at the Valley Forge Convention Center, (now known as the Valley Forge Casino) I don’t remember if I attended the concert on an official or personal capacity but the show was held in the basement of the convention center.
Wolfman came out on stage, talked to the crowd for a few minutes thanking them for attending, the concert which was a benefit show for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and then Wolfman broke out into a couple of songs of his own before introducing “The Spinners”. I think most of the group was still intact in 1990 and they come out with a number of their hits including “Working My Way Back To You,” “Then Came You,” and “Games People Play” among others. It was a crowd of a couple of hundred fans, somehow it was one of those shows that I thought should have been better attended.
Then Wolfman Jack brought out “The Crystals”, with I think one original member but they sounded really good with “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Uptown,” and “He’s A Rebel.” “The Crystals” were followed by Gary Puckett of “Union Gap” fame, Gary was still relatively young and hit all the high notes with “This Girl is a Woman Now,” “Young Girl,” and “Over You.” Wolfman Jack then came out on stage with another song of his own before bringing on “The Association”, I was thrilled to see these guys, I really enjoyed their music in the 1960’s, like “Windy,” “Along Comes Mary,” “Cherish,” and “Never My Love.” “The Association” was a six or seven man band with four of the originals playing this show, they sounded really good to me.
The bands and groups were good, but I attended the show to see and talk to Wolfman Jack, he was legendary in the music business. Wolfman Jack started his career in 1960 as a disc jockey in Norfolk Virginia under the name “Daddy Jules,” on air names were common back then, and even today. He moved to a AM radio station and became a pioneer of a genre called boarder radio, it was broadcast from just over the border in Mexico when disc jockeys could still pull their own music playing anything they wanted or anything they felt would move their audience, this was in the early to mid-1960’s when payola was alive and well. He worked with other disc jockeys with names like Hound Dog and Huggy Boy, it was at this time with his raspy voice the Robert Smith/”Daddy Jules,” legally changed his name to “Wolfman Jack.”
As Wolfman Jack howled and growled throughout his night shift he went to work at XERB-AM in the resort town of Rosarito, overlooking the Pacific Ocean 15 miles south of the United States Border. The station didn’t play by all the Federal Broadcasting rules and pumped out 250,000 watts, five times the legal limit for American stations at the time, and was heard across the country.
Up until 1973 Wolfman Jack was a faceless disc jockey until he played himself in the George Lucas film “American Graffiti” as himself. You might remember Richard Dreyfuss’s character entering the radio station and talking to a disc jockey who was eating Popsicle’s because the refrigerator was broken, Dreyfuss wanted the great Wolfman Jack to send out a request to a girl he was looking for only to be disappointed by the jockey claiming that the Wolfman was on tape and not in the studio, a disappointed Dreyfuss was leaving the studio and catches a glimpse of the DJ as he breaks into his Wolfman voice, and later gets his request. George Lucas was very grateful for Wolfman Jack’s appearance in the film as it was the Wolfman’s voice throughout the show that tied the movie together. Lucas gave Wolfman a fraction of a “Point”—the division of the profits from the film, the extreme financial success of American Graffiti provided Wolfman Jack with a very handsome income for the rest of his life.
Wolfman Jack also appeared in the 1979 sequel, “More American Graffiti” but only in voice-overs. He also appeared as himself in a string of television shows including “The Odd Couple,” “What’s Happening,” “Vegas,” “Wonder Woman,” “Hollywood Squares,” “Married… with Children,” “Emergency,” and “Galactica.” Wolfman’s major television roles came as the host of “The Midnight Special” that ran from 1973 to 1981. He was also host of his self-titled variety series, “The Wolfman Jack Show.”
Wolfman Jack inspired Jim Morrison lyrics for the Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat) song. He was also mentioned in the “Grateful Dead” song “Ramble on Rose.” Todd Rundgren recorded a song about Wolfman Jack. The Wolfman was part of dozens of songs over the years including a song by “Sugarloaf” called “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You.” And of course there was “The Guess Who” song “Clap For The Wolfman.” In Wolfman’s autobiography “Have Mercy!; Confessions of The Original Rock’n Roll Animal” Wolfman Jack singled out Burton Cummings for adding his name to the song and taking him out on tour to promote it. The Wolfman quit his job at WNBC (where he enjoyed a $350,000 salary plus a secretary, a chauffeured limousine, a bodyguard, and a well-ventilated private room at Rockefeller Center for the smoking of dope in) to go on tour with “The Guess Who”.
The song “Clap For The Wolfman” began as a jam and was originally called “Clap For Napoleon.” “The Guess Who” had appeared on the Midnight Special a few times in 1973 and changed the songs title and lyrics to “Clap For The Wolfman” in honor of Wolfman and their appearances on the show. The song appeared on their 1974 album titled “Road Food” and the song reached number six on the American charts.
One of the things Wolfman Jack will be remembered for was his interracial nightclub called “The Tub.” The Tub was housed in an old Quonset hut and served as host of a weekly interracial dance party for teenagers. Wolfman was highly responsible for playing black and soul music on his radio shows, Wolfman didn’t honor or respect racial boundaries, all were equal in his eyes, twice Wolfman Jack had crosses burned outside his home by members of the Ku Klux Klan angered by the interracial activity.
In the end of March 2003, nearly eight years after his death a memorial was dedicated to the Wolfman in Del Rio, Wolfman Jack was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1996, and into the National Association of Broadcasters, Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1999.
Twenty years after his death I’m reminded about my time with Wolfman Jack. I approached him backstage after the show just to introduce myself and see if he could chat for a few minutes, he said “Hey, how you doing,” and went on to say that he was joining some folks for a party why don’t you come? So I did, I walked into the room where the party was being held, I looked around and noticed Gary Puckett sitting by himself in a corner of the room, he didn’t look too impressed to be there, but I was so I wandered over and took a seat next to him. We talked for a few minutes, I asked about the “Union Gap” days, part of his answer was the canned version, you know, “Hey we’re very thankful” bla, bla, bla. But then once he relaxed he actually told a couple of short interesting tales of the band.
I got up as another fan approached and scouted the room for Wolfman, I spotted him at a round table in the middle of the room, beard, dressed in black, with his hat still on, I walked over and he said, “Hey, there he is, take a seat my man.” He didn’t know my name, and he didn’t know me, but he offered me a seat with several other people sitting at the table, I sat for about 45 minutes, mostly just listening to the conversation, most of it coming from Wolfman, it was interesting, I was fascinated that I was sitting at a table with a legendary disc jockey, who was just rambling on with his tales of a life.
The party was breaking up, most of the stars had departed, and I’m never one to be the last one out the door, so I shook hands with the Wolfman, thanked him for the invite and conversation and out the door to my next assignment, (if I had one, I don’t remember)
I’ve had my ups and downs with celebrities over the years, some noted good guys, others not so good. Wolfman Jack was one of the “Good Guys,” a gentleman, a class act.
And so today, on his birthday, January 21, I don’t suppose many radio stations will mention the Wolfman’s birthday, he had his moment in the spotlight, and will always have his moment in pioneer broadcasting.
Clap for the Wolfman
He gonna rate your record high
Clap for the Wolfman
You gonna dig him ‘til the day you die.

Happy Birthday Wolfman,
Thanks for the time you spent with me,
A memorable moment for sure.