Wolfman Jack, KXLY Spokane, December 1975 (54:14)

. . . the Mint Julep of Soul, the Bloody Mary of Country Rock, and the Black Russian of Jive, the Wonderful Wolfman here . . .

[Description by Steve Sibulsky]

In the mid '70s, KXLY AM (920) in Spokane, WA was an MOR station that did a oldies show middays from 10 to 3 and Sundays from noon 'til 6. The show was hosted by Boppin' Bobby Boom-Boom Summers (Bob Wikstrom now lives in Seattle and teaches at The Art Institute, I believe).

The "World Of Wheels" Car Show was in town, at the Spokane Convention Center, and Wolfman Jack was one of the visiting attractions. "American Graffiti" was only a few years old, remember. We'd done a live remote from the show on Saturday, but the show's promoters wanted more sizzle for Sunday. We couldn't get enough staff together to take the station to the car show, so Wolfman Jack brought his show to the radio station.

He was gonna do the 4PM to 5 PM hour, Sunday, December 7, 1975. Our (stodgy) PD said we had to carry CBS news TOH at 4, and the format called for me to read 5 minutes of local news at 3:55! I was 24. This was my second "real" radio station after 3 years with AFRTS. My control room was full of show promoters, station staffers, other jocks from around town — and WOLFMAN JACK! I asked everyone to quiet down so I could read the news. I was a wreck. While I read, someone started rubbing my shoulders. I looked up during a recorded report — it was HIM!

After the CBS news, he took over the board (a Gates Yard, suspended over two turntables, three cart machines to the right...) He had a briefcase with maybe a dozen carts; sound effects and howls and a few signature songs. He tried to create the image that we were actually AT the car show and you can hear a few times where he wasn"t sure what radio station he was on.

He did his thing, the hour flew by — and by 5:06 — they were gone!