Mad Daddy was an absolute sensation in Cleveland. Then in 1959 the big time called. WNEW in New York. Pete left for Gotham. The only trouble was WNEW was a middle-of-the-road station, playing Frank Sinatra and Doris Day records. Pete convinced them to let him do his Mad Daddy character at night, arguing it would broaden the station's audience. They gave the okay, he did one show, and the complaints and uproar from the regular listeners was deafening. They almost burned down the station. The Mad Daddy experiment lasted all of one night.
Everything about Pete Myers was bizarre. Who gets their picture on a book of matches?
A few years later a Top 40 station in New York, WINS hired him away and Mad Daddy returned for two years (until the station went all news). He was welcomed back at WNEW and once again he was "lovable laughable" Pete Myers.
I thought today I would play you samples of both and you can see for yourself what an unbelievable contrast in styles these two acts were. First up, Mad Daddy. This is from WINS in 1963. Get ready for a TOTALLY unique act. (Note: The music on both airchecks is cut out.) That's followed by Pete Myers on WNEW in 1961. To give you some context, this was around the time of MAD MEN in the early '60s. Don Draper was still wearing hats. (My thanks to Rob Frankel for providing the WNEW segment.)
Crazy, no? Unfortunately, Pete Myers took his own life in 1968. It's a macabre tragic story, but for those of us radio geeks, there will always be a place in our hearts for Pete Myers. RIP Mad Daddy.
24 comments :
"Who gets their picture on a book of matches?" In that circumstance, WNEW's entire on-air lineup. It's not something Myers did on his own.
Meeting the voice is always a trip.
In the 70's I listened to the last DJ rock station in Florida. Quad 102.5. Not just stereo but quad, a technology that never actually happened as far as I know. In any case there was a DJ that had a voice that was like the guy that does movie trailers and he played the best stuff.
Years later I met him and he was so stoned I got a contact high. Not much of a story but true.
In June 1962, WINS hired Pete Myers away from WNEW. He had the 4-7pm shift on WINS - as Pete Myers. The station was going through a transition (rock/MOR??). One thing was clear - WNEW was the monster - the top biller (about $8 million in 1962) and WINS wanted a piece of it. They had hired another former WNEW talent around the same time. Interestingly, Myers must have convinced management to let him do his "Mad Daddy" character late at night (later in 1962) - so for a time, both personalities were heard on the station. WINS eventually went back to top-40 and the "Mad Daddy" character stuck around while Pete Myers did his final afternoon show around early summer 1963. "Mad Daddy"was let go by WINS in November/1964 when they changed their presentation (still top-40 but for young adults). He wound up back at WNEW in February, 1965. Good thing. WINS went all news in April.
He also cut one single, What is a Fisterris?/I Love a Practical Joke as "The Joker".
Here is further reading about him.
http://www.freewebs.com/maddaddy/oobladi.htm
I grew up in Cleveland when Pete Myers was there on WHK. He left town was I was 11 years old but one of the things I remember from back then was the fact that he did a daytime shift as Pete Myers and then become Mad Daddy for an 8PM shift. Kids my age had no idea it was the same guy. Don't know if our "greatest generation" parents knew or not but they weren't listening to "our" radio station. The University of Maryland's longtime play by play announcer, Johnny Holliday, was also at WHK at that time.
My uncle listened to WNEW and I was subjected to it whenever I rode in his car with him. All I remember them playing was elevator music.
I meant to say this was in the early to mid-sixties.
Would have been interesting if Myers had been hired by WABC or WMCA, which were the two main Top 40 stations in New York in the mid-to-late 1960s.
I remember Pete Myers both as Pete Myers and as "Mad Daddy." Never knew what happened to him though. Sad. Very sad.
Wow--where has this guy been all my life? I have a new favorite zany. Thanks, Ken.
But two questions: could he keep this up as a regular shift 5 days a week? and what was New York thinking when they hired him for an MOR station?? Had they heard him? Why would you bring in Mad Daddy and make him convert?
-30-
More stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po5Tsij1mbs
Ay yi yi. This guy did his master's thesis on Mad Daddy.
https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=kent1248121549&disposition=inline
The prototypical "boss jock".
Closest thing I can think to him was the Greaseman, who took over for Stern in DC in the early 1980's.
Huge talent.
Pete's younger brother, Ernie, was a San Diego radio legend who owned the mornings for many years on KOGO. He later spent long runs at both KSDO and KPOP. I spent five years in PM drive at KOGO while Ernie was there and found him to be a real pro and a good guy. Though he never spoke of it, I got the impression he was haunted by Pete's death. Both Pete and Ernie were railbirds who could handicap the ponies with the best of them. I believe Ernie is still a regular at Del Mar.
Sad that this story had a sorry ending, but it sounds like he left a great legacy.
Interesting post on an interesting guy. Very sad to see greatness misused or unrecognized. Who knew Neil Sedaka sang "Stairway to Heaven?" All these years I was crediting Robert Plant.
Coincidentally, there is a British DJ called Bad Daddy, but he's currently under investigation as part of Operation Yewtree.
For the full Mad Daddy experience, buy the CD on Norton, but do sample track 30:
http://www.amazon.com/Wavy-Gravy-Mad-Daddy/dp/B00009JZUM
I gather Ken Levine will appreciate this cavalcade of DJs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7L98A0aHIo
Hey Ken Copper....what a great factoid!
Ernie was a little slowed down by a stroke...but he was at Shotgun Tom's within the last 2-years or so......and he was in great shape....always a pleasure to be with him...
Ernie was the best ad-libber in San Diego radio.....
Jeff Prescott
Boy was I happy to find this blog. Several years ago a magazine ran a story about Mad Daddy that stated he only worked at WNEW in NYC.I knew I had heard him on WINS. " Rocking and a reeling and a hanging from the ceiling!" Sanity restored, but staying sick.
Thanks again,boss.
Mad Daddy was my favorite DJ on WINS during my early teens. I also knew Pete Meyers, because my parents constantly played WNEW on the kitchen and car radios all during my childhood. I can still here the Pete Meyers theme jingle - a slick Modernaires-type combo chanting "For Pete's sake, its Pete MEYers, for Pete's sake its Pete MEYers." I learned that Pete and Mad were one and the same several years ago, but I'm still shocked, and still impressed at his great rapid fire rhyme and sound effect improv. Bet his life would make a great movie.
I graduated in 1959 and loved mad daddy from both of Cleveland’s radio stations . I recall when he was off radio for 3 months and jumped from a plane into Lake Erie . He said on a tv interview that if he couldn’t be on the air he wanted to be in the air. Thanks for providing the great memories of a great figure from the 50’s
There is a very weird coincidence on the WNEW AM aircheck. Scroll to the 8:20 mark and Pete introduces a new single by Julius LaRosa, who would succeed Pete as the station's 1-4pm host shortly after his death.
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