October 02, 2004
Scott Muni, New York radio legend, died this week at the age of 74.
I comtemplated whether I should post this because I'm not clear as to how many monkeys are familiar with him. Scott Muni was a very popular AM disc jockey in the 50s and 60s in New York. In 1967 he made a successful leap to FM radio, devoting himself to free form radio, which became AOR ("album oriented rock", today known more or less as "classic rock"). In those days, radio stations relied more on disc jockeys to create their playlists, and a popular jock could make or break a performer. Scott was one of those jocks. In January of this year he had a major stroke, which put him out of commission.
He was known for stories about his meetings with rock stars, the Beatles, in particuar. If you live in the US but outside the New York area, during the 80s and 90s you may have heard his syndicated radio show "Ticket to Ride," which featured Beatles music exclusively. Bit of trivia: in te 70s he received a phone call from robbers during their heist. That bank robbery becamse the inspiration for the movie Dog Day Afternoon
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Another Radio Obit form the last week: Bill Ballance, creator of the "Feminine Forum" talk show, he'd probably less like to be remembered as the "granddaddy of shock jocks" than as the man who did it to Dr. Laura, both ways. (Had an affair with her in the '70s and distributed nude pictures of her after she became a big time Media Moralist). I met him briefly a long time ago, and always marvelled at his mastery of the English language that allowed him to seem a lot 'dirtier' than he really was (which is why the FCC fined many of his imitators, but never him). Author of "Bill Ballance's Hip Handbook of Nifty Moves and How to Cope in Situations of Utter Copelessness", the funniest self-help book ever. And before all that, one of the original disc jockeys when KFWB first brought Top 40 radio to Los Angeles. Sorry for the derail; Scott Muni was a Radio Great too...
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That's ok. I have a feeling this thread isn't going to get too much mileage.
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Unfortunately, I'm way too young to have heard Scott Muni in his heyday. However, I did listen to him on the radio in recent years - always knew when he was up because of the 3 or 4 Beatles songs he'd play before he'd start his show. I think his style might have been stifled by the current atmosphere in radio of sticking to the corporate playlist, which is really a shame.
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God Bless you Scottso, we will miss you.
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I loved listening to Scott Muni as a kid, just getting into music. At the time, he played a great mix of classic and new rock, and I missed listening to his show when I moved away from the New York area.