One of the Good Guys.
Posted on 09/29/2004 1:38:51 PM PDT by Mike Fieschko
Legendary deejay Scott Muni, who most recently hosted The Scott Muni Show on classic rock station WAXQ-FM, died at the age of 74.
A spokesperson said the cause of death was unknown. Mr. Muni, known as “Scottso” and “The Professor,” suffered a stroke earlier this year and was no longer coming into the station to host his show, which persisted with help from guest hosts like rocker David Lee Roth and New Jersey Gov. John McGreevey.
Mr. Muni was born in Wichita, Kan., and raised in New Orleans. He began his broadcast career on Radio Guam, when he served in the Marine Corps, as host of Dear John, a show featuring letters from servicemen who had been dumped by their stateside girlfriends.
He debuted on New York City’s airwaves in the late 1950s as the nighttime disc jockey on WMCA-AM, and spent four years on WABC-AM starting in 1960—a period that included the onset of Beatlemania. He started every show with his signature “Beatles blocks.” In a brush with filmmaking fame, an on-air phone call he received from a desperate bank robber in 1972 was turned into the Academy Award-winning film Dog Day Afternoon three years later.
Mr. Muni had a three-year stint on WOR-FM before moving to WNEW-FM, where he spent the next 31 years of his career. In 1998, he joined Clear Channel-owned WAXQ, which is planning to play back-to-back Beatles blocks this weekend as a tribute to the veteran broadcaster.
My radio idol is gone...a horrible loss. Scott Muni is what influenced me to get into radio.
WNEW BUMP
Many pleasant hours in my misspent youth were devoted to listening to Scott Muni when the WABC lineup included Bruce Morrow, Dan Ingram, Herb Oscar Anderson, Bob Dayton, Ron Lundy and Chuck Leonard (who also died recently.) I can still hear those Palisades Park and Castro Convertible ads. RIP, Scottso.
I met him when I was a kid in the late seventies at a Beatlefest convention. He seemed like a nice guy.
(BTW, I guess John McGreevey took over as Governor when everybody found out that Jim McGreevey was gay.)
For us NY teenage rockers of the mid-to-late 70's, WNEW was IT. Scott would come on at 2:00 every weekday afternoon, and that was the after-school cruising soundtrack.
For me, my NY radio progression went something like this: WABC-AM from 1970-73; then WPLJ (when they were great, with Tony Pigg, Pat St. John, etc.) from '73-75; then WNEW until punk/new wave along, then WLIR (Dare to be Different, Screamer of the Week) until I got really esoteric and got into college stations on the left of the dial. Then rock died. Or I got old. One or the other.
RIP Scottso.
I think WABC was one of the last major AM stations to stay with a music format. They actually had a very limited playlist, but you could pull them in almost anywhere East of the Rockies, and there was lots of personality. As for getting old or rock dying -- funny how those two things are so linked.
Many hours of listing to him in my mispent youth on WNEW and living in NYC.
Great days for Rock-n-Roll in the Big Apple.
What was funny is that Q104.3 rebroadcast the McGreevey show as a joke in the aftermath of the scandal. BTW Richard Neer's book, "FM," mentioned that Muni, a former Marine, was an independent thinker politically and did not share the pacifist views of many of his colleagues in the 60's.
He was one of the 77 WABC great ones in the late '60's, along with...
Cousin BRUCEY (Bruce Morrow)!!
Anybody know how HE's doin' lately?
Muni left WABC because of the tight playlist. He had a running battle with Rick Sklar, the PM, for more latitude. Neither gave in, so Scottso left for WNEW FM, where rock lived 'til a while ago.
I don't know what's living there now.
You forgot Dan Ingram - the greatest top-40 DJ of all time.
Period.
Aw, man...nice catch!
You bet! What a lineup WABC had: Scott Muni, Cousin Brucey, and DAN INGRAM!
Ah, but then there was...
Howard Co-sell...
Speaking of Spoats (NY accent there...)!!
I never knew that about Scott. Well, now I feel even more kindly toward him. That wonderful concept of an extended playlist, pretty much killed for commercial radio so many years ago.
The tight playlist was to counter the rampant payola that was a normal course of business in the fifties and sixties.
My all-time favorite DJ, Alan Freed, was the King of Payola!
Rick Sklar wrote a book about how he transformed WABC into the most powerful AM radio station in the nation. It's long out of print, but worth finding and reading.
Cousin Brucie and Dan Ingram can STILL be heard here in NY on WCBS-FM, the oldies station that is easily the best choice on the dial.
Next time I'm in The City, I'll tune 'em in!
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