Disk Jockey and Novelty Host
Before beginning his political morning show, Quinn spent a number of years doing voice over work for WPGH-TV 53 and as a disc jockey at KQV in the 1960s and 1970s, where he would befriend his eventual political mentor Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh worked at KQV and WIXZ/McKeesport, PA as a disc jockey under the name Jeff Christie.
Quinn is best remembered in the Pittsburgh area as the vociferous nighttime host on KQV radio in the 1960s, during the station's peak as a Top 40 power. Quinn was hired from WING/Dayton in 1967 and had an immediate impact on the market. In 1968, he jumped at an opportunity to take a job in Philadelphia, but was back at KQV in less than a year. He stayed until 1972, then spent time in New York City at WPIX-FM.
He then moved to Buffalo, New York where in the late 1970s he became known to listeners throughout the northeast on WWKB (WKBW-AM at the time), a 50,000 watt station that took requests from as far away as Norway. Quinn's final hour included a trivia game called "Stump The Audience," where the answers had been kept "in a sealed envelope on Funk and Wagnalls' doorstep since noon today." In an emotional farewell as he returned to Pittsburgh, Quinn said, "May I get lockjaw if I ever forget how much I appreciate the people who listen."
A Pittsburgh station, 13Q or WKTQ, lured him back in 1977 to capture the adults who had grown up listening to him on KQV. During his tenure at 13Q, Quinn issued a parody 45-record of the then Top 40 hit "Undercover Angel" entitled "Undercover Pothole"; the parody lamented the atrocious condition of Pittsburgh roads during that period of time. Quinn later moved to the midday slot at WTAE radio, an adult contemporary station in Pittsburgh, under the aegis of General Manager, Ted Atkins ("Captain Showbiz"). In 1983, he became half of "The Quinn and Banana Show" on B-94 FM, which ran in Pittsburgh, PA, until 1993. Their format was bathroom humor. After a course of conduct, wherein they implied that News Director Liz Randolph was promiscuous, she sued the station and Quinn and Banana for defamation and sexual harassment. On Valentine's Day, 1990, Ms. Randolph won on all counts, and a jury awarded her $694,000. Three years later, his FM morning show was canceled. Quinn largely credits this lawsuit with "opening his eyes" and inducing his conversion to political conservatism.
Read more about this topic: Jim Quinn
Famous quotes containing the words disk, jockey, novelty and/or host:
“Unloved, that beech will gather brown,
This maple burn itself away;
Unloved, the sun-flower, shining fair,
Ray round with flames her disk of seed,
And many a rose-carnation feed
With summer spice the humming air;”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)
“Radio news is bearable. This is due to the fact that while the news is being broadcast the disc jockey is not allowed to talk.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1951)
“It is only a short step from exaggerating what we can find in the world to exaggerating our power to remake the world. Expecting more novelty than there is, more greatness than there is, and more strangeness than there is, we imagine ourselves masters of a plastic universe. But a world we can shape to our will ... is a shapeless world.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“The rule for hospitality and Irish “help,” is, to have the same dinner every day throughout the year. At last, Mrs. O’Shaughnessy learns to cook it to a nicety, the host learns to carve it, and the guests are well served.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)