| (c.) 2004-08 Kip Pullman. |
| Brooklyn-born Bob Smith aka Wolfman Jack first introduced his gravely voiced character in 1964 from super-powered border radio station, XERF 1570-AM. The 250,000-watt station in Ciudad, Acuna, Mexico (across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Texas) propelled Wolfman Jack half way around the world from midnight to 4AM every night. Wolfman enthralled young listeners with his howling, ghetto talk and hip play list that featured black artists rarely heard on commercial radio. The first time Bob Smith introduced Wolfman Jack he had tremendous success. Smith once told an interviewer, "The first night I went on the air I know we ran mail order record spots and stuff and, I think two days later I collected like, 4,000 or 5,000 pieces of mail. And, that was the first night on the air. No promotion no nothing, ya know. The station had such a phenomenal signal it covered all those people," he said. |
| The fascinating book, Border Radio gives a glimpse of what it was like back in Wolfman's early days on XERF, "Between the white-hot rhythm and blues of James Brown and Johnny Otis and the jazz of Count Basie, the Wolfman grunted, groaned, and howled an endless stream of exotic exhortations, such as, Wherever ya are, and whatever ya doin', I wancha ta lay ya hands on da raydeeooo, lay back wid me, and squeeze ma knobs. We gonna feeel it ta-nite!" |
| Nobody contributed more to the Wolfman legend than Smith himself. In his biography, Smith says he took over station XERF from armed banditos. The story is now known as the Border Radio Shoot-out Saga. The semi-mythical tale involves lawsuits, shootouts, and armed takeovers. How much is true is , we may never know. However, the anecdote is so intriguing Wolfman's biography is worth reading just for his account of the story. |
| Bob Smith before he was bitten by da Wolf. |
| An early publicity pic of Wolfman & Oscar. |
| An early charcoal rendition of the hairy one. |
| By 1966 Wolfman was broadcasting from XERB, "The mighty ten-ninety, fifty thousand watts towering over the west coast." Wolfman had offices and a recording studio in Los Angeles first on Sunset Blvd. and then he moved everything to 6th Street near Western Ave. He'd record his shows a day ahead of time on several reel-to-reel tapes. One tape had commercials on it, another had Wolfman introducing songs, while another tape had recordings of phone calls. The tapes were carried across the border to Rosarito, Mexico with directions on how to put the show together. The Mexican engineers would broadcast the tapes from the XERB, 50,000-watt transmitter giving listeners the impression that they were hearing a live show. |
| Wolfman Jack Comics written & illustrated by Koffman & Berenson. c.1970. |
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