I got a chance to talk to a boyhood idol this past weekend: Phil Jay, formerly the #2 on-air personality on WHB-AM, Kansas City’s dominant #1 radio station during rock’s golden era of the 1960s.
As Phil and many other reference works tell it, WHB owner and Omaha, Neb., native Todd Storz was the inventor of Top 40 radio. WHB was one of the first to employ the format 24-7, starting soon after Storz bought the station in 1954.
Phil Jay joined top dog Johnny Dolan on air at WHB-AM 710 in 1968, at a time when it was drawing huge ratings and its announcers were local celebrities. He remained with WHB until 1993. Today he lives in Olathe and has a mobile disc jockey service.
WHB played a role in promoting lots of events around town, too, including some of KC’s earliest rock concerts. A series of “Plaza Parties” were held at the Plaza Theatre in 1964 and 1965 featuring national names like Ray Stevens and locals such as Roger Calkins and the Silvertones. In the early 1970s, the station also sponsored a series of concerts and special high school days at Fairyland Park, which was at 75th and Prospect.
Rick I have a great story regarding the plaza theatre shows.
Which DJ said on air that WHB stood for “we hate Beatles” and got boycotted where ever he went for weeks after?
where are lphil jay and johnny dolan these days. are they still on the air?
I was a budding DJ in late 60’s and sought out J. Dolan for advise a couple of times–once Liberty HS battle of the bands. He drove a killer bronze ’68 Mustang GT500. Parked it by the no parking/parking lot tree by front door. Saw him again at Shakeys pizza 78th & Metcalf in OP, KS in ’71. He was gracious with his time and I appreciated it. I still have multiple WHB top 40 surveys from late ’60s. Dolan advised me to go to REI on Linwood Blvd. to get 1st class FCC license and rode to class with a friend of Phil Jay’s from Pittsburg, KS. Those were the days!!!
I will always cherish my high school memories of ” Rolling With Johnny Dolan” , Phil Jay , J.Walter Beethoven and we can’t forget “Chicken Man” , The Tooth Fairy and Ms Helfinger !!! I attended Golden City High in Golden City , Mo .from 1966-1970 , when I fell in love with my high school sweetheart and future wife ,Terrie Hill from nearby Jasper , M o. . Our favorite songs were Let It Be , Bridge Over Troubled Waters(what we also called our parking spot ) , Reflections Of My Life , Which Way Are You going Billy , ect . I also loved the Stones , Beatles , Steppen Wolf, and just about everyone else ! I occasionally strayed to Beaker Street on KAAY or to WLS in Chicago , BUT seventy onederful WHB (the big HB ,as we called it ) WAS HOME ! Does anyone know if Dolan is still rolling or not ? I heard a Johnny Dolan on a Houston classic rock station several years ago , so I had to call the station and check it out ! He was a different dude , but said that he had many callers asking if he had worked at WHB ,as well , and then he added ,”that he must have been a very popular fellow ” ! Indeed he was !!!
I grew up in the late 60’s/early 70’s listening to WHB radio. Specifically I remember Johnny Dolan and Phil Jay. They made my summer days fly by it seems. Recorded many hours of broadcast. Not sure why back then but wish I had kept all those old tapes now. Been looking for an aircheck tape of either Dolan or Jay…but to no avail. There are others but not them. Great memories of songs and girls…lol. They went hand in hand.
I worked at WHB as the weekend/fill-in announcer in the mid 70s. Phil is my daughter’s “God Morning Man” and Phil announced her birth on his show. Johnny is retired and (I hear) is in California. I have fond memories of my association with the station and the other Storz stations I would swap news stories with to fill those Sunday afternoon newscasts.
I recall seeing Dolan or hearing about him in Gladstone in a Dodge Charger. A flat top when I expected a long hair. Remembering when he went prerecorded.
Now into my 60’s I remember well the many hours listening to WHB on an AM radio. Hearing the Beach Boys sing “Good Vibrations” for the first time is a moment that I will never forget.
When I was in Boy Scout Troop 61, we went to the WHB studios and met the DJs. I immediately became interested in radio broadcasting and shortwave radio. Johnny Dolan and other great DJs (Wolfman Jack, Bill Bailey) sure set the standards of the era.
Great Memories! Thanks WHB!
– Paul
Trying to remember the name of the Lee’s Summit guy that was a WHB DJ around ’61. Heartthrob with the local girls, LS and otherwise. Don’t see his name above.
Many memories of WHB. As a young boy I got a transistor radio and listened constantly, by 1964 I made the decision to be a radio personality myself and realized my dream and worked at KTNC radio Falls City, Nebr. While there I started listening to WHB both Johnny Dolan, and Phill Jay were not screamers like other Jocks of my day and I modeled myself after them my radio name was Michael Day. I’m now a wedding DJ and Emcee for the Heartland Fly Girls a USO group and host a cruise in on Fridsy nights and play all the hits… WHB you are a treasure thanks!
Michael Day
Anything on Don Loughnane
Don Armstrong was the DJ that said WHB meant “We hate Beatles.”
David Loughnane…I grew up listening to Don Loughnane, Bob Robin, Wayne Stitt, Eddy Clark and Gene Davis, Don Loughnane was bigger than life, actually they all were. Remember the bit with the sexy weather girl? “Oh Don, you know what I want!”
I grew up in SE Kansas listening to this station a lot and enjoy the memories here. As for the “World’s Happiest Broadcasters”, the story I heard was that “Bud” Armstrong, longtime station manager, sometime in the mid-1950s was on the phone with an ad agency, who happened to ask him what WHB stood for. Of course, it was just random letter selection from the FRC (Federal Radio Commission), predecessor to the FCC as far as anyone really knows. But it just popped out of his mouth, “World’s Happiest Broadcasters”. I think he surprised himself with the answer. But he recognized the value of it.. No sooner had he hung up the phone when he wrote a memo stating that it should be mentioned what WHB stands for every half hour. It lasted for years and years but it truly is an excellent stamp and description of their air product.
What was Dan Diamond’s real name?
I listened to WHB in the ‘60’s, growing up in K.C., North. My earliest recollection was hearing “Flowers on the Wall” by the Statler Bros., of course. I was ironing something & that song came on. I’ve never forgotten it. In the late ‘60’s, I was in a Spelling Bee, sponsored by WHB &, I think, CocaCola. I remember getting a list of words that I believe were in a 6-pack carton of coke, which they said participants could use to study from, OR the dictionary!!! I passed my ON-AIR test, when I spelled TOURNIQUET, & then PARAPHERNALIA. I received $71.00 & the chance to win the contest, which was held at the Plaza. I believe Ron Martin was the DJ that was the emcee, but Johnny Dolan carried out my 4th-place prize, a BEAUTIFUL red & black stereo. I was VERY HAPPY to have won 4th place.
To answer DEL MILLER’S question about Johnny Dolan…….Johnny was killed in a carwreck, in the late 1980’s. I had moved to SW Missouri, & I remember hearing it on the NEWS. it was winter. Several inches of snow had fallen, & I believe he was on I-44, west of Springfield. Somewhere, I have an article announcing it. It was VERY SAD news!!!
Who were the DJ duo in the morning who sent the John Boy bunk beds to Nancy Reagan at the White House. I think they also brought Slim Whitman to town. They were hilarious!
Are copies of the Top 40 Surveys available anywhere?
In those early years Jay Harris played chicken man as they played basketball in all of the high schools. It was assumed that whb would not win a game but always let the High School faculty win. Whb had several ringers including Chicken Man. They could have won every game but they didn’t on purpose. Few people know this.
Great times working at WHB before they were sold and no longer the great station
Never did I dream I would work with and get to know the dj’s I listened to as a teenager