J. J. Wright Overnights October, 1973 to March, 1978
J.J. Wright's Timeline
J.J. Wright was a part of the team that Program Director J J. Jordan brought
on in mid-1973 to deliver the station from its boring hybrid AOR-Top 40 days
to an era of high-energy excitement and ratings success. And that, J.J. certainly
did with his upbeat presentation, just as he had done at his previous station.
J. J. stayed at WRKO for almost 5 years; a good, long stint for the radio industry.
He had replaced talented all-nighter Mark Jackson (whose whereabouts are unknown).
Before WRKO, Wright was cookin' at Louisville, Kentucky's WKLO/1080 AM, for
then-Program Director Bill "Wild Willy" Hennes, who agrees that J. J. was simply
terrific.
"J. J. Wright was a great talent. He was pretty 'raw' when he came to WKLO/Louisville.
However, I heard something in him that could be great. We had a fabulous staff
and they all worked together to help each other. He learned from some really
cool pros like, Lee Gray, Chick Brady, Mark Elliott, Brother Love, Mike Rivers
and myself as the PD. He went from a 'newbie' to a very solid jock in short
order. He went from Louisville to Boston. Not bad eh? And he lasted. He has
staying power. What a great talent. I am proud that he worked with us."
J. J. embraced Boston, ever since his enchanting voice hit the airwaves from
WRKO's cookin' 50,000-Watt transmitter in Burlington, Massachusetts in October
of 1993. Boston has embraced him as well, proof of which you may see in his
timeline.
Today, J. J. keeps listeners excited and happy at Boston's WODS/103.3, where
Dale Dorman has also landed, after being terminated from WXKS on August 12,
2003. It appears that WODS was awaiting him; it was a done deal even before
Dale was given the pink slip. A perfect move for Oldies 103.3, which become,
in a way, today's next-generation WRKO, as you can hear much of what WRKO played
in its heyday on Oldies 103.3.
A family man, J.J. is intensely private. When I first contact him in 1998, he
didn't want to discuss his WRKO days, or much of anything for that matter. As
a result, unfortunately, I don't have a lot of interesting facts about him to
offer. That's to bad, because he has a lot of fans and people in this business
who admire his skills. At any rate, he knows that he is most welcome to contribute
what he will, at any time, to this site. And I am thrilled that on September
22, 2003, J. J. provided his entire Radio timeline (below), so that you can
trace the career of a talented jock who made his move to the major market in
just a few years.
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| 1972 at WKLO |
1975 |
At WODS (2003) |
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| WRKO Reunion (1982) |
At WROR (1999) |
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