Don McNeill (performer)

Don McNeill
McNeill in a 1942 publicity photo
Born	Donald T. McNeill (1907-12-23)December 23, 1907 Galena, Illinois U.S.
Died	May 7, 1996(1996-05-07) (aged 88)

Donald T. "Don" McNeill (December 23, 1907 – May 7, 1996) was an American radio personality, best known as the creator and host of The Breakfast Club, which ran for more than 35 years.

McNeill was born in Galena, Illinois, son of Harry T. McNeill and Luella R. Weinberger. The family soon moved to Wisconsin, where McNeill graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee. He was a first cousin of United States Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, as his mother Luella Weinberger was the older sister of Caspar Weinberger's father.

McNeill began his radio career in Milwaukee in 1928, first as a script editor and announcer at The Milwaukee Sentinel's WISN, and later working for crosstown competitor WTMJ, owned by Sentinel rival The Milwaukee Journal. McNeill moved on to Kentucky, working for the Louisville Courier-Journal's station, WHAS. This was followed by working in San Francisco as a comedy act with singer Van Fleming, called "The Two Professors." following a failed career move to New York City, McNeill returned to Illinois in 1933.

McNeill applied for a job at NBC and was sent to Chicago to audition. He was assigned to host an unsponsored early morning variety show called The Pepper Pot, which had an 8 AM time slot on the NBC Blue Network (later to become ABC radio). McNeill re-organized the hour show as The Breakfast Club, dividing it into four segments he called "the four calls to breakfast."