Scott Muni | |
---|---|
Born |
Donald Allen Muñoz May 10, 1930 Wichita, Kansas, U.S. |
Died | September 28, 2004 New York City, New York, U.S. |
(aged 74)
Occupation | Disc jockey |
Years active | 1953–2004 |
Scott Muni (May 10, 1930 – September 28, 2004, aged 74) was an American disc jockey, who worked at the heyday of the AM Top 40 format and then was a pioneer of FM progressive rock radio. Rolling Stone magazine termed him "legendary".
Born Donald Allen Muñoz in Wichita, Kansas, Muni grew up in New Orleans. He joined the United States Marine Corps and began broadcasting there in 1950, reading "Dear John" letters over Radio Guam. After leaving the Corps and having considered acting as a career, he began working as a disc jockey; in 1953 he began working at WSMB in New Orleans. His mentor was Marshall Pearce. In 1955 he took over for Alan Freed at station WAKR in Akron, Ohio, and after that worked in Kankakee, Illinois.
Muni then spent almost 50 years at stations in New York City. He became a Top 40 broadcaster at 570 WMCA in the late 1950s, just before the start of their "Good Guys" era, and did a number of record hops in the New York area. In 1960, he moved to rival Top 40 station 770 WABC. There he did an early evening show called "Scotland's Yard" and was among the first WABC DJs to capture the attention of the teenage audience for which the station would become famous. He also participated in the competition to cover The Beatles on their first visits to the United States, and thus began a long association with them.