DJ Biography
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HI! My name is John Hudak and I'm a DooWopper, who collects records (45s). I've been collecting since I was in Junior High. By the time I was in 9th grade I had put together my own sound system and was DJ'g parties and dances. Competition was pretty stiff as there were three other guys in my own school who were doing the same thing. This may give you an idea how strong the music influence was on teens in the Pittsburgh area. I used to hangout at Records Unlimited or even Bender's trying to find those hard to get records. By High School I had a contract with the East Liberty YMCA to host their weekly dances in Swissvale and at the East Liberty Y. Still I had the opportunity to DJ at many of the bigger dances in the area to include the East Pittsburgh Boosters Club. |
| While in my senior year (1965), I was serious about becoming an On-Air personality and went nights to a broadcast school in Downtown. One of my classmates was Mad Mike of WZUM, "Mike's Moldie Oldie" fame. I got a few distant offers, but nothing serious since I was of course DRAFT Bait. So, I figured with Vietnam going strong to get my service obligation over and left OH-5 in Homestead for the Army. That started a 20 year career that I do not regret. Other than Nam, I've enjoyed my military life. While stationed in Korea (73), and on "Courtesy Patrol", I had the pleasure of putting what appeared to be a guy at the end of a very long THUNDER RUN through the DeVille into a cab to send him home. The guy turned out to be the station manager of the local Armed Forces Korea Network station. That led to a discussion about part-time work at Kilroy Radio in Teagu. I had allot of my dusties on tape with me and started a local oldies show on Friday evenings. |
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That gave me some air experience and the show became pretty
popular. I would get calls from Tech Controllers (the guys operating the telephone
exchanges), who would patch the show all over the Pacific. It was not unusual to get
a request for High On A Hill from a Navy ship somewhere at sea. Also, local
dedications like "Hand Jive" would go out to the "Scientific" Massage
Parlors. When I returned to the states I was stationed as an instructor at the Signal Center & School at Fort Monmouth, NJ and then moved with it to Fort Gordon in Augusta GA. This was 1976 and after getting my 1st Class FCC license, I happened to meet the program director of WBIA. He needed some part-timers for the weekends and I was more than happy to accept. After a while I was able to start the "Wax Museum" each Sunday night and had fun with that. I moved after the management changed hands and they changed the format, to WGAC. |
| This was a much stronger station serving 52 counties in
Georgia and South Carolina. Most of the pictures on this page were taken during one
of my Sunday Night Hall Of Fame shows. In a short period it became the number one
rated show for its time period.
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Sooo, that's very interesting that you always listen to the show naked. Thanks for the call fella! |
| The family came to visit tonight to watch Dad. He's either here or watching football on Sundays. Michele and John Jr. sure don't look like this anymore. They're in their mid-thirties now. The wife (Poopsie Baby) took all the shots. We live in the "central shore area" of New Jersey, near Asbury Park but try to get back to the Burgh as often as we can. We visit family (record hunts) and visit friends (more record hunts) and plan one day after hitting the Lottery "Big" to return. |
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Here's the BOSS! Pat (aka. Poopsie Baby) was 25 yrs old and already
had the "Little Darlings" above when this was taken at WBIA in 77'. To me
she seems just as hot today as she did then. Well what did you expect? She's a Northside Girl and you know what they say about those Northside Girls. |
This is Poopsie's Dad, Big Ray. It seemed funny that when ever I came over to pick Poopsie up, he was always cleaning his guns. He sure had clean guns. He also frequently mentioned something about "Bushwhackers" and how things happened to people without anyone ever finding out the cause. After Poopsie and I married he didn't seem to clean his guns as often and the subject of "Bushwhackers" hardly ever comes up. |
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Ok Chele, we're coming out of news now push this button for the intro cart and then we'll segue into Annie Had A Baby. NO NO Not That One! |
| Here I am working in the dungeon (a.k.a.
basement Record Room) working on a website update. It's Sunday
morning and it's gameday as the Steelers will host the NY Jets in a couple
of hours. (12/9/2001)
(Steelers 18 - Jets 7) |
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It takes about 20 manhours to pull the music, research the records, record the music, video capture the labels, scan the labels, and then actually update each page. You know I love this stuff and have allot of fun doing this. The positive feedback makes it worthwhile. Believe it or not but one day all this mess will be organized (right!). |
| This is an excerpt from an "AIR CHECK" tape of the 4 Mar 79, Sunday Nite Hall Of Fame show at WGAC. The intent is to just give you an idea of the sound of the show. I must point out that the show was designed to feature "Mainstream Music" from the 50's thru the early 70's. So we were trying to reach a broad audience and not just Hard Core DooWoppers. I tried to get as much 50's and early 60's stuff on as I could with out turning anyone else completely off. |
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