Bill Shirk (born May 3, 1945 in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

) is an American

escape artist Escapology is the practice of escaping from physical restraint, restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, Cage (enclosure), cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, bu ...

radio personality A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...

, broadcast

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Biography

Radio broadcasting

Shirk graduated from

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. The university is composed of seven aca ...

in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science degree in education. Shirk has owned and started radio stations in Muncie, Indianapolis, Cloverdale and

Lebanon, Indiana Lebanon is a city in and the county seat of Boone County, Indiana, United States. The population was 16,662 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in central Indiana, approximately northwest of downtown Indianapolis and southeast of Lafaye ...

. Shirk was the station manager, sales manager, program director, production manager and afternoon disc jockey on

WERK Werk may refer to: * Elliot Werk (born 1957), Democratic politician from Boise, Idaho * Nicholas Werk (born 14th-century), English politician * colloquial name for Třinec Iron and Steel Works in the Czech Republic * WERK, a radio station in M ...

Radio, in Muncie, Indiana, from 1968 to 1972. Shirk became the general manager and a DJ at

WXLW WXLW (950 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana. It is owned by Pilgrim Communications LLC. Along with sister station 95.9 WFDM-FM, it simulcasts a talk radio radio format, f ...

in Indianapolis in 1972 and then became the owner in 1974 and in 1991 added

WHHH WHHH (100.9 FM, "Hot 100.9") is a radio station licensed to Speedway, Indiana. Owned by Urban One, it broadcasts an mainstream urban format serving the Indianapolis metropolitan area. Its studios are co-located with its sister stations at Meri ...

-FM, Hot 96.3 as owner and DJ. Currently, he is the president and CEO of Hoosier Broadcasting Corporation.

Escape artist

While playing a major role in Indianapolis radio during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and early 2000s, Shirk was also making his mark in the

industry. Between 1976 and 1980, Shirk set eight

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

s, including the fastest time to escape from a strait jacket (4.53 seconds) and worlds fastest jail break. In 1977, Shirk was buried alive for 79 hours with a ten-foot python, two tarantulas and a rattlesnake, which received worldwide coverage and a donation from President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

. He raised $10,000 for the Marion County Association for Retarded Citizens. In 1983, Shirk starred as himself in the movie ''The Escapist''. The film revolved around his fictionalized efforts to save his radio station from a greedy corporation and featured several of his highly publicized stunts, including a straitjacket escape while hanging upside down from a helicopter 1600 feet in the air. In 1992, Shirk was buried alive under seven tons of dirt and cement in a

Plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bra ...

coffin, which collapsed and almost took Shirk's life. This was performed on the 66th anniversary of

Harry Houdini Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known professionally as Harry Houdini ( ), was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in ...

's death, who considered the stunt too dangerous after nearly losing his life to it in 1915, as well as on the 2nd anniversary of the death of Joe Burrus, an amateur escape artist who was killed in 1990 under the same circumstances as Shirk.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirk, Bill 1945 births Living people American magicians American performance artists American radio executives Ball State University alumni Escapologists People from Putnam County, Indiana Radio personalities from Indiana