Vergil Glynn "Dan" Daniel (December 18, 1934 – June 21, 2016) was an American radio disc jockey, known on the air as Dandy Dan Daniel and Triple-D.

Career

Daniel started as a disc jockey at age seventeen on

Armed Forces Radio The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the United States Armed Forces provides to soldiers stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. AFN comprises two su ...

with the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. His first commercial job was at

KXYZ KXYZ (1320 AM) is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by iHeartMedia, and features an all-news radio format aimed at the African American community, as an affiliate of the co-owned Black Information Network. In additi ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

in 1955 and he then worked at

WDGY WDGY (740 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM radio, AM radio station city of license, licensed to Hudson, Wisconsin, and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul media market, radio market. It is owned by WRPX, inc. and airs a Classic ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

before moving to WMCA in 1961. His first broadcast at WMCA was on August 18, 1961. He started on the graveyard shift overnight but from 1962 to 1968 he played the top 40 hits from 4 pm to 7 pm — the evening drive home slot. The station produced a survey of the current sales in New York record stores and Dandy Dan gave the countdown of the week's best sellers every Wednesday in this late afternoon slot. In 1966, he participated in a tour of Africa to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

. Then, from 1968 to 1970, he did the early morning drive-to-work slot before leaving WMCA after nearly nine years; his final broadcast was on July 11, 1970. Daniel was heard coast-to-coast on

NBC Radio The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...

's ''

Monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

'' in the summer of 1973 and was the announcer on the 1974–1975 game show '' The Big Showdown''. He subsequently worked on WYNY-FM where he hosted the mid-day slot and later morning and afternoon drives. He then did a stint at WHN playing

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

before returning to WYNY-FM. Finally, he moved to

WCBS-FM WCBS-FM (101.1 FM) is a radio station owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. licensed to New York, New York, and broadcasting a classic hits format. The station's studios are in the combined Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood in ...

in 1996. He retired from WCBS on December 31, 2002.

Style

Daniel was one of the personalities promoted as the "Good Guys" while working for the New York Top 40 radio station WMCA in the 1960s, when bands like

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

were transforming the music scene. He performed too and was the first to record the song "

Is That All There Is? "Is That All There Is?" is a song written by the American songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It became a hit for the American singer Peggy Lee in 1969. The song was originally performed by Georgia Brown in May 1967 for a televisi ...

" He was tall –— and so his theme tune was "

Big Boss Man Ray Washington Traylor Jr. (May 2, 1963 – September 22, 2004) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler best known for his appearances with the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name (The) Big Boss Man, a ...

", as performed by

Charlie Rich Charles Allan Rich (December 14, 1932July 25, 1995) was an American country singer. His eclectic style of music also blended influences from rockabilly, jazz, blues, soul, and gospel. In the later part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname t ...

. One of his

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

s was "I love you ... and especially you, size nine." "Size nine" was once revealed to be his wife, Rosemary. One technique used by Daniel was to research his audience. He felt that it was important to communicate in a personal way with them:

Death

Daniel died on June 21, 2016, after falling in his home the previous day. He was 81.

References

External links

Music Radio 77
— numerous excerpts of Dandy Dan and the other Good Guys broadcasting on WMCA.

— an 18-minute excerpt of Dandy Dan broadcasting on WMCA on April 22, 1963. {{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel, Dan 1934 births 2016 deaths People from Buffalo, Texas Radio personalities from New York City United States Navy sailors

Career

Style

Death

See also

References

External links