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Daniel J. "Danny" Neaverth Sr. ( ; born May 11, 1938) is an American disc jockey and television personality from
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
. He is best known for a run of over 40 years as a morning disc jockey in Buffalo, including 25 years at heritage top-40 and oldies station WKBW/WWKB, another 15 years at oldies/classic hits
WHTT-FM WHTT-FM (104.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Buffalo, New York, serving Western New York. It is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts a classic hits format, simply calling itself "Classic Hits 104.1". The studios and offices are o ...
and a three-year run at WECK.


Radio career

Neaverth recalled that his first radio work was as a young teenager, when he, his longtime friend and collaborator Joey Reynolds,
WEBR WEBR (1440 kHz) is an AM commercial radio station licensed to Niagara Falls, New York. It serves the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area from studios on Kenmore Avenue in Buffalo. The station is currently owned by William Yuhnke, wit ...
jockey Danny McBride, and others set up a
closed-circuit radio A closed-circuit radio is a radio that emits over a very small range, typically a college campus. This system can be achieved from two ways: *By tying into the PA System *By using existing power lines, telephones lines, pipes, etc. to transmit a c ...
station at a Boys Club in Buffalo, under a sponsorship deal with a local pizzeria that "paid" the jockeys in free pizza. Neaverth was personally trained in the art of broadcasting by Jack Curran of
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...
and did not attend college. (As a running gag, Neaverth often claims he "went to
Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...
" when asked about his education.) began his career at WFRM in
Coudersport, Pennsylvania Coudersport is a borough in and the county seat of Potter County, Pennsylvania. It is located approximately east by southeast of Erie on the Allegheny River. The population was 2,371 at the 2020 census. History The Coudersport and Port Alleg ...
in 1957, where he served as afternoon jock. In 1959, he went to WDOE and then on to WBNY in Buffalo, the city's first rock and roll station. By 1961, WKBW had lured him to host the afternoon
drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...
slot (he became the station's morning host in 1970). Becoming known for the tagline, written by Tommy Calandra, "Danny moves your fanny in the morning!", and the catch phrase "I got up early so I could be the first kid on the block to say good morning to you" among many others, Neaverth spent 26 years at WKBW through top 40, adult contemporary and oldies formats before an ownership change and a format change to
talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...
led to his termination in the late 1980s. During his time in Buffalo, he co-recorded a comedy record, "Rats in my Room" (an expanded and rearranged cover of a
Leona Anderson Leona Anderson (born Leona Aronson; April 3, 1885 – December 25, 1973) was an American silent film actress who is possibly best remembered for her 1957 shrill music album ''Music to Suffer By''. Biography Leona Anderson was born as Leona Aronso ...
song) along with fellow WKBW jock Joey Reynolds, that was a regional hit, in 1963. For his expansion and rearrangement work, Neaverth was required to join BMI and received $80 in royalties; he was disappointed to find that airplay of "Rats in my Room" had dropped off to zero after only two months and only once (when
David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...
played it on '' Late Night'') did it ever get another spin; he never received the $7.69 royalty for Letterman's usage. Neaverth, on behalf of WKBW, was offered the chance to bring
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 ...
to
Buffalo Memorial Auditorium Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, colloquially known as The Aud, was a multipurpose indoor arena in downtown Buffalo, New York. Opened on October 14, 1940, it was home to the Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball, Canisius Golden Griffins (Nationa ...
on February 10, 1964, the day after the band had appeared on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...
''. It would have been the Beatles' first concert in North America. Neaverth, not willing to risk the $3500 appearance fee for a Monday night concert in the poor February weather for an unproven band he did not expect to sell out the auditorium declined the offer. It was not until after
Beatlemania Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles from 1963 to 1966. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom in late 1963, propelled by the singles " Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and " She Loves Yo ...
swept the nation that Neaverth acknowledged that his move was a mistake as the city would never again have the opportunity to bring the Beatles to Buffalo and it would be over five decades before the Beatles'
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
would perform in the city. His absence from radio in the late 1980s was short-lived, as he would quickly find his way to
WHTT-FM WHTT-FM (104.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Buffalo, New York, serving Western New York. It is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts a classic hits format, simply calling itself "Classic Hits 104.1". The studios and offices are o ...
, which was launching an
oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...
format of its own. Neaverth spent another decade at WHTT, again as morning jock, until being dismissed in a cost-cutting move in 2002. Shortly thereafter, he came out of retirement for another three year stretch at a revived "WKBW," where he (along with the oldies format in general) quadrupled the station's Arbitron ratings. After three years, WKBW's owner decided to pull the plug on oldies again, and Neaverth spent the next decade in semi-retirement. On May 4, 2017, Neaverth was added to the airstaff at WECK, hosting a weekly oldies program on Friday afternoons. Neaverth moved his show to Monday mornings in February 2019, reuniting him with Tom Donahue, his newsman at WWKB and WHTT. He was displaced from the Monday morning position in October 2019 after the station hired Roger Christian to fill the position. Neaverth was fired in April 2020 in a public argument with WECK owner Buddy Shula over how his co-workers were treated during the coronavirus outbreak. He has remained mostly in retirement since then but has been active on social media with his tongue-in-cheek production "Danny Needs a Job" and has hinted that he would not turn down another job offer in Buffalo if one were given.Schober, Jeff (January 18, 2021)
Does Danny Neaverth really need a job?
''BuffaloTales.net''. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
Neaverth is a member of the Buffalo Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame and the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.


Other appearances

Neaverth also had a very long run as the public address announcer for the
Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
for 13 years. He also served as the public address announcer for the
Buffalo Braves The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball team based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference ...
throughout the team's existence. As part of his work with WKBW, he and his fellow disc jockeys played as part of the "KB Yo-Yo Basketball Team," a
Washington Generals The Washington Generals are an American basketball team who play exhibition games against the Harlem Globetrotters. The team has also played under several aliases in their history as the Globetrotters' perennial opponents. Function The Gener ...
-like
sports entertainment Sports entertainment is a type of spectacle which presents an ostensibly competition, competitive event using a high level of theatre, theatrical flourish and extravagant presentation, with the purpose of entertainment, entertaining an audience. Un ...
squad that would travel to local schools and play charity games against teachers, deliberately losing every time. Neaverth has also been seen frequently on television. Neaverth, while still doing disc jockey work at WKBW, also served as noon weatherman for sister station
WKBW-TV WKBW-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo and a transmitter on Center Stree ...
, despite taking all the forecasts from
Accuweather AccuWeather, Inc. is a private-sector American media company that provides commercial weather forecasting services. AccuWeather was founded in 1962 by Joel N. Myers. The company adopted the name 'AccuWeather' in 1971. AccuWeather is headquar ...
and admittedly not knowing at all what he was doing. Later, in the 1980s, Neaverth moved to
WGRZ-TV WGRZ (channel 2) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located on Warner Hill Roa ...
and hosted the talk show ''Nearly Noon with Dan Neaverth'', and in 2016, he began producing a series of segments called ''I've Been Thinking'' for
WBBZ-TV WBBZ-TV (channel 67) is a television station licensed to Springville, New York, United States, serving the Buffalo, New York, Buffalo area. It has a primary affiliation with MeTV, but is otherwise programmed as an independent station. WBBZ-TV i ...
. Neaverth can also occasionally be seen hosting infomercials and commercials.


Personal life

Neaverth, who originally came from
South Buffalo South Buffalo is a neighborhood that makes up the southern third of the City of Buffalo, New York. Traditionally known for its large Irish-American community, this community also has a strong presence of various other nationalities. The once-he ...
, resides in
Orchard Park, New York Orchard Park is an incorporated Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Erie County, New York, United States. It is an outer ring suburb southeast of Buffalo, New York, Buffalo. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 census, the po ...
. He attended and graduated from Bishop Timon high school in South Buffalo, New York. His wife of 59 years, the former Marie Seifert, died August 17, 2017. Two of his four sons, Dan Jr. and Darren, have also worked in the radio industry (David and Dean did not); Dan Jr. was also a fire chief for Orchard Park. Neaverth is a registered Democrat but also identifies as a regular listener to
conservative talk radio Conservative talk radio is a talk radio format in the United States and other countries devoted to expressing conservative viewpoints of issues, as opposed to progressive talk radio. The definition of conservative talk is generally broad enough ...
shows on WBEN.Kwiatkowski, Jane (January 24, 2016)
Retirement doesn't seem to slow Dan Neaverth down
''The Buffalo News''. Retrieved January 25, 2016.


References


External links


Neaverth's bio at WECK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neaverth, Danny Radio personalities from Buffalo, New York American radio personalities Living people 1938 births People from Orchard Park, New York American sports announcers New York (state) Democrats NFL public address announcers