Joseph Noyes J. J. Jeffrey Jr. (May 29, 1940 – October 10, 2024) was an American radio executive and

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

(DJ) who specialized in rock-and-roll stations during the 1960s and 1970s.

Life and career

Jeffrey's broadcasting career began in the late 1950s

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

with the help of such broadcasters as Frank Fixaris. Jeffrey moved to Boston in March 1967 as the afternoon-drive personality for

WRKO WRKO (680 AM) is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by iHeartMedia, WRKO is a Class B AM station that provides secondary coverage to portio ...

, which — as ''NOW Radio'' and, later, ''The Big 68'' — dominated

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

's teen market in the late 1960s. Jeffrey hosted WRKO's weekly "Now 30" (later called "Big 30") countdowns on Thursdays and was famous for his high-energy style and catch-phrases such as, "This is J.J. Jeffrey, whippin' my great, Greek-god-like body into a frenzy for ya." He left Boston on October 31, 1969, and became the afternoon drive DJ for Top 40 station

WFIL WFIL (560 AM) is a radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, with a Christian radio format consisting of teaching and talk programs. Owned by Salem Media Group, studios and transmitter facilities are shared with co-owned ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. In June 1971, he moved to late nights at WLS in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and then to mid-days. In 1975, Jeffrey and his business partner, Bob Fuller, also a former Maine disc jockey, purchased their first radio station,

WBLM WBLM (102.9 FM) is a classic rock radio station licensed to Portland, Maine. The station has a studio in One City Center, along with co-owned Townsquare Media stations WJBQ, WCYY and WHOM. The station also serves as the Portland market af ...

, an FM album rock outlet based in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ) is the List of municipalities in Maine, second most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine, with the city's population at 37,121 as of the 2020 United States census. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, Augusta, the sta ...

. They purchased other stations, including northern New England's highly popular

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 ...

FM station,

WOKQ WOKQ (97.5 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. The station serves the Merrimack Valley, the New Hampshire Seacoast, and York County, Maine, including the cities of Manchester and Portsmouth. The transmitter is located ...

. In 1999,

Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting Atlantic Coast Radio, LLC is a radio company formed by longtime broadcaster J. J. Jeffrey and his partner Bob Fuller. It was incorporated in 1982 and has a staff of approximately twenty. Its studios are located at 779 Warren Ave. in Portland, Maine ...

was sold to

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company founded and developed by Larry Wilson. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the count ...

for $63 million. After the sale of Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting, Jeffrey and Fuller formed

Atlantic Coast Radio Atlantic Coast Radio, LLC is a radio company formed by longtime broadcaster J. J. Jeffrey and his partner Bob Fuller. It was incorporated in 1982 and has a staff of approximately twenty. Its studios are located at 779 Warren Ave. in Portland, Maine ...

,https://www.atlanticcoastradio.com/ which owns and operates three radio stations in the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

market: *

WLOB WLOB (1310 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Portland, Maine. The station is owned by Atlantic Coast Radio and airs a Talk radio format. The studios and transmitter are on Warren Avenue in Portland. WLOB transmits with 5,000 ...

1310 AM

News/Talk 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, interviews ...

* WJJB 96.3 FM, 1440 (WRED) AM

Sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

station known as ''The Big Jab'' carrying

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

baseball,

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

basketball and

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

. *

WPEI WPEI (95.9 FM) is a WEEI Sports Radio Network station serving the Portland, Maine, area. The station is owned by Atlantic Coast Radio. History On July 18, 1982, WPEI signed on as WPIG with a country format and the slogan "Southern Maine's Co ...

95.9 FM

WPPI WPPI (95.5 FM) is a sports radio station in the Portland, Maine, area. The station is owned by Atlantic Coast Radio. WPPI serves as a simulcast of WPEI (95.9 FM) in Saco. Both stations, in turn, mostly carry the same programs as WEEI-FM fr ...

95.5 FM, WEEI Multicast Jeffrey died of cancer on October 10, 2024, at the age of 84.

References

Sources

*https://web.archive.org/web/20070328214945/http://www.maine.rr.com/03/wlob/default.asp

External links

WRKO aircheck (1969)
1940 births 2024 deaths American radio personalities People from Cumberland County, Maine {{US-radio-bio-stub