Coyote William McCloud (August 31, 1942 – April 6, 2011), born William Lehmann, was a popular radio

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 a nightclub or music f ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. For more than 30 years, he was a drive-time personality at several Nashville radio stations. He first became well known in the early 1970s on WMAK-AM, then a market-dominant

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

station, as host of its 7 p.m.–midnight program. He was called "legendary" among DJs.Tom Parker Bowles, ''The Year of Eating Dangerously: A Global Adventure in Search of Culinary Extremes'' (Macmillan, 2008) p. 134. Found a
Google books
Accessed November 8, 2010. McCloud was one of the subjects of a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

'' 48 Hours'' documentary in 1992 about "shock radio". McCloud enjoyed his highest level of popularity while working for Y107 (now

WRVW WRVW (107.5 FM) is a radio station licensed to the city of Lebanon, Tennessee, but serving the nearby Nashville market. It is currently branded as 107.5 The River, broadcasting a Top 40 (CHR) format, and has become something of a heritage st ...

) and had his own fan club.Lee Dorman, ''Nashville Broadcasting: Images of America'' (Arcadia Publishing, 2009) pp. 59-61. Found a
Google books
Accessed November 8, 2010. He worked at the station for more than 10 years, from 1984 to 1995. McCloud was featured frequently in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''.

Radio career

Early in his career, he was an afternoon drive personality at WGOW-AM (owned by

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, cable news ch ...

) in

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

, using the name Bill Scott. In 1976, his recording of "Nitty Gritty Rock and Roll" was released as 45 rpm record on the Midland South label, distributed by RCA. The song included the catch-phrases he used as a nighttime deejay on WQXI "Quixie" in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. While hosting the morning show at Kix 104 (

WWKX WWKX (106.3 FM, "Hot 106") is a rhythmic contemporary station in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, serving the Blackstone Valley and much of the Providence metropolitan area. The Cumulus Media outlet operates with an ERP of 1.15 kW and is licensed ...

) in 1983, McCloud was selected by

Country Music Television Country Music Television (CMT) is an American pay TV network owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched on March 5, 1983, as Country Music Television, CMT was the first nationally available channel devoted to coun ...

network cofounders Glenn D. Daniels and G. Dean Daniels to be the first on-air voice of the network. When CMT (originally called "CMTV") launched on March 5, 1983, McCloud provided the first vocal announcement heard on the network under an animated "CMTV" logo with the words, “You're Watching CMTV...Country Music Television...in stereo." He remained the on-air voice of the network from 1983 through 1984. McCloud also worked at Power Country 103 ( WZPC) in the mid-1990s and Oldies 96.3 (WMAK) in the early 2000s. Along with Cathy Martindale, he hosted ''Coyote & Cathy In The Morning'' on 96.3 ( WMAK FM) and 97.1

WRQQ WRQQ (103.3 FM, "Classic Hits 103.3") is a classic hits music formatted radio station serving the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and its city of license is Hammond, Louisiana. Its studios are located downto ...

until late November 2006.

''Where's the Beef?''

Also a songwriter, McCloud wrote a song in 1984 entitled “

Where's the Beef? "Where's the beef?" is a catchphrase in the United States and Canada, introduced as a slogan for the fast food chain Wendy's in 1984. Since then it has become an all-purpose phrase questioning the substance of an idea, event, or product. Ralph ...

" as a promotion for a

Wendy's Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was the ...

restaurants' advertising campaign featuring

Clara Peller Clara Peller (August 4, 1902 – August 11, 1987) was a Russian-born American manicurist and television personality who, already an octogenarian, starred in the 1984 "Where's the beef?" advertising campaign for the Wendy's fast food restaurant ...

.Bob Batchelor and Scott Stoddart, ''The 1980s: American popular culture through history'' (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007) p. 48. Found a
Google Books
Accessed November 8, 2010.

Death

Coyote McCloud died of

cirrhosis of the liver Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...

on April 6, 2011, on his houseboat on

Percy Priest Lake J. Percy Priest Lake is a reservoir in north central part of Tennessee. It is formed by J. Percy Priest Dam, located between miles six and seven of the Stones River. The dam (easily visible from Interstate 40) is located about east of downtow ...

, in the company of his ex-wife Susan Thomas and his beloved pet dog Sawyer Black.

References

7. {{DEFAULTSORT:McCloud, Coyote American radio personalities 1942 births 2011 deaths People from Nashville, Tennessee People from Chattanooga, Tennessee Deaths from cirrhosis