Jonathon "Johnny B" Brandmeier (born July 15, 1956) is a Chicago

radio personality A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) 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, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

and musician.

Career

Born John Francis Brandmeier to a German father and a Lebanese mother, Brandmeier started his radio career in 1973 at

WFON WFON (107.1 FM) is a radio station licensed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The station is owned by RBH Enterprises, Inc. History The station was originally owned by Lola Beckmann, and the original WFON studios were in the building that now houses a ...

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Fond du Lac () is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 44,678 at the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the United States Census Bureau's Fond du Lac United States metrop ...

. When he was 18 he joined

WOSH WOSH (1490 AM) is a radio station serving the Oshkosh, Wisconsin area with a News/ Talk format including the ABC News Radio network. This station is under ownership of Cumulus Media. The station began broadcasting on December 31, 1941. During ...

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat. The city had a population of 66,816 in 2020, making it the ninth-largest city in Wisconsin. It is also adjacent to the Town of Oshkosh. History Oshkosh was ...

, later working as a DJ at WYNE (now

WHBY WHBY (1150 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Kimberly, Wisconsin, that serves the Green Bay and Appleton- Oshkosh areas. The station is owned by Woodward Communications and it airs a news/talk radio format. WHBY's studios and micr ...

) in

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton ( mez, Ahkōnemeh) is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. One of the Fox Cities, it is situated on the Fox River, southwest of Green Bay and north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the c ...

, then at

KLIV KLIV (1590 AM broadcasting, AM) is a broadcast radio station in the United States. Licensed to San Jose, California, KLIV serves San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley with a Vietnamese language, Vietnamese format simulcasting KVVN. It is one of the ...

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, then as the morning jock at WYBR-FM (now WXRX) in

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

, and then in 1980 at

WOKY WOKY (920 AM, "The Big 920") is a commercial radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia and broadcasts a sports format affiliated with Fox Sports Radio. Its studios and offices, which became the ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

. In February 1981, he was brought on as the KZZP morning DJ in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, where he participated in prank phone calls and silly song parodies. In 1982, Brandmeier released his first album ''Just Havin' Fun.'' WLUP ("The Loop") in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

hired him in 1983, where his morning show was broadcast on both the AM and FM stations. He formed and performed concerts with his band, "Johnny and the Leisure Suits". His most memorable songs include "We're All Crazy In Chicago" (a local Top Ten hit), "Hey Der Milwaukee Polka", and "The Moo-Moo Song" (based on an actual event in the 1980s when a local attempted to make love to a cow in the

Lincoln Park Zoo Lincoln Park Zoo, also known as Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, is a zoo in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868, making it the fourth oldest zoo in North America. It is also one of a few free admission zoos in the Unit ...

). In April 1986,

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Stre ...

aired his TV special "Johnny B. On TV". In 1989, he hosted

Friday Night Videos ''Friday Night Videos'' (later becoming ''Friday Night'' and then ''Late Friday'') is an American music video show that was broadcast on NBC from July 29, 1983 to May 24, 2002. It was the network's attempt to capitalize on the emerging popularit ...

with

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

, and starred in the TV-movie "Thanksgiving Day" with

Mary Tyler Moore Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) was an American actress, producer, and social advocate. She is best known for her roles on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966) and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977), which ...

. In 1990, he hosted two "Jonathon Brandmeier From Chicago" late night specials on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. In the summer of 1991,

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syndicated his "Johnny B. on the Loose". A management change at WLUP in 1997, however, led to the end of Brandmeier's 14-year run on The Loop. He hosted middays from 1998 to 2001 at

WCKG WCKG (1530 AM) is a radio station licensed to Elmhurst, Illinois, United States. The station serves the Chicago area and is owned by DuPage Radio, LLC. The station operates during daytime hours only. Hours of operation are determined by the Feder ...

in Chicago, which was replayed in

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at KLSX. After some time away from radio, he hosted mornings at

KCBS-FM KCBS-FM (93.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts an adult hits music format branded as "93.1 Jack FM". Unlike most radio stations airing the ...

from 2004 to 2005. Brandmeier returned to WLUP in fall 2005, hosting mornings until 2009. He made several appearances with his band, The Leisure Suits, on what he called "World Tour 2007." This included playing bars and theaters in the Chicago area. In 2008, he released a live 2-CD set, ''Larger Than Live'' of his 2007 Christmas show in

Rosemont, Illinois Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Located immediately northwest of Chicago, as of the 2010 census it had a population of 4,202. The village was incorporated in 1956, though it had been settled long before that. Whi ...

. All proceeds from the CD purchases went t
Pizzas For Patriots
which sends pizzas to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. On December 9, 2011, Brandmeier began a three-year run at WGN Radio. He moved from WGN to the online-only WGN.FM in September 2013 (and later WGWG-LP 87.7 FM in February 2014), but the FM station shut down operations in December 2014. On March 30, 2015, Brandmeier replaced

Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a stri ...

as the midday host on

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...

's nationwide talk radio lineup on 100-plus affiliates, including airing on

WLS (AM) WLS (890 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Cumulus Media, through licensee Radio License Holdings LLC, the station airs a talk radio format. WLS has its radio studios in the NBC Tower on North Columbus Drive i ...

in Chicago. Westwood One canceled the show on December 12, 2016, amid Brandmeier's dissatisfaction with network pressure on him to make the show a boilerplate

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 ...

show. Brandmeier was named as a Radio Hall of Fame inductee in June 2018. On April 3, 2020, an email was sent to Jonathon Brandmeier fans entitled "You're not dreaming, we're streaming", informing them that Johnny and Buzz would be streaming the following day, April 4, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Central on Johnny's website. Johnny and Buzz streamed live on April 4, 2020, amid network congestion, for a couple hours to the delight of fans. This weekly "Showcast" now airs live every Saturday at 10AM Central time.

Discography

Albums: * ''Just Havin' Fun'' (1982) * ''Almost Live'' (1984) * ''Brandmeier'' (1989) * ''Dink'' (1994) * ''Larger Than Live'' (2008) Singles: :1981: :*Johnny in the Morning (Just Havin' Fun) b/w Mick Jagger (What Makes Your Lips So Big?) :*The Snowbird Song b/w Did The Stones Show Up? :1983: :*Lookin' For A Livin' b/w Party Animals (Promotional release only) :*The Moo Moo Song b/w Party Animals :1986: :*We're All Crazy In Chicago b/w We're All Crazy In Chicago (Extended Mix)

Career

Discography

References

External links