Ron O'Quinn is an American 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 ...

born March 4, 1943, in McRae, Georgia. At the age of 16, O'Quinn began his radio career at WMGA, a station in his hometown of

Moultrie, Georgia Moultrie is the county seat and largest city of Colquitt County, Georgia, United States. It is the third largest city in Southwest Georgia, behind Thomasville and Albany. As of the 2010 census, Moultrie's population was 14,268. It was originall ...

, where he worked at the time of his graduation from Moultrie High School in 1961. Shortly thereafter, O'Quinn joined the Army, where he became a machine gunner as an Army Ranger. In 1963, after finishing his time in the Army, O'Quinn jumped right back into radio with a move to

WVLD WVLD (1450 AM) better known as "WVLD Rock 93.3" is a radio station broadcasting a mainstream rock format. Licensed to Valdosta, Georgia, United States, the station serves the Valdosta area. The station is currently owned by Black Crow Media. As ...

in Valdosta, Georgia, then on to WROD in Daytona Beach, Florida, before ending up at WLCY in Tampa, Florida, where he went by the moniker Jack E. Rabbitt. While on WLCY, O'Quinn had the highest rankings ever earned in the Tampa market, a 60% share (

Arbitron Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron) is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by mergin ...

, released Summer 1966), a record that still stands today. Moving on to Miami, O'Quinn went to work for WFUN, where he became known as Jack Armstrong. In 1966, O'Quinn left WFUN to become Program Director of a new radio station,

Swinging Radio England Swinging Radio England ("SRE") was a top 40 offshore commercial station billed as the "''World's Most Powerful''" that operated from 3 May 1966 to 13 November 1966 from a ship in the North Sea, four and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, E ...

, that was located off the coast of England in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

During his time at Radio England, O'Quinn accompanied The

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

on their 1966 U.S. Tour. It is O'Quinn who coughs in the studio during the count-in to

Taxman "Taxman" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. Written by the group's lead guitarist, George Harrison, with some lyrical assistance from John Lennon, it protests against the higher level of progress ...

. Upon returning to England following the tour, O'Quinn was told he had 3 weeks to get his affairs in order and return to America, unless he left the employ of Radio England, in which case he could remain (due to the British government imposing restrictions against offshore pirate radio). Knowing that he couldn't remain in the UK jobless, O'Quinn left Radio England and returned to the United States. After returning home to America, O'Quinn worked for many top-rated stations, including a return to WFUN, WYLD in New Orleans, KYA in San Francisco

KYA Radio KSFB (1260 AM) is a radio station licensed to San Francisco, California. It broadcasts Relevant Radio, a Roman Catholic radio format, to the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. It was previously known as KYA (AM) until 1983, and KOIT ...

& WUBE in Cincinnati, as well as being National Program Director of Urban Stations for Rounsaville Organization, an Atlanta-based company. In 1987, after being out of radio for several years, O'Quinn started a syndicated oldies show, ''Rock and Roll Reunion'', which was carried on 88 stations across the United States. He also hosted a weekly oldies show, Memories Unlimited, on WQZY-FM and WKKZ-FM in Georgia until 2001. Ron is regarded as one of the "BEST ALL TIME Disc Jockeys". His style was high energy, rapid fire, and always the top rated program in his time slot. Ron is a member of the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame, and was an inaugural nominee for the Georgia Radio Hall Of Fame. On October 20, 2012, Ron was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame as a Career Achievement Inductee. In August 2010, Ron made his return to the radio in Europe on Big L, 1395AM, out of Holland, but directed toward the United Kingdom, with his weekly syndicated radio show "Radio England Rewind". In 2011 he started adding radio stations in the US, Canada, and all across Europe and changed the name of the weekly show to Rock 'N Roll Rewind. The show was heard by over 1,000,000 listeners each weekend, but Ron decided to call it quits and retire. His final show was the last weekend of June 2017, even though some stations around the world continue with reruns. Ron now lives in Cotacachi, Ecuador.

Notes

External links

Georgia Music Hall of Fame 2007 NomineesRadio Years "Who's Who"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oquinn, Ron 1943 births American radio DJs Living people Offshore radio broadcasters People from McRae, Georgia Pirate radio personalities United States Army soldiers People from Moultrie, Georgia