Danny Stiles (December 2, 1923 – March 11, 2011) was a radio personality at WEVD-AM,

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that ...

WNSW WNSW (1430 AM) is a religious-formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, serving the New York Metropolitan area. Since 2014, the station has been owned and operated by Starboard Broadcasting's Relevant Radio Roman Cath ...

, WJDM and WPAT in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

market. He worked on the radio for 63 years in the New York City area, up to the time of his death.

Early life

Danny Stiles was born and grew up in Newark and

Linden, New Jersey Linden is a city in southeastern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a borough of New York City, across the Arthur Kill ...

, during

The Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. After graduating from high school in 1941, he enlisted in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

after the

bombing of Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Haw ...

. After being

honorably discharged A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and th ...

due to an injured hip, Stiles went to college and held several jobs before starting his radio career.

Career

Stiles's first radio job was at WHBI in Newark on December 2, 1947, buying the air time for $65 a week. His career took him to WHOL in Allentown,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and stations in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

before returning to Newark on

WNJR (AM) WNSW (1430 AM) is a religious-formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, serving the New York Metropolitan area. Since 2014, the station has been owned and operated by Starboard Broadcasting's Relevant Radio Roman Cath ...

as the "Kat Man." At WNJR, Danny met Robert Smith, a young

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

native working as a

gofer A gofer, go-fer or gopher is an employee who specializes in the delivery of special items to their superior(s). Examples of these special items include a cup of coffee, a tool, a tailored suit, or a car. Outside of the business world, the term ...

, who would later move to the

border blaster A border blaster is a broadcast station that, though not licensed as an external service, is, in practice, used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually associated with Mexican AM station ...

XERB-AM XERB-AM/XHRB-FM is a radio station in Mexico, broadcasting on 810 AM and 89.9 FM in Cozumel, Quintana Roo. History The first station to carry the XERB callsign was a border blaster on 1090 kHz in Rosarito Beach, Baja California, which was ...

and broadcast as

Wolfman Jack Robert Weston Smith (January 21, 1938July 1, 1995), known as Wolfman Jack, was an American disc jockey active from 1960 till his death in 1995. Famous for his gravelly voice, he credited it for his success, saying, "It's kept meat and potatoes ...

. Stiles, who among other alliterative monikers called himself The Vicar of Vintage Vinyl, had a loyal fan following and a distinctive radio presence. At the end of his life, Danny was heard on four stations in Metro New York, on

WRCA WRCA (1330 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Watertown, Massachusetts, and serving the Greater Boston media market. The license is held by the Beasley Media Group, LLC, part of the Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. WRCA is simulca ...

AM 1330, serving the Boston, Massachusetts area, and was streaming 24 hours a day on the Internet. The broadcast material came largely from his personal collection of over 250,000 albums, many in their original

78 rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

format. After his death on March 11, 2011, Stiles continued to be heard, with vintage shows re-aired Saturday nights at 8 PM Eastern time on WNYC AM 820, until its final broadcast on January 3, 2015. His website dannystiles.com still offers a stream of archived shows.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stiles, Danny 1923 births 2011 deaths American radio personalities People from Linden, New Jersey People from Newark, New Jersey United States Navy personnel of World War II