Growing up in Dallas NC on a farm made me appreciate hard work and commitment which I have used in my career and as a DJ. I came to love music as a kid listening to BIG Ways Radio. After high school I went into the US Air Force. Sunday Night at the Beach with Randy Rowland became my introduction to beach music, we started shagging and attending SOS. I came to know Dick Hamrick who asked me to fill in for him and my DJ life began. Over the years, many great DJs have mentored and supported me but Kyle Beam has been the one who has given me the advice and knowledge to advance as a DJ to where I am today. I have played at SOS in all of the clubs at OD and call it a privilege to have played at the PAD the last weekend before it was torn down. I joined the Beach DJ Association in 2007 and have met a vast amount of great DJ’s and people over the years. Being a radio DJ at 91.7 FM for many years as the host of the “Breakfast at the Beach Show” every Saturday morning at 6am coined the nickname Kyle Beam gave and the beach & shag world was introduced to 6amTim. One of the best events of DJing was for Joe Brown at “Shagging on the Seas” shag cruises for many years where I met a lot of people who have become wonderful friends and traveled to a lot of fantastic places. Lynn’s Dance Club in Charlotte has become home to me and to Tom Bare for his friendship over the years to be able to play this great music to so many wonderful people. Thanks to all of the shag clubs who have invited me to play for many years all over North and South Carolina. I look forward to Jukin’ Oldies, the comradery of the Jukin’’ DJ’s and meeting many more friends through some of the greatest music of all times.
Mike “Tiny ” Feimster is no stranger to Beach Music and all that the genre encompasses. Tiny spent many years in North Myrtle Beach (Ocean Drive) working during the summer months. Tiny met and hung with Fat Harold Bessent many years and beer gardens ago. Tiny and Ron started the Ron & Tiny shooter party many years ago on the back deck of Fat Harold’s with all proceeds going to Camp Kemo. Even though Fat Harold and Ron are gone, Tiny stills keeps the Camp Kemo fundraising party alive every Spring SOS. Thru the years Tiny has become a great music Venue promoter back in his hometown of Belmont NC. Most all the bands know and love Tiny. Tiny joined WSGE FM many years ago answering the phone calls. Chris finally talked Tiny into moving to North Myrtle Beach full time and that’s where Tiny met with Randal Hight at Jukin Oldies and The Morning Tide Show. Tiny and Randal go way back as friends so a fantastic show was born “Tuesday with Tiny!” For over 3 years both Randal & Tiny have interviewed dozens of recording artist, in additon debuded many brand new songs and albums on the show for the first time. You can review and listen to the interviews on the Jukin’ Oldies website. Tiny & Chris have since moved back to Belmont NC where he has revived dancing at the Moose lodge on Wednesdays. Look for Tiny and Randal Tuesday with Tiny! The Fun begins 7am Tuesday!
John played his first dance on a Ferry Boat crossing back & forth the Historic James River in his home state of Virginia in 1962 for his local 4H Club when he was 14 years old with an arm full of vinyl records and a portable two piece stereo record player that he had just gotten for Christmas.
John has played local events and for many Shag & Bop Clubs from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean across the Blue Ridge Mountains to Kentucky and down to the Sunshine State of Florida where he and his wife Phyllis live in the Wintertime. John was the house DJ the last 5 years of its existence for Thursday In Old Town Beach Music event held in Petersburg, Virginia, the longest running Beach Music event held in Virginia playing with all the touring Beach Music Bands.
For several years John was one of the team DJs playing regularly on The Beach Music Cruises and The Making Waves Cruise.
Currently John is a regular on the team of SOS DJs playing at Fat Harold’s Beach Club in North Myrtle Beach, SC.
John has served as Treasurer and as Vice President of The National Association of Rhythm & Blues Dee Jays and is a current member of the Association of Beach & Shag Club DJs.
John had two concurrent careers. He worked for 41 years in the tobacco industry and served in the US Army and Virginia Army National Guard as both an enlisted person and retiring as a Communications & Electronics Officer with 29th Infantry Division (L) after 25 years of service to our country.
John got involved with internet radio back in 2010 as the Man Behind the Curtain on the Morning Mess Around Show and the SNL Sunday Night Live show with Your BeachMusic.com and has remained active in internet radio since then.
John is excited to be joining the great team of DJs here at Jukin’ Oldies Internet Radio where he will join them playing The Greatest Music On Earth.
John hopes you will tune into his “ Johnny’s Jukebox” where his goal is to try and change your listening habits, One Song At A Time.
Artist or in person, Jim Quick is the kind of guy you genuinely want to call a friend. With the charm only a true Southerner can possess, he brings his talent to the stage with a quick-witted, knee-slapping sense of humor coupled with the clear sincerity of his love for his craft.
“As a child, I was real mischievous. Playin’ pranks and makin’ jokes; doin’ stupid stuff you do as a kid. People would laugh; the more they laughed, the more I’d act a fool! It was like applause for more, more, more. I loved being the center of attention. Still do. Add music and, well, that’s spice to the concoction! That’s how I roll.”
And “roll” he does. Quick’s been touring the Southeast US for more than 20 years, playing nearly 250+ shows per year, and has released more than 12 albums including his newest, Revival. Originally introducing their music as the Coastline Band—a band of friends who played the Carolina beach bars day in and day out—the group pushed Quick to the forefront and naturally transformed into Jim Quick & Coastline. Known for his all-out performances and deliberate, off-the-cuff wisecracks, Jim has been a gracious recipient of the Carolina Music Awards “Entertainer Of The Year Award” – nineteen times.
Those who have seen Quick perform in the flesh may wonder if the funny guy sitting at the bar wears the same suit as the artist on stage. The answer is “yes.” “When it comes to me, the person on the street and the person performing are completely the same. As an artist, I am a true, exaggerated version of myself. Magnified. Make no mistake, they are both me, just different sizes.”
Born and raised in deep Carolina, Jim Quick grew up with a kind and fun-loving family. He, along with his younger sister and childhood friends, spent countless hours loping across the grasslands. In quiet time, Jim enjoyed visits with his grandfather, a Veteran of World War II, who shared front-porch-sittin’ and lemonade sippin’ while Sgt. Loyd Merle Quick shared tales of the battle and helped little Jim conquer a debilitating stutter—a budding singer’s worst enemy.
“I grew up between the swamplands and the sand-hills of Southeastern North Carolina. I played a lot in the Gum Swamp area, my yard, and nearby fields. I didn’t have a whole lot of friends in such a sparse, rural area, so I spent most of my time with my imaginary friends. I was a true Son of the South, exploring the land on my bicycle or on foot, pretending I was one of Mark Twain’s characters or a chunky, little descendant of Lewis and Clark.”
When he wasn’t surveying the lands, Jim discovered his love for music in the confines of his bedroom, sitting in front of his Sears & Roebuck stereo with Radio Shack headphones atop his head. Playing the role of both DJ and performer, young Jim would introduce himself before the next song, with which he’d appropriately sing along. His playful dress rehearsal wasn’t in vain. At 14, he secured a job as a radio DJ for a small, local AM station giving him the platform he needed to learn about the entertainment business and create the stage character for which he’s known.
“Working at the station was a real blessing. It was a 500-watt, so really, really small, but it provided me a way to learn about a variety of music genres and what went on behind the scenes. It really gave me that extra push I’d needed to finally start making my own music. Now look at me: I’m nearly a dozen albums in and still goin’ strong!”
After helping to co-host his Dad’s iconic radio show “Steve Hardy’s Original Beach Party”, Britt Hardy has embarked in carrying on his Dad’s radio legacy by starting his own show, “Party For A Lifetime With Britt Hardy”, which debuted on the Beach, Boogie, and Blues Network in February of 2020.
“Party For A Lifetime”, is the Cammy Award winning beach music compilation CD that Britt produced to honor his Dad, and it includes some of the biggest names in Beach Music.
“Party For A Lifetime With Britt Hardy” radio show continues to honor beach classics both past and present!
Britt is further ingrained in the beach music scene, as the drummer for “The Main Event Band”, and is also a former drummer for the Beach Music Hall Of Fame inductee, The North Tower Band. In fact, growing up Britt learned the ropes of music by sitting in on drums with all of the beach groups. Throughout the years, Britt has toured exclusively throughout the Southeastern United States with different musical acts. You could say Britt Hardy has been in beach music his whole life, since the start of his Dad’s radio show in 1974. Britt’s unending love for Motown, 70’s Philadelphia soul, Stax, and R&B comes out on the radio. Party For A Lifetime is styled after his Dad’s show, it’s very upbeat, exciting, and makes you want to move just like you did at the Shag clubs in the golden age of beach music! Britt is proud to call Eastern North Carolina home where he is an avid music and drum collector. Britt loves spending time with friends and love ones, but especially with his kids and grandkids and 3 dogs.
Tuesday night’s going to be Partying, and it’s going to be a Party For A Lifetime!
Craig is a native of King George, VA. . He began DJ’ing in May of 1996. Since then he has played regularly for the NVSC while also playing private parties and for other shag clubs from Georgia to Pennsylvania. He is the contest DJ for the Eno Beach Shag Contest in Durham for the last ten years, the Grand National Dance Championships (GNDC) in Atlanta for the last 7 years, the 2018 Keepers of the dance contest and the 2018 and 2019 Fat Harold’s Labor Day contests and Junior SOS. Craig has been DJing at SOS since 1998 first at the Boulevard Grill (4 years during SOS) and then Ducks (17 years).
Craig became a member of the Association of Beach and Shag Club DJ’s in 1996, served as Treasurer in 2001 and 2002, executive Board member in 2019, and was the 2018 Richard Nixon Award recipient.
Join me for CJs Boogie Woogie Dance Party on JukinOldies.com. I will be playing music to fill the dance floors.
Worldwide internet listeners are in for a thrill as the Little Bossman Show takes to the airwaves on jukinoldies.com each Tuesday 10-Midnight EST. With a prise collection of classics rhythm & blues the Pittsburgh-born, California based Little Bossman, AKA Bill Roberts, specializes in mixing frantic rave ups with smooth vocal group harmony to create some of the most satisfying musical sessions on contemporary radio. Roberts’ mix of affable charm and Jive exhortations have a boundless appeal to not only his core audience “wrinkled rockers” in Bossman parlance-but also to younger listeners just discovering the exciting world of 1950s-era black music.
A natural hipster, the Little Bossman was born for this job: “I became an admirer of the music very early. I’d take the keys to my brother’s car and sneak out to listen to the radio until the battery went dead or he caught me” He said. “As a teenager I often went to record hops that featured popular local disc jockeys like Porky Chadwick.
I lived just a short distance from the Jumpin’ Jive Beehive where Porky appeared each week. He had some thing very special and I’d go to his hops all the time. The first rock & roll show I saw there featured Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Frankie Lyman & Teenagers, The Chantels, Dickey Do & Don’ts, The Blond Bombshell Joanne Campbell, and a host of others-that was my introduction to rock& roll.
“I had always loved radio, and disc jockeys were a very important part of my life. I’d hang out at the local radio stations every chance I got. This is when I discovered that many really excellent records, 45s mostly, were simply chucked into the dumpsters once the station had rejected most of them for airplay. I became a collector and eventually acquired a stack of oddball 45s, most of them very limited vinyl pressings. One day-finally-Porky invited me to come by the station and play them.”
Once he got in front of the microphone, the Little Bossman was hooked, and those “oddball 45s” that he liberated from the trash bins remain the heart of his broad cast repertoire, minor masterpieces of vernacular pop culture. “I love these recordings and am pleased to present these rare, unusual and hard to find discs each week on my show. “Old records never die, they just groove away,” He said.
A glorious throwback to the heyday of the untamed personality jock, the Little Bossman unfailingly delivers the goods with self-deprecating charm and sounds that you’re unlikely to hear anywhere else.
‘Little Bossman’ Keeps Music of his Youth Alive By RON PAGLIA
For the Mon Valley Independent
Monessen, PA
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Bill Roberts has lived elsewhere most of his adult life. But a large part of his heart and soul remain firmly planted in southwestern Pennsylvania, specifically the areas he worked as” “The Little Bossman” with legendary disc jockey Craig “Porky” Chedwick.
“I grew up in Little Washington, Pa., just a short distance — 18 miles — from Charleroi,” said Roberts from his home near San Bernardino, CA, where he hosts a popular Internet radio show. “I attended Washington High School — home of the Little Prexies — and was graduated in 1959.”
While still in junior high, Roberts began listening to popular local disc jockeys, mostly from the Pittsburgh market — e.g., Barry Kaye, Jay Michael and ‘”the one who offered something very special with his music and style on the radio … Porky Chedwick.”
Chedwick’s popular show aired each day at 4 p.m. over WAMO in Homestead.
“The station’s signal was difficult to pick up — hardly audible — in Washington, but we turned up the volume and listened as best we could,” Roberts said.
“One day, Porky announced he would be making an appearance at the roller skating rink in Washington,” he continued. “The record hop was a huge success, but I wound up on the outside listening in. I was turned away because I was too young. But I was standing out front when Porky showed up on a motorcycle with his satchel of records. What a cool image!
“I stayed out front of the arena and listened to the sounds pouring from the inside. I could only imagine what I was missing. I was hooked on Porky and his music.”
Bee Hive Dances
So much so that Roberts later began following Chedwick to his myriad record hops throughout the area including those at the Jumpin’ Jive Bee Hive in Charleroi.
“I always thought that (Jumpin’ Jive Bee Hive) was such a cool name,” said Roberts. “I wished I had thought of it first. They always had large crowds there and the kids were great dancers and very friendly.”
Roberts recalled that Chedwick usually brought popular recording artists to his dances so they could introduce their music to live audiences. Among those who appeared at the hops were such local artists as the Smoothtones, the El Capris and the El Vinos as well as such national performers as Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, The Coasters, lovely Jo Ann Campbell and many, many others.
Eventually, Roberts was befriended by Chedwick, who was known among his many entertainment personas as “The Bossman.”
“Shortly after receiving my driver’s license, I began driving Porky to his record hops,” Roberts recalled. “Due to the overwhelming number of hops he was offered, Porky began calling me ‘The Little Bossman” and started sending me to be the DJ in his place What a thrill that was.”
One such assignment took Roberts to Redd’s Beach in Fallowfield Twp. in 1961.
“They hired Porky but due to his heavy schedule, they got me instead,” Roberts said. “The outdoor setting was unique at the time, being that it was a teenage nighttime pool party and dance featuring Porky’s music. Needless to say, there were some memorable times.”
Roberts and Chedwick returned to Redd’s Beach (now Pine Cove Swim Club) for a successful encore in 1962.
Ensuingly, Roberts landed a job with the Pittsburgh record distributor, Fenway Records, to garner airplay for newly-released songs by such artists as the Supremes, Johnny Rivers, Bobby Vee, Roger Miller and many others as well as local performers
Moves To KDKA
Roberts added to his growing entertainment resume’ when he accepted a job as music director at KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh.
“I was assigned to build the station’s teen demographics by choosing music to appeal to a younger audience and to boost KDKA’s popular afternoon disc-jockey, Clark Race,” Roberts recalled. “Clark was a true professional and a pleasure to work with.”
It was at this time that KDKA was in an ongoing ratings battle with KQV, the area’s most popular station among teen-agers at the time. Music was beginning to change, and the British Invasion ensured the transition.
‘Not many in the business at the time saw the music inundation from across the Atlantic Ocean,” said Roberts. “Fortunately, I had contacts in the United Kingdom and KDKA was able to keep well ahead of KQV in airing records by the Beatles long before they were released to the public in the United States. As a result, Clark Race’s popularity seemed to soar.”
Another feather in KDKA’s collective cap occurred in 1964 when the Rolling Stones arrived in America for a brief promotional tour. The staff at KDKA hosted a brunch for Mick Jagger and his crew at the Pittsburgh Hilton.
“That’s where I met a very young Mick Jagger,” said Roberts. “The introduction paid off years later when I moved to Hollywood. I had the honor of appearing on one of the twelve postcards that came with the Stone’s classic album, ‘Exile on Main Street.’ I was pictured as the captain of the ship that brought the Stones to America and my wife Kathy is standing with Mick. The photos were shot by famed photo journalist Norman Seif on a sound stage at a Hollywood studio.”
Roberts’ stint at KDKA ended in late 1964 when he was called by Uncle Sam to serve in the U.S. Army. After returning to civilian life, he landed a job with Liberty Records, a California-based firm, to handle Pittsburgh promotion for the label and its stable of artists. He represented such performers as Jackie DeShannon, Dennis Yost of Classic IV, Johnny Rivers, Canned Heat and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band among others.
Chicago Experiences
Not long after, Roberts was transferred to Chicago to represent Liberty in the Windy City. It was there that he met and became friends with popular disc-jockey Dick Biondi and other record-spinners of that era.
After nearly a year of enduring “The Hawk” — a popular term used to describe the Chicago winter wind that blew off Lake Michigan — Roberts pulled up stakes and landed in Los Angeles as national promotion director for Liberty Records, United Artists and the iconic Imperial Records that signed and recorded the legendary Fats Domino.
Among the artists with whom he worked in the ensuing years were Electric Light Orchestra, War, Ike and Tina Turner and the Fifth Dimension, all of whom earned gold and/or platinum records for their efforts. He also toured with Elton John and Rod Stewart, among others.
The mid-1970s brought a major change to Roberts’ career path. He formed a partnership with LA producer and artist manager Bill McEuen. They moved their headquarters to Aspen, Colorado, the international ski mecca and home of John Denver.
“We were fortunate to help manage the careers of versatile entertainer Steve Martin and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,” Roberts recalled. “We eventually landed a solid movie deal for Steve.”
Roberts eventually found California calling again and he returned there in retirement.
:”I’m 82 now and I love living in California,” he said. “Life is good and allows me to enjoy my hobby of providing radio shows to Internet platforms and sharing the music I grew up listening to with the many fans that tune in to my weekly programs.”
Roberts’ love for radio and appreciation of disc jockeys was enhanced when Porky Chedwick invited him to appear on his WAMO show.
“Once I got in front of the microphone, I was hooked,” he said
The music he played then makes up the format of his Internet presentations. The broadcast repertoire features “minor masterpieces of vernacular pop culture.”
“I love these recordings and I’m pleased to present the rare and hard-to-find discs on my show,’” he said.
“Although many of the great artists whose music I play have passed on, their voices never die — they just groove on with our show.”
Listen to Bill…
To enjoy the music and talents of Bill “The Little Bossman” Roberts and The Jumpin’ Jive Beehive Show, log in to www.jukinoldies.com every Tuesday evening from 10 p.m. to midnight. Roberts also can be contacted via email at wdrg111rd@gmail.com and on Facebook.
