A MAVERICK OF THE AIR WAVES

I started up a thread on Heidi MacDonald's , Super Lime Jumping Station delphiforum - on the passing of disc jockey and radio programming director, Scott Muni. Most of my teen age years were glued to Scott's shift on WNEW-FM in the afternoon after school. Listening to him taught me everything I knew about the choices I made in the music I now follow. I'll miss him terribly. Later today or tomorrow, I'll be posting my Marillion review of the LA House of Blues show a few nights ago to the Dutch Progressive Rock Page website. And get back to where I left off with my DVD fetishes.

Gentleman professor of all rock music, Scott 'Scottso' Muni has now sadly departed the mortal coil.

<<'The Professor' of Rock Scott Muni Dies

NEW YORK - Disc jockey Scott Muni, the gravelly-voiced radio host whose encyclopedic knowledge of rock 'n' roll made him "The Professor" to three generations of New York listeners, has died at 74.

Muni, who spent nearly 50 years on air in the nation's No. 1 radio market, died Tuesday. he had suffered a stroke earlier this year. But the cause of his death was not immediately known, said Josefa Paganuzzi, spokeswoman for Clear Channel New York. Muni's last gig was an hour-long afternoon show on New York classic rock station Q104.3, where he landed in 1998. He also hosted many nationally syndicated programs during his career, including "Scott Muni's World of Rock" and the Beatles-oriented "Ticket to Ride." He was included in an exhibit on radio personalities at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Muni's voice was instantly recognizable, a low rumble announcing the latest tunes from the Beatles to Bruce Springsteen (news) to Pearl Jam>>....

For the rest of the story, including an amusing anecdote concerning a interview with Jimmy Page: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=492&amp;ncid=762&e=11&u=/ap/20040929/ap_en_ce/obit_muni

So another major influence on my life is now gone. With Muni's passing, all vestiges of my youth have now completely fluttered away.

If it wasn't for Muni, I wouldn't have developed a unconditional love for bands such as Yes, King Crimson, Genesis or exposure to new wave acts such as Ultravox, U-2, or the Human League. Scott was a DJ who really knew how to mix it with a playlist - in fact, I don't think he even operated with a playlist. While I was widdling my teen-age life away in Parsippany, NJ either timidly batting my eyelashes after now-superstar actress Jane Krakowski or managing three paper routes a day, I would always look forward to tuning in to New York's WNEW FM every Friday from 4-6 PM for Scott's British Things show where he would stop after every three or five songs or so and tell a little bit about each act and what they're up to do at the moment . It didn't matter, if one second he was playing Yes' I am A Camera or another Ian Dury & the Blockheads ' 'Hit Me With Your Rhythmstick' - it was my fascination with his diversity that kept me tuning in- you didn't need no stinkin' Internet where Scott was concerned, Scott was behind the console with the scoops (possibly with the help of New Music Express - but those publications were hard me for me to come by in NJ). It was through Scott's playing some imports he received from EMI that I was exposed to Marillion and a little obscure song that hardly got airplay anywhere else called 'He Knows, You Know'. Upon hearing that song, my allegiance had immediately changed from Phil Collins and Genesis to Scotland's most bombastic poet, Derek W. Dick and co. It still is a allegiance I carry to this very day even though Fish had long departed the band (and funny, how it is that I'm in the middle of writing a concert review of Marillion's first US tour in 7 years) and I owe it all to Scottso.

The most precious fond memories I have of this gravelly-voiced man (which always makes me think of how the Thing should sound in the FF movie) was the friendship he had developed with John Lennon even while Lennon's career was hiatus- the bond between them was so strong that if Scottso had to call in sick- he would sometimes get John Lennon to substitute for him! It was a head-trip hearing John Lennon: Substitute DJ, playing old fifties and early sixties tunes and pausing to read ads (John read a ad one time for a nightclub that was located in my neck of the woods - in fact, the place was called Inn the Woods- and I just flipped out over his pronunication of Parsippany on the air) and do the weather. I think, however, don't quote me - but I believe that Scott was also Sean Ono Lennon's godfather.

Anyway, Scott Muni - a maverick of radio programming. There will never be anyone as unique as him.

Now back to writing my regularly scheduled Marillion @ LA HOB review.

~

Coat