Dan Daniel (radio personality)
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{other people|Dan Daniel}}
{{short description|American radio presenter}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dandy Dan Daniel
| image = Dandy Dan Daniel.jpg{{!}}border
| caption = Broadcasting as a Good Guy at WMCA
| birth_name = Vergil Glynn Daniel
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1934|12|18}}
| birth_place = Buffalo, Texas, US
| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2016|06|21|1934|12|18}}
| death_place = Larchmont, New York, US
| years_active = 1951–2002
| employer = Armed Forces Radio, KXYZ, WDGY, WMCA, NBC, WHN, WYNY-FM ABC, CBS
| known_for = Radio and TV presenting
| spouse = {{marriage|Rosemary Bialon|1959}}
| children = 3
| website =
}}
Vergil Glynn "Dan" Daniel (December 18, 1934{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/nyregion/dan-daniel-am-radio-dj-and-one-of-the-good-guys-dies-at-81.html|title=Dan Daniel, AM Radio D.J. and One of the Good Guys, Dies at 81|last=Slotnik|first=Daniel E.|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 23, 2016}} – June 21, 2016) was an American radio disc jockey, known on the air as Dandy Dan Daniel and Triple-D.
Career
Daniel started as a disc jockey at age seventeen on Armed Forces Radio with the US Navy. His first commercial job was at KXYZ in Houston in 1955 and he then worked at WDGY in Minneapolis before moving to WMCA in 1961.{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ycEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24 |magazine=Billboard |title=WMCA's Daniels Plugs Insecurity |date=June 10, 1967 |pages=24, 28}}{{citation |page=[https://archive.org/details/servingtheircomm00warl/page/150 150] |title=Serving their communities: 50 years of the New York State Broadcasters Association |author=Stephen Warley |year=2006 |publisher=Fordham University Press |isbn=978-0-9776117-0-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/servingtheircomm00warl/page/150 }}
His first broadcast at WMCA was on August 18, 1961. He started on the graveyard shift overnight but from 1962 to 1968 he played the top 40 hits from 4 pm to 7 pm — the evening drive home slot.{{citation |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=42 |year=1966 |page=38 |title=Dandy Dan in Africa}} The station produced a survey of the current sales in New York record stores and Dandy Dan gave the countdown of the week's best sellers every Wednesday in this late afternoon slot.{{citation |url=http://www.musicradio77.com/wmca/history.html |title=History of WMCA's Good Guys |author=Allan Sniffen}} In 1966, he participated in a tour of Africa to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Peace Corps. Then, from 1968 to 1970, he did the early morning drive-to-work slot before leaving WMCA after nearly nine years; his final broadcast was on July 11, 1970.{{citation |url=http://www.musicradio77.com/wmca/timeline.html |title=The WMCA Air Staff Time Line |author1=Greg Lance |author2=Bob Gale }}
Daniel was heard coast-to-coast on NBC Radio's Monitor in the summer of 1973 and was the announcer on the 1974–1975 game show The Big Showdown. He subsequently worked on WYNY-FM where he hosted the mid-day slot{{citation |page=50 |journal=The Music Journal |volume=38 |year=1980}} and later morning and afternoon drives. He then did a stint at WHN playing country music before returning to WYNY-FM. Finally, he moved to WCBS-FM in 1996. He retired from WCBS on December 31, 2002.{{cite web|author=|url=http://articles.nydailynews.com/2002-12-20/entertainment/18206040_1_new-series-showtime-street-time |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120726094445/http://articles.nydailynews.com/2002-12-20/entertainment/18206040_1_new-series-showtime-street-time |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 26, 2012 |title=Inner Tube |newspaper=New York Daily News |publisher=Articles.nydailynews.com |date=2002-12-20 |accessdate=2012-01-15}}
Style
Daniel was one of the personalities promoted as the "Good Guys" while working for the New York Top 40 radio station WMCA in the 1960s, when bands like The Beatles were transforming the music scene.{{citation |title=Brothers |chapter=Get away from me |author=Jim Shepard |page=157 |isbn=978-0-470-59964-8 |year=2010 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons}} He performed too and was the first to record the song "Is That All There Is?"{{citation |title=A relative matter for the Daniels |journal=South Florida Sun |date=October 21, 1990}}{{citation |title=Some voices can change your life |journal=The Record |date=May 27, 2005}} He was tall –{{Height|ft=6|in=5}}— and so his theme tune was "Big Boss Man", as performed by Charlie Rich. One of his catchphrases was "I love you ... and especially you, size nine."{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IUUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22 |magazine=Billboard |title=Vox Jox |author=Gil Faggen |date=May 16, 1964}} "Size nine" was once revealed to be his wife, Rosemary.{{citation |title=The Individual Good Guys |url=http://www.musicradio77.com/wmca/guys.html |author=Allan Sniffen}}
One technique used by Daniel was to research his audience.{{citation |title=This business of radio programming |author=Claude and Barbara Hall |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-8230-7760-1 |chapter=Research}} He felt that it was important to communicate in a personal way with them: {{quote|A deejay can be excited, use sound effects, voices, whatever. But when you talk to people, you've got to relate to them ... I make it a point to spend time with the average type of people to learn more about them ... to improve myself.|Dan Daniel}}
Death
Daniel died on June 21, 2016, after falling in his home the previous day. He was 81.{{Cite web|url=http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/06/21/dan-daniel-dies/|title = Longtime New York Radio Personality Dan Daniel Dies|date = June 21, 2016}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.adweek.com/fishbowlny/rip-dandy-dan-daniel/378716|title=Fishbowl}}
See also
- Harry Harrison — another 'Good Guy'
- Jack Spector — another 'Good Guy'
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.musicradio77.com/wmca/wmcaairchecs.html Music Radio 77] — numerous excerpts of Dandy Dan and the other Good Guys broadcasting on WMCA.
- [http://www.reelradio.com/dasm/dddwmca042263.html Reel Radio] — an 18-minute excerpt of Dandy Dan broadcasting on WMCA on April 22, 1963.
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Category:People from Buffalo, Texas