Jay Nelson(XXV)
- Actor
"Jungle Jay" Nelson was a DJ at powerhouse Top 40 WKBW 1520 AM Buffalo and hosted "Jungle Jay Show" on WKBW-TV.
He left Buffalo for Toronto in 1963 to become the morning personality at CHUM Radio, the Toronto equivalent of the old "KB," after a ballyhooed contest for the job. He left CHUM in 1981 and moved to CJEZ-FM and City TV in Toronto. Out of the broadcast limelight in recent years, he worked for the National Institute of Broadcasting in Toronto and as maitre d' at a restaurant, the Daily Planet.
Born Frank Coxe in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Nelson was a disc jockey there before coming to Buffalo, where WKBW was riding the crest of rock's surging popularity.
He joined Joey Reynolds, Danny Neaverth, Fred Klestine and a handful of other star disc jockeys who were kings of radio and school record hops. Owing to the station's 50,000 watts, their irreverent voices and record selections boomed into homes up and down the Eastern Seaboard.
On weekends Nelson changed into a pith helmet and khakis for his role as host of WKBW-TV's "Jungle Jay Show," a humorous audience participation series that aired on Saturday morning. The program was a hit with Canadian viewers as well, and it was Nelson's cross-border popularity that earned him the morning job at CHUM, said Michael Clement, a Toronto Sun reporter who once worked at the station.
Over the next two decades, he became a very big star in the market, known for his fast humor and impressions."
He left Buffalo for Toronto in 1963 to become the morning personality at CHUM Radio, the Toronto equivalent of the old "KB," after a ballyhooed contest for the job. He left CHUM in 1981 and moved to CJEZ-FM and City TV in Toronto. Out of the broadcast limelight in recent years, he worked for the National Institute of Broadcasting in Toronto and as maitre d' at a restaurant, the Daily Planet.
Born Frank Coxe in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Nelson was a disc jockey there before coming to Buffalo, where WKBW was riding the crest of rock's surging popularity.
He joined Joey Reynolds, Danny Neaverth, Fred Klestine and a handful of other star disc jockeys who were kings of radio and school record hops. Owing to the station's 50,000 watts, their irreverent voices and record selections boomed into homes up and down the Eastern Seaboard.
On weekends Nelson changed into a pith helmet and khakis for his role as host of WKBW-TV's "Jungle Jay Show," a humorous audience participation series that aired on Saturday morning. The program was a hit with Canadian viewers as well, and it was Nelson's cross-border popularity that earned him the morning job at CHUM, said Michael Clement, a Toronto Sun reporter who once worked at the station.
Over the next two decades, he became a very big star in the market, known for his fast humor and impressions."
