Jack Carney – Legacy
Jack Carney is legendary for his KMOX morning program, both for his ability to entertain and for his live commercials. His time slot on the station varied over his career, but the common block was always 9 – noon, and he owned it.
Carney’s career began in 1951, taking him through small markets in Texas and New Mexico, and larger cities like Phoenix, Galveston, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Boston. He arrived in St. Louis in 1958 to work as a rock disc jockey on WIL.
Two years at that station, which rocketed to the top of the ratings, was all Carney needed to get a job offer from WABC, and he was off to New York. That was a bad move for Carney, who left after a few months and went off, in his words, to find himself.
After a West Coast stint, he was back in St. Louis in 1971 at KMOX, where he worked until his death in 1984.
Local broadcast critic Eric Mink, writing in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said, “The effectiveness of Carney’s commercials was due to his mastery at weaving them into the fabric of his program. The two elements were so intimately intertwined that often it was impossible to tell where the program stopped and the commercial began.”