Jack Spector

JACK SPECTOR
 
 
Jack Spector  (September 15, 1928 – March 8, 1994) was an American radio disc jockey.  Spector began his career in 1955 and in 1961 became one of the original WMCA Good Guys.  In late December 1963, WMCA, with Spector, earned the distinction of being the first New York City radio station to play the Beatles’ Capitol Records’ single, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.  (Outside New York, the single’s broadcast debut is widely accepted to have occurred earlier at WWDC in Washington, D.C.)  WMCA was keen on playing new product and breaking new hits, and consequently, Spector became associated with the radio station most credited for introducing Beatlemania – and the “British Invasion” musical movement – to New York City listeners.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

 

 

This photograph of the Coronados with Jack Spector, a prominent New York City disc jockey on WMCA, was published in Billboard Magazine in 1965.  (Spector is notable for having been the first DJ in New York to play the Beatles’ initial Capitol Records single, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in late December 1963).  Their music is described in the Daily Herald article mentioned previously in this way:  “The mode became eclectic – show tunes, popular numbers – with a professional gloss appropriate to the Borscht Belt and other resort circuits.” 

 

Meanwhile, the four teenaged children of the bandmembers in the Coronados – who sometimes appeared with their parents on stage – were being attracted to rock music and began singing and performing together as the Real Americans.  

 

(August 2013)