Ninety?!
Nobody who toils in the entertainment "carny zone" of radio hits that milestone. Do they?
Jack was one of the princes of the radio realm in that venue's halcyon era of the nineteen- sixties and he's still going strong as he begins his tenth decade. Remarkable...
I've met Jack a couple of times and took an immediate liking to him. Everyone does. He's just one of those guys. He's charming, in good shape, and still has the command of that great set of pipes that kept him employed at legendary stations such as KCBQ for many years.
Jack, and guys like him, were the reason many broadcasters of my generation got into the biz. They were men like our dads...only cool. They made radio seem exciting and romantic as they spun the hits and spoke to you...and only you. It was magic!
Most of them are gone now and radio is no longer cool or even sure of what it is... or could be.
There was a party for Jack last week at my friend "Shotgun" Tom Kelly's house. (Rumor has it that whiskey and cigars may have been on hand.) "Shots" is, I believe, the only radio pal of mine still actually honking the hits. He does a superb job of keeping the era of the sixties alive and well every afternoon on K-Earth 101 in Los Angeles. He has been a great friend to Jack.
I couldn't make the party. Linda was in the hospital at UCLA, but I plan to be there for Jack's hundredth. He's a living tribute to the most intimate medium in an increasingly isolated and disconnected culture.
Happy birthday, Jack!
I miss what radio once was and I miss so many of the radio troops from Jack's generation and from mine. Many left the airwaves and this world way ahead of their time. That seems to happen to people who are secretly sensitive in a creative yet hardass enterprise.
I miss them...but, I'm damn glad I don't have to miss Jack Vincent.
Many more Jack...many more.
Will the real Jack Vincent please take a bow!
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