Gup Presents The Legends of New York Radio

These all-time great djs are now available to host your function. Call 1(800)362-5853

Bobby Jay BOBBY JAY is that rare bird - a native New Yorker. Born and raised in New York City’s Harlem, Bobby was bitten by the show business bug at the age of eleven. After hearing Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Bobby made up his mind about what he really wanted to do with the rest of his life, and he began singing with various groups. But it wasn’t until he joined the “Laddins” as their bass singer that Bobby's professional career really begin.

Proving that once you have music in your blood it stays with you for life, upon leaving the Laddins for the U.S. Army (and while stationed in Georgia), Bobby became an air personality at radio station WTHB-AM. Bobby then returned to the New York area to work at WNJR-AM in Newark, NJ and WGLI-AM in Babylon, Long Island, NY. He then moved on to the 50,000 watt powerhouse WDIA-AM in Memphis, TN. But New York was calling again. and Bobby came back to join the biggest R&B station in the country at that time, “Super Sixteen,” WWRL-AM. During his fifteen years with ‘RL, Bobby was Program Director, Station Manager and On-Air Personality. One of the biggest of his many achievements while there was winning Billboard Magazine’s “Air Personality Of The Year”. He also branched out into television, and received one of that medium's highest accolades: Bobby was a New York Emmy Award winner as host of the 1987 magazine talk show, “First City” on WNYC-TV 31.

Bobby left WWRL to join WCBS-FM as host of the popular “Hall of Fame” and “Top Twenty Countdown” shows, where his ratings were consistently “Number One.” He also hosted the very successful “Soul of The City” and “Jukebox Saturday Night” programs during his twenty year stint at CBS-FM.

Today finds Bobby behind the microphone hosting “Bobby Jay’s Great Soul Performances” on RadioMaxMusic, and on Sirius Satellite Radio’s Soultown Channel 53 in America. The highlight of everything though, is when you find him on stage behind the mike singing bass with the group that inspired him to get into the business, Frankie Lymon’s ‘Legendary’ Teenagers.

Being a member of this “Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame” group was only a dream for Bobby Jay years ago, but today he can say “dreams really do come true.”

Bob Shannon BOB SHANNON is a 40-year veteran of radio who began his career (as Don Bombard, his birth name) in his hometown of Syracuse, NY, where he eventually worked as an announcer, music director and programmer on stations WOLF and WNDR. He began doing mobile dj work there, and formed his own company that supplied djs and sound systems to local clubs and private parties.

In the late '70s he moved to Pittsburgh, PA, where he created the highest-rated radio program in the market, "The Sunday Night Oldies Party" on 13Q (WKTQ). The show scored an unprecedented 35 share of audience in its time slot. Bob also continued his mobile and club dj work, and was as popular in-person as he was on the air.

The early '80s brought Bob to New York, where after a brief time as a fill-in announcer at WYNY, he took on a new job and his new name at WCBS-FM. There, he originated the nightly "Hall of Fame" program (later hosted by Bobby Jay), and for nearly 20 years was CBS-FM's successful afternoon drive personality. CBS-FM left the New York airwaves in June of 2005. On July 12, 2007 it returned, and Bob is now the mid-day (10AM-3PM) air personality.

At CBS-FM Bob established himself as a music historian and introduced many popular on-air features. They became the inspiration for Behind The Hits (co-written with John Javna), a book that told the inside stories behind some of the biggest records of the '50s-'80s. The concept inspired a whole cottage industry of similar approaches, such as VH-1's Behind The Music. For the book, and on his radio shows, Bob has interviewed nearly every major artist of the rock era, providing insights into the careers and the enduring legacies of those who built modern pop music.

Although Behind The Hits is out-of-print, excerpts can be found at Bob's website, which also contains a message board and links to other music-related resources. The site also features information on and samples of his other radio projects, which include a weekly program (with his wife Connie T. Empress) on WLNG in The Hamptons, NY. Additionally, Bob hosts a weekly countdown of today's Top 21 hits on RadioMaxMusic.