By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
BUFFALO, NY – The great Tom Shannon, South Buffalo’s breaker of hearts and as smooth a disc jockey as Buffalo, Detroit, Denver, LA, or anywhere else has ever known…
Starting at tiny little WXRA Radio in Kenmore while still at Bishop Timon High School, Tom’s last on air gig in Buffalo brought him to WHTT for about a decade starting in the mid 90s.
He also spent some time at WGR in the early 60s, but is best known in Buffalo for his time at WKBW Radio.
Tom’s first stint at KB was from 1958-62, and as this aircheck from during his second 1983-86 stint at KB explains, his theme song was as famous as he was.
Tommy plays the old theme song, explains how it came about, and explained how an instrumental version of the song — “Wild Weekend,” by the Rockin Rebels– became Top Ten hit, and how Tom was in the Army when he found out, and– oh, well, let’s just let Tom tell us.
The song has a special place in my heart– not just because Tom and I (and Tim Russert) all went to Holy Family grammar school on South Park Avenue in South Buffalo… but because it was to “Wild Weekend” that my wife and I made our entrance to wedding reception.
“So glad we could get together.”
