26 Facts About Scott Muni

Scott Muni was an American disc jockey, who worked at the heyday of the AM Top 40 format and then was a pioneer of FM progressive rock radio.

Scott Muni joined the United States Marine Corps and began broadcasting there in 1950, reading "Dear John" letters over Radio Guam.

Scott Muni joined the staff of WAKR in Akron, Ohio in November 1956 as their overnight host.

Scott Muni then spent almost 50 years at stations in New York City.

Scott Muni left WAKR in May 1958 to join WMCA, one of the first Top 40 stations in the market.

Scott Muni moved to WABC in late 1960 as that station fully converted into a Top 40 format of its own; Muni was billed as part of the "Swingin' Seven at 77" airstaff that included fellow former WAKR colleague Charlie Greer.

Scott Muni participated in the competition to cover The Beatles on their first visits to the United States, and thus began a long association with them.

In 1965, Scott Muni left WABC and ran the Rolling Stone Night Club while doing occasional fill-in work for WMCA.

Scott Muni had explored some opportunities beyond radio: for a short time he co-hosted a local weekly television show on WABC-TV with Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, and he would go on to record the spoken single "Letter to an Unborn Child", about a soldier with a premonition, which was released in 1967 to little acclaim.

Scott Muni decided to return to radio, and in 1966, he joined WOR-FM, one of the earliest stations in the country to program free-form progressive rock music.

In 1967 Scott Muni moved to WNEW-FM, which had been running a format of pop hits and show tunes, hosted by an all-woman staff.

Scott Muni stayed there for three decades as the afternoon DJ and sometimes program director.

Scott Muni was described by fellow WNEW-FM DJ Dennis Elsas as "the heart and soul of the place".

Under assorted management changes during the 1990s WNEW-FM changed formats, and in 1998 Scott Muni ended up hosting a one-hour noontime classic rock program at WAXQ, where he worked until suffering a stroke in early 2004.

Scott Muni helped to keep the robber calm, and hours later the situation was resolved, and the robber captured, without any casualties.

Scott Muni specialized in playing records from up-and-coming, or sometimes just-plain-obscure, acts from the United Kingdom on his weekly Friday "Things from England" segment.

Scott Muni hosted the syndicated radio programs Ticket to Ride and Scott Muni's World of Rock.

Scott Muni often referred to "we interviewed so and so," making reference to himself and either "Black" Earl Douglas or another producer.

Indeed, Scott Muni was friendly with many of the musicians whom he played, and they would often stop by the studio to visit on-air.

Scott Muni calmly put on a record, revived Page, and completed the interview on the studio floor.

Scott Muni's voice is heard giving the introduction on the 1971 live albums Chicago at Carnegie Hall and Melanie at Carnegie Hall.

Scott Muni had five children: three with his first wife and two with his second wife, to whom he was married from 1966 until his death in 2004.

Scott Muni died on September 28,2004, at the age of 74 in New York City and is buried in St Gertrude's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Colonia, New Jersey.

Scott Muni is included in an exhibit display of important disc jockeys at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Scott Muni was inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in the "Legends of Rock Radio-Programming" category for his work at WNEW in 2014.

Scott Muni was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2015.