Radio legend Pat St. John signed off yesterday for the final time on CBS-FM in New York, those durable radio digits (101.1) that let you stroll down memory lane 24 hours a day. St. John spent 42 years on the radio, creating a career that won’t be duplicated as pop music continues to find alternative mediums. Another CBS-FM stalwart, Broadway Bill Lee, called in during the show to salute his colleague. Broadway called St. John a legend and an inspiration. When St. John was on the air in Cleveland decades ago, Broadway Bill Lee said, “I wanted to be you.” Imaginative, dedicated, mellifluous–St. John was well worth emulating.
St. John is headed to San Diego to be near family. He won’t leave radio entirely (how could he?), but while he’ll still do his SiriusXM show on channel 6 each afternoon, St. John is walking away from the big boom of broadcast radio. The DJ, who met everyone in pop music over the course of his long career, told the New York Daily News that the Beach Boys, after all these years, are his favorite. “Even more than the Beatles,” St. John said. “Brian Wilson is a genius.” So St. John is finally heeding Brian Wilson’s sage advice: he’s headed to the beach.
