Steve Malzberg is a longtime news/talk radio host, airing on stations like 77 WABC, 710 WOR, among others. He also hosted The Steve Malzberg Show on Newsmax.
A little over 30 years ago, New York radio lost a legend. Jack Spector passed away on March 8, 1994, at the age of 65, while doing what he loved — being on the radio. He suffered a heart attack after playing a record on WHLI Radio on Long Island, NY. When the music ended, there was nothing but silence over the air, and staff found Spector’s body on the floor of the studio.
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I knew Jack first as a WMCA “Good Guy”, and then as just a really great guy who ignited my dreams of being on the radio.
The WMCA Good Guys hit the airwaves in 1961 spinning top 40 hits. It was in the late 60’s that I found 570 on my AM dial and became aware of “Big Jake” and the rest of the crew. But in September of 1970, WMCA switched to talk, and “Good Guy” Jack became the host of Sports-Talk on the station. For me, a die-hard Yankees fan, who went to sleep with my transistor radio under my pillow when the Yanks were on the West Coast, it was heaven.
In September 1970, I was in the 6th grade at P.S. 215. One of my classmates was Cheri Spector. Yes, Jack’s daughter. One of three, along with the twins, Nancy and Laurie. Cheri and I and quite a large group of kids, were classmates from first grade through sixth grade, and many of us, including Cheri and I, were in many of the same classes at David A. Boody Jr. High School as well, where we skipped the 8th grade because we were all so smart, I guess! Cheri was my first crush, and yes, legend has it that The Four Seasons named their mega hit song Sheri, after Cheri Spector, even though they spelled it with an ‘S’.
I was aware that my classmate’s dad was on the radio for several years, but it wasn’t until that switch to Sports-Talk host that I found out first-hand what kind of man Jack Spector was.
Jack would get some of the biggest names in New York sports and beyond as guests on his show. And he would get most of them in-studio, which I didn’t realize at the time, was not all that easy to accomplish. But here’s the thing, Jack knew that a bunch of the guys in Mr. Wolf’s 6th grade class were rabid sports fans.
So, on several occasions, Jack would send Cheri to school with autographs of the guest he had on his show the previous night. And not just one or two autographs. She would arrive with five or six from the same guest, to hand out to us starstruck sixth graders, making sure none of us was left out. Thurman Munson, Yogi Berra, Bill White, Ralph Kiner, Roy White, Lee MacPhail and Gale Sayers just to name a few. Each one was signed on WMCA notepad paper, over the symbol of a microphone. Just imagine asking these guys to sign not one or two times, but a half dozen times. That’s who Jack was. And there’s more, much more.
Jack and his wife Marilyn knew how much I loved his radio show, so I was invited up, not once, but twice, to the studios of WMCA Radio, to sit in the control room and studio and watch the show. They took me and brought me home. That’s who Jack Spector (and his wife) was. From the first time I saw that red light go on, I knew I wanted to do what Jack Spector did.
Ironically enough, I wound up with a newsroom internship at the same WMCA studios 8 years later, although it had nothing to do with Jack, and went on to produce Bob Grant’s morning show, AM-57, and Art Rust Jr.’s Saturday Sports Talk, and from there, Art took me to WABC Radio in 1981 where I remained for the next 23 years or so. I haven’t spoken or communicated with Cheri at all since Jr. High School, but I do keep in touch with her sister Nancy via Facebook.
I wanted to finally tell this story so that everyone can learn who Jack Spector was. Much more than just a “Good Guy”, who left us way too soon.
