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WIXYpedia

I started working on this post over a week ago, then got into a reading frenzy, where I read two books from cover to cover in three days, and posted reviews for both.

Anyway, over a week ago, I was checking my site meter. Sometimes I am curious about where the hits here are coming from. I saw that a particular hit came from Wikipedia, that very accurate source of information on the web. I know that, in the past, there have been things taken from this blog and used on Wikipedia, and I wanted to see the reason for the link.

The link was an article about Jay Lawrence, brother of comedian Larry Storch. In the article, it had mentioned that Jay Lawrence had died in 1987, and was a disc jockey during the 60's at KYW/WKYC-1100 in Cleveland, Ohio. The link here was this review of a book by "Big Chuck" Schodowski, long time late night television host, here in northeast Ohio. I had mentioned in the book that the famous recorded laugh used for many years in the skits was provided by Jay Lawrence.

Problem was, this was the wrong Jay Lawrence. The Jay Lawrence who was a Cleveland disc jockey is currently a talk show host at KTAR in Phoenix AZ. I had seen comments by Jay on Radio-Info.com as late as 2007. You know, about 20 years after he allegedly passed on the the great control room in the sky.

Anyway, I sent the living Jay Lawrence an email, telling him about the rumor of his death which, in the words of Mark Twain "were greatly exaggerated." Here's how he responded-"Larry Storch was a comedian who passed away, his brother Jay Lawrence also passed away. I assure you, this Jay Lawrence is alive and well. I am in a bad mood this morning but I'll make it through the day. I have a talk show on KTAR in Phoenix and look ,pretty good for a dead person. I was on the radio in Cleveland some years ago. KYW and WKYC

 Jay"

As one who likes to keep facts straight, I post this as a public service. Well, maybe for a couple of chuckles too.

Click here to hear the laugh at the end of this skit.

Comments

Chief 187 said…
Neat read, Cliff! Very interesting.
May 17, 2012 10:46 AM
Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene said…
Larry Stitch is very much alive.
May 24, 2016 2:45 AM
Lib said…
I remember Jay Lawrence from KYW in Cleveland. He was my personal favorite late night DJ, at that time. I remember his the contest he had for naming his appendix in a jar contest, after he had to have it removed. Bendix the Appendix was the winner! I found this article because the Wiki I found made no sense to me, nor did the picture used. Didn't look like the Jay I remembered. Great to read he is alive and doing well.
July 18, 2018 10:59 PM
Unknown said…
As Lib said, the wiki article made no sense, ages didn't match up and it's hard to see how he could do a radio show each night and be doing standup in NYC at the same time. Jay was my fave too with games such as "onsey twosey " and many others. I have a couple of pics from that WKYC era including a smiling Jaybird but can't post them here.

Funny stuff about Jay on the WIXY blog since WIXY sorta killed the style of radio that made Jay, Jerry G and others Cleveland faves.
September 26, 2019 10:45 AM
Tony said…
I remember the term Shriver Driver. I loved your show in Cleveland.
May 19, 2020 6:20 PM
Tony Klco said…
Jay, I loved your "Stories with a moral" (the Cloth, Grass houses, Benny, etc.)
Glad you're still around.


Tony Klco (formerly of Willoughby)
June 29, 2022 4:06 PM
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