Jim Santella, 86, Buffalo’s ‘Father of Progressive Radio’

April 24, 1938 – May 10, 2024

Jim Santella began his passion for radio in his parents’ living room. Their console model seduced him with Jack Benny, Gene Autry, “Dragnet” and “The Shadow”.

“Once I entered this magical world of music, entertainment and information, it was the only life I knew or cared about,” he wrote in his 2015 memoir, “Classic Rock , Classic Jock”.

Admired for his warm, deep voice and intimate demeanor, he became known as “the father of progressive radio” for his work on rock music stations in the 1970s and 1980s.

He also applied his touch to other formats, playing country, blues and jazz during a professional career spanning more than 40 years.

When not in front of a microphone, he was a freelance writer, actor, drummer and staff member at WNED-TV, where he was floor manager for comedian Mark Russell’s locally produced specials for 20 years.

He died May 10 at his home in Amherst after a long period of declining health. He was 86 years old.

The eldest of three children, James William Santella was the son of Dominic “Bucky” and Mary Lobuzzetta Santella.Second-generation Italian-Americans who spoke Italian at home. His father was a union representative for Teamsters Local 375. Her mother became a dietitian at the Buffalo Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

He built his own crystal radio while attending the predominantly African-American School 47 on Buffalo’s Lower East Side. When he was 12, his parents moved to the West Side. At Grover Cleveland High School, where he graduated in 1956, some of his classmates were future top jazz musicians. He aspired to play the saxophone.

On his way to his job as a waiter at MacDoel’s restaurant in downtown Buffalo, he stopped at a music store and turned his attention to drums instead. He took lessons and soon played with jazz combos.

Enrolling at UB to study accounting, he entered what he described in his memoir as “a difficult period in my life.” He failed after three semesters, worked a succession of odd jobs and was drafted into the Army, where he was a battalion finance clerk at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. His marriage to Jacqueline Keating, an artist, ended in divorce.

Returning to UB in 1963 to study music, he played percussion in experimental ensembles and found full-time employment at the Lockwood Library, becoming stack supervisor. He began volunteering in 1965 at WBFO as a jazz announcer, and in 1967 began piloting an all-night free music show called “Extension.”

He was present at the birth of underground album-oriented rock radio as one of the program’s original hosts on WYSL-FM in January 1969. His stay ended in May after pranking WYSL’s DJ- AM telling him he was in the studio at midnight. the visitor was from the FCC.

He was back when the station was renamed WPHD in 1971, then went off the air on its birthday in 1972 after the owners tightened the music playlist and restricted what the hosts could say.

“There wasn’t supposed to be any advertising at all,” he told Buffalo News radio-television columnist Gary Deeb. “I realize that maybe it’s not possible to have commercial radio as personal as I want it to be, but it gets to the point where it’s like, ‘Wait a second. I’m not going to work in this particular format.'”

The station manager told Mr. Santella he would never work in radio again, but he was hailed as a hero as he walked the halls of UB. The student newspaper The Spectrum named him Man of the Year. About a year later, he was back on the air as “Joel B. Williams,” an all-night country music host on WWOL-FM.

He returned to WPHD again in 1974 under a new program director. When then-WGRF launched its “Q” rock format in 1975, he was the morning man for five years, becoming a prominent host at station-sponsored rock concerts and club events. Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. The station, now 97 Rock, will bring back the sound of QFM97 this weekend in his memory.

In the early ’80s, he was heard on free-form stations WZIR-FM and WUWU-FM, then returned as a jazz host on WBFO and WEBR’s Jazz in the Nighttime.

He earned degrees in English and media studies at UB, taught at Erie Community College, and began appearing on stage, primarily in adventurous Alleyway Theater productions. He wrote a comedic play, “Diapers,” and teamed with songwriter and lyricist Grant Golden to write the book for a satirical musical, “Izzy! », directed by the MusicalFare Theater.

He also freelanced for The Buffalo News, contributing numerous reviews of BPO rock shows and pop concerts, films, books, and theater from 1983 to 2004. In 1992, he began collaborating with the critic independent Anthony Chase on the weekly feature “Theater Talk.”

“He was a radio genius,” Chase wrote on his Theater Talk blog. “Jim liked to say that if you asked him the time, he would tell you how to make a watch. He was a great teacher.”

When jazz programming ended, Mr. Santella hosted a weekend blues show on WBFO until 2012, retiring after a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

He was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in 2011.

He married in November 1997 to Mary Lou Wiltberger, an elementary school vocal music teacher whom he met at a party. for her cousin, Broadway actress Corrine Melancon, when she was in Buffalo with a touring show.

Survivors also include a son, Joel; a sister, Jerri Kazmierczak; and two grandchildren.

A memorial Mass will be offered at 9:30 a.m. May 30 at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, 263 Claremont Ave., Town of Tonawanda.