Alex Carson
Wolfman Jack is a legendary DJ who rises during the 1960s as one of the world’s first “shock jocks”. While Wolfman Jack isn’t as controversial during his radio days as Howard Stern, he knows how to titillate the audience! With his rock and roll trademark wolf howl, he becomes iconic on the radio before immortalizing on the screen. With his performance as a fictionalized version of himself in George Lucas’ nostalgic 1970s masterpiece American Graffiti. Now he’s gone, and for those who want to visit his grave, it’ll be difficult because of its private location. Join Facts Verse as we explore why Wolfman Jack’s grave is a depressing sight for fans.
Many celebrities get big open graves that fans can visit in order to pay respects to their late idols. Sadly, this wasn’t the case for legendary DJ Wolfman Jack. Instead, Wolfman’s passing in 1995, the legendary DJ’s buried in the front yard of his home in North Carolina. Prior to his death, Wolfman Jack shared the home with his wife. That wife is Lou Smith, whom the Wolfman marry to since 1961. He becomes famous at the time of his marriage, to the DJ, becoming the most iconic of the decade.
Wolfman Jack is far from being the only celebrity figure buried in the state of North Carolina. Other celebrities bury in the beautiful state include Andy Griffith, Ava Gardner, Reverend Billy Graham, and Andre the Giant. North Carolina grave is not easy for the fans to visit and pay their respect to the celebrity. Though fans may be upset about the lack of ceremony surrounding the Wolfman’s grave, it’s what the public figure wants! He loves sharing his iconic voice and visage with fans during his lifetime. He cares about his personal life with his family on his North Carolina property.
It isn’t open to the public, it’s still a loving tribute to the celebrity who entertains audiences for many years. The headstone itself adorns a variety of the DJ’s most memorable phrases. Those who wish to pay their respects can do so from the road, locates near the Perquimans River. However, if visitors truly wish to be respectful of the late legend, they’ll keep off his property!
While fans may not be able to visit Jack’s grave, they can get view the legendary DJ’s life story! He is born in 1938, and his interest is in radio broadcasting when his father buy his own Trans-Oceanic radio. Though his parent separates when he is young, the radio becomes his possession and now becomes his career.
The radio provides young Wolfman with his very first experience and he becomes the most successful DJ of the 1960s! Anyone who’s a teenager during the decade knows the name of Wolfman Jack from his days as a radio DJ. Even if many subsequent generations only know the icon from his performance in George Lucas’ nostalgic 1970s film American Graffiti.
Wolfman Jack isn’t born with his iconic name but was rather born Robert Weston Smith. Robert knows that, if he wants to break out into the competitive world of radio, he needs a better name. It was because of this that the name Wolfman Jack was born. Alongside his new name, young Robert comes up with the idea of howling like a wolf as his radio signature. With his new name and his new gimmick, he takes the world by storm over the course of the 1960s. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support! Also, subscribe to the channel if you’d like to be the first to know when there’s more new Facts Verse!
Wolfman Jack breaks into the radio scene in the early 1960s and starts catching the attention of the public. Wolfman is also an edgy attitude that truly stuck out in the days when he first comes on the air. In many respects, Wolfman comes as one of the very first “shock jocks”, such as Howard Stern, in the future. He didn’t get away with risqué behavior on the airwaves, he still appeals to the radical youth of the time. To many, Wolfman Jack became a venerated symbol of early 1960s counterculture.
He will suggest to listeners of his program in the privacy of their homes to get naked while doing so. As well as, he instructs them to “play with his knobs” by adjusting the dials on their radio. With his winning personality, it’s no surprise when Wolfman Jack becomes one of the most popular DJs of the 1960s. Despite his future success, Wolfman rise to notoriety thanks to the radio station XERF-AM, which is broadcasts from Mexico. The standards at the time are more lenient on programs being broadcast out of Mexico than out of America.
Although it is a Mexican radio station, the signal is strong that can pick up all the way across America. Wolfman’s popularity on XERF-AM, says that American drivers can travel from California to New York without losing the signal. In fact, there are even times during the day when it says that the signal can pick up in parts of Europe!
The immense power of the radio signal from Mexico on XERF-AM allows Wolfman Jack to pick up a massive following. This following only grow even bigger when Wolfman Jack makes a revolutionary deal with the government of the United States to have his radio programs syndicate to troops across the world. This deal is via Armed Forces Network. As a result, Wolfman Jack’s radio programs helped entertain American troops during the Vietnam War. While this may have hurt Wolfman’s image as a figure in the counterculture of the time, it greatly increased his mainstream notoriety.
At the peak of Wolfman Jack’s radio career, it says the legendary DJ is on an excess of 2,000 radio stations, with his global range spanning more than 50 countries. From his decidedly modest origins as a shock jock DJ operating out of Mexico, Wolfman Jack found himself a full-blown legend entering the 1970s.
With Wolfman Jack taking over the radio over the course of the 1960s, he set his sights on the screen in the 1970s. In 1973, Wolfman Jack became immortalized thanks to his performance as a fictionalized version of himself in the 1973 film American Graffiti. The nostalgic film takes place in the early 1960s and directs by George Lucas, who had listened to Wolfman Jack on the radio for years. Following Wolfman Jack’s successful immortalization on film via American Graffiti, he can be on the television programs Married… with Children and Ship Happens over the course of the ensuing decades.
After nearly six decades of life, Wolfman Jack passed away in 1995, at the age of 57. The legendary DJ’s cause of death says to have been a heart attack, and his wife and two children survived him. The Wolman’s death occurred exactly a month after the release of his autobiography, which was titled Have Mercy: Confessions of the Original Rock and Roll Animal. A year after the legendary DJ’s passing, he was posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.
Daughter Joy Rene Smith ended up following in her father’s footsteps by becoming a DJ herself, with her taking on the name “Joy Jack” as a tribute to her father. Sadly, Joy passed away only a few years after her father, she died in a car crash three years after her father’s death. Following her passing, she buries alongside her father on the late Wolfman’s aforementioned property in North Carolina.
Thanks to Wolfman’s performance as a fictionalized version of himself in the film American Graffiti, new generations will continue to get the opportunity to learn about Wolfman Jack and all that he did for the radio. However, it’s unlikely that fans will get the opportunity to pay their respects at the late icon’s grave any time in the near future.
Although the late Wolfman Jack remains one of the most celebrated figures in all of radio history thanks to his time as a shock rock DJ during the 1960s and beyond, the private nature of the late DJ’s gravesite means that fans have a hard time paying their respects. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Wolfman Jack is routinely considered to be one of the first “shock jocks” in the history of radio broadcasting, and that his program was syndicated to American troops during the Vietnam War? As always, like this video to show your support, and subscribe and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
