Died On This Date (December 24, 2011) Jody Rainwater / Bluegrass Pioneer
themusicsover Jody Rainwater (Born Charles Johnson)
1920 – December 24, 2011
Jody Rainwater was a bluegrass pioneer who found his calling as a teenager, at first playing the mandolin. Before long, he and is brother were performing as Chuck and Slim, the Johnson Brothers. The boys built a local following thanks in part to their comical on stage banter. In 1937, they were hired by High Point, North Carolina radio station, WMFR to perform live every Thursday evening. By 1945, the duo were no longer together, so Rainwater enlisted in the Marines and served during WWII. Upon his discharge, he formed the Blue Ridge Mountain Boys with Woody Hauser and developed an onstage persona known as Little Jody. By the late ’40s, they disbanded, and Rainwater was soon playing bass alongside Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs in the Foggy Mountain Boys. The band had a hit with the Rainwater composition, “I’m Waiting To Hear You Call Me Darling.” Upon doctor’s orders, Rainwater retired from the group in 1952 and went to work hosting a morning radio show on WSVS. His program quickly became the biggest money-maker at the station and would continue to be until his retirement in 1984. He also performed local gigs with his own group from time to time during this period. Jody Rainwater was 92 when he passed away on December 24, 2011.
Thanks to Paul Bearer for the assist.
Known as “Mama Jazz” to fans throughout Southwest Ohio, Phyllis Campbell was a longtime on-air personality at WMUB-FM out of Miami University. A lifelong fan of jazz, Campbell was working at the school as a secretary when she dropped by the station during a fund raiser to talk music. Within a few hours, she was offered a job. Since 1979, Campbell has built a legion of fans thanks in part to her eclectic playlists on such programs as “Traditional Jazz Night” and “The Gospel According to Mama.” All the while, Campbell retained her “day job” at the University, often putting in over 60 hours a week between the two gigs. She retired from her administrative job in 1994 but continued on air until health issues brought that to a close in 2006. Phyllis Campbell was 89 when she passed away on November 26, 2011.
Joe Gracey was an Austin, Texas radio disc jockey who, since the early ’70s, championed what was then called progressive country on KOKE-FM. Also referred to as alt country, Americana, outlaw country, redneck rock, or simply Texas music, this hybrid of country, blues, rock, and folk found its home outside the mainstream. And it was Gracey who helped make many of its practitioners – like Willie Nelson, 
Jimmy Savile was an English disc jockey and pioneering television personality who, since the dawn of the 1960s, was a familiar face on such music related television programs as Top Of The Pops, Pop Go The Sixties, and New Music Express. He, in fact, hosted the very first edition of Top Of The Pops on January 1, 1964, and again its finale on July 30, 2006. Savile also presented several popular radio programs throughout the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s on both Radio Luxemburg and the BBC Radio. Over the course of his long career, Savile became arguably as popular – at least throughout the UK, as the countless pop stars whose careers he helped launch. Jimmy Savile was 84 when he died of pneumonia on October 29, 2011.
Bill Brown was a popular New York City disc jockey who could be heard on oldies station, WCBS-FM for over 30 years. Brown was just 15 when he began his radio career in Georgia during the mid ’60s, and by 1969, he was working at WCBS just as they were switching from an easy listening format to album rock. Finding that they couldn’t compete with the more popular WPLJ and WNEW, WCBS switched to an oldies format in 1972 and found its footing there. The station maintained solid ratings from that point on and Brown could be heard most days doing the popular mid-day shift until 2005 when the station unceremoniously switched to the jockless JACK-FM format. In all, he worked in radio for over 35 years. On October 9, 2011, Bill Brown passed away following a long illness. He was 69.