DJ Soupy Sales

Soupy Sales is dead. He was 83 years old. What's most strange about his career to me is that he did a lot of radio for a man whose his career was made by visual gags. The ol' pie-in-the-face routine doesn't exactly work on the radio.Sales may have been slap-happy but he was no dunce. He had a Master's Degree in journalism from Marshall College. While at Marshall College, he did the vaudeville bit singing, dancing and telling jokes. After graduating, he got his first gig in the biz at 800 WHTN-AM in Huntington, NC He was not dancing singing. He was scriptwriting and DJing nights. He'd also applied locally to WPLH, But in his own biography he admits they shot him down. More here.

Sales moved to Cincinnati in 1949, numerous sources claim he had a morning show in this market but not one of them, even his own biography specify a station. I find it dubious. Btu he did get started in TV at WKRC-TV with Soupy's Soda Shop. It was a teen dance program and he beat Dick Clark to it by 2 years. When WKRC-TV cancelled his program, he left Cincinnati and scored a gig in 850 WJW-AM in 1951.

In 1953, Sales moved to Detroit, Michigan and worked at WXYZ-TV carried nationally on ABC. From there he moved to LA, but was cancelled in 1962. He tried again, this time in New York on WNEW-TV in 1964. In 1978 he3 went back to LA for a shot with "The Soupy Sales Show" it ran for one season. ...and his TV career rolled on from there slowly to a full halt.

Soupy went back to radio. No more pies. Just laughs. He hosted his own show on 660 WNBC-AM in New York City. At the same time Both don Imus and Howard Stern were at WNBC. As much as Imus and stern dislikes each other, they both were united in their distaste for Soupy Sales. Soupy went on at 10 Am right after Imus and Right before sterns PM drive slot. He was boxed in. In 1987 the yanked him for good mid program. the station flipped formats to all talk a year later. Variety shows were over.

He wrote a autobiography and published it in 2003. It was long overdue