Long John Nebel

Long John Nebel (born John Zimmerman; June 11, 1911 – April 10, 1978) was an influential New York City talk radio show host.

From the mid-1950s until his death in 1978, Nebel was a hugely popular all-night radio host, with millions of regular listeners and what Donald Bain described as "a fanatically loyal following" to his syndicated program, which dealt mainly with anomalous phenomena, UFOs, and other offbeat topics.

Nebel was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, but he was an avid reader throughout his life, and he was conversant on many topics.

Rumor had it that he was the son of a physician and ran away with a circus as a youngster.

In the mid-1950s, radio throughout the United States was floundering and trying to redefine itself after the explosive popularity of television.

Over several years, Nebel had many friends at various New York radio stations when he bought commercial time to advertise his auction house.

Nebel did not seek a career in radio until around 1954, when he was 43 years old.

WOR, one of New York's leading stations, faced poor ratings in 1954 when Nebel proposed an interview show.

The format, as Donald Bain writes, "would be devoted to discussing strange and unexplained topics".

WOR's management was not especially impressed by Nebel's idea.

However, deciding they had little to lose (following WOR's failed foray into broadcasting facsimile editions of the morning paper during the early morning hours), WOR offered him a midnight to 5:30 am time slot, the poorest-rated hours.

Building on the modest fame of his auction house (and also hoping to generate more business), he used the same name, Long John, when he went on radio.

To the surprise of WOR's management, Nebel's show was a quick success among New York's night-owls and early risers.

Unidentified flying objects were discussed almost daily, alongside topics such as voodoo, witchcraft, parapsychology, hypnotism, conspiracy theories, and ghosts.

Perhaps fittingly for an overnight show, one of Nebel's sponsors was No-Doz caffeine pills.

Within a few months Nebel was getting not only high ratings, but press attention from throughout the United States for his distinctive and in many ways unprecedented program (WOR's powerful signal assured that Nebel's show was broadcast to over half of the United States' population).

Bain notes that some listeners were put off by his "grating, often vicious manner", but many more adored him because of (or in spite of) his abrasive style.

Keith writes: "Though Nebel could be brusque and even imperious in the phone, he was always a sympathetic listener and compasionate host."

WOR was worried about some of Nebel's guests or callers using profanity on the air.

Nebel used one of the first tape delay systems in radio, giving engineers a chance to edit any unacceptable language before it was broadcast.

In 1956, engineer Russell Tinklepaugh invented the system Nebel used.

He built a modified Ampex 300 tape deck with an additional set of heads.

The deck was able to record on a loop of 1/4" tape, and carry the tape around the perimeter of the deck to be played on the second set of heads. This resulted in a delay of several seconds, enough time to hit the "stop" button to avoid airing foul language. (ref.ex-WOR engineer, Frank Cernese)

According to his own account in The Way Out World (1961), Nebel moved to New York City "around 1930", at the age of 19.

His first job there was usher in the New York Paramount Theater.

Nebel pursued a number of careers in his young adulthood (including a long period as a freelance photographer and a stint as a sidewalk salesman) before establishing the successful Long John's Auctions, an auction and consignment store in New Jersey.

At his auction barn in New Jersey, he was billed as "Long John, the gab and gavel man", and people would attend just for an evening's entertainment.

The nickname "Long John Nebel" had several sources: "Long John" was a nickname for his tall, slender build (he stood 6'4" [1.93 m] and never weighed more than about 160 pounds [73 kg]).

In 1963, WNBC offered Nebel more than $100,000 per year (if not a record sum paid to a radio personality at the time, then very nearly so) to begin broadcasting from the station, and he accepted the offer.

He joined WNBC in August 1964, and continued there until 1973, when WNBC, facing sliding ratings, decided to switch to an all rock music format.

After a protracted battle with station management, Nebel refused to change the content of his show and resigned from the station in protest.

WMCA, which went all-talk in 1970, used a similar system.

It involved two Ampex 350 reel-to-reel machines side by side, each with the order of its heads—normally (from left to right) erase-record-play—reversed, to be mounted play-erase-record.

Thus the tape loop, transported counter-clockwise, would record the microphone output, and then have to go all the way around to play it back over the air before being erased.

When the engineer, producer, or air talent hit the 'dump' button the feed would immediately be switched to the other Ampex, so there was very little disruption of the air product.

Today, of course, such delays are done digitally.

(ref. ex-WMCA engineer B. Golden)

In 1972, Nebel married the former pin-up model Candy Jones, who became the co-host of his show.

Her controversial claims of having been a victim of CIA mind-control influenced the direction of the program during its last six years on the air.