It has been difficult for me to contend
with the death of my friend, Bill Todd (known as "Johnny Williams") died
May 13th, 2007 of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's Disease).
ALS is sinister as it is painful. Bill and I had talked just months before
his death. I had no idea he was ill; he never alluded to it. He was, however,
teary-eyed as he recalled his days and his beloved listeners at WRKO. With
all his on-air ego and powerful voice, "The Mover," in real life, was "just
plain Bill." I only wish Bill had opened up to me so that I could have been
there for him. Ironically, my wife had died in October, 2005, from a related
disease.
Bill Todd was a very loving man. He named himself "The Mover," initially
calling himself the "Midnight Mover" when he began at WRKO, doing overnights,
and when his shift was moved to afternoons slot, he simply deleted the "Midnight"
from the moniker. I like to say it's because he really "moved" the
hits on the Big 68.
He came to WRKO from WIBG, Philadelphia, in 1969, replacing Shadoe Stevens.
When he left WRKO in mid-1972, he moved to Los Angeles where he became Cat
Simon on KHJ, because there was already a Johnny Williams doing overnights
there. Going back in time, Williams was doing mornings as Bill Todd at WAAT
in Trenton, NJ during the summer of 1968. He left WAAT ("The Hot Waat")
when they changed format to AC, and went to WMID/1340 in Atlantic City.
Then, it was weekends at WIBG where he first used the name "Johnny Williams."
He eventually worked his way up to full-time nights, then left for WRKO.
When he left WRKO, he became Cat Simon on Los Angeles' KHJ. Later, Johnny
became Program Director of WKRQ in Cincinnati, and, after developing an
AOR mindset, took on AOR PD gigs in Cincinnati, Chicago and Houston.
After his radio gigs, he worked as an independent record promoter in Los
Angeles, finally running his own enterprise using his marketing talents. |
