Johnny Williams ―1970 to 1972

Airchecks Photos Timeline

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.

Radio Timeline
APD = Assistant PD MD = Music Director MH = Morning Host NX = News NXD = News Director OM = Operations Manager PD = Program Director
Station Freq. Location From To Notes
WBUX 1570 Doylestown PA 1966    
WAAT 1300 Trenton NJ 1967   MH
WMID 1340 Atlantic City NJ 1968    
WIBG 990 Philadelphia PA 1969   As Johnny Williams
WRKO 680 Boston MA 10-1969 1972 As Johnny Williams
KHJ 930 Los Angeles CA mid-1972 1973 As Cat Simon
WKRQ 101.9 Cincinnati OH 1973    
WDAI 94.7 Chicago IL 1974    
KRLY 93.7 Houston TX 1978    
KPRI 102.1 San Diego CA 1979    
KMET 94.5 Los Angeles CA 1979 1980  
KDES 920 Palm Springs CA 1988    
KCHV 93.7 Palm Springs CA 1988   PD
KOOL 94.5 Phoenix AZ 1997   As Bill Todd
If you can help fill in the blanks, please let me know!

Photos
Johnny Williams at WAAT Johnny Williams, 1969 Johnny Wiliams, January 1970
At WAAT, 1967 Johnny Williams, October, 1969 Johnny Williams, January, 1970
     
Johnny Williams, July, 1970 Bill Todd (undated)  
Bill Todd (undated  

Airchecks
WRKO in February, 1971 WRKO April 25, 1971 KOOL/Phoenix 12-27-1997