Jonathon Brandmeier - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Career

Born John Francis Brandmeier to a German father and a Lebanese mother, Brandmeier started his radio career in 1973 at WFON

WFON

WFON is a radio station broadcasting an Adult Contemporary format under the branding K107.1. Licensed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, USA, the station is currently owned by RBH Enterprises, Inc....

in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

Fond du Lac is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The name is French for bottom of the lake, for it is located at the bottom of Lake Winnebago. The population was 42,203 at the 2000 census...

. When he was 18 (1974 or 1975), he joined WOSH

WOSH

WOSH is a radio station serving the Oshkosh, Wisconsin area with a News/Talk format from the ABC News Radio network. This station broadcasts on AM frequency 1490 kHz and is under ownership of Cumulus Media. WOSH was known for a time as WYTL and broadcast a country music format.-External links:*...

-AM in Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Oshkosh, Wisconsin

As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile...

, later working as a DJ at WYNE (now WHBY

WHBY

WHBY is a News/Talk formatted radio station licensed to Kimberly, Wisconsin, that serves the Green Bay and Appleton-Oshkosh areas...

-AM) in Appleton, Wisconsin

Appleton, Wisconsin

Appleton is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is situated on the Fox River, 30 miles southwest of Green Bay and 100 miles north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the county seat of Outagamie County. The population was 78,086 at the 2010 census...

, then at KLIV

KLIV

KLIV is an AM radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area based in San Jose, California. The station operates at 1590 kHz on the AM band. It is owned by Empire Broadcasting, and is headed by News and Program Director George Sampson.-Programming:...

-AM in San Jose, California

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

, then as the morning jock at WYBR-FM (now WXRX

WXRX

WXRX is an FM radio station, frequency 104.9, based in Rockford, Illinois, created by a company called "Radio Works" run by David McAley and Robert Rhea Jr. It is now owned by Maverick Media...

-FM) in Rockford, Illinois

Rockford, Illinois

Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...

, and then in 1980 at WOKY

WOKY

WOKY is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, radio station. They broadcast a classic country radio format emphasizing country from the 50s-80s...

-AM in Milwaukee. In February 1981, he was brought on as the KZZP

KZZP

KZZP, 104.7 KISS-FM, is a Top 40 radio outlet serving the Phoenix, Arizona area. The Clear Channel Communications station broadcasts at 104.7 MHz with an Effective radiated power of 100 kW and is licensed in Mesa, Arizona. Due to its 100 kW tower located atop South Mountain, the station can...

-FM morning DJ in Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

, where he participated in prank phone calls and silly song parodies. In 1982, Brandmeier released his first album Just Havin' Fun.

WLUP

WLUP

WLUP-FM is a commercial classic rock radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Owned and operated by Merlin Media, LLC, WLUP transmits its signal from an antenna located the top of the Willis Tower in Downtown Chicago at a height of with an effective radiated power of 4,000 watts...

("The Loop") in Chicago hired him in 1983, where his morning show was broadcast on both 1000 AM and 97.9 FM stations. He also had a short-lived TV show in 1991, Johnny B. on the Loose and recorded three more albums, Almost Live (1984), Brandmeier (1989) and Dink: The Man Formerly Known As Brandmeier (1994) with his band Johnny and the Leisure Suits. His most memorable songs include "We're All Crazy In Chicago" (a local Top Ten hit), "Hey Der Milwaukee Polka", and "The Moo-Moo Song" (based on an actual event in the 1980s when a local attempted to make love to a cow in the Lincoln Park Zoo

Lincoln Park Zoo

Lincoln Park Zoo is a free zoo located in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868, making it one of the oldest zoos in the nation. The zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums ....

). A few of his songs were occasionally played on the Dr. Demento Show
Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen , better known as Dr. Demento, is a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present....

, which was also syndicated on Sunday nights on WLUP until 2010.

A management change at WLUP in 1997, however, led to the end of Brandmeier's 14-year run on The Loop. He briefly hosted middays at WCKG

WCKG

WCFS-FM , known on-air as "WBBM Newsradio 780 & 105.9", is a radio station licensed to Elmwood Park, Illinois and serving the Chicago, Illinois market...

in Chicago, and had subsequent stints in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

at KLSX

KLSX

KAMP-FM 97.1 FM, known on-air as 97.1 AMP Radio, is a Rhythmic Contemporary radio station in Los Angeles, California. The station is owned by CBS Radio.The station had long been known as KLSX before the call sign changed on June 30, 2009....

and KCBS-FM

KCBS-FM

KCBS-FM is a radio station in Los Angeles, California broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area on 93.1 FM. KCBS-FM airs an adult hits music format branded as "Jack-FM"....

. Brandmeier attempted syndication, during which his show was aired on KZZP, Phoenix. However, he was unable to deliver the ratings necessary and his syndication was quickly cancelled.

After some time away from radio, Brandmeier returned to mornings at WLUP in October 2005. He has also made several appearances with his band, The Leisure Suits, on what he called "World Tour 2007." This included playing bars and theaters in the Chicago area. In 2008, he released a live 2-CD set, Larger Than Live of his 2007 Christmas show in Rosemont, Illinois

Rosemont, Illinois

Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States located immediately northwest of Chicago. The village was incorporated in 1956, though it had been settled long before that...

. All proceeds from the CD purchases went to Pizzas For Patriots, which sends pizzas to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Once again, Brandmeier took a chance on television by doing a late-night talk show on WMAQ-TV

WMAQ-TV

WMAQ-TV, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Chicago, Illinois. WMAQ-TV's main studios and offices are located within the NBC Tower in the Streeterville neighborhood, with an auxiliary street-level studio on the Magnificent Mile at 401...

during the summer of 2008. However, the project was abandoned after the pilot episode. The show is available through the "Almost Live" website.

There was some speculation that Brandmeier was going to sign with talk/sports station WGN (AM)

WGN (AM)

WGN is a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is the only radio station owned by the Tribune Company, which also owns the flagship television station WGN-TV, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and Chicago magazine locally. WGN's transmitter is located in Elk Grove Village, Illinois...

after his contract was up in 2009. However, Loop management re-negotiated his contract, and he remained on the Loop for morning drive.

In 2009, Brandmeier's longtime co-producer, Hector Soriano, was let go from WLUP-FM along with Chicago sportscaster and Loop alum Bruce Wolf

Bruce Wolf

Bruce Wolf is a veteran Chicago broadcaster and sports anchor who has been on both TV and radio for more than 20 years. He currently hosts a politics-themed talk show every weekday morning on WLS radio in Chicago and also fills in as a sportscaster on WMAQ-TV in Chicago...

. Brandmeier's show continued to be podcasted daily through the Loop's website and on iTunes

ITunes

iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

.

On November 30, 2009, Brandmeier was released from his contract from WLUP due to chronic low ratings and a very high salary, estimated to be well over $1 million annually.

In 2010, it was announced that Brandmeier had put his Malibu, California mansion up for sale for around $8 million. Also that year, a Chicago talent agent, Lisa Miller, who had represented Brandmeier filed suit against him, claiming he owed her around $312,000.

Discography

Albums:

Just Havin' Fun (1982)
Almost Live (1984)
Brandmeier (1989)
Dink (1994)
Larger Than Live (2008)

Singles
1981:

Johnny in the Morning (Just Havin' Fun) b/w Mick Jagger (What Makes Your Lips So Big?)
The Snowbird Song b/w Did The Stones Show Up?

1983:

Lookin' For A Livin' b/w Party Animals (Promotional release only)
The Moo Moo Song b/w Party Animals

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.