Wolfman Jack’s real name was Robert Weston Smith.
Born in Brooklyn, the disc jockey began broadcasting as the “Wolfman” in 1960 at border station XERF in Via Cuncio, Mexico, just north of Del Rio, Texas.
His raunchy, outlaw pronouncements were heard widely in the U.S. but remained beyond the jurisdiction of the FCC.
After experimenting with thousands of materials, Thomas Edison discovered in 1879 that a scorched cotton thread, the equivalent of a carbon wire, was the filament he needed. It was one that would glow for a long period without melting in an electric light bulb. Edison’s discovery ushered in the age of electric lighting.
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, a French explorer and administrator, founded Fort Pontchartrain du Detroit in 1701. The Cadillac automobile is named for him.
In the mid-1970s, the leading career choice for Harvard M.B.A. graduates was manufacturing. Ten years later, it was investment banking.
The first American book written about baseball was the Book of Sports by Robin Carver, published in 1834.
Al Capone’s business cards said he was a second-hand furniture dealer in Chicago.
In an 1889 speech, the 54-year old steel baron and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie outlined his “Gospel,” a set of principles for amassing and sharing wealth. He wrote, “The millionaire will be but a trustee for the poor; entrusted for a season with a great part of the increased wealth of the community, but administering it…