Coyote William McCloud (born
William Lehmann ) was a popular radio
disc jockey in Nashville, Tennessee died he was , 68.. For over 30 years, he was a drive-time personality at several Nashville radio stations. He first became well-known in the early 1970s on WMAK-AM, then a market-dominant
rock and roll station, as host of its 7 p.m.–midnight program. He was called "legendary" among DJs.
(August 31, 1942 – April 6, 2011)

McCloud was one of the most controversial deejays of the late 1980s when he was the lead man on "The Zoo Crew" on Nashville's
Y107 (WYHY). While enormously popular amongst his target demographic, his outlandish on-air personality drew the ire of many within the community as being a "bad influence" on teenagers. He was one of the subjects of a
CBS 48 Hours documentary in 1992 about "shock radio". McCloud enjoyed his highest level of popularity while working for Y107, and had his own fan club.
[2] He worked at the station for over 10 years, from 1984 to 1995. McCloud was featured frequently in
Billboard.
[3]
Radio career
Early in his career, he was an afternoon drive personality at
WGOW-AM (owned by
Ted Turner) in
Chattanooga, using the name Bill Scott. In 1976, his recording of "Nitty Gritty Rock and Roll" was released as 45 rpm record on the Midland South label, distributed by RCA. The song included the catch-phrases he used as a nighttime deejay on
WQXI in
Atlanta.
Early in 1983 while hosting the morning show at Kix 104, McCloud was selected by
Country Music Television network founders Glenn D. Daniels and co-founder G. Dean Daniels to be the first on-air "voice" of the network. When CMT (originally called "CMTV") launched on March 5, 1983, McCloud provided the first vocal announcement heard on the network under an animated "CMTV" logo with the words, "You're Watching CMTV...Country Music Television...in stereo." He remained the on-air "voice" of the network from 1983 through 1984.
McCloud also worked at Kix 104 (
WWKX) in the early 1980s, Power Country 103 (
WZPC) in the mid-1990s, and Oldies 96.3 (WMAK) in the early 2000s. Along with
Cathy Martindale, he hosted
Coyote & Cathy In The Morning on 96.3 (
WMAK FM) and 97.1
WRQQ until late November 2006.
Where's the Beef?
In 1984, McCloud, also a sometime songwriter, wrote a song entitled "
Where's the Beef?" as a promotion for
Wendy's restaurants' famous advertising campaign featuring
Clara Peller.
[4]
Death
Coyote McCloud died of
cirrhosis of the liver on April 6, 2011.
[5][6]
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