Update 11:45 a.m. Wednesday June 5: Visitation for Bernard "Jack" Stahl, retired DJ and Cincinnati Police officer, will be 6-8 p.m. Thursday, June 6, at BJ Meyer Sons Funeral Home, 5864 Bridgetown Road. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Jude Church, 5924 Bridgetown Road.
Stahl, 77, died Monday June 3. The family suggests that memorial contributions be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 S. Jude Place, Memphis, Tenn. 38105.
Here's the link to his obituary.
Original post 11:29 a.m. Tuesday June 4: Longtime DJ Jack Stahl, who was “Dr. Boogie” on radio when he wasn’t working as a Cincinnati Police officer, died Monday, a year after retiring from WDJO-AM.
“To me Jack was a radio DJ's DJ," says longtime colleague Bobby Leach. "He was unfiltered and spontaneous. You didn't know what he would say next and sometimes I don't think he did either. It was just fun radio.”
“He had a huge personality, a kind heart and a booming voice,” says Ann Thompson, who met Stahl working weekends at WKRC-AM in the 1980s.
Dusty Rhodes, who was a part-timer at WKRC-AM and WGRR-FM with Stahl, called him “a good friend and fine broadcaster. Besides his radio work over the years, I admired his service with the Cincinnati Police Department.”
The 1964 Elder High School graduate started his radio career as the evening DJ at Top 40 powerhouse WSAI-AM in 1968 after graduating from the University of Cincinnati. He played '60s rock 'n' roll hits at WUBE-AM, WKRC-AM, WGRR-FM, “real oldies“ WSAI-AM and WDJO-AM. He was a fixture on WDJO-AM from 2006 until his retirement last June.
In an Enquirer story in August 1968 — “Meet Jack Stahl, WSAI’s Newest DJ” — the then-21-year-old Bridgetown resident described himself as "an overgrown teenager" who "lives, dies, eats and sleeps radio."
Three years later, however, Stahl enrolled in the Cincinnati Police Department’s 58th recruit class on Oct. 30, 1972, and graduated Feb. 23, 1973. He was promoted to police specialist in 1985; sergeant (1989) and lieutenant (1995). He retired Jan. 23, 1999. Stahl also was the Crime Stoppers coordinator in 1985-86.
“Jack was a good police officer and supervisor, and a better friend," posted police recruit classmate Jim Brown on Facebook. "I will miss his fantastic sense of humor. He was one of the quickest minds and funniest people I have known. A true legend.”
Longtime friend and former coworker Jim LaBarbara called Stahl “a consummate professional on the air — always up, and a very funny guy. Jack was well respected and he combined two very successful careers.”
“He could walk the beat and rock the street,” said former coworker Marty Thompson.
“Jack Stahl was made for radio,” says Tom Brinkmoeller, a classmate of Stahl’s at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music radio-TV communications arts program. They also were Cincinnati Police officers at the same time, until Brinkmoeller was hired as an Enquirer reporter. “Jack loved radio, and the UC closed-circuit station WFIB was his playground.”
When Dave Mason was WKRC-AM program director 1983-85, Stahl was his “go-to guy when someone went on vacation, or if I wanted to take the night off from my 55KRC Music Magazine show,” says Mason, who now lives in San Diego.
In fall of 1984, when WKRC-AM won the Arbitron ratings with a 10.3% audience share, Mason celebrated so much that he requested a back-up.
“I called Jack with a two-hour notice explaining that I wouldn't be in any shape to do my two-hour shift. Jack had just finished his police beat and was there in a heartbeat. Jack saved the day,” Mason says.
Stahl developed the “Dr. Boogie” persona doing "hot wax" weekends on WKRC in the 1980s. “He grabbed it and ran with it," says “Dangerous Dan” Allen, who hosts WDJO-AM middays (10 a.m.-2 p.m.) and the “Dial-A-Hit” request show 7 p.m.-midnight Saturdays.
“He loved being able to be a DJ as a side gig,” said former radio reporter Kevin Christopher Staab, who worked with Stahl at WKRC-AM. “Jack was great to work with. He had a good sense of humor. He loved being a rock 'n' roll DJ and was very good at it,” says Staab, who lives in Phoenix.
Stahl had been ill several months. His wife, Nancy, retired last September after 24 years as WKRC-TV’s newsroom administrative assistant.
