Jim Kerr & Shelli Sonstein Celebrate 40 Years in NYC

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, August 29, 2017

August 29, 1977 marks a day in radio history when Jim Kerr and Shelli Sonstein emerged as what would become the top rated morning show in New York City, The Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show. Kerr has been on-air for 50 years, where his career began at age 21 as the morning show host at WPLJ, a position he held for 15 years until Sonstein showed up and surprised Kerr at WPLJ studios as his new co-host, being only 23 years old.

Kerr said, "I saw this woman and I didn't know what she was doing there. No one told me who she was and why she was there." But the new partnership worked and the duo is now celebrating 40 years together. Kerr and Sonstein have interviewed the biggest names in rock music including Robert Plant, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Brian May, Mick Jagger and countless more. Sonstein created the dirty joke of the day which can be heard every morning at 7:20am, which Sonstein says, created radio contests.

Sonstein explains, "I was telling a dirty joke off air during a commercial and the commercial ended before the punchline, so Jim asked me to tell the joke on air, the next day, Jim asked me at the same time 7:20am, for another dirty joke. On the third day, listeners were contributing jokes. The dirty joke made 7:20 am the designated time for radio stations to run contests - all starting with our dirty joke."

"If you are going to spend four hours a day in a little room for decades before the sun even rises, you couldn't do better than to spend time in that room with Shelli Sonstein," Kerr says, sharing his feelings about his cohost.

Sonstein and Kerr plan to keep their morning show rocking. "When people ask Jim and me when we plan to retire, we both respond the same way, "why would we ever want to stop doing what we love?" says Sonstein.