As a young teenager, Jocko Henderson would hang out at the WITH studios and help carry records to hops and dances for his radio idol Hot Rod. Eventually Henderson was hired by the station and after several months on the air he accepted a job offer at WHAT AM 1340 in Philadelphia. With the skills learned from Hot Rod, Jocko went on to become one of the most influential and legendary air personalities of the ‘50s and ‘60s. “Borrowing” phrases such as “great googamooga,” “VOSA!” and routines such as the “Rocket Ship Show” from Hot Rod he became the “Ace from Outer Space” rhyming everything that he said in a unique rhythmic pattern. In fact, when Hot Rod briefly worked in Philly during the late ‘60s everyone said that he was copying Jocko!
Henderson went on to work at several Philadelphia and New York radio stations until finally retiring in 1974. He passed away in 2000.
Was Henderson’s on-air personna an homage or a rip-off? One thing we can say for sure, Hot Rod was “The originator, not the imitator.”
