South Florida radio DJ Bill Tanner, of ‘Tanner in the Morning’ fame, dies at 76

If you grew up in South Florida in the 1970s and ‘80s and listened to pop radio — and of course you did because you weren’t on Twitter or YouTube — chances are you can still hum the “Tanner in the Morning” jingle from Y-100.

Set to the nagging, indelible sing-song riff from the old childhood jeer of “na-na-na-na-na-na,” the “Tanner in the Morning” handle came from DJ Bill Tanner.

Tanner, known in South Florida for inviting pop stars to record messages that urged listeners to “Get up and get off with Tanner in the Morning,” and who helped promote the careers of homegrown talents like KC and the Sunshine Band, died in his sleep at his Birmingham, Alabama, home on Thursday morning, his son Scott Tanner said.

The cause was kidney failure, his son said. Tanner was 76.

“He was the world’s best father and grandfather,” his son said.

The DJ as public persona

Normally, that would be a common sentiment shared privately by millions of lucky sons and daughters the world over at times like these. But Bill Tanner’s special skills made his life public domain. And no matter how far his career took him once he left the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, South Florida was special to him.

“He loved the sound of South Florida. He loved South Florida radio. He loved the people in South Florida and how he was embraced,” his son said.

“That meant the world to him,” Scott Tanner said. “He knew without them, he was nothing.”

But he was something. Tanner was something else.

Tanner was among the wave of South Florida radio personalities who helped define the area’s popular culture and listening habits before there was so much entertainment competition from the internet, social media and streaming services.

The late Rick Shaw, a hugely influential South Florida DJ who helped expose the Beatles to U.S. listeners in late 1963, probably got that rock-‘n’-roll ball rolling.

But Tanner’s brand of bonding with listeners — of being open with fans and cultivating a recognizable, relatable, persona — helped usher in a wave of like-minded DJs and programmers including Sonny Fox, Robert W. Walker, Don “Cox on the Radio” Cox, “James T.” Thomas and Jo “The Rock and Roll Madame” Maeder.

“That was of major importance to him,” Scott Tanner said of his father’s willingness to be open with his radio audience. “He did three formats in South Florida. That says a lot.”

Broadcasting career and mentoring

Tanner’s broadcasting career began at 13 at a classical station in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Later, as morning host at Jackson, Mississippi’s WJDX, he was recognized for developing one of the country’s first adult contemporary formats, according to SummitMedia.

In 1974, Tanner became program director at the year-old WHYI (100.7 FM) Y-100, where “Tanner in the Morning” was born, and helped develop its persona-driven pop format. Maeder was one of Tanner’s hires in 1977, resulting in Y-100’s first female DJ.

Maeder calls Tanner her “radio mentor” in her free-wheeling Facebook tribute. “I recall the good times, and the times I can now laugh about, with greater poignancy as time goes on and legends like Tanner pass away.”

Walker, who worked alongside Tanner at Y-100, also called Tanner a “priceless mentor and unwavering friend. A tough taskmaster but an immensely kind human. ... He knew talent and gave a ton of them their first break.”

When KC & the Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight” broke wide in 1975 to became the Hialeah band’s first of five national No. 1 singles, Tanner’s championing of the homegrown KC on Y-100 was vital.

“He was a great influence on Miami radio,” the band’s namesake singer-songwriter Harry Casey said Thursday. “He supported us and all the local music of those times. He was funny, caring and giving. He cared about Miami and he loved being ‘Tanner in the Morning.’

“He took chances and played records before anyone else in the nation,” Casey added. “Many times he would ask me what I thought and I would give him my opinion. We had fun beating everyone to the next hit song.”

Miami and beyond

Tanner joined Metromedia’s WASH in Washington, D.C., as program director and morning host in 1983 after leaving Y-100.

He returned to Miami in 1985, lured by a four-year, million-dollar contract to turn adult contemporary WEZI-FM into South Florida’s first major urban contemporary station, the Miami Herald reported. The Herald called Tanner, “South Florida’s first million dollar radio man.”

“The format will be geared toward the Latins, Blacks and party-going, club-loving Anglos in the community,” Tanner told the Miami Herald then. The new Hot 105 got off to a fast start, but ratings quickly tanked. Tanner was fired.

In 1986, Tanner was named the first program director at WPOW “Power 96” in Miami, where he also hosted a morning show that became popular with a young, Hispanic audience. He resigned in 1991 after a well-publicized drug bust, the Herald reported. A judge later threw out the case.

Tanner also made his name at Spanish radio in 1992 with the debut of WXDJ Miami.

Other gigs included directing stations in Los Angeles and, in 1997, he helped launch two new urban radio stations in Birmingham.

Tanner has been with SummitMedia in Alabama since 2013, where he led radio programming strategy for all of the company’s markets, including Birmingham, Greenville, Honolulu, Knoxville, Louisville, Omaha, Richmond, Springfield, Tuscaloosa and Wichita, according to SummitMedia.

Survivors

In addition to his son, Tanner is survived by his grandchildren Ryan and Tessa, and his brother Jim Tanner.

Services haven’t been set. His son says there may be a virtual online memorial at a later date. He said it could be similar to one held recently for former Y-100 DJ and Estefan Enterprises president Frank Amadeo, who died in December.