Happy 40th, Jim & Shelli!

August 29, 1977 marks a big day in radio history — it was 40 years ago this week when Jim Kerr and Shelli Sonstein first teamed up to host the top rated morning show in New York City, The Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show, which has been rolling along on iHeartMedia Classic Rock WAXQ (Q104.3) for the past 14 years.

Kerr’s 50-year radio career began at the age of 21 as the morning host at WPLJ/New York, a position he held for 15 years until the 23-year-old Sonstein showed up as his new co-host. Kerr had no idea this young woman from Atlanta would end up being his co-host for the next 40 years. “I saw this woman and I didn’t know what she was doing there,” Kerr said. “No one told me who she was and why she was there.” It was Sonstein who created the show’s “Dirty Joke of the Day,” which runs every morning at 7:20am, a benchmark bit that, according to Sonstein, lead to what has become the standardized time for morning shows to run contests. “I was telling a dirty joke off-air during a commercial, which ended before the punch line,” Sonstein said, “so Jim asked me to tell the joke on air the next day at 7:20am. By the third day, listeners were contributing jokes. The dirty joke made 7:20am the designated time for radio stations to run contests — all starting with our dirty joke.”

Commenting on his longtime co-host, Kerr said, “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.” For her part, Sonstein said, “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?'”

Q104.3 PD Eric Wellman commented, “That Jim and Shelli could be together for 40 years and still be as connected and vibrant today as they were in 1977 is amazing! It’s a privilege and an honor to work with this team every day — along with producer ‘Grumpy’ Joe Cristiano, who’s been with them for ‘only’ 14 years. They make me look good daily and make my job so easy. Q104.3 is lucky to have them, and so is New York. Here’s to another 40!”