Tom Donahue (DJ)

Tom Donahue, American radio host and producer (died 1975)

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Born: May 21, 1928
Died: April 28, 1975
Zodiac sign: Gemini
Birth year: 1928

About Tom Donahue (DJ)

Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue (May 21, 1928 – April 28, 1975), was an American rock and roll radio disc jockey, record producer and concert promoter. == Early life == Donahue was born Thomas Francis Coman in South Bend, Indiana, United States. He was the son of Thomas F. Coman and his wife, Mary Jane. Both Mary Jane and Thomas worked in journalism, at the South Bend (Indiana) News-Times. After Thomas Sr. was hired as a reporter by the Associated Press in Detroit, the family relocated to that city in 1934. When the A.P. moved Thomas Sr. to Washington D.C., the family relocated there, around 1938. == Early career == Donahue's radio career started in early 1949 on the East Coast of the U.S. at WTIP in Charleston, West Virginia, then affiliated with the Mutual Broadcasting System. He hosted a morning program called "Coffee With Coman." Several years later, he was hired by WIBG in Philadelphia, where he also hosted the morning show.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Documents made public during the payola scandal showed that he had been given more than $1,400 by Philadelphia's Universal Record Distributing Co. to play certain records during the period from 1957-1959.
In 1964, while a disc jockey at Top Forty station KYA (now KOIT) in San Francisco, Donahue and Mitchell formed a record label.
But Autumn's biggest act was one that Donahue discovered, produced, recorded, and managed, The Beau Brummels, which he later sold to Warner Bros.

Tom Donahue (DJ) timeline

1928Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue (May 21, 1928 – April 28, 1975), was an American rock and roll radio disc jockey, record producer and concert promoter.
1957Documents made public during the payola scandal showed that he had been given more than $1,400 by Philadelphia's Universal Record Distributing Co. to play certain records during the period from 1957-1959.
1964In 1964, while a disc jockey at Top Forty station KYA (now KOIT) in San Francisco, Donahue and Mitchell formed a record label.

The world when Tom Donahue (DJ) was born

Tom Donahue (DJ) was born in 1928. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1928

#1 song"Makin' Whoopee" – Eddie Cantor
Top movieSteamboat Willie (first Mickey Mouse)
Best-selling bookLady Chatterley's Lover – D.H. Lawrence

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentKnute Rockne's "Win one for the Gipper" speech
Top headlineHerbert Hoover elected president
Technology milestonePenicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming
Defining fadMickey Mouse mania
Notable inventionSliced bread
World population2.07 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
U.S. population120.5M

1928 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Tom Donahue (DJ)'s birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1928	2026
Gas	$0.21	$3.45/gal
Average home	$6,200	$435,000
Average income	$3,800	$67,500
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.02	$0.73
Population	120.5M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.