He had generations of Utahns tuning in to rock out to top hits and inspired countless others to pursue radio careers. His playful demeanor, iconic sign-off, innovative features and larger-than-life personality transcended technology and time.
All of that and more will extend the legacy of legendary DJ “Skinny” Johnny Mitchell, who died Jan. 1 of natural causes after suffering a stroke in prior years. He was 82.
(Jay Leaf) "Skinny" Johnny Mitchell behind the mic.
Mitchell’s son, Jay Leaf, said his father went to “radio school against his parents wishes.”
“He wanted to be a DJ,” Leaf said. “That was his thing.”
Mitchell was born Nov. 12, 1942, in Spokane, Washington. He first got a taste of the radio work in Topeka, Kansas, and used his air checks (recordings) from there when he came to Salt Lake City.
After a brief stint in the Air Force, Mitchell signed on with KNAK, his son said. “Skinny,” as he was known on the air, then moved to KCPX, one of a handful of stations that rounded out Utah’s “golden age of AM radio.”
Mitchell restored rare songs, spun tracks with expertise and colored the airwaves with his vibrant approach.
The family’s obituary said Mitchell’s personal record collection — like his radio voice — was “legendary” — an ode to Top 100 hits across multiple decades and featuring albums from the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Marty Robbins.
By the mid-1970s and early ‘80s, Mitchell, who is survived by four children and five grandchildren, was the guy on the radio, Leaf said. His popularity stemmed from his on-air presence and stretched across age groups.
Leaf recalls a time in second grade when his father came to pick him up from school and all the kids were “freaking out.”
“I remember kids were asking me for autographs,” Leaf said. He also noted how “meticulous” his dad was when it came to music.
“He would get an old record, maybe the only copy he could find of a song, and it was on a record, but it was all scratched up,” Leaf said. “And he would get that thing sounding pristine. He would spend 20 hours on a five-second segment of that song.”
In his shows, Mitchell combined humor, pop culture and news with music. The result, Leaf said, was “pieced-together songs.”
“[They were] funny little pieces where he would say, ‘What do you think about this? And then play part of a song that would kind of answer the question and then go on,” Leaf said. “That was kind of a new thing at that time, to piece stuff together, to make a story.”
One example is when Mitchell did a bit pretending to interview then-presidential candidates “President Board [Ford] & Jimmy Smarter [Carter].”
Dan Jessop was a colleague at KCPX. Mitchell’s show was from 6 to 10 p.m. Jessop followed him in the next time slot. At the station, they focused on playing the biggest hits of the day.
“In those days, it was different than nowadays,” Jessop said. “I mean, the biggest hits of that day could be anything from a hard rock sort of song, say by the Rolling Stones or Deep Purple or groups like that, all the way down to, believe it or not, we played songs by Andy Williams.”
At one time, Jessop said, KCPX was capturing 80% of the teen audience from Ogden, Salt Lake City and Provo.
Mitchell was “one of the best jocks I ever heard,” Jessop added. “He loved being on the radio [and] he loved his audience. In all the times I was out with him somewhere or heard him talking on the phone to somebody who called in, he was never in a hurry. He always took time to talk to them.”
Jessop recalled a Skinny segment called “Battle of the Records.”
“He would pit two songs against each other and then he would take votes as to what the audience liked,” Jessop said. “... He did that for years. That was probably the biggest feature of his show.”
(Jay Leaf) An ad for "Skinny" Johnny Mitchell's radio slot.
Skinny also inspired others to pursue their radio dreams, including Kerry Jackson, co-host of X96′s “Radio From Hell” show.
Jackson said he grew up on a Salem, Utah, farm “just looking for any kind of escape” to get off it.
At 10 years old, he’d go to school. When he got home, he would stay up past his bedtime to listen to Battle of the Records.
“[Mitchell] was such an entertaining DJ. He turned me on to so many songs,” Jackson said. “Listening to his show, I was so entertained and enthralled by it that I got focused on radio, and I listened to KCPX all the time. … He inspired me to get into this industry.”
Another thing Jackson remembers is Mitchell’s iconic radio sign-off: “Do what you think is correct and always remember, ‘Skinny’ loves your neck. Good night, babe.”
At the end, Jackson said that Mitchell would incorporate the “Looney Tunes theme.”
“Porky Pig would say, ‘That’s all, folks,’” Jackson said, “and that was tapping into that 10-year-old kid in me, because, you know, it’s a cartoon. He’s a grown-up, and he’s aware of cartoons.”
John Boswell called Mitchell the “voice of my youth” and said Mitchell inspired his own 20-year-long radio career.
“He was so upbeat,” Boswell said. “He was funny, and just the fact that everybody liked him, I just kind of wanted to be like him.”
(Jay Leaf) "Skinny" Johnny Mitchell on the Liberty Park Ferris Wheel.
Mitchell’s adventurous spirit shined in his other interests, too, like cars and motorcycles. He put his voice to use at the racetrack on weekends at Bonneville Raceway. He also spent nine days on a Liberty Park Ferris wheel — a total of over 57,000 turns.
But it remains those turns of the turntable from his radio days that will forever spin in his listeners’ memories.
