Coyote J. Calhoun

This article is about the disc jockey. For the cinema multiplex at Festival Center, see The Edge 12.

Coyote J. Calhoun (sometimes Coyote J., born Jim Battan) is a radio personality.

Battan began as a DJ for a radio station in Nashville at age 17 after graduating high school. He became "Coyote J. Calhoun" in the late 1970s while working at WERC in Birmingham. After a few years, Battan quit radio and moved to Los Angeles to do stand-up comedy. After hearing what was being played on radio stations in LA, by 1983 Battan was back in Alabama and back on the air. He brought new wave music to Mobile, then New Orleans, and wound up back in Birmingham.

In 1987, Calhoun began hosting a show called The Edge on I-95. By 2008, the show had been on 20 different stations, in different incarnations and names, between Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, Muscle Shoals, Gadsden and Jasper. Birmingham stations included I-95, WRAX and The Bear. The show is currently on WZRR-FM, Rock 99.5 every Sunday evening. On September 13, 2008, Calhoun hosted "Edgefest 2008" at Matthew's Bar & Grill on Morris Avenue to celebrate 20 years of The Edge.

References

• Brock, Glenny (September 11, 2008) "Going over The Edge: Coyote J. considers his radio days." Birmingham Weekly
• Taylor, J. R. (September 4, 2008) "Hang the DJ: After 20 years of playing alternative music on Birmingham radio, Coyote J. Calhoun has it coming." Black & White

External links

• Audio recording of Calhoun from 1979 on Birmingham Rewound
• Coyote J. on MySpace