Russ Knight

Russ Knight (born: Russell Lee Moore, 1932-2012) nicknamed Russ "Weird Beard" was an American radio DJ who first joined KLIF in Dallas in the early 60's, where he was the self-proclaimed “savior of Dallas radio”. Later on he joined KLIT and eventually moved onto different radio stations across America. In 2003 he was selected to the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.

In 1963 after John F. Kennedy died, FBI investigators interviewed Russ Knight because of his relationship with Jack Ruby, who assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald, the prime suspect in Kennedy's assassination. Agents found Knight's personal phone numbers in Ruby's possession.

Links To Peel
Russ Knight helped Peel get a job at KLIF in the 60's when Knight would talk about The Beatles and would fudge about his knowledge of Liverpool. Peel heard this and called him at the station to take him to task. Knight inquired if he was from Liverpool and for all intents and purposes he said yes. After a meeting with Peel, he decided to make him their "expert" on all things Liverpool and The Beatles and Peel, who used his real surname Ravenscroft, dropped the letter "s" becoming Ravencroft and became the "Man on the Street" giving KLIF listeners the info on what was going on with the Beatles. On Radio Radio, Peel described this account in greater detail and on his 14 December 1991 show, he described Russ Knight as one of the great broadcasters.

Mentioned In Shows
1986 1991 1992
 * Radio Radio: "Anyway, I was listening to KLIF, Russ Knight ‘The Weird Beard’, and he was talking about Liverpool, because the Beatles were just becoming vogue-ish, and he was talking incredible nonsense you know, and knew nothing about it. Well, I’d got the newsline number at KLIF and I phoned them up and said, “Look, really you’re talking a load of rubbish here.” He said, “Are you from Liverpool?” and I said, as far as Americans need know, “Yes”. Actually, from the other side of the river, but quite clearly they weren’t interested in those little accidents of geography. So they said, asked me one or two questions about Liverpool, and on the strength of having an approximation of a Liverpool accent, I used to get mobbed. I mean, I became a surrogate Beatle in Dallas..." (read more on Radio Radio (Transcript))
 * 14 December 1991: ' There have been some great broadcasters in my life; Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, Wolfman Jack, Humphrey Lyttelton, Alan Freeman, Russ Knight, the Weird Beard, Peter Clayton, but John Arlott was the greatest of them all.'
 * 18 April 1992: Peel plays a recording of Russ Knight, 'The Weird Beard'. Described by Peel as  'The chap who first put me on the radio in any meaningful fashion.'