Longtime Chicago disc jockey Jimmy Pearson Staggs dies at 72

Jimmy Pearson Staggs, an iconic Chicago disc jockey who toured with The Beatles and interviewed scores of legendary musicians, has died, his daughter said. He was 72.

Staggs, who used the truncated name Jim Stagg during his career on Top 40 radio, died Tuesday at Lake Forest home from complications of esophageal cancer, said his daughter Kara Drumke.

Born in 1935 in Bessemer, Ala., Staggs was a longtime fixture on WCFL-AM where shows "Stagg Line" and "Stagg's Starbeat" attracted legions of teenagers who craved emerging popular music.

After working at stations in Birmingham, Ala., San Francisco, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Cleveland, Staggs joined WCFL in 1963.

"Jim was like your big brother or the hippest dad you could imagine turning you on to all this great rock and roll music," said Terri Hemmert, a WXRT host who said Staggs inspired her to become a DJ. "He knew the music and loved it and got that across to the listener."

During the 1960s, Staggs traveled with The Beatles, eventually broadcasting hourly updates on the band's travels to fans back home.

"There was amazing hysteria," said former coworker Jerry G. Bishop. "(But) I had no idea it was history, and he didn't either."

He left the airwaves in 1975 and opened a chain of suburban Chicago music stores.

Staggs is survived by his wife, four children, a sister and five grandchildren.