In September 1961, Puffer, who turns 80 Tuesday, began his career as a sophomore in high school, working for KMON Radio in Great Falls, Montana.

Puffer has worked in various states throughout the country, including California, North Dakota and Ohio. But from 1969 to 1998, he settled in Altoona and called Blair County his home.

Puffer was a prominent voice in Altoona on WRTA, WFBG and WBXQ, more commonly known as Q94. In the mid-1970s, he also worked for WCPA in Clearfield for a brief period of time before returning to WFBG.

It was at WCPA where Puffer met Patty Mock, whom he later recommended for a job at WFBG. They worked together in the mornings there for about four years, according to Mock, who said “there’s more than one Sean” when describing Puffer.

Courtesy photo / Jerry Puffer sits at his desk at a radio station.

On the air, Puffer had a talented personality and being a showman came easy to him, Mock said, adding he didn’t take himself too seriously and was a good friend.

“I really enjoyed working with him,” Mock said, noting Puffer was quiet, reserved and modest in private.

Puffer said he still has a great connection to Altoona, where some of the best years of his life were spent.

“I was just blessed to come into Altoona. I have many, many fond memories there,” Puffer said.

When he came to town in 1969, Rod Wolf, who was one of the former owners of WRTA, gave him a piece of advice that’s stuck with him through the years.

“What’s important to you today will not be important 10 years from now,” Wolf reportedly told Puffman.

In June 1998, Puffer returned to Montana. At first, he worked a news job at KBOZ, an AM radio station in Bozeman, before moving to Shelby, Montana, to work for Town Square Media’s KSEN and KZIN radio stations.

“I wanted to get back on the air and play records, although the records became (compact discs) and the CDs became a computer mouse,” Puffer said, noting he still enjoys playing classic rock hits from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

Puffer said he was intrigued with radio broadcasting at an early age. He was born in 1945 and grew up in the ’50s listening to Arthur Godfrey — at a time that was essentially the end of the radio broadcasting’s golden era, he said.

By 1954, most homes in Montana had commercial televisions, but they only played one station at night, he said.

Golden era

“I think I grew up at the perfect time,” Puffer said, adding he listened to Patti Page, Rosemary Clooney and Dean Martin on the radio growing up. By the time he was in fifth grade, Elvis Presley, Pat Boone, Fats Domino, Fabian and Bobby Rydell were all popular artists.

Then the Beatles came along.

Puffer said he still remembers watching the Beatles perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February 1964, just months before he graduated from Great Falls High School.

“I was working full time in radio, playing rock and roll at night and driving a red convertible with glasspack mufflers on it, and it seemed like every day that I came into the station, there was like a new group,” Puffer said. “I remember coming in one day and the secretaries were talking about these dirty-looking guys on this album.”

It was the Rolling Stones, he said.

In addition to Beatlemania and the British Invasion, folk music was popular in the ’60s, Puffer said, noting his favorite folk song is “Puff, the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary.

“I just always like it and people used to call me ‘Puff’. They still do,” Puffer said. “I thought it was kind of sad at the end when the dragon died, but I thought it was just pleasant.”

About 15 years ago, after landing in an airport in Rochester, Minnesota, Puffer met Peter Yarrow — Peter from Peter, Paul and Mary, who was playing a show in Zumbrota, a city 24 miles northwest of Rochester.

Puffer and Yarrow were actually on the same flight out of Minneapolis, but he didn’t realize it was Yarrow until they landed and his friend who picked him up at the airport pointed Yarrow out.

Puffer said he would have never approached Yarrow alone, but his friend went up to him and said, “Excuse me, Jerry Puffer here played your songs on the radio.”

Yarrow was “very nice” and gracious with his time, speaking with them for several minutes and later taking a photograph with Puffer and his friend with a disposable camera.

With the rise of disco music in the early ’70s, Puffer said he lost his enthusiasm for music.

“I hated disco and I still hate it,” he said.

When he’s not on the radio, Puffer enjoys reading and traveling to visit with friends. Puffer’s a proud subscriber to the Mirror’s website where he reads the obituaries every day, he said.

“Probably every other day I see somebody I either know or know of the families. I just buy sympathy cards by the gross now and a good supply of stamps,” he said, noting many of his friends are “dropping like flies.”

He still has a lot of friends in the Altoona Area. It’s a total coincidence, but Puffer has friends from Altoona in Montana, too.

Thad White grew up listening to Puffer in Bellwood. He taught in Williamsburg for several years before moving with his wife to Shelby, Montana — where he still listens to Puffer on the air.

“He’s totally dedicated. He’s just an amazing guy,” White said of Puffer.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.

The Puffer file

Name: Robert Jerome “Jerry” Puffer

Age: 79

Work: Various radio stations in Montana, Pennsylvania, California, Ohio and North Dakota over 64 years, including 29 in Altoona, working for WTRA and WBXQ.

Education: Great Falls High School, Class of 1964

Family: Wife, Nayda Puffer

Hobbies: Reading books and traveling

Quote: “Life goes by in the blink of an eye and the older you get, the faster it goes. Garbage day here is every Thursday and anymore it seems like every day is garbage day. You start out the week on Monday and the first thing you know it’s Friday, then the weekend. It just races.”