Miami Gets ‘Smuggler’s Blues’--51 Times in a Row on Radio

An anti-drug disc jockey locked himself in the studios of a radio station and played the rock song “Smuggler’s Blues” 51 times in a row--with time out for commercial breaks.

As a result of Don Cox’s crusade, many radio listeners here last week got up with the “Blues,” ate breakfast with the “Blues,” drove to work with the “Blues” and took a coffee break with the “Blues.” The song went on from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.

“Today is a day of rebellion. How better to do it than with an anti-drug song?” Cox said Thursday.

“Smuggler’s Blues,” by Glenn Frey, outlines the dangers of a drug smuggler’s life and the pervasiveness of the drug trade.

Listeners couldn’t get enough.

They begged for more of the song, which was featured in an episode of the popular television show “Miami Vice.”

Owners of radio station WINZ-FM refused to comment on Cox’s morning. However, the Miami News quoted one station official as saying Frey somehow heard about the unusual morning programming and called from Hawaii to ask why his disc was repeated.

Cox has been a staunch anti-drug advocate since he was arrested in 1980 on a cocaine possession charge, to which he pleaded guilty. Since then, he has lectured on the evils of drug use and says he hasn’t touched the stuff.

“It’s a death wish,” Cox said of the habit. “Of 10 people who get involved in that, nine will be dead within a year.”