Bill Shirk

Bill Shirk (born May 3, 1945) is an escape artist, radio personality, broadcast entrepreneur and actor in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Biography

Radio broadcasting

Shirk graduated from Ball State University in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education.

Shirk has owned and started radio stations in Muncie, Indianapolis, Cloverdale and Lebanon, Indiana.

Shirk was the Station Manager, Sales Manager, Program Director, Production Manager and Afternoon Disc Jockey on WERK Radio, in Muncie, Indiana from 1968 to 1972. Shirk became the General Manager and a DJ at WXLW in Indianapolis in 1972 and then became the owner in 1974 and in 1991 added WHHH-FM, Hot 96.3 as owner and DJ. Currently, he is the President and CEO of Hoosier Broadcasting Corporation.

Escape artist

While playing a major role in Indianapolis radio during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and early 2000s, Shirk was also making his mark in the escape artist industry.

Between 1976 and 1980, Shirk set eight world records, including the fastest time to escape from a strait jacket (4.53 seconds) and worlds fastest jail break.