Terry O'Reilly

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4,296 appearances 19 recordings 1 series first heard Apr 2026 last heard 4d ago

Terry O'Reilly’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 19 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 5.

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So the brothers quit their day jobs to start an ice cream truck business of their own in Philadelphia.

The Conways had the technical knowledge and skills to build functioning ice cream trucks.

At first, they began selling unbranded trucks, manufacturing three a day.

Then, they had an epiphany.

Instead of just selling trucks, why not figure out a way to get a steady stream of revenue from each sale?

So they decided to go into the ice cream truck franchise business.

At first, they called their business the Dairy Van.

Thinking it wasn't catchy enough, they changed the name to Dairy King, but worried it might stir up trouble with Dairy Queen.

So they asked for help from a friend in the advertising business.

The Conways explained they were selling soft ice cream because it served up faster than hard ice cream.

The ad guy came back with Softie, spelled with two E's.

But when they put Softie on the truck, it just didn't seem to have any authority.

They considered Captain Softee and General Softee, but nothing grabbed them.

Then Bill Conway said, What's wrong with just calling it Mr.?

Mr. Softee.

The next step was to advertise Mr. Softee.

So they hired the Gray Advertising Agency in Philadelphia and commissioned a jingle.

The resulting radio commercial was written by Les Waz, who was one of the top jingle composers of the era.

While you may be familiar with the melody, the original Mr. Softee radio commercial had lyrics.

A couple of years later, the company made a loop of the melody and played it through loudspeakers from their trucks.

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