You are a Real Bostonian if you can recall the names of Sidney Flack, Hap Smiley or Pressgate Fenway.

They were the comic creations of the great Jess Cain, the man who virtually invented the genre of local morning radio on the old WHDH, 850 AM on the dial, and helped several generations of Boston radio listeners to wake up and greet each new day with a smile.

Jess Cain worked here in Dorchester for almost 20 years. The studios of the old WHDH were on Morrissey Blvd, just next to BC High. For those years, he was a regular at Linda Mae's, the breakfast spot at the corner of Victory Rd and the boulevard.

Cain lives in retirement now, with his artist wife Jean Cain in a brownstone at the base of Beacon Hill. Still active in theater and show business activities, and a wonderful storyteller, he has been nominated for membership in the Chicago-based Radio Hall of Fame.

For those of us who remember him and whose world view was formed in large part by his delightfully funny daily morning shows, it is an honor that's long overdue. For me and many others in town, it was Jess Cain who invented morning radio, who helped us wake up each morning with a smile and a happy outlook for the day. For those of us who remember and admire him, we now have an opportunity to cast a ballot to land him in the Radio Hall of Fame, alongside other broadcasting giants like Jack Benny, Mel Allen, Red Barber and Bob Hope.

For almost three decades, this pioneering "morning man" was the dominant force in Boston radio, earning a ratings share in double figures that have never been equaled again in this city.

Cain developed a four-hour flow of music, news and good humor that is unmatched today.

"I pioneered in doing character things," he explained in an interview last month. "I was inspired by the Fred Allen show… he had a full cast doing what I wanted to do on morning radio."

Cain created a wide and varied cast of comic characters, the memory of which can still bring a smile to his legion of fans.

There was Sidney Flack, the PR man who was always bursting in to push the latest faux sensation: "Every other PR guy in New York was named 'Sidney'," Cain says. The character always ended his visit with the line "Sidney Flack- I'll be back," followed by a door slam.

There were others: "Jack Crack," the beat poet based on Jack Kerouac, whose floutist was "Cheeks Hamilton"; " Dirt Cloudy," thinly-veiled take-off on the legendary Red Sox play-by-play man Curt Gowdy; "Hap Smiley," the overwrought mailman who was always drowning in a sea of heavy mail. Then there was the toney suburban guy, "Newton Wellesley," who on Halloween boasted of giving stock tips to the kids that dared come to his house. And who will ever forget "the Pantyhose lady."

He regularly did send-ups of popular songs: One hit tune became "Fly Me to Metheun"; a Tony Bennet standard became "Take my hand. I'm a stranger in Framingham"; And Harry Belafonte's "Matilda" became "Nan-tas-ket-, an insular peninsula, down there in Hull."

Balloting for this year's Hall contenders will be by broadcasting executives who are Hall members, but the general public can cast votes online by becoming Hall members for a $15 payment of dues. To cast a vote for Jess Cain, visit the Radio Hall of Fame at radiohof.org.

It is best to act quickly. Ballots will be mailed in the middle of May, and the final selection is expected on August 1.

- Ed Forry