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Speaker 1: Podcast play on this episode of the Taking a Walk podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm here in New York City. It's a beautiful day

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Speaker 1: in Central Park to take a walk with a friend,

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Speaker 1: a radio broadcast legend, Mark Chernoff. I worked for Mark

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Speaker 1: at WNWFM when I was an on air personality. Mark's

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Speaker 1: career spans decades of work including w xrk K Rock

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Speaker 1: at New York and the amazing sports radio brand w

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Speaker 1: FA in New York. Let's go take a walk with

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Speaker 1: Mark Chournoff taking a walk with mousnight. Well, Mark, it's

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Speaker 1: so great to see you and to be taking a

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Speaker 1: walk on this beautiful day in New York City, in

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Speaker 1: Central Park. I can't imagine being anywhere else, doing anything else,

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Speaker 1: and being with anyone else right now. Thank you for

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Speaker 1: taking the time. Well, it's nice of you to say,

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Speaker 1: you know, we've known each other now going on close

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Speaker 1: to forty years. God, but we're not that old, so

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Speaker 1: I don't understand the match there. But anyway, right, I

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Speaker 1: dare say we're boyish, yes, in our look have a

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Speaker 1: nice haircut too, by the way, Thank you. Yes, I

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Speaker 1: was very pleased to be able to go back to

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Speaker 1: my quote hairstylist after a long layoff. Yea, so yes,

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Speaker 1: that's maybe very also maybe very happy about the day today. True, Well,

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Speaker 1: how do you stay so fit and young and vibrantly. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's nice of you to say that, but many years ago,

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Speaker 1: more than thirty now, I actually woke up one morning.

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Speaker 1: My dad had died when he was fifty nine, and

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Speaker 1: he had had seven heart attacks from the age of

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Speaker 1: forty three until he was fifty nine, and I was

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Speaker 1: very overweighted, not but you know, carried a little too

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Speaker 1: many pounds. And I woke up one morning and said,

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Speaker 1: now I gotta do something about this. You know, I've

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Speaker 1: done little things, die as not and ate bad food

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Speaker 1: as I used to eat, had kids and ran around

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Speaker 1: with them and thought I was getting exercise. But my

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Speaker 1: wife had convinced me, you really need to do aerobic exercising.

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Speaker 1: So what I did was we live in a cul

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Speaker 1: de sac, so I kind of half jog have walked

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Speaker 1: around the block, did about twenty minutes worth, and was

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Speaker 1: exhausted even doing that. But I also made the decision

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Speaker 1: that said, hopefully I'll build this up, but if I

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Speaker 1: do it every day, I'll never have an excuse about

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Speaker 1: not to do it. So other than when I had

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Speaker 1: some surgery once. I have not missed a day running,

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Speaker 1: whether it's been outdoors or in really bad weather on

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Speaker 1: the treadmill. I run every day. Used to run three

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Speaker 1: and a half miles. I actually run five miles a day.

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Speaker 1: Now it's a little slower pace, but I get five

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Speaker 1: miles in an hour. It used to be three and

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Speaker 1: a half miles in like thirty five minutes, So it's

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Speaker 1: a little slower, but I figured that's okay. The idea

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Speaker 1: is just to be doing it. So I'm out there

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Speaker 1: running every day. And at my heaviest, i'd say I

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Speaker 1: weighed between one hundred and eighty and one hundred and

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Speaker 1: eighty five pounds. Now I'm about one hundred and thirty

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Speaker 1: three pounds. Oh, you look great, well, you are a man.

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Speaker 1: Though of other traditions too. There's a tradition that you

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Speaker 1: still have kept to this day with your son. Tell

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Speaker 1: our audience about this tremendous tradition of having a catch. Well,

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Speaker 1: youngest son, Mike, is the general manager of the now

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Speaker 1: Cleveland Guardians. But ever since he was a little kid,

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Speaker 1: he always and I did too. We wanted to play baseball.

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Speaker 1: The other kids liked baseball. But my I always loved it.

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Speaker 1: This they'll call him Nikey by the way. And what

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Speaker 1: we decided when he was a little kid, we'd played

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Speaker 1: baseball even in the middle of the winter. We'd go

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Speaker 1: clean off an asphalt walkway somewhere or some grass or

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Speaker 1: find a field if there was no snow, and we'd

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Speaker 1: played baseball. But when he went off to Princeton as

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Speaker 1: a freshman, we said, what do you think we can

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Speaker 1: do to keep up our tradition of playing baseball. So

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Speaker 1: what we came up with was we would try to

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Speaker 1: have a catch once a month. If we could do

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Speaker 1: it more great now it was fairly easy, me being

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Speaker 1: in North Jersey and him being in Princeton. We managed

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Speaker 1: pretty well during college and we did it every month.

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Speaker 1: We had our close call one Halloween Day, October thirty first,

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Speaker 1: when I drove down to Princeton and we hadn't had

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Speaker 1: to catch it, and all of a sudden it started snowing.

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Speaker 1: Oh boy, we managed. It took me four hours to

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Speaker 1: drive in what would have been an hour trip back home,

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Speaker 1: but we did it. We've had some occasions where he

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Speaker 1: was here for our arbitration meetings. One year in New York,

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Speaker 1: so we went out behind Grand Central Station at four

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Speaker 1: point thirty in the morning. We were both sick. It

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Speaker 1: was the only time he was going to be around

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Speaker 1: during the month, and I couldn't get away. But we

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Speaker 1: had our catch. And there were all these truck drivers

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Speaker 1: and people working, and they said, who are these two

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Speaker 1: crazy people out here having a catch in ten degree weather?

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Speaker 1: One time when Mike was flying in and he got

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Speaker 1: delayed and it was the end of the month, and

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Speaker 1: what were we going to do? It's late at night.

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Speaker 1: My wife said, I know where there's lights at a

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Speaker 1: whole Foods in Milburgh, New Jersey. So we went there.

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Speaker 1: There was a lit parking lot, and at about eleven

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Speaker 1: fifteen at night, on the thirty first of the month,

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Speaker 1: we had a catch. It's great, so I love it.

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Speaker 1: We had managed. We've kept up the tradition even during

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Speaker 1: the pandemic. Matter of fact, we had met a couple

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Speaker 1: of times in a place called Snowshoe, Pennsylvania, halfway between

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Speaker 1: here in Cleveland to have a catch in the early days.

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Speaker 1: Now it's been much better. We see the kids, they

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Speaker 1: come out here a lot. My daughter in law is

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Speaker 1: from the air as well. Special it really it's just

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Speaker 1: a lot of fun. And I'm so go ahead, and

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Speaker 1: the Guardians are coming to town pretty soon for a

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Speaker 1: Yankee series, so we will get our catch in this month.

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Speaker 1: That way, I'm sure you are very proud for good

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Speaker 1: reasons what he's accomplished. So we have a New York

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Speaker 1: audience to take in a walk podcast, but we have

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Speaker 1: an audience all over the country, actually all over the world,

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Speaker 1: which blows me away. So as somebody who so knows

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Speaker 1: New York like the back of your hand, set the

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Speaker 1: scene where we're walking. Why there's a lot of noises

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Speaker 1: in the background what we're seeing. And we, by the way,

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Speaker 1: coincidentally stopped as we were talking about your son's career

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Speaker 1: near a baseball field, just by accident. But set the scene.

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Speaker 1: For those that don't know Central Park, well, this is

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Speaker 1: Central Park. For many years it was the home of

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Speaker 1: the Schaeffer Music Festival, and you know, great acts would

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Speaker 1: play here. There's been great concerts here, whether it's been

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Speaker 1: you know, Paul Simon and arc garfuncl Sanagar together Simon

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Speaker 1: just you know, I can't even begin to tell you

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Speaker 1: how many great acts on the Great Lawn have been

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Speaker 1: out here. There's the famous skating rink that's out here.

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Speaker 1: The New York City Marathon ends in Central Park. It's

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Speaker 1: just an amazing place to be. You know, you think

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Speaker 1: of New York City as just apartment buildings, businesses, stores,

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Speaker 1: and then you come to this great park that goes

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Speaker 1: from fifty ninth Street to one hundred and twenty fifth Street.

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Speaker 1: You know, it cuts off the east side of Manhattan

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Speaker 1: and the west side of Manhattan. There are some transverses

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Speaker 1: for cars to drive through, but on a beautiful day

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Speaker 1: like today, what more could you ask for than to

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Speaker 1: be walking around in Central Park. It's just an absolutely

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Speaker 1: amazing place. People walking their dogs, people riding their bikes,

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Speaker 1: you know, scooter, there's kids, families. You know, you still

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Speaker 1: have some people who take those buggy rides horse and

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Speaker 1: buggy rides around. I hope they take care of the

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Speaker 1: horses properly, by the way, right, I just want to

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Speaker 1: say that. But there's just so many things to do.

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Speaker 1: People just sitting around throwing frisbees. Yeah, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: it's uh, it's better than almost anything you can do,

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Speaker 1: and just it gets you out of the city, but

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Speaker 1: you're in the heart of the city. It's amazing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: every time I come, I just feel this this great

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Speaker 1: energy in Central Park. The spirit of the Taking a

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Speaker 1: Walk podcast series is the enjoyment, certainly of the person

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Speaker 1: you're connecting with, but also where you're you're walking. So

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Speaker 1: I'm really glad we got to take the walk here.

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Speaker 1: Many people do go, well, what are those noises? They wonder, Well,

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Speaker 1: these are we're really walking. We're paused right now, but

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Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of noises in the background that

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Speaker 1: are for real, And yes we are walking in case

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Speaker 1: some but he says, you know why am I huffing?

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Speaker 1: You're not huffing because you're in better shape than I am. Well,

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Speaker 1: you look in good shapes. Well, thank you, you're very kind.

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Speaker 1: So so we first met at the great w n

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Speaker 1: W FM, Yes, the place where rock Lives lived lived.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, you know what. It's a it's a it's

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Speaker 1: a it's a it's a successful radio station today as

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Speaker 1: a hot AC station. It is so and our dear

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Speaker 1: friend Jim Ryan, yes, does a heck of a job.

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Speaker 1: So I give kudos to Jim. And and it's, you know,

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Speaker 1: now one of the better radio stations in New York

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Speaker 1: City where for a while, you know, it had different formats,

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Speaker 1: not a lot of success. You know, I miss it

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Speaker 1: as a rock station, but you know, time changes and

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Speaker 1: things change. So but but Jim does a very nice

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Speaker 1: job in the station is very successful, it sure is sure.

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Speaker 1: But that station, I know, for me was special to

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Speaker 1: have the opportunity to work there as a part timer

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Speaker 1: because I grew up in Stanford, Connecticut, and I grew

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Speaker 1: up listening to the station, So it was always a

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Speaker 1: dream to have a chance to work there. But you

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Speaker 1: and your time growing up in New Jersey, obviously you

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Speaker 1: knew the station as well, right, Yes, it was my

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Speaker 1: It was my rock station, you know, back in the day.

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Speaker 1: The two competitors there, w PLJ when it was a

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Speaker 1: rock station and any W. My station was Eddie. W

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Speaker 1: PLJ got formatted very early on Larry Berger who was

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Speaker 1: passed on. But it was the program director, short playlist,

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Speaker 1: sped up the records a little bitsy to make them

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Speaker 1: sounds like there was more going on, and you know

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Speaker 1: it was limited great jobs, yes it did. Matter of fact,

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Speaker 1: its ratings often were better than any W's, but ANYW

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Speaker 1: did much better billing because they had much more depth

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Speaker 1: to their music. They had personalities that cared about the music.

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Speaker 1: You know. PLJ had great jocks, you know, I don't

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Speaker 1: want to minimize that. I wound up working with some

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Speaker 1: of them at any W later on, hiring some and

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Speaker 1: some were there when I got there. But any W

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Speaker 1: was just you know, the When AOAR came to New York,

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Speaker 1: it started on wo r FM ninety eight point seven

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Speaker 1: and Scott Muni, Roscoe, a guy named Johnny Michaels, and

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Speaker 1: there were others the shows there. Marty McKay was one

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Speaker 1: of the original jocks on wor FM. But after oh,

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Speaker 1: I don't even know if it was a year or so, RKO,

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Speaker 1: which owned the radio station, said we don't want this

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Speaker 1: progressive rock. What we want is more of a top

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Speaker 1: forty approach. So they flipped and Bill Drake came in

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Speaker 1: and formatted the station where the jocks could talk for

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Speaker 1: seven seconds at a time, do a quick intro or outro,

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Speaker 1: and not much else. Do a weather report once in

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Speaker 1: a while. Really, they literally had seven seconds and that

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Speaker 1: was it might got shut off. And it did well

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Speaker 1: as RFM and as a not a rock station. But Metromedia,

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Speaker 1: which owned the one O two seven signal for FM,

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Speaker 1: they had a very very important AM radio station WNWAM,

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Speaker 1: which was you know, an old line we'll call it

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Speaker 1: now what's called adult contemporary. But they were known for

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Speaker 1: having people like Frank Sinatra visit and Perry Como and

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Speaker 1: Buddy Hackett, and they had jocks like William B. Williams

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Speaker 1: on the AM radio station. His head brown and I

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Speaker 1: got Steve Allen, didn't named Steve Allen. I shared a bit.

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Speaker 1: I went to the same bathroom he did. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: I was actually like, oh my god, Steve Allen next

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Speaker 1: to me. But who was the overnight guy on WNEWAF

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Speaker 1: well for a long time was jazz Bo. Yes, that's

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Speaker 1: what I mean. Love actually did TV in New York

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Speaker 1: City in the fifties and actually for a while after

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Speaker 1: Steve Allen was hosting the old Tonight Show. This is

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Speaker 1: really before my time. I was just a baby, really was,

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Speaker 1: but meeting about it, jazz Bo hosted one of these

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Speaker 1: short term between Steve Allen and before Jack Parr started,

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Speaker 1: and then Jack Parr predated obviously Johnny Carson Tonight Show

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Speaker 1: for what thirty years, but jazz Bo did the overnight

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Speaker 1: So for a long time, the Milkman's Matinee as they said,

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Speaker 1: I remember, you knew when he was in the building

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Speaker 1: because certain yes, certain aromas emerged nearby, Yes, that are

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Speaker 1: now legal that we never thought would be legal. No. Right,

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Speaker 1: And I don't think he was the only one either. No,

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Speaker 1: I don't think he was either. I don't think he

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Speaker 1: was either. But what a special building that was, Yes, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean when you first got the call for that job. Oh,

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Speaker 1: can you remember your reaction? Yes? And I have to Actually,

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Speaker 1: there's a story that goes to this. This was back

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Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty five. I was working at the WDHA,

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Speaker 1: a rock station in North Jersey, and I heard that

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Speaker 1: if Jim del Bowso, who was also passed on your friend,

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Speaker 1: was working at the time. I think he was at

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Speaker 1: PolyGram and not at He eventually went over to Sony

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Speaker 1: Columbia CBS, but he said, you want to apply for

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Speaker 1: the music director job at any dow here. I said, okay,

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Speaker 1: I applied for the job, had some interviews. Charlie Kendall

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Speaker 1: was the program director, Scott was the operations manager. And

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Speaker 1: that's a whole story unto itself to being interviewed by Scott. Well,

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Speaker 1: you don't really even talk about music. You talk about baseball.

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Speaker 1: And ice cream, and you know, I scratched my head,

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Speaker 1: but it was great anyway, I thought the interview, all

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Speaker 1: the interviews went well, I don't hear anything. Weeks go by,

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Speaker 1: maybe a month, maybe five weeks, and jimdo Balsa says,

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Speaker 1: what about you know any way, never hired a music director.

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Speaker 1: You want to check in and see what's going on.

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Speaker 1: And there was another guy named Mark Deda who was

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Speaker 1: up for the job. I think he was working at

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Speaker 1: k Rock at the time. So now and management for

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Speaker 1: red Light Management. Oh, that's flat. So I call and

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Speaker 1: I get Charlie Kendall on the phone and he says, so,

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Speaker 1: when are you starting? I said, when am I starting starting? What? Well,

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Speaker 1: I hired you as a music director? I said, well,

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Speaker 1: you never called to tell me you hired me. Oh, well,

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Speaker 1: when can you start? I said, well, I do the

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Speaker 1: morning show at DHA and on the project. I like

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Speaker 1: to at least notify them, but I'll come in and

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Speaker 1: do whatever training I need to do. You know, as

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Speaker 1: soon as I can. Can you come in tomorrow? I

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Speaker 1: said sure. I told my people that I was going

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Speaker 1: to be leaving and they were all right with that,

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Speaker 1: and I knew i'd be giving up my jock career,

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Speaker 1: as you know, as a hosting shows. I had been

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Speaker 1: doing the morning show at DH's not completely though, because

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Speaker 1: you were on the air a lot, but yes, and

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Speaker 1: that is another little story as well. So anyway, I

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Speaker 1: wind up being the music. But the first thing I

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Speaker 1: get to the radio station and Charlie says, you know,

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Speaker 1: we do format and we have these cards that are

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Speaker 1: in the studio, but I want people to use the computer.

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Speaker 1: But the computer, he said, is in the hallway. I said,

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Speaker 1: why is that? He said, well, they refuse to use

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Speaker 1: the computer. You need to make them use the computer.

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Speaker 1: I said, oh boy, how am I going to do that?

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Speaker 1: Oh boy? Well, Charlie actually had a great idea Andy Economos,

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Speaker 1: who ran RCS, which were the people that did the program. Sure,

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Speaker 1: he went up there to Westchester to Andy's place at

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Speaker 1: r CS and Charlie and Andy came up with something

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Speaker 1: called We're using selector select DJ select And he says, okay,

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Speaker 1: we're going to do this DJ select where the jocks

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Speaker 1: will have some choices, but it'll be sort of confined,

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Speaker 1: you know, different songs will fit in different categories and

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Speaker 1: if one doesn't want to play, you know, there'll be

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Speaker 1: some other choices that would fit. At that time, I said,

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Speaker 1: well that's pretty good. Well I wound up explaining it

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Speaker 1: to Scott and to the rest of the jocks, and

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Speaker 1: it was Scott who actually really bought into it. Oh,

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Speaker 1: I'll still be picking my own music, absolutely, fat, fat,

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Speaker 1: you'll be picking your own music. Well, once he bought in,

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Speaker 1: it worked, and you know, we kept an eye on

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Speaker 1: the music. But it was also any w and I

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Speaker 1: was the music director. Charlie was different program director, so

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Speaker 1: I had, you know, a fair amount of say, but

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Speaker 1: Charlie was still the PDA but having grown up in

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Speaker 1: New York in Jersey mostly but you know, locally, I

304
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Speaker 1: knew the station and there was just a bunch of

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Speaker 1: songs that I said we should be playing that we're

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Speaker 1: not playing. You know, the station has this wonderful, rich

307
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Speaker 1: history and we don't want to miss out on that,

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Speaker 1: and we want our jocks to still have at least

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Speaker 1: a little bit of say, you know, they didn't want

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Speaker 1: the cards. The card was a cheating system by the way,

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Speaker 1: where it's like, oh no, not another Tom Petty song.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to play that. But as you know,

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Speaker 1: ultimately the DJ select had a cheating system as well. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it just was a lesser cheating system, less of a

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Speaker 1: cheating system. And as I hate to break the news,

316
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Speaker 1: but you knew that, yes, and I always took that

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Speaker 1: into account. But at least the jocks felt like they

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Speaker 1: had at least a little bit of input. And also

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Speaker 1: I allowed the jocks to say to me, can I

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Speaker 1: play such and such? I've got an idea, you know

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Speaker 1: Dennis ELS's It did weekends at beach parties on Saturdays

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Speaker 1: and Sundays into spring summer into the early fall, and

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Speaker 1: he would always say, Hey, you am I okay playing

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Speaker 1: whatever the raspberry's and you know that's right? And I

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Speaker 1: almost always say yes because I wanted people to feel

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Speaker 1: good about the radio station, good about the music they

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Speaker 1: were playing. And you know what it led to after

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Speaker 1: I became the p D the highest rating the station

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Speaker 1: ever had. It was really exciting. Now, Charlie did really well,

330
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Speaker 1: and it's not like I did that much better, but

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Speaker 1: still to see the highest rating that the station had

332
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Speaker 1: was very exciting for me, and I felt really good

333
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Speaker 1: about doing this well. I'm indebted to Charlie for certainly

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Speaker 1: giving me the shot there. I remember we briefly touched

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Speaker 1: on the name thing with me, so we might as

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Speaker 1: well just, oh, yes, briefly address it. I remember going

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Speaker 1: for the interview with Charlie and working as buzz Night

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Speaker 1: five days a week in Connecticut, and I said to

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Speaker 1: Charlie when he hired me, I said, well, what name

340
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Speaker 1: do I use? And I said, what's your name? He said,

341
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,920
Speaker 1: I said, well, Bob Kosak, and he goes, well, your

342
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,119
Speaker 1: mother seems to have no problem with the name, so

343
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Speaker 1: why don't you use your real name? So that was

344
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Speaker 1: how that came about, and the rest is history there.

345
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Speaker 1: But how do I refer to you to this day exactly?

346
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Speaker 1: You're you're one of a short list of people who

347
00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:29,960
Speaker 1: will still call and say, hey, what's up, Bob? You

348
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:34,640
Speaker 1: know now Dennis Elsis, who I still speak with, takes

349
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Speaker 1: it one step further because he created Bob Killer Kosak.

350
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Speaker 1: So when I called Dennis, Dennis will still say, hey, Killer,

351
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Speaker 1: what's up? So names stick, yes, somehow. But a glorious station,

352
00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:55,159
Speaker 1: a glorious time, amazing promotions. Give me your best Scott

353
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Speaker 1: Uni story that what's the point? You know? Typifies what

354
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:08,200
Speaker 1: a grand persona mister Muni was. Fats was well sometimes

355
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Speaker 1: he would just tell stories about when he was growing

356
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Speaker 1: up and he spent an awful lot of time in

357
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Speaker 1: New Orleans, and you know, it was that he met

358
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Speaker 1: Fats Domino, and Fats Domino called everybody Fats, and he

359
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:26,560
Speaker 1: became Fats, and he called everybody fat. And there was

360
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Speaker 1: a time I always wondered if he actually knew my name.

361
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Speaker 1: Even though we worked together and went to lunch. Scott

362
00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:34,680
Speaker 1: and I, except for Tuesdays when he recorded promos for

363
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:39,800
Speaker 1: ABC Sports, we went to lunch basically every day of

364
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Speaker 1: the week. And there were one or two places. And

365
00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,600
Speaker 1: during football season there was a scoop and the delegate

366
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Speaker 1: nearby r any w was on forty first and third,

367
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Speaker 1: and you know, Scott liked to play the sheets for

368
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Speaker 1: the games over before damily was legalized, right, So we

369
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Speaker 1: would do, you know, especially on Friday. We always had

370
00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:03,800
Speaker 1: to eat at one of those places. So there was that.

371
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:10,080
Speaker 1: But Scott I loved ice cream, and every once in

372
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Speaker 1: a while in the summer he'd get on the air

373
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Speaker 1: and say, Fats today, I just want to see who's

374
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Speaker 1: going to bring us ice creaming and what they're going

375
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,000
Speaker 1: to bring. So he'd make some kind of you know,

376
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,399
Speaker 1: he'd beyond it in those days at two and just

377
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:25,520
Speaker 1: you know, first time he did a break right after

378
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Speaker 1: he played their first couple of Beatles tracks that he

379
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:32,640
Speaker 1: did every day in honor of John Lennon. I want

380
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,399
Speaker 1: to know who wants to bring up some ice cream? Today?

381
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:39,040
Speaker 1: We get so much ice cream that I remember we

382
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,400
Speaker 1: did get something from a basket Robin once called prem

383
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Speaker 1: Dements with lemon marshmallows. That was the best. But you

384
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:48,719
Speaker 1: know we'd sit there and then the other thing is

385
00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:51,840
Speaker 1: great Scott Muny story is we'd go to the hard

386
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Speaker 1: Rock in October. So now I was the only program

387
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,720
Speaker 1: director probably who also had to double the Scott's boardop.

388
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,240
Speaker 1: You know, it was no big secret. I mean Scott

389
00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:08,639
Speaker 1: had some drinking issues and he was able to. We

390
00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 1: went to betty Ford in the summer of eighty six

391
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:16,639
Speaker 1: and came back and he was fine. He really wouldn't

392
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Speaker 1: stop drinking. But Charlie ken this was before I became

393
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Speaker 1: the PDA, and Charlie said even before that Scott really

394
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:30,280
Speaker 1: needs a board out and he likes you. So I

395
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,760
Speaker 1: was the program director music director then the program trying

396
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:37,359
Speaker 1: to operate as that and also be Scott's boardop. But

397
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:39,400
Speaker 1: Scott and I had a great time. We had things

398
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,560
Speaker 1: from England on Fridays and I'd say, let's steal British

399
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 1: biscuits for two hours today, and we just had had

400
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:53,040
Speaker 1: a blast doing that stuff. And it was just it

401
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,600
Speaker 1: was really just truly amazing learning all the stuff I

402
00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 1: learned from him, getting to spend the time with him.

403
00:23:58,080 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 1: He was a real character and he would tellus to

404
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 1: that I really can't tell about some of the record

405
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 1: guys he hung out with, and about the people he knew,

406
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,560
Speaker 1: and just you know, he and John Lennon had their

407
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:19,240
Speaker 1: last child. Tiffany was Scott's last kid, and obviously John

408
00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:22,520
Speaker 1: and Yoko had sewn and they were at the same

409
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:25,119
Speaker 1: hospital at the same time, and the two of them.

410
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:27,240
Speaker 1: Scott would tell stories about, oh, yeah, the two of

411
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,119
Speaker 1: you're smoking in the hallway waiting for the birth of

412
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 1: our kids, because in those days they didn't let the

413
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:36,280
Speaker 1: men in, so the kids were born I think on

414
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:38,359
Speaker 1: the same day or within a few hours at I

415
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 1: don't know at the timing of the day. But you know,

416
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:48,320
Speaker 1: after John was assassinated, the way Scott remembered him was

417
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,639
Speaker 1: every day when he signed on. In those days, he

418
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,119
Speaker 1: was doing two to five. It was always started the

419
00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:56,400
Speaker 1: show with a couple of either Beatles tracks or John

420
00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,680
Speaker 1: solo tracks. And you know, I gave Q one O

421
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:01,320
Speaker 1: four the rock station in New York for a lot

422
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:05,119
Speaker 1: of credit. Maria Malito does the midday SHOWY and Scott

423
00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:07,320
Speaker 1: went for the last year that he was working because

424
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 1: ANYW had changed by then he was over Q and

425
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:14,240
Speaker 1: O four and they still to this day. Remember Scott

426
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:17,159
Speaker 1: and played a couple of Beatles tracks. They do and

427
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:20,120
Speaker 1: at noon every day. I love that. So how did

428
00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:23,960
Speaker 1: you end up a K rock well w x RK.

429
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:30,199
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty nine, late eighty eight, ANYW was sold.

430
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,920
Speaker 1: ANYW had been sold sort of internally. They were owned

431
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 1: by Metromedia and Carl Brazell, who was the president of

432
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,200
Speaker 1: Radio or executive EP, bought the company from John Kluge.

433
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 1: But apparently Carl didn't have a ton of money, and

434
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,560
Speaker 1: about a year later he realized he didn't have enough

435
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:52,440
Speaker 1: money to make a go of it, so he sold

436
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 1: the company to Bob Silliman and had Carl Hirsch running

437
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:03,760
Speaker 1: the radio fan. They had their own ways that they

438
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 1: wanted to run the radio station. One by one they

439
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,239
Speaker 1: relieved themselves of all of the managers that were at

440
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 1: the radio station, and even though we were coming off,

441
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,120
Speaker 1: as I say, the highest ratings the station ever had,

442
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,640
Speaker 1: they brought a guy named Pete Coughlin to be the

443
00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,720
Speaker 1: general manager. He came down from Rochester and he thought

444
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,720
Speaker 1: everybody at Rochester was better than all the people who

445
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:31,399
Speaker 1: were working in New York. We all disagreed, and I

446
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:35,719
Speaker 1: certainly wasn't happy. And at first I was there for

447
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 1: a while, but when they didn't want to give me

448
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,760
Speaker 1: an extension of my contract for more than ninety days,

449
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 1: I knew something was up. Sure, So I wound up

450
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,800
Speaker 1: knowing that when they asked for him, they wanted me

451
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 1: to have a meeting with a guy named Doug Brown.

452
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:54,119
Speaker 1: It's like six or seven o'clock at night. That's not

453
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:57,960
Speaker 1: a good sign. Not a good sign. So I decided,

454
00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:00,600
Speaker 1: you know, i'd better think about maybe this better place

455
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 1: to be because I don't know what's going to happen.

456
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,159
Speaker 1: I wound up calling Tom Cisano, who was the general

457
00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 1: manager of k ROCK. And I called Tom, and I'd

458
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:09,920
Speaker 1: met him a couple of times, but he said, so,

459
00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,440
Speaker 1: I don't really have anything, but did you ever meet

460
00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 1: Mel comisan. I said, met him at once at a

461
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:18,120
Speaker 1: you know, some function, but I don't really know him.

462
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 1: But Mel had run any W for years and went

463
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,159
Speaker 1: over to Infinity in nineteen eighty one to turn that

464
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,240
Speaker 1: into a much bigger company. So I had lunch with Mel.

465
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:33,399
Speaker 1: Actually was really like brunch at the Plaza Hotel. Nervous sweating.

466
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 1: I probably lost ten pounds at that meeting. Here was

467
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:42,320
Speaker 1: an interesting meeting, and Mel said, my managers they all

468
00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:45,919
Speaker 1: picked their own people. I said, oh, okay, but you know,

469
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,840
Speaker 1: New York's nothing. We might have something in Washington, d C.

470
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:53,119
Speaker 1: I said, huh okay, thank you. Yeah, he said, if

471
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 1: you're interested, call my assistant Terry. Well, as I started

472
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 1: to think about this thing at anyw really wasn't going

473
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,679
Speaker 1: to work out. I called Terry and she set something

474
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,160
Speaker 1: up with me for a phone call with Ken Stevens,

475
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 1: who was running to be JFK in Washington. We had

476
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,600
Speaker 1: a great phone call and Ken said, why don't you

477
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,160
Speaker 1: come down? So I went down that weekend. Really fell

478
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,760
Speaker 1: in love with the radio station. I thought this would

479
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:20,640
Speaker 1: be a great place. But I got to convince my wife,

480
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,600
Speaker 1: now if this is going to happen, to go to

481
00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: Washington because she's a teacher. My kids are young and

482
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 1: they're in school, same school where she was teaching. But

483
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 1: I said, let's consider this. So she allowed me to

484
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,199
Speaker 1: follow up. And I get a call from Ken on

485
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:39,960
Speaker 1: Tuesday of that week before I was having this meeting

486
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:41,960
Speaker 1: with Doug Brown, and he said, we got to make

487
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:43,640
Speaker 1: a decision. You got to take the job or not.

488
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 1: I said, I'm taking it, but do me a favor.

489
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:50,880
Speaker 1: Don't announce it until like nine o'clock tonight, why said,

490
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 1: And said, well, I'm having this meeting and if I

491
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,040
Speaker 1: think they don't want me here anymore, but I'd rather

492
00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 1: just not quit and just see what kind of severance

493
00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:02,080
Speaker 1: or whatever I can get because you know, I'm not happy,

494
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 1: which he did, and I wind up. They say, we

495
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,000
Speaker 1: don't really want you unless you want to do things

496
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,240
Speaker 1: this way that way. You're not really going to be

497
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 1: in charge, but you'll have this. I said, no, thank you,

498
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 1: So I called Ken. I said you're good. So Ken

499
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: gets into radio and records and I'm taking this dub

500
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 1: at w JFK not leaving any w We're getting let go,

501
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,320
Speaker 1: which essentially I was, let's, you know, face the facts here.

502
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,760
Speaker 1: So at least it looked good in the trades. I

503
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 1: was at JFK for a little less than three months

504
00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:43,920
Speaker 1: and I get a call into Ken's office. Ken says,

505
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 1: I have good news and bad news, and I said,

506
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 1: I can't take any bad news, and convinced my wife

507
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 1: We're going to go to Washington. We put a down

508
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:53,120
Speaker 1: payment on a house in rest In. We were about

509
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,040
Speaker 1: to sell our house in Jersey. He says, well, I'll

510
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,800
Speaker 1: tell you the good news first. So okay, he just

511
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,760
Speaker 1: they want you in New York. K Rock. Oh, what's

512
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 1: the band is? He said, I know you're going to

513
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,520
Speaker 1: take it and leave here because we hadn't fully obviously

514
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 1: moved down yet. We had put the down payment on

515
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:13,160
Speaker 1: a house. We hadn't quite sold our house. So I

516
00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:17,160
Speaker 1: wound up ninety days to the day at k Rock

517
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:24,320
Speaker 1: and now he was working with Howard and some great jocks,

518
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:28,360
Speaker 1: you know, Meg Griffin and Tony pigg and Jimmy Fink

519
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 1: and Mark Coppola. Maria was there. You know. We've made

520
00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:37,000
Speaker 1: some changes along the way, including me hiring Flow and

521
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:39,960
Speaker 1: Eddie the Turtles in afternoon Drive for a few years,

522
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 1: which was a lot of fun. But that's that's how

523
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,640
Speaker 1: an elongated story of how I wound up at K Rock. Yeah.

524
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:48,800
Speaker 1: See when you were telling it, I had forgotten the

525
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 1: JFK cart And then when you said it, I was like, oh, yeah,

526
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:55,360
Speaker 1: that's right. But that's how we So I had left

527
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 1: any w I would come back, You would let me

528
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,120
Speaker 1: come back and do some show. When I came back

529
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 1: for like Thanksgiving, Mark would call and say, hey, you're

530
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,800
Speaker 1: coming back home for Thanksgiving. Yeah, you want to do

531
00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:11,600
Speaker 1: a show and pay for your plane ticket? Sure. So

532
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 1: that happened for a few years, so we had definitely

533
00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:16,480
Speaker 1: stayed connected. You know. It was one of the great

534
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:20,960
Speaker 1: things about you and also Ray White, is that not

535
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,640
Speaker 1: only did we have this great full time staff, but

536
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,680
Speaker 1: at that point I had you had Ray, I had

537
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: Pete Fornatel and Dennis ELS's. I mean, I had all

538
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,760
Speaker 1: stars working on the weekend. That's how great a radio

539
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,360
Speaker 1: station we had, and how we were live in Local

540
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,360
Speaker 1: twenty four to seven. It was just it was just

541
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:42,440
Speaker 1: the time of my life. It was spectacular, absolutely. But

542
00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,240
Speaker 1: then we reconnected again because then I would join working

543
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 1: for Infinity AM for mel Karmizan, which I'm so grateful

544
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 1: for that time when I moved to Boston Unforgettable era

545
00:31:55,160 --> 00:32:00,200
Speaker 1: and we reconnected, which was great as well. It was

546
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:04,920
Speaker 1: really you and Tim Sabian who I had the connection with.

547
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 1: And if I had a neurotic question about what my

548
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:12,600
Speaker 1: general manager was doing to me, I would call you guys.

549
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,400
Speaker 1: You guys were my therapist basically to get me out

550
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 1: of hot water with who I was dealing with. I'll

551
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: leave his name out for reasons that well, I don't

552
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 1: want to destroy the podcast to mention w ZLX still

553
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,480
Speaker 1: a great station, but I'll leave the general manager's name

554
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 1: out just for the fun of it. But so you

555
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:40,480
Speaker 1: amazed me at that station because that was another and

556
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:45,440
Speaker 1: a long line of managing personalities, but in particular managing

557
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:50,560
Speaker 1: the biggest personality at that time and probably even to

558
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 1: some degree to this day. And Howard Stern, How did

559
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,400
Speaker 1: you keep your cool? Howard was great to work with,

560
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 1: and what I learned was here's a guy who was

561
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:05,560
Speaker 1: great what he did. So I would just say, what

562
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:07,560
Speaker 1: do you need me to do that I can be

563
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,480
Speaker 1: helpful with. So there were things like the John de

564
00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:13,040
Speaker 1: Bella funeral, and he said, I'd like you to know

565
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 1: produce that from the radio end. I said, great, But

566
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,240
Speaker 1: and I would be a foil on the air whenever

567
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:21,680
Speaker 1: he wanted me to be. There's the famous story of

568
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,480
Speaker 1: how he donated some money to what the time is

569
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,360
Speaker 1: called World Hunger Year, the organization that Harry Chapin and

570
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:33,160
Speaker 1: Delairs had started. It's now called Why Hunger, where Howard said, well,

571
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 1: I'll give you a nice donation, and Robin and Fred

572
00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 1: will also make a nice donation. But I need you

573
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,560
Speaker 1: to do a couple of things. What were those things. Well,

574
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 1: I had a mustache at the time, if you remember, Yes,

575
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:47,720
Speaker 1: he said, well, I need you to shave your mustache.

576
00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 1: I said, oh, okay, no, no, no no, I don't mean

577
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 1: the whole thing. You have to and I'm Jewish, you

578
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:53,880
Speaker 1: have to walk around with a Hitler mustache for a day,

579
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,360
Speaker 1: saying oh boy, well, okay, fine, I can do that. No, well,

580
00:33:57,400 --> 00:33:59,720
Speaker 1: I got one other thing. Oh boy, what would that be?

581
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,600
Speaker 1: And I don't mind telling you, sir, because he tells it. Well,

582
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,360
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to expose yourself to me. You mean, ye,

583
00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:10,480
Speaker 1: pull those pants down in the bathroom. But I'll give

584
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:12,760
Speaker 1: you a check for ten grand and the other guys

585
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:17,200
Speaker 1: will too. Said huh, well, Tom Tisana said, you're nuts.

586
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 1: You can't be doing this, And Bill Ayer's at why Hunger,

587
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 1: you can't be doing this. No, you guys need the money.

588
00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:27,759
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it. Well. I remember going into a

589
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 1: stall and it was like the funniest thing. And Howard's

590
00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,879
Speaker 1: like before I even like had the pull, It's like, eh,

591
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,400
Speaker 1: I can't believe we're doing this. Well we did it.

592
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:39,720
Speaker 1: I got the money, I got rid of the Hitler

593
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:42,359
Speaker 1: mustache that night, and I never grew the mustache back.

594
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:45,960
Speaker 1: By the way, that night, my kids didn't recognize me

595
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:49,400
Speaker 1: for a while. But you know, Howard was just so

596
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 1: not good but great, the most amazing storyteller. He could

597
00:34:56,719 --> 00:34:59,960
Speaker 1: run fifteen minute commercial stop sets and people would be

598
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,400
Speaker 1: afraid to leave because he might do some live spots

599
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:06,440
Speaker 1: in between. And what I learned from him is with

600
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 1: great jocks, you know you can break the format. You

601
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:11,400
Speaker 1: know you don't have to do you know, in the

602
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,480
Speaker 1: old days were depending on which system of ratings we're

603
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:16,759
Speaker 1: using when you did breaks, how many minutes you ran

604
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:19,719
Speaker 1: watching your quarter, of all this other stuff. It didn't

605
00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:24,319
Speaker 1: apply to Howard at all. And one of the quick

606
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:28,759
Speaker 1: story that does relate to Howard mel Carmezan ran Infinity

607
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:31,480
Speaker 1: I went in one month to say, you know, Mel,

608
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,279
Speaker 1: I really need some promotional money for the classic rock.

609
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:36,839
Speaker 1: You know, Howard's great and we get some turnover, but

610
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:38,920
Speaker 1: you know we need to still build a mory that

611
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,200
Speaker 1: I like to do promotions. He said, okay, I'll give

612
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 1: you a million dollars. I said, really. He said, yeah,

613
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:49,239
Speaker 1: you got to replace Howard's stern and promise me the

614
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:54,160
Speaker 1: same ratings. I said, never mind to him, Oh, I

615
00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:57,560
Speaker 1: had flashbacks to many of the wonderful mel meetings when

616
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:01,840
Speaker 1: you were telling that story. Wow. So then we go

617
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:08,120
Speaker 1: into this other great part of your life, let's call

618
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:12,719
Speaker 1: it the sports radio part of your life, which is

619
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:19,400
Speaker 1: a remarkable chapter at wfan, a great brand, great people

620
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:23,160
Speaker 1: through the years, and you were always a great sports fan.

621
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,360
Speaker 1: So this was like a logical fit. But my sense

622
00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:29,720
Speaker 1: was you also had the mindset to sort of think, Okay,

623
00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:33,520
Speaker 1: I like music, I like rock and roll music. We

624
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,560
Speaker 1: can put a rock and roll attitude to a sports

625
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:40,719
Speaker 1: station and make it interesting and mass appeal, right, I

626
00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:43,799
Speaker 1: mean it was really it was Mergoff. Yes, But in

627
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,280
Speaker 1: order to take that job in nineteen ninety two, shortly

628
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:51,759
Speaker 1: after mel I had bought the station, or was in

629
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,080
Speaker 1: the process of buying at Joel Hollander, who was going

630
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,360
Speaker 1: to be the new general manager. He's been running sales.

631
00:36:57,440 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 1: We had a lunch and he said, how would you

632
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:01,880
Speaker 1: like to come home? And I said, no, I like

633
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:06,239
Speaker 1: doing Selector and the music. No thanks, but thank you

634
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:08,960
Speaker 1: for asking me. You know. He bugged me a lot

635
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:12,839
Speaker 1: for the better part of a year. And one day

636
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:14,920
Speaker 1: mil and I don't know if it's the managers me

637
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:17,479
Speaker 1: and said, I think it really would be a good

638
00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:22,440
Speaker 1: idea if you did f AN. Okay, I think that

639
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:24,840
Speaker 1: was the convincer. Yeah, I did it. He had a

640
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,440
Speaker 1: way to convince Yes. And the twenty eight and a

641
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: half years at f AN, so obviously things worked out.

642
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:35,680
Speaker 1: I would say they worked out. You had, you know,

643
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:41,600
Speaker 1: another stable of interesting people can manage for many years,

644
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:46,160
Speaker 1: led by the late don Imus. What was what was

645
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:52,880
Speaker 1: that like? Also amazing amazingly easy to work with the

646
00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:58,600
Speaker 1: first day we met, you were working for Stern. I said, well, yeah,

647
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:00,840
Speaker 1: he's grad he's over there. Now I'm working for you.

648
00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:03,480
Speaker 1: I didn't stay with you, I said working for you

649
00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,319
Speaker 1: because again my attitude was with superstars. I wanted them

650
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:09,920
Speaker 1: to accept not that I'm coming in here telling them

651
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:12,800
Speaker 1: what to do. Although i'mus through the years was great

652
00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 1: at listening to things. You know, we could as long

653
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,479
Speaker 1: as we didn't do it in front of anybody else where.

654
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,080
Speaker 1: I'd say this bit sucked today or something like that.

655
00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:23,839
Speaker 1: If I did it just with him, he was great.

656
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:28,560
Speaker 1: He'd make changes. But we got into talking about running,

657
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,160
Speaker 1: and he was a runner, believe it or not, and

658
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:34,800
Speaker 1: I was just, you know, a few years into running

659
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 1: and we got to talking about running and we really

660
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:40,360
Speaker 1: hit it off. The next day he comes in with

661
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 1: all this equipment, you know, things to wear, wires and

662
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:48,760
Speaker 1: this will protect you when you're underwires, and here's a watch.

663
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:52,600
Speaker 1: And so we really hit it right off and really

664
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,839
Speaker 1: work together. We did, you know, when we started syndicating

665
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,640
Speaker 1: the show a year later. Within a year we started

666
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,919
Speaker 1: going to our affiliates and I'd make all these road

667
00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 1: trips which were hysterical. We had Rob Bartley with us

668
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 1: and Charles McCord and Larry Kenny and Bernard and they

669
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:09,759
Speaker 1: were a riot. I didn't have to say anything just

670
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:13,120
Speaker 1: listening to this group. And after a while I miscot

671
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:16,160
Speaker 1: sick of flying commercially, so I was like, I'm gonna

672
00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,080
Speaker 1: get myself a plane. So he joined up with whatever

673
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:23,960
Speaker 1: the company was and net Jets and we fly private

674
00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:27,440
Speaker 1: and would sometimes say, you know, when do we leave me?

675
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:31,240
Speaker 1: He said, when I get to the effin plane. Okay, okay,

676
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 1: kind of give us a time. We'd sit and wait,

677
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:35,279
Speaker 1: but it was great. We'd leave from Teterborough Airport and

678
00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:38,239
Speaker 1: most of us were in Jersey, so it's nice to

679
00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:41,200
Speaker 1: park your car you get on the plane. I was

680
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:45,640
Speaker 1: back before you know, all the security. And then we

681
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,600
Speaker 1: went and we went to all these cities, from Bangor, Maine,

682
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:53,560
Speaker 1: to Portland, Oregon, to Denver. I saw most of the country.

683
00:39:54,280 --> 00:40:00,200
Speaker 1: We went down to Little Rock when Mike Huckabee the

684
00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:03,000
Speaker 1: lieutenant governor, and he said, you know, I'm going to

685
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 1: become the governor pretty soon. The governor is going to

686
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:08,600
Speaker 1: be gone. So we couldn't tell the story on the air.

687
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:16,960
Speaker 1: But getting to meet John Kerry, John McCain, George hw Bush,

688
00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:21,520
Speaker 1: here's an h Here's a George hw story. He actually

689
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:24,400
Speaker 1: would come to the radio station occasionally when he was

690
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,000
Speaker 1: in New York to be on the IMUS. So I

691
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,680
Speaker 1: meet him and we walk inside and he says, I

692
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:32,640
Speaker 1: have one question for you about somebody. I said, what's

693
00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 1: that he said, I really want to meet sid Rosenberg.

694
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:38,840
Speaker 1: And I don't think this is a former president of

695
00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:42,320
Speaker 1: the United States, you know, vice president eight years president,

696
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:44,160
Speaker 1: ran the CIA, and only wants to do is meet

697
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,160
Speaker 1: sid Rosenberg. Okay, well it was a Warner Wolf state

698
00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 1: that day doing sports, so he didn't get to meet.

699
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:53,279
Speaker 1: He eventually did it some other from Prices. Yes, well,

700
00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:59,120
Speaker 1: my sense is you loved sports radio immediately. But my

701
00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:02,560
Speaker 1: sense also was, you know, one of the centerpieces for you,

702
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:07,080
Speaker 1: Mark was with the talent there and talent that you've

703
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:12,279
Speaker 1: managed elsewhere. Is talent always knew that you had their back. Yeah.

704
00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:14,720
Speaker 1: I have to agree with you. I cared or wherever

705
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:17,840
Speaker 1: I worked, the talent was important. And yes, you know,

706
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:20,359
Speaker 1: when being a middle manager, as we both have been

707
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:22,839
Speaker 1: in our career, you're trying to balance what they want

708
00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 1: upstairs and what you got to do downstairs. But I

709
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,400
Speaker 1: felt very protective of the talent and really wanted them

710
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,920
Speaker 1: to be successful, and I didn't want them to have

711
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:34,799
Speaker 1: to do things that weren't right, and I think they

712
00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:39,600
Speaker 1: knew that, and I tried not to overmanage. You know,

713
00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:42,640
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's some people who say, oh, I overmanage

714
00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:45,399
Speaker 1: them and you know, sometimes with newer staff, I don't

715
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:47,279
Speaker 1: even want to say younger, because we hired people of

716
00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:50,800
Speaker 1: all ages and stuff like that. But you know, you

717
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 1: sometimes didn't need to teach people to format and you know,

718
00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:57,160
Speaker 1: how to be on the air and stuff like that.

719
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:02,360
Speaker 1: For many years, Eric Spitz was my assistant PD, and

720
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:04,919
Speaker 1: eventually we left to go to West and I begged

721
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,120
Speaker 1: him to come back when I really needed somebody else

722
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:09,279
Speaker 1: to handle some of the time because I had all

723
00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:12,560
Speaker 1: these other responsibilities. Well, he came up with something called

724
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:18,759
Speaker 1: the poke theory passion, opinion, knowledge, entertainment, and that kind

725
00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:22,000
Speaker 1: of capitalized how we felt about the talent. So we

726
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:25,680
Speaker 1: always told we always made sure if the talent had

727
00:42:25,719 --> 00:42:29,520
Speaker 1: those four qualities, they were going to be superstars. Whether

728
00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:33,400
Speaker 1: it was Imus, where was Michael Chris, you know, Joe Beningo,

729
00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:37,320
Speaker 1: you named the talent, you know, as we moved on Boomer,

730
00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:43,200
Speaker 1: Craig Carton, these people, Evan Roberts, you know, that was

731
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:46,439
Speaker 1: if they had had all those four qualities, you knew

732
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:48,279
Speaker 1: they were going to be successful. Some had some of

733
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:52,520
Speaker 1: the qualities, but you wanted even your weekend people, you know,

734
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:55,520
Speaker 1: to be that way and feel that way. Steve Summers.

735
00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:58,520
Speaker 1: You know, some people didn't like maybe what they said,

736
00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:00,799
Speaker 1: or they thought they were off the wall, and in

737
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:03,320
Speaker 1: many ways they were. But that was the thing about

738
00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:07,719
Speaker 1: fan Every show was different, but every show knew how

739
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:11,560
Speaker 1: to hit the hot topics. So what do you think

740
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:14,319
Speaker 1: of the face of radio now in general, not just

741
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:18,839
Speaker 1: sports radio, all faces of radio. One thing I've been

742
00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:23,839
Speaker 1: sad about for years is the lack of localism. You know,

743
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:26,799
Speaker 1: I fully believe now that doesn't mean there isn't a place.

744
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:29,040
Speaker 1: I've just put to the side that they can be networked,

745
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:33,040
Speaker 1: because some stations really can't afford to do late night programming,

746
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,919
Speaker 1: weekend programming, so there does need to be some type

747
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:39,840
Speaker 1: of syndicated. We always had the CBS Sports Radio for

748
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:42,560
Speaker 1: the last more than a decade for that, but it's

749
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:46,239
Speaker 1: so important to develop local talent and a fan. We

750
00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:48,719
Speaker 1: were always able to say live in local twenty four

751
00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:52,319
Speaker 1: to seven, and so many stations, even music stations, are

752
00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:57,240
Speaker 1: missing that. Many stations have morning shows and nothing else disyndicated.

753
00:43:57,560 --> 00:43:59,400
Speaker 1: You know, all right, fine, they played twelve songs in

754
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:01,560
Speaker 1: a row or two two hours in a row, and

755
00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,720
Speaker 1: you know it's commercial free. But we're not developing talent

756
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:06,959
Speaker 1: the way we need to develop talent, and it's really

757
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 1: been a pity because sometimes it's really hard to find

758
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:14,160
Speaker 1: talent out there. You have to look in other places

759
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:18,280
Speaker 1: aside from radio. Now radio isn't what radio is was anyway.

760
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:22,719
Speaker 1: Now you have mobile you have computers, you have smart speakers.

761
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:26,799
Speaker 1: You know, you have people doing podcasts. So there are

762
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:32,279
Speaker 1: other ways to develop people. But we've really missed out on.

763
00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:35,520
Speaker 1: There's so much syndication that I think stations give up

764
00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:38,560
Speaker 1: too easily. Even the music stations, you know, they need

765
00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:42,759
Speaker 1: to be more inventive in their hiring of people of

766
00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:48,640
Speaker 1: jocks to bring you entertainment, not just play the same songs.

767
00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:53,520
Speaker 1: You know, there are places to do that. There were jukeboxes.

768
00:44:53,719 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 1: What I like about HD radio is that that's a

769
00:44:57,640 --> 00:44:59,680
Speaker 1: good place where you can put some of those music

770
00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:02,919
Speaker 1: form and maybe you don't have to have the jocks there.

771
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,839
Speaker 1: But not enough people are listening to those stations that

772
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:08,120
Speaker 1: they need to be on the regular part of the

773
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:12,719
Speaker 1: that out too. Unfortunately, people aren't using that as a

774
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:17,160
Speaker 1: resource to expand to grow talent. This is the AM

775
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:21,680
Speaker 1: problem as well, because AM is feeding unfortunately from the

776
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:26,120
Speaker 1: same lack of a talent pool. And it's certainly worse

777
00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:30,759
Speaker 1: because AM mostly mostly not exclusively has spoken words, right,

778
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:34,399
Speaker 1: and there are very few stations, especially when you get

779
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:39,000
Speaker 1: outside of the major markets, that are not doing syndicated programming,

780
00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:43,680
Speaker 1: you know, fifteen eighteen hours a day. It's sad because

781
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:46,600
Speaker 1: I'm not saying some of the hosts whether you like

782
00:45:46,719 --> 00:45:51,000
Speaker 1: their opinions or not, whether it's right wing politics, liberal politics,

783
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:57,560
Speaker 1: you know, or news talk whatever, but it's not localized, right,

784
00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:01,359
Speaker 1: it's not localized. I give wnys See in New York

785
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:04,120
Speaker 1: City a lot of credit, although they use some of

786
00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:07,240
Speaker 1: the NPR programming, they have a lot of local programming,

787
00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:11,640
Speaker 1: local talk shows, which you know, are great because you're

788
00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:15,320
Speaker 1: hearing about who you are. There's so many markets where

789
00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:18,120
Speaker 1: you're just hearing about the national issues. And yes there's

790
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:20,719
Speaker 1: a time and a place for that, but we're not

791
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:23,759
Speaker 1: developing local talent, and they're not on the daytime. They're

792
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:26,520
Speaker 1: not given the chance. So unless you kind of stumble

793
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:29,440
Speaker 1: on somebody, or every once in a while somebody takes

794
00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:32,680
Speaker 1: a chance, you know, we're not where we need to be.

795
00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:36,960
Speaker 1: And what you said about AM radio, it's sad. What's

796
00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:39,720
Speaker 1: happened to AM radio? Well it is when it breaks

797
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:43,520
Speaker 1: my heart when you see AM stations feel it's a

798
00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:47,440
Speaker 1: better business decision to turn themselves off rather than to

799
00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:49,840
Speaker 1: keep programming on. Yeah, some of them do. They just

800
00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:53,920
Speaker 1: shut down and that's it. It's a regular thing and listen.

801
00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:58,000
Speaker 1: I you know, in New York there are two successful

802
00:46:58,520 --> 00:47:02,520
Speaker 1: stations that you know, my own company now, Odyssey has

803
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:06,480
Speaker 1: with w I n S and w CBS, But with

804
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:14,319
Speaker 1: so many fewer people experiencing anything on AM radio, if

805
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:17,839
Speaker 1: it would be nice, it would be very nice if

806
00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:20,880
Speaker 1: there was a home on FM for them. Not my company,

807
00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:23,680
Speaker 1: I don't get to make those choices, but you know,

808
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:28,160
Speaker 1: the Odyssey has put some of the news stations like

809
00:47:28,239 --> 00:47:32,360
Speaker 1: a Chicago WBBM now has an FM signal, k CBS

810
00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:38,520
Speaker 1: has an FM signal. San Francisco, LA now has kN

811
00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:41,600
Speaker 1: X with an FM signal. So at some point maybe

812
00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:44,080
Speaker 1: they'll do the same in New York. I don't know's

813
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:49,400
Speaker 1: you know, not my domain, but I think enough people

814
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:53,560
Speaker 1: still think of FM as radio. But you know, kids

815
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:57,080
Speaker 1: today am radio they don't even know what AM radio is.

816
00:47:57,880 --> 00:47:59,560
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't even know what radio is.

817
00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:05,360
Speaker 1: I did sales call last spring at the station and

818
00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:07,200
Speaker 1: there were thirty five forty people, and I said, how

819
00:48:07,239 --> 00:48:11,560
Speaker 1: many of you have a traditional radio? Maybe two or

820
00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:14,879
Speaker 1: three people raised to him, but listen, I'm oh, well listen,

821
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:18,319
Speaker 1: I'm smart speaker, no radio. I have ten, and I'm

822
00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:21,320
Speaker 1: not this might have ten radios in my house, but

823
00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:23,719
Speaker 1: of a room you go into. I still when I run,

824
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:27,759
Speaker 1: I wear a little Sony walkman because I want to

825
00:48:28,360 --> 00:48:30,600
Speaker 1: listen to the radio and I want to be able

826
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:35,600
Speaker 1: to flip the radio stations. I don't want to use

827
00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:40,200
Speaker 1: a smart speaker in my house that's also listening to me, right.

828
00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:42,399
Speaker 1: You know, I got tired of like shutting it off

829
00:48:42,440 --> 00:48:44,480
Speaker 1: all the time eause when I was absolutely using it

830
00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:47,960
Speaker 1: and calling out a radio station. I see why people

831
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:50,120
Speaker 1: want to use it, and it's part of what the

832
00:48:50,239 --> 00:48:55,480
Speaker 1: world is now. But I'm just I've always been a

833
00:48:55,560 --> 00:48:58,960
Speaker 1: radio file. Even as a kid, I would listen to

834
00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:02,760
Speaker 1: anything and everything, you know, whether I liked the format

835
00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:05,080
Speaker 1: or not, I just wanted to hear what stations were

836
00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:07,400
Speaker 1: doing right back in the day, whether it was a

837
00:49:07,520 --> 00:49:11,640
Speaker 1: WABC or a WNBC or you know. That's how I

838
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:15,080
Speaker 1: found these rock stations. And I listened to the college stations,

839
00:49:15,120 --> 00:49:18,399
Speaker 1: and I even listened to, you know, stations like w BAI,

840
00:49:18,880 --> 00:49:21,800
Speaker 1: you know, sort of an independent off the wall radio station,

841
00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:24,520
Speaker 1: sure which signed on it off and it felt like

842
00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:29,640
Speaker 1: it pacifica, pacifica. Yeah. Yeah, So Marc as we as

843
00:49:29,640 --> 00:49:34,320
Speaker 1: two guys who who love where the business has taken

844
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:38,279
Speaker 1: us and continues to take us. But also see what's

845
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:42,000
Speaker 1: going on in the landscape. If there's someone listening to

846
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:47,879
Speaker 1: this who is interested in the business and obviously trying

847
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:51,520
Speaker 1: to determine a career, give them one piece of advice.

848
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Speaker 1: Be passionate about what you want to do, and give

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Speaker 1: yourself every opportunity. When I got into radio, I told

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Speaker 1: you that I was gone to graduate school. I got

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Speaker 1: an MBA and I worked for a short time as

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00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:14,160
Speaker 1: an accountant. I hated it. I finally got a job

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Speaker 1: at a little radio station in the northwest corner of

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Speaker 1: New Jersey called w NNJ, part time than full time.

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Speaker 1: After working in college radio. I wasn't making any money, really,

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00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:26,480
Speaker 1: I got one hundred and sixteen twenty five cents a week,

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Speaker 1: but it's what I wanted to do. And after I

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Speaker 1: met my wife or my future wife, and I said, honey,

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Speaker 1: you're going to be okay with this. Can I like,

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00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:37,480
Speaker 1: have at least like five years to see if anything

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Speaker 1: will develop. She said, it's what you love, this is

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Speaker 1: what you this is what you should do. I don't

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00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:45,040
Speaker 1: want to have an unhappy husband who's an accountant who

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Speaker 1: hates it. I will say this, I still do my

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Speaker 1: own taxes. I love it well Mark. But again, people,

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Speaker 1: if you're passionate, you know, people can do. Listen to themselves.

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Speaker 1: That's one of the other things I've always given his

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Speaker 1: advice to host or potential house listen to that, not

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Speaker 1: just me listening to the tape. Listen to your own show.

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Speaker 1: Listen tell me what you think. If you're cringing, then

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Speaker 1: you know it's not good. So you know the things.

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Speaker 1: I'm happy to work with people, and to this day,

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00:51:15,960 --> 00:51:17,759
Speaker 1: people can get in touch with me if they like.

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00:51:18,360 --> 00:51:23,160
Speaker 1: And you know, all critique tapes. You know, I want

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Speaker 1: to see more people get involved. I don't want radio

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00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:30,719
Speaker 1: to lose everything. I don't want that to happen. So

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Speaker 1: with a young old whatever, you know, the radio is

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00:51:35,480 --> 00:51:41,240
Speaker 1: ageless because anybody who's got talent and is passionate about

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00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:43,600
Speaker 1: it and figures out a good way to deliver it,

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00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:45,520
Speaker 1: you know, you can have a voice like Chris Russo

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00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:48,520
Speaker 1: and you say, oh, what a voice, but he's one

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00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:51,440
Speaker 1: of the most successful people ever in sports radio, never

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00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:54,280
Speaker 1: mind just as Mike and the Maddog, but even solo.

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Speaker 1: So it's not the voice in that way, it's what

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Speaker 1: do you do and how are you doing it? I

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Speaker 1: hope that's helpful. Oh well, thank you for all the

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Speaker 1: joy you've given me, that you continue to give me

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Speaker 1: this walk that's been glorious. Thank you what you've given

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Speaker 1: during your career, and I welcome you to take your

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Speaker 1: next chapter and be bold and do whatever you want

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Speaker 1: to do because you've earned it. Thank you, and spend

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00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:27,239
Speaker 1: a lot of time with the grandkids. There you go,

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Speaker 1: Thanks for taking a walk part Thanks Bob. Taking a

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Speaker 1: Walk with Buzznight is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.