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Bernie Mann

J

JimA

In the early 60s, Bernie was almost living out of his car in Winston-Salem when he "managed" or WAIR AM-FM.
Then later bought a small C Fm and Am in High Point WNOS AM-FM. Somehow he got it up to a Class A FM (WGLD). Then got WCOG after dumping WNOS-AM and went oldies from the old Jamz studios in Greensboro.
Always heard rumors about Bernie and how he treated his staff. Bernie's downfall was the tower he built.
Then 1st Union (now Wachovia) went after him and got his properties. No one I have talked with has anything nice to say about him. Is any of this true?
 
First, living out of the car while working at WAIR would be a step up! That building was a dump!

Bernie bought the High Point stations in the 1970s and the FM became WGLD (Beautiful Music) and the AM became WOKX (Country) Both were at the transmitter site off Westchester at the time (in a trailer). He moved them to downtown High Point, then over off Eastchester behind the old mall. WGLD changed formats to AC and became WOJY (Joy 100) and later WWWB (B-100).

I believe he donated WOKX to a church and bought WCOG.

Bernie built the studios you know as the old JAMZ studio and WCOG operated there until Bernie and some partners built the building on Piedmont Parkway at Highway 68 (called One Piedmont Parkway, I think). By then, the WCOG had changed to WGLD and changed formats from The Oldies Channel to a format called AM Only (standards).

In the late 70s, Bernie bought WKIX and WYYD in Raleigh. He sold them to Metroplex somewhere around 1987.

The First Union deal involved primarily the radio stations, but not the tower. I believe Bernie continued to own and operate the tower after the bank took over. Stations were owned by a holding comany (owned by former Treasury Secretary William E. Smith). We used to tease each other about having our dollar bills signed by the owner.

Bernie was/is an interesting guy. I worked for him on three different occasions, twice in Raleigh and once in Greensboro. The pecking order was CUSTOMER FIRST, SALES PERSON SECOND, everyone else fourth or fifth. I must say, I got along fine with him with a few notable exceptions over the ten or so years I worked for him. Bernie worked hard, and expected everyone else to work hard, too! And he really knew how to throw a party!

Today, Bernie is doing quite well - publishing Our State magazine. - and I suspect still visiting the house at Figure Eight Island!
 
I've hears soooo many Bernie Mann stories down through the years. From firing people at Christmas to wooing back someone who quit, then firing them, to some poor guy who was painting a sign on their glass door. I heard Bernie passed through the door several times during the day while this guy was painting it, then when the guy was finished he refused to pay him saying he did it the wrong color. And then there's the way he interviewed salespeople. He would take off his watch and hand it to them and tell them to "sell it" to him. I heard that from several ex-Bernie salespeople. Lots of power positioning and jockying went on at Bernie's stations.
 
I think my wife and I set some kind of record as the Morning Team at WWWB ... we were there just a couple months short of six years ... we probably went through a hundred sales people in that time ... gotta say that even though there were plenty of horror stories about Bernie, he always treated us well (until the very end) ... maybe we were the exception to the rule, but after 3 trips to France, 2 to the Bahamas, and 1 to Mexico, it's tough for me to say anything bad about the guy ... Max McGann
 
That's the way it was with Bernie. When you were off the list, you were off the list! You and Pam had a great run in Greensboro and the last day was a sad one. Hope all is well in ENC.

Someone should write a book about "life with Bernie". There are hundreds of stories, some of which are quite amusing. Maybe it starts here.

I can tell you, there are some great people in the radio business today who are stronger at their craft because of the pressure Bernie put on them. It may not have been pleasant at the time, but it was a valuable life lesson.

The one really big thing I learned working for Bernie was that I had to make career decisions based on what was best for me, not what was best for the company. The company will look out for itself!

Bernie didn't like it when someone quit, however. He took it very personally. Unfortunately, it didn't work the other way around.
 
Use to be a group called "the Idea Bank" where all the stations that were allowed mailed all the others on the list in the US and Canada. WGLD was a member. Each year one station would host the IB convention. WGLD
did it in 77 or 78 in Winston-Salem. I was there. Tommy Walker still worked with him - look unhappy but who knows. Don Curtis still was in his money maker before Raleigh and Bernie did a great convention. Showed the WKRP preview and we all had fun.
 
Someone should write a book about "life with Bernie". There are hundreds of stories, some of which are quite amusing. Maybe it starts here. ;D

"I thought they had! "Weekend at Bernie's"

I alway's liked Bernie! BIG APE!
 
Speaking of that idea bank converntion, here is the rest of the story.

Bernie had lots of tricks he used to save money or get money or just take money. The following was used many times in itself.

Bernie arranged for the meals to come to the tables at a certain time. Not many choices, pretty much you picked a meal type off a short list ahead of time and it came. First, just before dinner was the diner speeches. The speeches were timed to end at a certain time and then the prepared dishes were to be put on the table. Bernie kept the speeches going past the arranged ending time while the food sat on warming trays in the hallway. Finally it was time for the food and needless to say it was a little, lets just say, off. Not horrible but not at its best. No one complained except for Bernie. He made a huge fuss after the convention was over and insisted the bill to be adjusted. He got a huge amount off of the bill. Problem was he was not paying the bill. He was just hosting the convention. Money was collected from all who attended. Bernie ended up getting a refund on behalf of all couple hundred people there. Went right into his pocket.

He used that same trick again at a company diner at the Angus Barn.
 
I always heard the story (although never attended) about the annual gathering for former Bernie employees at the NAB convention. It was said to be a rather large group.

By the way, is Idea Bank still around. I thought that was one of the more productive idea exchanges in the business. Mostly small stations, and small markets, but was an effective method.
 
In the early 80s, WYYD was automated Beautiful Music (just like WGLD). There was a live morning show and a small studio with a mic and a NEXT button. One day, I walked into the studio and found this kid sitting there playing with the console.

I said "I don't know who you are, but you need to get out of here!"

It was Bernie's son Larry. He left. I never heard about it, but always wondered if he told his dad about the jerk PD who ran him out of the studio!

Larry, by the way, went into - yes - radio sales and last contact I had with him he was at WGN in Chicago.
 
I was doing PM Drive on WYYD (are you wearing a Wyyd Smile?) when they decided to switch it to Format 41. At first they didn’t install a satellite switcher to fire the carts and we had to fire them at the appropriate time, or change them, or some stupid thing a trained monkey could do. Plus once an hour we got to read a liner and give the weather. So Bernie comes to town to tell us how great this will be. “Fellas… you are going to be superstars!! Once an hour you will get to sell the station!!! Read the weather!!!!! You get to be the star of the station for 20 seconds every hour!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!! Now… I know some of you are thinking… 20 seconds… that’s not a very long time. Stick a needle in your eye for 20 seconds. It’s a LONG TIME!” I walked right down the hall and begged Joe Wade for a shift on KIX. About a month later I had my cowboy boots on.
 
XTalker said:
First, living out of the car while working at WAIR would be a step up! That building was a dump!

Bernie bought the High Point stations in the 1970s and the FM became WGLD (Beautiful Music) and the AM became WOKX (Country) Both were at the transmitter site off Westchester at the time (in a trailer).
Click to expand...
WIST and WBLO are there now.
XTalker said:
He moved them to downtown High Point, then over off Eastchester behind the old mall. WGLD changed formats to AC and became WOJY (Joy 100) and later WWWB (B-100).
Click to expand...
Joy 100 wasn't quite AC, but it was a softer version of the format. One might call it vocal easy listening.
XTalker said:
I believe he donated WOKX to a church and bought WCOG.

Bernie built the studios you know as the old JAMZ studio and WCOG operated there until Bernie and some partners built the building on Piedmont Parkway at Highway 68 (called One Piedmont Parkway, I think). By then, the WCOG had changed to WGLD and changed formats from The Oldies Channel to a format called AM Only (standards).
Click to expand...
WGLD was beautiful music in the mid-80s. Then it was oldies and then standards (and it quickly became my favorite station when I was in the area).
 
Poor Bernie also had to build WCOG new towers as part of the deal with the Thoms estate since the original Hamiltion Lakes property was valuable for housing. The guy had to spend major $$$. Bernie did/has a great home in Hamilton Lakes.
 
There's the story about the WCOG towers - the new ones - out by the airport. Bernie bought a small amount of land and leased the rest, I believe. A farmer let his cows graze around the towers. Apparently threatened to sue Bernie because the RF prevented them from giving milk!
 
;D Yeah, But that's not the whole story behind that Mike!!!
 
JimA said:
In the early 60s, Bernie was almost living out of his car in Winston-Salem when he "managed" or WAIR AM-FM.
Then later bought a small C Fm and Am in High Point WNOS AM-FM. Somehow he got it up to a Class A FM (WGLD). Then got WCOG after dumping WNOS-AM and went oldies from the old Jamz studios in Greensboro.
Always heard rumors about Bernie and how he treated his staff. Bernie's downfall was the tower he built.
Then 1st Union (now Wachovia) went after him and got his properties. No one I have talked with has anything nice to say about him. Is any of this true?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've posted Nervous a few times on here.. I'm curious.. In this orginal post you talk about Bernie living out of his car...Not True and buying other stations and then you say, you alway's heard rumors?? I take it you have never met Bernie? So how would you know any of the WAIR stories or First Union? To my knowledge, Bernie never dealt with anybody but a High Point Bank? What's the deal here? You know Bernie or just "Speculating"
 
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