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THE LAST GREAT PD IN PROVIDENCE

A

aqualung

Guest
Any comments on who the last great Providence radio PD would have been? As far as the current bunch
Laudani at HJY has gotten nominated for one of those awards and I don't doubt his ability but he basically keeps HJY on the same track it's always been. HJY really doesn't change much year to year other than the fact that they're live less on weekends.
Tony Bristol just basically keeps his stations on the air with nothing really creative or compelling going on. PRO-FM and LITE are basically products of the people on the air and they have longevity which helps whether you like them or not. HOT is a non-factor and it's the format that sells the station.
Rick Everett at Coast and B101 is just delivering the corporate results. He also arrived at a time of upheaval but I doubt anyone will label him as the henchman at Coast.
I don't know anything about the new guy at Cat Country but he kind of arrived right after an upheaval too and Like HOT the format sells the station.
So I wouldn't single out anyone in the market now. How about the past when PDs concentrated more on the creative end rather than the corporate mold or calling themselves PDs when the mgrs really call the important shots.
 
Out of that list, I'd definatly pick Tony Bristol. I think he's doing a great job over at PRO, HOT, and LITE and doing everything he needs to do to be a PD in the Providence market.

Also, semi- in the Providence market...JR from FUN 107, definatly deserves a mention. He does a good job running that station.
 
Gary Berkowitz at PRO-FM. Jay Clark at PRO-AM. There are probably others since then, but maybe radio was more exciting in general when these 2 were at the helm. Berkowitz is consulting now & I think I saw somewhere that Jay Clark was retiring.
 
I think the last great PD was only a few years back. Bill Hess. He is a MASTER at News-Talk. What he did with WHJJ was a lesson in how to do it. It takes time, perserverance, and a formula in that format - and he found all the parts and the strategy to make it happen. If we had to pick just one embarassment in our hometown radio-scape in the last ten years, it would have to be what was allowed to happen to WHJJ after he moved on. He moved the needle at little at WSNE too, but that's such a tough job working in between PRO and LITE. I also think B-101 held it's own as Oldies was in decline.

The real mark of a great PD? Continued success. Correct me if I'm misinformed, but I think he's highly successful doing AC in a top-10 market - still with Clear Channel.
 
Here's one. May not be the greatest but was at the helm during two of the biggest changes in providence radio. Jim Murphy. He was PD of HJY when it went from classical to rock in 81 and PD at Whjj when it went from AC to talk a couple of years later. Two format changes that have effected RI radio to this day.
 
The last great one I think was Tom Cuddy at Pro-FM. He put together that great line up of the mid 80's. He went on to bigger and better things in New York and the ABC Radio and Westwood One.
 
A monkey could run HJY these days, they have no competition. the pd seems more interested in pushiing his night show down everyones throats/
 
decepticon said:
A monkey could run HJY these days, they have no competition. the pd seems more interested in pushiing his night show down everyones throats/
Click to expand...

Well I guess it makes sense to promote the hell out of them now so listeners will be familiar with them when they're moved up to afternoon drive.I think 2007 will be the year.
 
DJ BUUCK ! Born in Providence , Work at Hot 106 , Hot 106 didnt give him the PD job . DJ Buck move to Hot 93.7 in Hartford . DJ Buck Got the PD job at Hot 93.7, And Now Hot 93.7 is one of the Best Hip Hop Stations ,In America . Tony Bristol is doing a good job at Hot 106 . Its to bad that my Hometown has Crappy Jack, on Jamn .
 
I'd cast another vote for JR too....even though we worked together a very long time ago!

Most radio stations (in any market) that employ "monkeys" to be their program directors---usually pay them PEANUTS! ;D

argytunes
 
argytunes said:
I'd cast another vote for JR too....even though we worked together a very long time ago!

Most radio stations (in any market) that employ "monkeys" to be their program directors---usually pay them PEANUTS! ;D

argytunes
Click to expand...


Radio stations need Monkeys. Who else are you going to laugh at? :)
 
had the pleasure to work with several of the "last great pd's in Providence" Gary Berkowitz, who started PRO-FM was absolutely at the top of his game and made PRO-FM into a giant. Remember all those jingles? Cash Call? Music radio. Ten-in-a-row, DOUBLE cash calls.
His mark on it, endured for years after his leaving. Tom Cuddy who followed in his shoes was the greatest detail person I've ever worked for. He maintained and built on the audience that he inherited. Boom Boom was the last PRO-FM PD before the station was sold.( was it cheaper to sell it, than fix it?) Coincidently, the station's ratings at the time of the sale were sliding in all day parts, as his head was more into a "Kiss" format, than mainstream adult contemporary. He tried to compete with 106 by playing more and more "dance?" music, which destroyed PRO-FM's 25-54 core top 40 audience, sending them to Lite and at the time, WSNE. (I'm not bashing him, it's just the way it was.) Coming from Buffalo he really didn't know the market and how Rhode Island is different. Consultants never learned that either. Jay Clark did a decent job for awhile on WPRO-AM, but the onset of FM across the country caused the station to fall, and eventually go the newstalk route, a couple of years after Jay left for WTIC in Connecticut, and after that WABC. In fact Jay was the last music programmer for WABC, just before they went all news. An early legend programmer for WPRO-AM, was Al Herksovitz. He had to battle WICE and WBRU,WGNG, but he was a programming whiz. In those days of the late 60's (remember the only pro in town?) 63 WPRO (color radio) had Pulse (early type arbitron) and Hooper (survey done by telephone calls to homes) shares of anywhere between 20 and 30% of the audience. Yes those figures are correct. He left in 72 or 73 to program the Cap Cities station in L.A. Another reason the station(s) were so successful is because of the general managers. They let the PD's BE the PD. And they also had some pretty nice promotional budgets to work with.
 
I was interning at PRO-FM while David Simpson was PD and think I learned a lot that time. I was also hired on-air by Chris Shebel (with help from Tony Mascaro, the MD at the time) so I'm grateful to all three of them. Jimmy, would you ever have wanted the PRO-FM PD job?
 
...Thanks for your question..but NO...I didn't want the PD gig. Reasons;
1. I could hire good talent, but I could never fire Good talent. I've seen many soon to be great personalties let go because it was easier to replace them, than direct them.
2. I have a tin ear. Would need the strongest of Music Director's by my side for guidance.
3. Coming up with Contest and Promotions would be fun, paperwork and working with sales department (for prizes) would be a maze of paperwork wouldn't be.
4. Being a PD today is tough, they have to wear too many hats, and in some instances run too many stations. I salute those on their efforts.
 
Remember: The LAST great PD could be the NEXT one.

Heck, it'd be easier to move-the-needle TODAY than back-when PD's named above were around.
Now, owners seem willing to settle for shares that used to get PDs in trouble.
Any station -- with a viable signal -- that really cranked it, TODAY, would have impact.
But expectations seem lower now.

Example of "cranking it:" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcPxEFeLbeA

For all the exhausting 24/7 teamwork you will see-and-hear, that particular week of above-and-beyond radio only happened because a program director had a vision, and MADE it happen.

When, since, has a station staged an event of this scope?
 
jimmyone said:
...Thanks for your question..but NO...I didn't want the PD gig. Reasons;
1. I could hire good talent, but I could never fire Good talent. I've seen many soon to be great personalties let go because it was easier to replace them, than direct them.
2. I have a tin ear. Would need the strongest of Music Director's by my side for guidance.
3. Coming up with Contest and Promotions would be fun, paperwork and working with sales department (for prizes) would be a maze of paperwork wouldn't be.
4. Being a PD today is tough, they have to wear too many hats, and in some instances run too many stations. I salute those on their efforts.
Click to expand...

A very interesting read and great points. Thanks for responding!
How about YOU, Holland? Did you ever have any interest in being PD of PRO-FM during your time there?
It must be interesting for both of you to hear how the station sounds today, versus the days when you were there. It will always be PRO-FM, but I for one miss how it used to be.
 
Don't get me started!

Shawn in RI said:
How about YOU, Holland? Did you ever have any interest in being PD of PRO-FM during your time there?
Click to expand...

That's why I left!
I'd been passed-over a couple times for the PRO-FM PD job.
Both times, whoever-they-hired left the station worse-off.
And I got shot-down for the AM PD job when Jay Clark left.
VERY frustrating.
But it happens all the time. I was typecast as on-air talent, the AM station's 7-midnight DJ, period.
Henry Winkler has since done Shakespeare In The Park, but he'll always be The Fonz, y'know?

So, after 6 years "as a player in Triple-A, I left to coach in A," taking the PD job at WKBR/Manchester NH in 1980 I(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqbcdi0ZUbo).

When I left Providence, the newspaper quoted me -- YEARS before any Terminator movies -- saying "I'll be back."

I was, in 1982, as PD of Outlet's WSNE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88oPeNAaMvw).
Two years later, Outlet gave me a shot in Washington, and 7 storied years there led to even better things.
The gag was "I wasn't good enough for WPRO, so I had to settle for WTOP."
By the time TeleMedia asked if I'd be interested in the WPRO PD job in 1993, I felt like I had missed the window.
"Everything happens for a reason," eh?

As I've suggested umpteen times in that WPRO/WHJ tread here on the Providence board, we all make our choices.
Stay and play, or go and grow.
 
And the people they hired instead of me weren't "LOCAL!!!"

Imagine if there was a radio-info.com back then.
All MY pals would've been posting, and bad-mouthing management for not giving the local guy a shot.
;)
 
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