[BC] Programmers who understand the audience

[Sid Schweiger]

>>Was Rick Sklar a visionary, or someone who was just there at the 
right time and place?<<

I worked with many of the people who knew him and worked with or for
him.  The general consensus seems to be that he was brilliant at
promotions (his original title at WABC...none of the suits understood,
at the time, the need for a PD, so one of the DJs did it as a sideline),
but maybe not so smart about actual programming.  If you read his book
("Rockin' America"), you can see how good he was at
promotions...especially about promoting himself.  He also set up an
interesting system for selecting music:  a weekly meeting with a random
rotating membership list from the non-sales part of the WABC staff, and
call-outs to record stores, again with a random rotating list of stores
to be called (so that attempts by the record companies or promoters to
spike the numbers on their records would presumably be spotted and
compensated for).  The call-outs were recorded as well.  Given the power
of that tiny list of currents (usually 14-18 records for most of the
years that WABC was on top), getting airplay on WABC almost certainly
resulted in a million-seller.



Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
WAAF - WEEI AM/FM - WKAF
WMKK - WRKO - WVEI AM/FM
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Boston MA  02135-2040
Phone: 617-779-5369
Fax: 617-779-5379
E-Mail: sid at wrko.com