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Bitten at an early age, radio consultant has lived a lifetime in the business he loves most Gary Berkowitz
has been involved in every aspect of radio,
from unpaid intern and on-air personality
to PD—and for the last 18 years,
as one of the business’ most successful
programming consultants. With infectious
enthusiasm and a never-say-no attitude,
Berkowitz is a big believer in a short-term
world of long-term planning.
Liner
Notes First job in radio: At 13, I became an intern at WGBB-AM in Freeport, Long Island. Their disc jockeys were so good, and they had reverb on and cool jingles. I was there throughout high school. My first on-air job was at WTHE on Long Island. In between brokered programming, they played country music. I went to Emerson College in Boston. My first summer I got a job working for Bill Shaughnessy at WVOX. It was a middle-of-the-road station, but I was a screaming top 40 disc jockey, so they would pretty much yell at me all the time. I ended up working for Knight Quality Broadcasting, which owned stations in and around Boston. This was my first real top 40 radio experience. They used me not because I was a good disc jockey, but because I had a car. There would be times where I would do 10-3 in Fitchburg and they’d say, “How quickly can you get down to Fall River?” That was next to Providence, where I heard WPRO-FM. The program director was Jay Clark and I met him and he figured, “What the heck? The kid doesn’t want any money,” so I was a prime prospect. That began the most important part of my career; I stayed at WPRO-FM for many years. Becoming a consultant: From Providence it was Boston, Detroit, and I went back and forth to Providence a few times. What really led me to go on my own was when I had just become program director of Q95 [WKQI] here in Detroit. It was a startup and I had just left WJR, the big AM 50,000-watt clear-channel station. I realized on my first day at my new job I’d made a mistake. I had just signed a two-year deal, but decided when my contract was up I was going into my own business. I had been programming successfully for a long time and made a lot of money for people, and I wanted to give this a shot on my own. And I knew I could always be a program director if my business plan failed. I put my shingle out in 1990; two weeks later, my wife was pregnant with No. 3. And I said, “That’s good, because I’m quitting my job and I’m opening up my own consultancy and I’ve got one client.” Now it’s been 18 years. Company
mission: To
help radio stations get better ratings;
it’s that simple. I work primarily
with AC. Long-term
goals: I
hope to continue doing this as long as
the industry will have me. I love this
business more than anything. There’s
my family, my social world and my business,
and my business to me is everything. Career
highlight: Being
the first PD and the guy that set the
foundation at ’PRO-FM in Providence.
Some 30 years later it is still in the
same format and the No. 1 station in Providence.
The program director and morning guy are
two people I hired and I’m very
proud of that. Career disappointment: There have been no disappointments. In the ’90s, somebody gave me an expression I live by: “Tough times don’t last; tough people do.” If someone told me today my run was over, I could look up and say, “Mom, I’ve made it.” Most influential individual: First would be my wife, BJ. She has been on this roller coaster with me for 35 years. I’ve got three gorgeous children, and she raised them. She’s been the rock and kept it all together for me. Professionally, it’s the guys that believed in me early on: Warren Potash, my general manager at WPRO. The other is Jim Arcara, who was president of Cap Cities Radio. And Dick Rakovan, who was my GM at ’PRO-FM. He had me at my wildest stage ever. Advice for broadcasters: Love the business, consider it an honor to work in our industry, listen to your audience and let them lead you where you need to go. ‘It was a middle-of-the-road station, but I was a screaming top 40 disc jockey, so they would pretty much yell at me all the time.’ —Gary Berkowitz |
