honoring Larry Glick, Arnie Ginsburg, etc

[Kevin Vahey]

Those of us who had to deal with Mac all have stories. I remember once
I had to buy something for the station out of my pocket and to get
paid back was quite the process (and the amount was under $5)

One Saturday afteroon I encountered Mac sitting on a park bench
listening to Tommy Hadges on WTBS. He told me he had the chance to buy
WBOS-FM for 300K but said no because of his experience with WPGC in
Washington but he could now see he made a mistake. He knew it was only
a matter of time before FM became the choice of listeners.

He ignored the advice of his engineers and decided to go 50K daytime
because he wanted 50,000 watts on the rate card knowing it would
impress the buyers in New York.

Still he was able to fight the powerful group owners (Westinghouse and
RKO General) well. Remember it was Westinghouse that blinked first
when WRKO went Top 40)

Indeed he was a ruthless man to work for and I understand where Jack
is coming from. However you have to look at the finished product that
people heard on their radios.



On 8/21/08, Jack Marshall <wvnh@wvnh.net> wrote:
>> "Kevin Vahey" <kvahey@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>> For ownership one has to include Maxwell E Richmond. What he did with
>> WMEX was extraordinary given the signal limitations.
>
> Wow, this one brings very mixed feelings to the surface for me. Having
> worked for the man, I know first hand how ruthless he could be with his
> staff. The thought of honoring him is still very off-putting to me.
>
> OTOH, he was the driving force behind a highly successful station in the
> 1960's and part of the 1970's as well as an extremely good judge of air
> talent. Just look at the Who's Who of broadcasting legends that he hired
> at one time or another for validation of that.
>
> This one is a tough call for me even after 37 years of hindsight. Honor
> the station? No problem here. Honor the men who worked there? Sure.
> Honor Mac? ::shiver::
>
> Jack
>