Originally published on March 21, 2008

Gary Berkowitz

Berkowitz Broadcast Consulting
President

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.

Getting into the business: My parents took me into New York when I was 8 or 9. Times Square had the Marine Recruiting booth right in the center and they were doing a remote broadcast with Peter Tripp on WMGM—one of those 48-hour marathon broadcasts where he’d been up for 200 hours. I remember distinctively going, “This is what I want to do.” I grew up in New York with WABC, WMCA and when I was really young, WMGM and 1010 WINS. I loved playing the drums, and I loved radio.

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.

Define your programming philosophy: Keep it simple, play the hits. And more importantly, stay with your audience and never get too far ahead of them. Never try to be too cool for the room. Mirror their expectations and what they want.

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.

State of radio: Everyone is saying what’s wrong with our business, and we have to find out what’s right. It hurts me to see so many people losing their jobs because most of us choose to be in radio; we don’t get forced into it. Ten years ago if you got let go as a program director, within 48 hours you’d typically read in R&R that so-and-so is going from here to here. That doesn’t happen today as much.

There are a lot of challenges. I see it with my own kids and they’re grown. They’re not using radio the way I used to. It’s all about content, and sometimes we don’t put enough emphasis there.

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.

The biggest deal is Fresh, the former WNEW-FM, which is now WWFS. My mother died very young and never understood me getting into radio, but her favorite radio station when I was a kid was WNEW-AM, and the fact I am now working with WNEW is very special to me.”

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.

Liner Notes
Profile: Gary Berkowitz
Title: Berkowitz Broadcast Consulting president
Favorite radio format: AC and oldies
Favorite TV show: "Larry King Live"
Favorite song: “Anything written by Burt Bacharach & Hal David or sung by Dionne Warwick”
Favorite movie: “The Godfather”
Favorite book: “Any good ratings book”
Favorite restaurant: “The Village Place in Orchids Lake, Mich.”
Beverage of choice: “Diet Coke”
Hobbies: “Finding time to not be working. For me it’s all-encompassing”
E-mail address: garyberk@aol.com

‘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