Originally published on December 14, 2007

Bob Bruno

WOR Radio/New York
VP/GM

After 42 years in the biz—30 at New York's WOR—Bob Bruno retires from radio

As the year winds down, radio will lose one of its great managers in Bob Bruno. After a 30-year run at WOR-AM/New York, Bruno announced he will step down as VP/GM.

Getting into the business: I got out of the Air Force in 1963 and went to Announcer Training Studios in New York under the GI bill. My dad was a musician and I had a great love of music—and an enormous lack of talent for it—so I thought the next best thing would be to be around music. My first job was as an on-air personality at WCMC in Wildwood, N.J. I worked at a number of suburban radio stations and then came to New York in 1975 as program director of WNEW-AM. 

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Joining WOR: Dan Griffin was leaving and I came in as PD and held that position for 10 years. I was made GM in 1988. Buckley Broadcasting bought WOR in 1989 and I have served as VP/GM under Rick Buckley for the better part of 20 years.

On your tenure: I spent my youth living out of a suitcase. My father was a piano player and went where the work was. We lived from Bangor, Maine, to Miami to Los Angeles. I actually went to high school in Las Vegas. When I got married to my lovely wife, Arlene, I made a vow that even though radio has a gypsy component to it, I want to stay in this area and give my children a chance to grow up and go to school in one location. When I look at these last 30 years, it is sort of a mini miracle.

Biggest challenge: Trying to keep people motivated, focused, excited and enthusiastic about what they do. We all get somewhat insulated and tend to approach our jobs almost like we are "Joe Lunchbox" heading to the factory and punching in every day, forgetting the excitement and the thrill we all felt getting into it.

Announcing your retirement: At 66 and having been in the race for the last 42 years, it's time for me to step aside and let someone else with a different perspective move the station a little further along than I could. I'd also like to spend more time on my family. Rick Buckley has generously offered to keep me onboard as a programming consultant for 2008. This is a real family business and Rick deserves a nod of appreciation as being a stand-up, stand-alone guy in the biggest market in the world, trying his best as an owner/operator. I have appreciated working for him and all he has done for me. I also have a 24-hour music format I have been nurturing for years called "The Best of Everything." It targets the much-neglected 50+ audience, intelligently and smartly, and is something that has my passion. We have a home in Naples, Fla., so we will be spending some time catching a few sunsets down there. Life looks pretty good.

What you think you will miss most: Interacting with these wonderful people. I have been blessed to work with some of the greatest broadcast talent of our times, from William B. Williams at WNEW to John Gambling here. I won't be missing a lot of the administrative part of the job. I never got into this business with the idea of becoming a manager. My heart has always been in programming. Thankfully, Rick Buckley and others saw something else in me and allowed me to expand my horizons. I have gone far beyond my own abilities because I had to and I will leave here a better professional than when I came in.

State of radio: Media in general is not where I would like it to be. Over the past 30-40 years, we are in a moral free fall. The radio business I got into was more respectful of the audience and had a different perception of itself. Today it is cruder and it can be cruel, too. It's become a celebrity-saturated culture that doesn't engender any kind of core value. I am not writing off radio or media, but there is a silent majority out there saying this is not what we signed up for. Sometimes, in an effort to satisfy Wall Street, we have dropped our pants and shown everything and I'm not sure that is going to serve us over the long haul. What happens between the songs is what sets up a station's personality that builds into loyalty that builds into the kind of support for advertisers every station needs to survive. If you've got the right people in place, you have a real shot at holding and building audience because you have a unique property.

Career highlight: I was very pleased and honored to accept the Marconi award for WOR for legendary station of the year from the National Assn. of Broadcasters. That was an emotional and wonderful moment because it recognized the seminal institution this radio station is. The pantheon of legendary call letters ranks this station right up there with the best of them.

Career disappointment: Looking back I know I could have done many things better. I suppose there are personal disappointments in my own performance, but I have always tried to honor my employer and my lord by doing my best every day.

Advice for broadcasters: Don't minimize the challenge radio faces. Understand it, embrace it and put every tool you have to work to make your station successful. Most of all, after all the data is consumed and all of the ratings and revenue and everything else we know about the business component, give your station and your staff heart and let that heart come through. We are not all so sophisticated that we don't still want to feel that the radio station I listen to cares about me.

Liner Notes
Profile: Bob Bruno
Title: WOR Radio/New York VP/GM
Favorite radio format: "Talk. My second favorite doesn't exist—because they are not playing my song, so to speak."
Favorite TV show: "60 Minutes"
Favorite song: "I've Got You Under My Skin," Frank Sinatra
Favorite book: "I just finished 'Where Have All the Leaders Gone' by Lee Iacocca."
Favorite movie: "Young Frankenstein"
Favorite restaurant: Patsy's in New York
Beverage of choice: "Grey Goose on the rocks, splash of club soda and lots of olives."
Hobbies: "I am obsessed with music. I have an enormous collection. I play tennis and I love horseback riding."
E-mail address: bbruno@wor710.com

'Over the past 30-40 years, we are in a moral free fall. The radio business I got into was more respectful of the audience and had a different perception of itself. Today it is cruder and it can be cruel, too.'—Bob Bruno