Everybody Knows Gary Berkowitz

7-26-2013

I don?t know anyone in the radio business who doesn?t know Gary Berkowitz. Whether your background is in AC or CHR, in markets all around the country, it seems people have run into Gary. As the consummate programming guru, Gary has touched many successful stations and it?s his expertise that makes them enduringly successful. Gary has always treated his stations as relevant communications vehicles, giving the listener the one-on-one relationship that makes radio the medium with a connection. Gary has always engaged the industry in a very personal manner, which makes everyone who knows him a colleague and a friend. Gary has taught me how to have fun while working hard, and to earn the respect of the industry by putting forth 150 percent effort and achieving 200 percent results.

Now, in his own words, here's how Gary Berkowitz of Berkowitz Broadcast Consulting got into radio?

I remember the moment I discovered my love of radio, it was the day I was with my parents in NYC's Times Square and I went by the army recruiting booth. Then-Top 40 WMGM was holding a ?radiothon? to raise money for the fight against polio. I stood frozen watching the jock, Peter Tripp, talk to people, talk to the engineer, and talk to the audience.

By the time I started high school, I had spent years listening to WMCA and WABC. The school I attended allowed me to create a radio station, which was really the PA system that covered the school for daily reports. But my friend Lance Sheppard?s father was a staff announcer at WABC, so when the bell rang at 3:00 p.m. Lance and I headed to the studios of either WABC or WMCA, arriving by 3:12 p.m. I don?t know if this was the coolest thing we did or just hearing Lance?s dad once an hour on Dan Ingram?s show announcing ?WABC, New York,? or as we heard it ?double you, A, B, C, New York.?

My first job was at WGBB, a full-service middle-of-the-road, station located in Merrick, Long Island. I was the office intern/schlep who did everything for everybody. The PD was Bob Lawrence who let me sit in on the music meetings, the jock critiques, and all other pertinent meetings regarding programming; I was a sponge. While attending Emerson College in Boston I worked at WERS, the college radio station. During college I applied for a job at Knight Quality Broadcasting, where the president of the company was Norman Knight, a former speech writer for President Kennedy. It was run by his son Scott. They owned many Top 40 stations outside Boston and I got my first real job at WEIM in Fitchburg doing nights and weekends. We had jingles and reverb and I was even paid! Then it was on to WCAP in Lowell and WAAB in Worcester, all while I was at Emerson.

It was thanks to this exposure, during my junior year at Emerson, that I had the nerve to apply to WPRO in Providence. It was a powerhouse Top 40. Jay Clark was the PD. I called the station and asked to speak with Jay and actually got thru. I made an appointment to meet with him to interview for the internship position. One thing led to another and after performing every job at the station I finally got an overnight, weekend on-air shift as Gary Daniels. From there I became the fulltime late night jock. A few years later, I was approached by Jay and GM Warren Potash about taking the Shulke beautiful music WPRO FM and making it a Top 40 station. They looked me square in the eye and said, ?We?ll let you do it with one condition, you change your name on air to Gary Berkowitz." Ten years later I left WPRO and felt as if I had finally made my way into the radio business.  

You can email Gary at gary@garyberk.com

Lisa Miller is the President of Miller Broadcast Management in Chicago. She's also one of Radio Ink's Most Influential Women in Radio. Miller can be reached at Lisa@millerbroadcast.com or 312-454-1111.

So, how did you get into radio? We'd love to hear the story about why you're passionate about radio.

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Eric Church Wants to 'Kick Everybody Else's Ass in the Industry' With Third Album

It's a sunny Tuesday afternoon on the west side of Nashville as Eric Church sips a beer and relaxes on the deck of a brick house. But he's not chilling at home. He's taking a break from the basement studio of producer Jay Joyce, where they're recording "Chief," his third album.

"It's the most fun I've had in the studio since we've been doing this," he says of working with Joyce, primarily known for producing such non-country acts as Audio Adrenaline, Macy Gray, John Hiatt and Patty Griffin.

Arthur Buenahora, who signed Church to a publishing deal at Sony Tree, suggested he meet Joyce. They worked together on Church's 2006 Capitol Records Nashville debut, "Sinners Like Me," and 2009's "Carolina." "Jay had never even really heard country music, much less produced it," Church says. "We were both a little wary of each other. We made a couple of tracks together and I just fell in love with them. He's a genius in the studio."

Church and Joyce's collaborations have proved successful. Fans recently voted him the Academy of Country Music's top new solo vocalist. His last single, "Smoke a Little Smoke," peaked at No. 16 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and "Homeboy," the lead single from the new album, is No. 22.

"We've had enough success now that I can push the envelope," Church says. "I held back a little bit sometimes because I was afraid people would think I'd lost my mind. Then 'Smoke a Little Smoke' was a hit... I saw it work when everybody told me it wouldn't. I decided that whatever little bit of rope they gave me on that song, I just tied it to the back of the truck and took off down the road."

Church began recording "Chief" last November and the afternoon he spoke to Billboard was the last day of tracking. "I have a couple more songs that are wild cards," he says. "We're really pushing the envelope today and seeing if I can find lightning in a bottle."

Heading down to the basement to join Joyce, Church seems relaxed as they begin working on "She Got a Rock So I'm Getting Stoned." Church delivers the song with the right combination of anger, angst and resignation. Drummer Craig Wright is in the next room, but bassist Lee Hendrix and guitarists J.T. Cornfloss and Brian Sutton are in the room with Joyce and Church.

"It's very vibe-y," Church says. "Everybody is on top of each other. It's not a big nice studio. There's no catering. We're not here to baby everybody. We're here to make music. I know how I want it to sound, how I
want it to feel... it allows me to be beside the guitar player and slap him on the arm if something is right."

Church uses his road band on some tracks (Hendrix and Wright are his players) and also enlists studio musicians. "There's a couple songs on this record that I'm playing all the guitars on and that's the first time that's happened," the North Carolina native says. "I'm playing acoustic on 'Home Boy'... and I'm singing a lot of the harmonies on it too. It just feels like I'm more involved in every aspect."

The album is slated for release on July 26. Church wrote or co-wrote all but one song (Casey Beathard penned "Like Jesus Does") and he knows he'll have to cull the 15 tracks he's recorded down to 10 or 11.

"It's the hardest part, other than capturing them," says Church, who also gets his wife, Joyce and Buenahora to weigh in on the best tracks to keep. "I have to get in my truck and ride around with all 15 and see which ones feel like they're from either a different record, or [if it] feels like we've not got there yet."

Church acknowledges he's considered a bit of a renegade. "I'm seen as the bad boy, a lone wolf. I do my own thing and that's OK," he says. "I'm not doing it to make friends. I just want to make great music and honestly kick everybody else's ass in the industry. That's my goal."

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