Guy Zapoleon
July 1969, Birmingham High School in LA. My father thought I wasn't studying hard enough, and was wasting my time writing down and trying to predict the Boss 30 countdown every Wednesday night. I was obsessed with Boss Radio 93/KHJ! I attended summer school for the first day, and also qualified (same day) and won the day's car from the Maverick A Day contest with Charlie Tuna. My Dad told me when I got home that maybe this radio thing might work out for me. I’m on the left and Charlie Tuna in the middle.
September 1972, I built a collection of LA radio surveys back to the beginning of Top 40 radio in Los Angeles in 1958, and then calculated my LA Top 1000 songs of all time. My mother set me up with an interview at WB Records to share my Top 1000 list with Russ Shaw, head of A&R for Warner/Reprise. He called head of publicity Pete Johnson (co-writer of The History of Rock & Roll documentary) who decided to make their monthly WB circular all about my Top 1000, music data that was never published before. The following February my National Top 500 was in Rolling Stone Magazine. When RKO National Music coordinator Betty Breneman saw my WB circular, she interviewed me and I got my first radio job in redoing the music at K-Earth during the summer of 1973.
I continued doing various PT jobs at K-Earth while getting my college degree at UCLA. I then returned to the station in June 1976 as fulltime in Traffic/Continuity. In 1977, GM Allan Chlowitz created an amazing calendar, a parody of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Clubs Band. Here I am as "Ringo" in the front row next to my great friend Brian “Mr. Rock & Roll” Beirne.
I wanted to prove myself to the staff at K-Earth that I could be a radio executive, even though the new PD Bob Hamilton wanted me to interview as MD. As luck would have it, my good friend and mentor Sherman Cohen left KRLA and I got my first MD position with the legendary Art Laboe in February of ’77. In September of ’88, I was hired back as MD with PD Bob Hamilton. K-Earth was known for breaking Dance hits. In early 1979: Bob and I with Lori Holder and Dan Hartman getting a Gold Record for “Instant Replay.”
K-Earth and RKO Radio had gotten an advance copy of Fleetwood Mac's “Tusk” 11 days prior to the official release date. Here I am in late ‘79 as K-Earth MD, talking to Mick Fleetwood at the album release party trying to convince him to put then B Sides "Silver Springs" and "Landslide" on one of their next albums (Mick was never a fan of "Silver Springs" which irked Stevie Nicks to no end).
First PD shot in 1981. Paul Drew had told me I would never be a PD in LA without learning the 1000’s of radio basics (which I really didn't learn as a major market MD). Again, I was blessed that Rick Phalen and Dave Van Stone hired me at KRQQ Tucson in September 1981. Here is the KRQQ staff giving away a House. L to R: Guy, Jeff Davis, Jim Bednarik, Paul Peterson, Scotty Johnson.
In December ‘84 I was hired back from WBZZ to program KZZP/Phoenix and hired Bruce Kelly to do mornings from mornings at WHTT/Boston. In 1986 here we are in front of the KZZP sign with Phoenix resident Alice Cooper along with Mike Elliott, Alice, Bruce, IceMan, Me, Billy Brill.
Thanks to an introduction by legendary A&M promo exec Charlie Minor (in 1984) to EZ Communications Dan Vallie and Tex Meyer, I acquired my first major market PD job at WBZZ Pittsburgh. We had an incredible staff including Quinn & Banana, Jeff Ballentine, Bruce Kelly, Troy Garrett Tank Sherman. Front Row L to R: Linda Jamison Publicist, Guy, Bruce (WB rep), APD Scott Alexander.
In 1988 we faced a three-way CHR battle, and I made the decision to hire consultant and creative genius Jerry Clifton to help KZZP beat back Y95 and KKFR. Here we are brainstorming strategy in the KZZP music library: MD Gene Baxter, APD Todd Fisher, Jerry, Guy.
In 1988 we broke a tremendous amount of music at KZZP. I'll boast that we had the best collection of music people in the history of radio during that four-year period. Steve Goddard, Kevin Weatherly, Gene Baxter, Michelle Santosousso, Darcy Sanders, and Todd Fisher. Here we are getting a platinum record from Def Leppard: Mgr. Cliff Bernstein, Todd, Guy, David Leach, Del Williams.
We had an amazing staff at KZZP and we had a reunion in the late 90s at the Billboard Radio Monitor Convention including Jimmy Kimmel.
1st row: Susie Sabel, Judy Dragon, Lemonhead, Rob Izenberg, Ginger Walton, Bruce Kelly, Valerie Knight, Me, Alex Santamaria, Michelle Santosousso.
2nd row: John Clay, Mike Elliott, Kevin Ryder, Jimmy Kimmel, Mark(Richard Cheese) Davis, Bill Phalen, Rie Walsh, Mike Madigan, Susan Karis.
Back row: Carey Edwards, Paul Talbot, Andy Starr, Clarke Ingram.
July 4, 1990: KHMX/Mix 96.5 in Houston becomes the first official Hot AC station! Many had experimented with more adult leaning Top 40 content but Nationwide’s KHMX was the first Hot AC and after its success, hundreds of Hot AC Mix stations were launched in America and around the world. We had a very talented air talent, including Larry Morgan doing mornings, Paul Christy doing afternoons and two future TV News personalities Susan Lennon and Dominique Sachse.
1994 Michael Bolton Listening Party at R&R Convention featuring many of industry's best. That’s John Ivey in the front, third to the left of Bolton. Pick out these other notable industry pros: Greg Strassell, Mason Dixon, Burt Baumgartner, Jerry Blair, Bill Richards, Steve Kingston, Dave Sholin, Mike McVay, Joel Folger, Mike Kinosian, Bobby Rich, and yes that’s me in the second row.
A major reason I'm in this business is because of my love affair with music. When I think of the music industry, I instantly think of the legendary (and late) Charlie Minor. In this picture he was working for Irving Azoff's Giant Records which perfectly describes his presence in our industry. He was just an incredibly fun and kind man who loved people and cared about so many of us in the business. He made our business so much fun and made me love it even more. Charlie and I had a great relationship and he helped me get my first major market job at WBZZ/Pittsburgh. He respected my ear for music and often called upon me for advice on singles. He represents a different and wonderful time in our business. God I miss this guy! Here I am with Giant's Sharon LaPere and the legend himself.
