By Robby Bridges
Robby Bridges
If you’ve been to New York City, you remember the first time you went there. Even for those who grew up in the area, there is something truly magical, awe-inspiring really, seeing that enormous skyline of towers and landmarks rise up in the distance and energy unlike any other place in the world. The line from Sinatra’s famous song surely comes to mind… “If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.” And really, a kid with a dream coming to the city or an immigrant arriving in America is no different in the sense that New York represented something to aspire to, to be a part of, to achieve better than where they started.
Of course, for those who do call the Big Apple home, it’s one giant small town. While a kid may dream of playing centerfield for the Yankees, to New Yorkers, everyone’s got a favorite player, a stadium visit they remember or a favorite era. Similarly, a fresh performer may dream of auditioning for the cast of Saturday Night Live, while viewers tune in and out. While both SNL and the Yankee pinstripes are iconic, they might not always get the respect or attention they warrant but they are city institutions, stir passionate feelings for New Yorkers and would be sorely missed universally were they to go away. No different was radio station WPLJ-FM, which was all of those things to generations of New Yorkers. It was that dream to many a young AND grizzled broadcaster and one year ago, on May 31, 2019, it did indeed fall silent. While it’s still hard to believe, PLJ isn’t really gone…
I made a weekly trip to the public library in Cranston, RI as a kid and I still remember reading the April 13, 1991 issue of Billboard. By this time, I started envisioning myself entertaining people and sharing my passion for music on the radio, not that I really had any idea how one did that, until that day. I had dreamed of working with the jocks I enjoyed on Providence stations that I could listen to on my clock radio, but on that day, I read about Scott Shannon, who was about to be the morning host and Program Director at WPLJ, which was in its 20th year on the air. Diving into the article, I read that the station was co-owned by ABC/Cap Cities with WPRO-FM (my hometown Top 40) and that morning host Rocky Allen was moving to my town as Scott joined. The General Manager and Vice President of Programming, Mitch Dolan and Tom Cuddy, had come from similar roles in Providence. I read about Scott’s adventures at Z100, Pirate Radio and how it lead him to ‘PLJ in an epic battle for pop music listeners. A light bulb went off in my head even as a 3rd grader. “I can start in Providence, maybe move around, but if I work hard and do well, I could get to WPLJ too!”
The path was there, others had done it and so began a career long-passion (whether I actually made it was incidental to having a goal and a dream) to make it to New York City and to work at WPLJ. Along the way, I learned that lots of Providence hopefuls just like me had made the trek to PLJ: Dave Stewart, Tony Banks, Naomi DiClemente, David Simpson and Tony Mascaro, who gave me a tour the first time I visited PLJ’s studios in 2000 and was the Music Director, later Operations Manager, from 1997-2013.
“It’s the people who have come through the doors at PLJ… household names in New York as well as around the country,” Mascaro said when I asked him about the legacy of the station. He added, “What made PLJ unique was the station’s ability to entertain the Tri-State area with a mix of huge personality-driven radio combined with music that was hit-driven but also different. The One-Hit Wonder Weekend, ‘80s Ladies, Flush the Format Friday.” “People” was also the answer I heard from Tony’s predecessor as MD, Mike Preston (now at Cumulus-Dallas). “It was this amazing group of folks who each brought something different to the table. It’s a kind of magic that just doesn’t happen that often…” He added, “I think the legacy of the station is that people do matter. We had the resources and the team to accomplish amazing things.”
Rick Gillette, who programmed the station from 2015-18, noted, “You had legendary personalities. There was no station like it…content, all had a personality and something relevant to say…by the way, 9/11/2001, that broadcast may be the quintessential archetype for the entire medium of radio.” Of course, ‘PLJ was on live thru that fateful day in New York’s history and each following year, observed a moment of silence to mark that moment when that famous skyline was changed. “It’s what the audience deserved. They may be listening alone, but you must never feel like you are alone (when listening),” Gillette added.
Prior to its long run as a Hot AC, ‘PLJ was a straight-ahead Top 40 station, and prior to that, an AOR station under the leadership of ABC’s Allen Shaw and, for many years, PD Larry Berger. Leading an all-star roster from ‘PLJ’s first era of talent was morning star Jim Kerr (now mornings with fellow alum Shelli Sonstein on Q104.3), who noted “the people who were on the air at WPLJ were perceived by the audience as friends. There was a distance between the DJ and the listener, placing the on-air talent in an elevated position. That was NOT the case at WPLJ. We and the audience formed one community. All of our personalities had different, unique styles, whatever the daypart, a listener could always tell they were listening to WPLJ.”
Scott Shannon, morning icon and PD from 1991-2014 (now at Entercom WCBS-FM mornings with fellow alum Patty Steele and Race Taylor) puts it all this way: “PLJ was what I like to call a sticky station; it became a part of people’s lives. If you go through the history of modern radio, of Top 40, the stations that were sticky, WLS was, WABC…people feel they know the personalities, those have been the winning stations. We always had something going on, something worth talking about. If you have a clean, minimalistic radio station, WITH personality, that’s where the jackpot is.” He added, “I always tell personalities that you have to leave deep footprints. [It’s more] than being a good disc jockey…you can’t have a lot of needless chit chat people don’t care about”
The final Program Director at WPLJ (now head of programming for the aforementioned WABC) Dave Labrozzi led the station not only thru its final months but had the historic duty of sending WPLJ to its final farewell. “It was a legendary line up of talent, a radio station built on personality…bigger than life promotions…set the standard. A legendary rock station then transitioned into a legendary Hot AC.”
As the final days arrived, hundreds of past and present staffers once again made that trip into Manhattan to gather and reflect on the dream we all had shared, all from different backgrounds, different disciplines, but all connected as a part of something special to our fellow New Yorkers during a once-in-a-lifetime event at the Cutting Room club. Dave said, “Seeing the parade of superstars that returned to say goodbye. (Shout-outs to Joey Kramer and Dan Kelly.) We wanted to send off the station the right way to pay respect to an American icon. How the staff held together, showing up each day knowing the end was coming, determined to finish strong.” Jim Kerr put it this way: “The warmth and friendliness … remained an endearing and enduring part of WPLJ to the end. It was the spirit of WPLJ through its many variations.”
Even a venerable New York institution like SNL has not yet reigned for quite as long as ‘PLJ’s remarkable 48-year run on the radio in Gotham. While it’s gone now, its legacy is still relevant to content creator’s today on radio and on the new frontiers because, as each of these PLJ alums, noted, and as anyone lucky enough to spend time in those halls either at 1330 Avenue of the Americas or 2 Penn Plaza would tell you, it was about the people. Those who listened and those who cared about living up to the product, about following their dreams to create something bigger than themselves. That, ultimately, is what those of us lucky to work at any radio station should strive for especially in these trying times in which we live.
Thank you so much to Scott, Jim, Tony, Dave, Gillette and Mike for sharing with me (and hello to ALL the WPLJ family, so many names deserve mention here).
I somehow managed to follow the dream I had reading Billboard in my hometown library and, many stops later got to feel that rush of opening the microphone at 95-5 PLJ and I am eternally grateful. I try to carry the spirit Jim noted with me in what I do today, including working with Scott on his syndicated True Oldies Channel. I asked him how he thought I did as a PLJ DJ…”adequate.” He’s absolutely right. I hope we all keep a little bit of that spirit in what we do as broadcasters, programmers and people with dreams, and find magical situations to achieve them like WPLJ was for so many years “in the greatest city in the world.”
Robby Bridges has been a programmer and air talent for nearly 30 years in New York, Detroit, the network level and elsewhere. Currently he is working for Entercom in Boston and voice over for multiple clients, including United Stations, Townsquare and Sun Radio.
