Motown 50th Anniversary Radio Special
Precision Media - February 08, 2009
From the earliest days of my career as a writer/interviewer for Casey Kasem's "American Top 40," and over the course of the next couple of decades, I wrote and produced nearly 10,000 hours of radio programming spanning a variety of formats, from Adult Contemporary to Oldies, Old School R&B, Country, Classic Rock and Contemporary Hit Radio. But by 2008, my professionals pursuits were almost exclusively in the Marketing & Communications realm.
Did I miss the broadcasting work? You bet. But I still wrote an occasional music-oriented print article and kept a toe or two in the realm. One of those pieces, a cover story on Motown Records for "Goldmine Magazine," captured the interest of Universal Music, owner of the legendary Motown catalog and, via a friend of mine, they reached out to me about writing and producing a series of radio documentaries promoting the label's upcoming 50th Anniversary. That launched a whirlwind year of cross-country traveling, dozens of interviews, and nail-biting deadlines as I burned the midnight oil creating 14 hours of programming that ultimately aired nationwide.
The biggest thrill for me was securing Smokey Robinson and Mary Wilson of the Supremes to serve as my co-hosts for two of the three broadcasts. As a former Detroit kid who lay in bed at night with a transistor radio pressed against my ear, listening to these music legends (and Mary was also a huge childhood crush!), this was "pinch me" time.
Featured here is one of 32 segments of the eight-hour show I hosted with Smokey. I am as proud of this as anything I have ever done.
Click on the "Audio - Motown Records' Origin" link above.