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Pete Salant

From Allan S – Hello Pop. In the truest sense, what is a radio consultant? What kind of training do they have and who was the first radio consultant? 

Mr. Pop History – Radio consultants guide radio stations and their formats to (hopefully) higher ratings and bigger profits. They usually work with management (including the station’s program director.) Some may program directly and there’s a lot of in-between. The 1970’s and 1980’s saw dozens and dozens of these so-called experts in the field. Usually they start as station program directors themselves. They earn their way into the consulting side by successfully programming a station or two. Believe it or not, that’s all it can take. 

An example of this is Pete Salant who programmed New York’s WYNY to top ratings during the early 1980’s. Salant for example, was only at ‘YNY for about three years before he convinced a Philadelphia station that he was the guy. Even though he had been at a New Haven station prior, Salant is a great example of how successfully programming one station (in a major market) can get you into the doors of others. Salant’s Philadelphia station was the new WSNI (104.5) which he programmed similar to WYNY.  

But, the first radio consultant and the guy who invented the term was Mike Joseph back in January of 1958. His first two consulted stations were WMAX Grand Rapids and WROK Rockford, Ill. Joseph’s specialty was top-40 radio.

Mike Joseph’s history in pop radio is amazing. He originally consulted WABC New York when it was converting to top-40 in 1960. When the station was losing big in ratings and revenue in 1981, Joseph wanted $1 million to turn WABC around. Although it was considered, it never happened, but that’s another story.

And, during the 1980’s, Mike Joseph was instrumental in the re-birth of top-40 radio, this time on the FM band with his “Hot Hits” formula. You can read the 1980’s weeks here to get a good feel.

Come back soon, as I answer, to the best of my knowledge, another one of your pop history/culture questions.