I’ve been to so many broadcast conventions & conferences I’ve lost count. Early in my career I attended as a registrant. For the past 20+ years I’ve attended as a guest speaker. But I just realized something: Most radio people never have been to a large radio conference.
My first was a Billboard convention in New York. I was working in a tiny market in Florida, and on my salary I never would have thought of going if Billboard hadn’t done something sneaky: They nominated me Small Market Radio Personality of the Year.
The convention was held at the Plaza Hotel.
The Plaza Hotel (In Happier Times)
Yes, that Plaza Hotel. I had to resist writing “…the fabled Plaza Hotel.”
Fabled or not, famous and synonymous with luxury as it was, my room there was…How shall I put this…?
Well, you’ve seen restrooms at truck stops? My Plaza Hotel room was almost as nice.
It was a pit.
A toilet.
Disgusting.
If you doubt me, just ask the cockroaches with whom I shared it.
I ate all my meals at the Burger King down the street — except for the Awards Banquet, emceed by the inestimable Gary Owens. I still recall his opening line: “Earlier today I had lunch here in the hotel, in the Snobbery Room….”
These days broadcast conferences tend to be much less lively affairs. Considerably less partying. Drastically fewer cool goodies. And gone are the days when a young DJ could eat an entire day’s worth of food by cruising the hospitality suites in the evening.
One modest tote bag stuffer in the early 1990s was a CD produced by Satellite Music Network: “The History of Radio.” SMN has transmogrified to ABC Music Radio. But that CD has sat on my shelf all these years. Here’s the first installment.
