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This site is owned and maintained by Michael Serio.
I decided early on in my career that traveling around the country looking for radio jobs wasn’t for me. I discovered how much more fun I have working behind the scenes making other people sound their best.
Producing compelling shows and special broadcasts on the radio has been my focus for the past
30 years.
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My first job in radio was that of a board operator, producing the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre broadcast on AM 68 WWBA in 1980... I guess I didn't do too badly at that, so I was moved to producing our morning news block
"The Higby-Miller Report."
Within the first few months, I had produced news coverage of Ronald Reagan's election, John Lennon’s assassination, the freeing of the American hostages in Tehran, and the attempts on the lives of Pope John Paul II and President Reagan. I was hooked on News and Talk Radio.
Spent 1981-82 at 96 KX working as the promotions
assistant for Scott Robbins. I was on the air ONCE
while the rest of the staff enjoyed the Christmas party.
I doctored that aircheck and it landed me a fulltime air
shift at AM 930 WKXY in Sarasota.
1983... I can still remember the very first long-form, live-local talk show I produced...it was on 1470 WFNN.
Tampa Bay radio icon John Eastman hosted the show and it
featured the mother-daughter psychics Ruby and Mary Dusina.
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1984 to 1988...
I spent four years at News Talk 57 WPLP. We weren't
kidding when we called it a dumpy little building at the
end of a dirt road in the middle of a swamp For most
of 84, it was nothing but senior citizens on the radio
talking to other senior citizens and the ratings were,
well, horrible! The most controversial topic, how
terrible it was that "notch babies" were excluded from
full Social Security benefits. That summer, Don
Richards hired a guy named David Fowler from Houston and
in 86, I was sent to Tampa Airport to pick up Bob
Lassiter from Miami.
In 87, WPLP moved its transmitter to Odessa and cranked
up the power. It could not have come at a better time.
We were midway thru the second term of the Reagan
administration, there was an election coming, Gary Hart
and Jim Baker got caught with their pants down, a guy
named Oliver North testified to congress about the Iran
Contra scandal, and then there was Black Monday on Wall
Street. A lot of serious news stories and a great
time to be in talk radio! The ratings were
good... but the sales staff couldn't convince
advertisers to spend money. Lassiter left for WFLA,
I was moved to mornings to produce David Fowler's show
and then we learned WPLP had been sold.
On March 4, 1988, Susquehanna Broadcasting took possession of WPLP, and eight staff members lost their jobs
that day, including my
friend and talk host, David Fowler.
One month later, the WPLP call letters were gone... and
AM 570 became WTKN.
I've said it before and it's true... In 87-88, WPLP had
"wild freaky sex" with the talk audience, and WTKN just
wanted to hold hands. It was boring and
non-confrontational radio at its worst. Instead of
talking about how Jim and Tammy Faye screwed over
investors, followers and the Carolina taxpayers, WTKN
interviewed mindless authors and peddled colon
cleansers.
I lasted three months under the new regime. It was three
months of hell watching Ed Hartley and Gordon Obarski
destroy all that we'd built. I couldn't take it
anymore and jumped at the chance to join WFLA.
Be sure to read and listen to the
WTKN Radiothon for more about that era.
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1988 to 1990...
I spent two years at NewsRadio 970 WFLA during the tail
end of what's being called the "Glory Days of Talk Radio
in Tampa Bay." I was the first producer of Gardner and Company
and later AM Tampa Bay with Jack Harris & Tedd Webb.
While I spent the most time behind the board as producer
of "The
Bob Lassiter Show" (before he left for Chicago)
I also had the chance to work with most all the
other shows on the station. One of the best memories was
the day that serial killer Ted Bundy was executed and
Dick Norman, Tedd Webb, Courtney J. Campbell (with a LOT
of production help from Jeff Laurence) created a radio
masterpiece... "The First
Annual Ted Bundy Memorial Barbque and Celebrity Roast"
Two days later, I was the producer on the
board when Bob Lassiter announced that Dick had lost his
life earlier that day in a traffic accident. Even now as
I write these words twenty one years later, I remember
that awful empty feeling. While Lassiter was all about
the radio show and was a very private introverted man, "Uncle
Dickie" was just the opposite and was wonderful to
work for and with!
The pic was taken Halloween 89. Martin Giles took
the photo dressed in full costume
On May 1st, 1990, a host named Joe FIores and I were let
go due to bud get cuts. I later found out it was so WFLA had the money to hire Jay Marvin. |
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1988 to 2005... 99.5 FM and 1010 AM - WQYK. Hired
over the telephone without an application or interview because
the Program Director (Jay Miller) was a Talk Radio listener and knew my name.
(and besides, he needed an overnighter to work that very night!)
Over the course of the next 17 years, I had the chance to work
with some of the most dedicated people in the market. Tom
Rivers carried the QYK banner...first as the nightime jock, then
as program director, operations manager and finally as
General Manager.
Tom was the best boss anyone could ever hope for, and challenged each of us
personally and professionally to keep up
with him AND to be the very best at each of our jobs.
For the first five years, I worked the two overnight
weekend shifts on 99.5 WQYK. Tom knew I had a
family and while it wasn't in the budget, he kept me
busy with special projects and promotions.
One of those "special projects" lasted for 13 years as
WQYK served as the flagship station of the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers. From 91 to 03, Jeff Ryan directed the
broadcast from the stadium and I ran the board and
handled all the technical chores back at the studios.
In June of 1993 we flipped the format of the AM station
to Talk Radio and while the rest of the staff was
beating up on "Q105 Country" I was having a great time
with 1010 TALKS! Don Imus was rolled out into
national syndication and 1010 TALKS! was the very first
affiliate and I was behind the board. The I-Man called
and put me on the air several times during the first
couple of months and I gave that wrinkled faced old
geezer the same crap that he dished out.
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In '96, Tom asked me to produce his
morning show on QYK-FM and I stayed in that role until he left
the show in 99. In August 1999 he named me production director
of the stations and I stayed in that job till April 2005.
In August 2003, 1010 changed format...again... back to
Talk Radio. This time with a different New Yorker
in morning drive... it was Howard Stern on 1010 the
Buzz... followed by the SportsChix, Don and Mike with
Ron & Fez at night. No one was ever really in
charge of the programming and I was asked to come in to
make sure Stern didn't cost us the license. It was
a pretty good line-up for in your face talk radio for
guys, but it was on AM... with signal problems... no
promotions budget... and oh yeah... Howard announced
that he was heading to Sirius.
By April 2005, a lot had changed at WQYK. Tom Rivers'
departure, and later his death, left a big hole in the
heart of the staff. The family-like atmosphere
that Tom had created was systematically disassembled and
crushed. WQYK was eventually lumped together with the
other stations in town that CBS owned. There was
petty bickering... broken promises, longtime employees
left or were fired... more consolidation and
terminations were imminent... and in my opinion, the
General Manager perpetuated it all.
Sixteen years and four months after that call to Jay
Miller, I had a decision to make. |
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April 14, 2005 - December 12, 2005.
A big
contract was put in front of me from a brand new competing
country music station and I accepted it. I was
hired as the Assistant Program Director / Morning Show
Producer for Clear Channel's US 103.5 - WFUS-FM. I
quickly discovered I'd jumped from the frying pan right
into the fire. All my talks and negotiations had
been with the agent who handled the deal and NOT with
the station nor its management. BIG MISTAKE! I took the job
specifically for the programming duties and potential
career opportunities within that company that didn't
actually exist. I ended
up spending four months on the air "hosting" the morning
show while Skip Mahaffey sat out his no-compete with WQYK. Along
with Les, Braden, Leslie and Kristen,
we had a blast. Skip finally joined his own show and I
was sent to the producers booth. It soon became clear that it wasn’t the
place for me and we parted ways. I walked away proud of that 6.2 share and #2
ranking in AM drive that we achieved BEFORE Skip joined his own
show (Aug 2005 - A25-54)
It's the
high-water mark that hasn't been matched yet!
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February 2006 to present.
A phone call to Chris Gould, the
General Manager at Salem
Communications led to an interview and a job offer to join
this very special group of people. Today I
serve as Operations Manager of
the four station cluster:
570 & 910 WTBN, Talk Radio 860 WGUL, and News Talk 930 WLSS.
Over the past
thirty years I've worked for three of the four stations in this cluster... 570, 860 and 930.
Who says you can't go home ???
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RADIO RESUME
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