Chapter XL (More Than A Feeling) 2/16/23 (40)

Download PDF

As I wrote in Chapter XXXIX I was flying from San Diego to Boston to rejoin my mentor, Jim Hilliard who wanted me to help him get WVBF ready to sell.
When my flight finally began its descent into Logan Airport, I started to get excited about doing another radio project with Jim Hilliard, who I hadn’t worked with in almost ten years.

The plan was to do a complete makeover of WVBF, which Jim estimated would take about six months.
When I got to the station, which was in the Prudential Tower, Jim introduced me to the sales manager, Tim Reever. (Pictured with me on top)

Tim, even though he was more buttoned-down than I was, we clicked instantly because, like me, he also was a runner.
However, Tim was into systems, but knowing Jim as I did, he was about to undergo some significant changes because Jim always expected to bill more than the ratings said we deserved.

Tim and I held most of our meetings while running together on the Charles, and to this day, we still laugh about the time he desperately needed my help.
We were doing our daily lunch run when he said he wanted me to talk to Jim about his unreasonable billing demands because we didn’t have enough ratings to produce the number Jim wanted.

Being out of breath while trying to keep up with Tim, I still managed to say, “Tim, it’s a hell of a lot easier to give Jim what he wants than try to talk him out of it.”

Luckily, Tim was a quick study, and while waiting for some decent ratings to show up, together, we were dreaming up some tremendous money-making events.
Sometimes we’d create a promotion we thought would attract a big crowd, or we’d try to figure out how to take advantage of an event that already had a big crowd, like the Boston Marathon.

Being a historical event, the Boston Marathon folks were hard to get involved with because they only cared about the image of the race and weren’t much into promotions.
Luckily for us, the finish line was located near our building, so Tim talked Jim into giving him fifty thousand dollars to rent the sidewalk in front of the “Pru” for race day.

What Tim packed into that sidewalk space was unbelievable, as was the check for half a million-dollar he handed Hilliard at the end of the race. When Jim and I first arrived in Boston, the station already had a great morning show with Loren & Wally, so we brought in Tom Doyle from WHDH for afternoons, Jeff McKee from Key 103 in Austin for midday, and Delilah from KLSY in Seattle for nights. (All pictured above)

Even though I disliked Bosto when I worked there in the’70s, this time it turned out to be one of the most fun places I’ve ever worked.
One of my favorite moments occurred while Hilliard and I walked down the hall together and spotted Loren and Wally talking to Tom Doyle in the production room.

Jim then said, “Let’s say hi to the guys, and as soon as we got in there, he immediately says, “Hey, I’ve got a lot of money tied up in you guys, somebody better make me laugh real quick.”
Without missing a beat, Loren says, “Wally, show him your dick!”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *