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Mark interviews Radio legend Dan Mason. · The Mark Simone Show

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  Speaker 1: Mark Zemmong, Mr. New York, now three hours every weekday
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  Speaker 1: from 9 till noon on 710WOR. Well, hey, with us
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  Speaker 1: right now, this guy's a legend in the radio industry.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the two big giants of radio are iHeart,
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  Speaker 1: and then it would be CBS Radio that owns a
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  Speaker 1: million stations, and the CBS Radio Network, it's now called Odyssey.
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  Speaker 1: But Bob Pittman, of course, the chairman, CEO of iHeart,
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  Speaker 1: but the president and CEO of CBS Radio for years,
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  Speaker 1: Dan Mason. And he just wrote a book. It's a
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  Speaker 1: great book. It's called Fearless, The Life and Times of
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  Speaker 1: a Media Maverick. Dan Mason, Fearless. I want you to
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  Speaker 1: go to Amazon and order it. Just go to Amazon,
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  Speaker 1: type in Dan Mason, Fearless. By the way, all the
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  Speaker 1: proceeds are for charity. They go to the Broadcasters Foundation
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  Speaker 1: of America, which does a lot of great humanitarian work.
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  Speaker 1: Dan Mason, how you doing?
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  Speaker 2: Mark, it is a pleasure to be here. Thank you
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  Speaker 2: for inviting me.
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  Speaker 1: It's a pleasure to talk to you because you're the
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  Speaker 1: big CEO, the big boss. I don't work for you.
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  Speaker 1: I don't have to worry about getting fired by you.
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  Speaker 2: Well, hopefully people would say fairly nice things, I hope,
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  Speaker 2: about me. But anyway.
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  Speaker 1: No, they do. So you started, like a lot of guys,
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  Speaker 1: you wanted to be on the radio and then you
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  Speaker 1: became like the overnight DJ, right? That's where we all start,
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  Speaker 1: doing the overnight show. And how were you as a DJ?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I was okay. I was probably a C, but
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  Speaker 2: it was pretty obvious to me that I wasn't going
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  Speaker 2: to be someone like you. And I wanted to get
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  Speaker 2: in to be a general manager. So after I did that,
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to be in charge of the general managers.
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  Speaker 2: But it was a long road from an overnight disc
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  Speaker 2: jockey to the CEO of CBS Radio. But especially, Mark,
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  Speaker 2: because I never sold a day of my life. I
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  Speaker 2: didn't come from sales. I came from programming. And it's
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  Speaker 2: a tougher road for programmers to become high up in management.
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  Speaker 2: But I did it because I think I had a talent.
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  Speaker 2: And before I tell you what it is, I think
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  Speaker 2: all of us, every one of us on this earth
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  Speaker 2: has a couple of really special talents. I don't think
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  Speaker 2: God dishes them out in barrels. I think he gives
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  Speaker 2: you a few. And You've got to make the best
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  Speaker 2: of it. But I think the talent that I had
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  Speaker 2: was getting people to listen to the radio. And companies
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  Speaker 2: paid dearly for that. So I believe that's how I
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  Speaker 2: did it.
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  Speaker 1: Now you had the biggest people working for you. You
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  Speaker 1: had Imus. You had Howard Stern. You were the guy,
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  Speaker 1: I guess, when Imus got in all that trouble for
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  Speaker 1: some comments, you were the guy that had to decide
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  Speaker 1: what to do about it, right?
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  Speaker 2: Well, actually, in transparency, it was... Probably the CBS legal
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  Speaker 2: department probably finally made that final call. But yes, I
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  Speaker 2: was part of it. And it was very sad. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I'm so happy that Don resurrected his career at WABC.
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  Speaker 2: But it was a very sad, dark day, Mark. And
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  Speaker 2: I'll never forget that. As a matter of fact, that
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  Speaker 2: was probably the darkest day I ever had at the
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  Speaker 2: company in all the years.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I know working with Imus, if you just said hello,
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  Speaker 1: he'd start yelling and screaming and cursing. So what was
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  Speaker 1: it like when you had to tell him, we got
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  Speaker 1: to fire you? That must have been.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I remember, well, like I say, the legal
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  Speaker 2: department was the one that put all that together because
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  Speaker 2: they had to deal with Don's agent and a lot
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  Speaker 2: of the galleys to it. But they called me and said, listen,
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  Speaker 2: we're probably going to make this move on Tuesday or Monday, Tuesday,
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  Speaker 2: somewhere like that. But take the weekend and Maybe give
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  Speaker 2: Don a call and kind of give him kind of
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  Speaker 2: a heads up that things aren't going to be good.
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  Speaker 2: And I did. And I found a quiet room like
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  Speaker 2: a Saturday morning. I called Don and we talked a bit.
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  Speaker 2: And he said, is there anything you think you can
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  Speaker 2: do for me? And I thought, Don, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: wish I could, but I don't see it. I don't
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  Speaker 2: see how it could happen. And it was just dead silence, Mark,
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  Speaker 2: for like 20 seconds or so. And he said, well, listen,
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  Speaker 2: thanks for everything. And I appreciate it. Hung up. And
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  Speaker 2: I found the nearest garbage can where I could throw up.
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  Speaker 2: I just felt awful. It was a whole awful situation
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  Speaker 2: from top to bottom. I mean, you know, but like
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  Speaker 2: I say, the good news is at least Don went
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  Speaker 2: on to have some good years at WABC.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, that's one thing I did notice about him
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  Speaker 1: is for all his yelling and screaming and cursing, in
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  Speaker 1: a moment like that, in the most crucial moment, he
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  Speaker 1: could be quite the gentleman, quite a business person.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, he had a ton of remorse.
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  Speaker 2: for what he said. He knew that he crossed the line.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we all know where that line is, Mark,
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  Speaker 2: and you can't cross it. I mean, this is public airwaves.
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  Speaker 2: You can't just say everything that comes to the top
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  Speaker 2: of your head. But he made a terrible mistake that
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure he wished he could have taken that 10
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  Speaker 2: seconds back. You know, he did a lot of charity work.
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  Speaker 2: He did a lot of good things for a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people with the Imus Ranch.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, yeah. Hey, Dan Mason, you also had Howard Stern
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  Speaker 1: working for you. That must have been a rollercoaster, too.
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  Speaker 2: Most of those stories are too dirty to tell on
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  Speaker 2: the radio. I'm sorry. You've got to read the book
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  Speaker 2: for that, Mark.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, get the book. We can't say it on the air,
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  Speaker 1: but I guess Stern left when you were there, right?
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  Speaker 1: That's when he went to the satellite?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. He had already gone, and then I came back.
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  Speaker 2: I did two stints at CBS, and he was at
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  Speaker 2: SiriusXM the second time, and that's where are you originates from.
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  Speaker 1: But you know a lot of stories in spain tells
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: about taylor swift your dealings with taylor swift.
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  Speaker 2: That was really interesting i i i just come back
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  Speaker 2: to cbs's two thousand seven and uh... a friend of
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  Speaker 2: well-known cbs uh... corporate wanted me to attend american women
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  Speaker 2: in radio and television dinner which i was glad to
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  Speaker 2: do i've just been back a month and uh... My
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  Speaker 2: communications director said, listen, we're going to set you next
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  Speaker 2: to Taylor Swift tonight. And I thought, okay, that's fine.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I didn't really know who Taylor Swift was
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  Speaker 2: at 2007. And she's probably like a 17-year-old girl then,
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  Speaker 2: and she comes and sits down next to me. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm thinking to myself, God, you need to be in
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  Speaker 2: high school, Taylor. Would you do your homework or anything?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, why are you here? But she kept her
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  Speaker 2: head down most of the night, didn't say a lot,
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  Speaker 2: very unassuming, and had her mother next to her. So
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  Speaker 2: it was... It actually was hard to talk to her
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  Speaker 2: because I didn't know what to say. So she got
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  Speaker 2: up and played a couple of songs and did her thing,
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  Speaker 2: did a great job. And that was the end of that.
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  Speaker 2: And lo and behold, I mean, I had two or
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  Speaker 2: three other experiences with her over the years. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: look at her now. But I will say that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: of all the artists that I've run into, all of them,
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  Speaker 2: there is nobody better and more appreciative of radio people
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  Speaker 2: than Taylor Swift.
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  Speaker 1: So at 17, she gets up and sings. Did you
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  Speaker 1: say to yourself, she could be the biggest star in music?
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  Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. I mean, she got a nice kind
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  Speaker 2: of golf clap from the audience, you know, but no.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, she was fine, but absolutely not. I think that.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, so Dan Mason, you're the chairman, the CEO of
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  Speaker 1: the biggest radio company for years, and TV viewership is
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  Speaker 1: way down, way down. But radio's pretty much holding its own.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think's the future of radio?
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, they've been trying to kill off radio
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  Speaker 2: since it began in 1920. So, you know, when color
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  Speaker 2: TV came out in about 53 or 54 or something
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  Speaker 2: like that, finally the naysayers all said, well, radio's dead now.
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  Speaker 2: We've got television. And then, you know, you had satellite
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  Speaker 2: radio come along and they said, well, now it's dead
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  Speaker 2: for sure. And no, it kept going. And now this
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  Speaker 2: Apple CarPlay and you know, Android and everything else in
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  Speaker 2: the dash, but you know what? That AM and FM
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  Speaker 2: radio is still there. Yeah. Still there. And I don't
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  Speaker 2: see it going anywhere.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Add podcasting to that. And you got people spending
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  Speaker 1: more time listening to audio than watching TV most of
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  Speaker 1: the time.
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  Speaker 2: So, you know, it's interesting. That's a really good comment
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  Speaker 2: because radio is not necessarily about a dumb appliance. It's a,
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  Speaker 2: it's a, it's audio, it's companionship. Um, If you look
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  Speaker 2: at a radio, it is a pretty dumb appliance sitting
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  Speaker 2: there on somebody's desktop. But they don't have a lot
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  Speaker 2: of those anymore. I think I'm down to one radio
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  Speaker 2: in my whole house. But it's all about audio. And
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  Speaker 2: then it's all about radio is about making friends. That's
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  Speaker 2: what it's about. And that's what you do at WOR.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I've been listening to your show this morning.
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  Speaker 2: And these people who are calling in, they consider themselves
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  Speaker 2: your friends.
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  Speaker 1: They are.
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  Speaker 2: Part of your family. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's a great book. We recommend it. Go get it.
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  Speaker 1: It's on Amazon. It's Dan Mason, longtime president, CEO of
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  Speaker 1: one of the biggest radio companies. But the book's called
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  Speaker 1: Dan Mason. It's Dan Mason. The book's called Fearless, The
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  Speaker 1: Life and Times of a Media Maverick. And it's all
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  Speaker 1: for charity. It goes to a great charity, the Broadcasters
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  Speaker 1: Foundation of America. Dan Mason. The book is fearless. Go
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  Speaker 1: to Amazon and get it. Well, Dan Mason, great to
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  Speaker 1: talk to you. Thanks for being with us.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Mark, for having me. All right.
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  Speaker 1: Take care.
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  Speaker 2: All right. Thanks. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: It's a lot of great stories in that book. We
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  Speaker 1: got a lot coming up in the next hour. Don't forget.
• 9:27
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• 9:31
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• 9:33
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• 9:54
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