June 4th, 2009 
joel 
My addiction to the trade newspaper Radio & Records began at age 17. 29 years later, it’s over.
Nielsen Media announced that the last issue of R&R will be Friday’s, and the radioandrecords.com website has already been taken down.
My first exposure was those many years ago in the lounge area on the second floor of the old Gannon Theatre, where outside of the faculty offices, you could do some last minute homework, get your WERG or theatre mail, pontificate on the latest move in Erie media (had to start somewhere!), and read R&R.
I did a lot of reading R&R.
This was a newspaper dedicated to spotlighting best practice in radio programming, and I soaked it up. As college students programming the only Album Oriented Rock station in Erie at the time, we scanned the AOR charts, digging in for not only the easy picks, but the tasty new sounds of the New Wave in the early 1980’s. Meanwhile, we read stories about the latest move by John “Records” Landecker, or what antics WLUP/Chicago was up to, and the shocking move by WABC/New York to go News/Talk.
As I graduated, I found my first full-time gig advertised in the jobs section of R&R, as WDOE/Dunkirk, NY was hiring a couple announcers at the time. Later, I spent five years at Film House in Nashville, who was a major advertiser in R&R at the time, and a couple of my fellow marketing directors had worked in LA at the paper. We had so much clout that we would get copies of the paper a day in advance; I actually had my own personal copy delivered to my office! In 1990, I was able to jet off to Beverly Hills to the R&R Convention, one of the glitziest events I’ve ever encountered, complete with a private Eagles reunion concert!
In the mid-1990’s R&R began a Christian music section and WCTL was fortunate to be one of only 40 reporters in the country to their chart. That’s when the dinners at the annual Gospel Music Association conference got quite a bit better! Our morning show was featured in an article in 2002 which was a source of great pride. In fact, we struck up a friendship with the Christian editor at the time, Rick Welke, who came to Erie to visit and play in a golf tournament we sponsored.
On a lark in 2003, I decided to take my developing passion for writing out for a spin. I wrote an article about promotions that I wanted Rick to look over and give me some pointers before I submitted it to one of the smaller trades. Well, not only did he like it, but he ran “Brand the Right Way”, in Radio and Records, on March 7, 2003!!!
I’m going to miss R&R. It comes on top of so many other losses and disappointments that have come to both radio and the record business over the past decade. All the best to those great R&R managers, editors, and writers who were the best cheerleaders for what radio guys do everyday.
Editor’s Note: Read this excellent tribute to R&R by Jerry Del Colliano in Inside Music Media.
Posted in 
Tags: 
Loading ...
Joel, though I was at GU a few years after you, I share your memories of R&R– though for me it was the online version and at the 7th and Peach studio in the Walker Building. As a programmer in training, R&R was my bible! Sad to see it go!
Back in the 80’s, R&R had a “Grammy prediction” contest and the prize to whomever predicted the most winners was a year’s subscription to R&R.
I won it. And for a whole year I not only had R&R delivered right to my mailbox, but I also got all the promotional goodies that went along with it.
As I noted elsewhere R&R was great for many reasons, but chiefly because it presented the whole story of the business. Plus the music charts were very reliable…moreso than Billboard was back then…because they were based solely on airplay.
And the jobs section…which often took up 3-4 pages…was the reason most PD’s kept current issues hidden from the jocks.
Another end of an era…in a year in which there have been TOO MANY eras ended.
The first issue of R&R I ever picked-up was in the old Schuster Theatre at Gannon University on West 7th. As an industry publication it pretty much covered all the bases (great shot of you posing with your article, Joel!). As Jim said above, it took time for the jocks to be able to get their hands on it and it was well-used by that time–sometimes with the “Jobs” section ripped-out
. Articles and columns by Joel Denver, Lon Helton, Dan O’Day: lots of great stuff on the CONTENT side of the biz as well as the financial. During my days as WXTA Music Director the R&R Hot Fax (fax? What’s a fax?) was THE hot-off-the-press guide to national airplay, and being a Reporting Station got you status (as well as your name on the “Adds for the Week” page). My students use (used) the website regularly to help gauge which singles to add on WERG (hi, Zach!). It was a shock on Wednesday to hear that R&R was suspending operations immediately, and it will be missed. I got the news from AllAccess.com, a website which stands to benefit from the loss, and I’ve already heard that the format charts will turn-up in some form at Billboard.
Many fond memories of R&R when I was a research analyst at Katz radio in NYC back in the late 1980s. We’d circulate our copy around the department, and put our initials at the top after you’d read it and put it in the next person’s in-box. I was always walking around the office yelling, “Who’s got the latest R&R? I need it!!”
I even begged my boss to let me go to the R&R convention in Dallas (think that’s the city) but he said no. I was totally bummed to see my favorite band’s photo with a female convention goer in an issue about two weeks after the gig. The band had been milling around the convention and lots of people got their photos taken with them. I ran into his office screaming, “Look, Look! I told you I should have been at the R&R convention!” and I shoved the picture of the band (which everyone knew I was obsessed with) under his nose. He could have cared less. But I was pissed!
Though no longer in the biz (I’m an author now and published a book about my spiritual awakening with a famous rock band…go figure) R&R holds a special place in my heart. So sad it’s going to be gone forever.
I am a chart junkie! Billboard for many years, scratch that, many decades was THE chart! As the 90’s approached and less singles were issued for songs, it was apparent that it affected the singles charts. Many songs got airplay without singles. Billboard didn’t rank these songs. Some big hits weren’t in their charts. That’s where R&R came into play. They charted what was on radio nationwide! They became THE charts! Even as of last week they were THE charts, Billboard still seemed less of what we were listening to. I hope Billboard continues to chart songs the way R&R did with radio play and have their seperate chart for sales.
Dan, you have singles in your collection that that Joel Whitburn needs for his
I can’t believe R&R is gone by the wayside! I loved reading the articles and getting ideas and just learning the biz better. I was part of the morning show that was featured i 2002 (that Joel referred to in his tribute) It was 7 years ago..but I still have it framed and, hands down, it’s a source of pride.
Thanks to R&R’s writers, editors and staff for all the valuable information through the years!!