By Walter Sabo
Producer/Host
Sterling on Sunday
Media Consultant
When thinking about the changes in the radio industry I’ve seen during my career, I’m dragged to memories of the lobby of WXLO-FM in New York (WOR’s FM sister). The station was on the second floor of 1440 Broadway. WOR-AM was on the 24th and 23rd floors. In technical terms, the place was a dump. Dirty linoleum. Ancient office furniture. The original ceiling was spray painted black to hide the fact that it was not an acoustic drop down ceiling. Not one window in the place. BUT the signal was the best on the FM band. WXLO was the first station to hire me almost out of college. I needed a summer job between my junior and senior year but WXLO did not have summer jobs. The general manager, Arthur Adler offered me a full time job which I accepted immediately.
For my on-boarding process Arthur walked me to the fluorescent sales area and pointed to an empty cubicle. Then, he vanished. Next his secretary escorted me to the personnel department many flights up. I was seated next to an official person who was gathering many forms for me to fill out. These forms included the all-important TUITION REIMBURSEMENT form which compelled RKO General (the station’s then-owner) to pay for my last semester in college. (I attended Rutgers at night and had the credits transferred to my diploma school, Syracuse University.) On the official person’s desk sat a three-ring binder wide opened to the KHJ (Los Angeles) TALENT page. Wide open. Staring at me, beckoning, teasing me to look. What could I do? Robert W Morgan, morning man, HIGH five figures a year. The Real Don Steele, PM drive mid-five figures. Every other jock was paid AFTRA scale. It was a crash course in radio economics and I wasn’t even a legal adult. But I digress. Now for the point.
A few days later the front door on the second floor was banging. The receptionist, a kind, timid person, hit the intercom key and asked who was knocking? Even back then, at 40th and Broadway visitors were a high security issue. That door was locked for about a million good reasons. Who was at the door? A “menacing” man in a fancy suit and perfect hair said his name, but the receptionist did not recognize him or his name. He repeated, “I’m THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY.” That’s what he said. But he wasn’t. He was the vice president. I learned a lot then too.
A receptionist is not just the gatekeeper to the business. He/she could be the gatekeeper to your career, or fortune. That is, of course, if the establishment you are visiting still has a receptionist. My brother, the smart one, is a financial big shot. Highly respected, oddly humble. Companies come to him for funding. Executives seeking financial backing sit with his receptionist for an unusually long time. When the visitors are invited from the lobby to the conference room, they are ALL invited into the conference room – including the receptionist. The meeting starts with my brother asking the “receptionist” for her impressions of the guests. Then it is revealed that the receptionist is actually a high ranking, decision-making executive.
The second floor receptionist at WXLO let her feelings about the boisterous vice president be known and said VP was not titled for long. Dumb companies have eliminated receptionists and instead greet visitors with touch tone wall phones and posted extensions directories. The loss of ground intelligence is significant – especially if the station is located in a high-priced downtown office building designed to impress.
Plus a lot of executives waste time running to the door to get food orders. False economy.
Walter Sabo is a long-time radio industry consultant and thought leader. He hosts and produces a network radio show titled “Sterling on Sunday” 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET. www.waltersterlingshow.com. walter@sabomedia.com