The new installment of the TALKERS MEDIA channel video podcast, “Up Close Far Out,” features a blockbuster conversation between two album rock “golden age” media pioneers – TALKERS founder Michael Harrison and legendary music industry executive, Paul “Rap” Rappaport.
“Rap” was senior vice president of rock promotion at Columbia Records where he served for 33-years during album rock’s golden era, playing a pivotal role in the careers of some of the biggest stars in the business. These included everyone from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd to the Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello to Billy Joel, Judas Priest to Alice In Chains, Journey and many, many more.
His recently released memoir, Gliders Over Hollywood: Airships, Airplay, and the Art of Rock Promotion (Jawbone Press, 2025), tells the exhilarating true story of a blue-collar kid nicknamed “Rap” who grew up enthralled by rock ’n’ roll and then found himself right in the middle of many of his heroes’ lives as he became one of the most renowned rock promotion reps in the nation.
Harrison states, “The book is excellent. I particularly found it fascinating and fun talking with Rap because I was also there during one of pop culture’s most colorful chapters and knew him quite well.” Harrison coined the term Album Oriented Rock (AOR) and was the first programmer to specifically develop and promote it as an official format while serving as program director of KPRI in San Diego in the early seventies and as managing editor of the trade publication Radio & Records though the mid-seventies. From 1970 to 1990, he worked in various roles as DJ and/or program director, at major album rock outlets including WLIR, Long Island; WNEW-FM, New York; KPRI, San Diego; KMET, Los Angeles; and WZLX, Boston in addition to being a syndicated personality on hundreds of AOR stations.
Don’t miss this engaging conversation between two media heavyweights who share their firsthand experiences and memories of a truly special era and connect the dots to today’s very different music and pop cultural scene.