SABO SEZ: A Long History – Do Not Fear AI
By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”
Andy Economos, the founder of Radio Computing Systems (RCS), was a leader in bringing digital tech into the radio industry. In 1980, he was leaving his position as head of technology for NBC Inc. to start his own company. I was EVP of the NBC FM stations. Andy and I were walking to lunch, crossing Sixth Avenue at 49th street and he asked me, “Is there any software your radio stations could use?”
I said, “Yes, we could use software that programs music.” He was interested. I said, “When you invent that, NBC will buy your first products.”
Andy went forth and invented “Selector,” the first viable, almost easy-to-understand, user-friendly music programming software. Prior to “Selector,” music was programmed in a wide variety of homemade processes such as rotating songs against back timing photo lab clocks (WABC) to RKO’s “Gold Book” mess requiring jocks to use many colored pens to log off played songs. Or the wooden spike technique: Jocks took the 45s off one spike after it was played and stacked it on a different spike – really.
The adoption of “Selector” didn’t go as planned. First, most of the industry was terrified that what little freedom jocks had to select songs would be lost. My favorite cry from jocks, “But when it’s raining, I’ve got to play a song that sings about rain.”
My hope for computerizing the organization of songs was that it would free up programmers to program! The desired end game was that programmers would have more time to talk with their talent, create bigger promotions and upgrade overall production.
What happened, however, was most programmers devoted more time to programming music! Throughout the country programmers pored over the output from “Selector” and manually, hour by hour by hour and edited every song.
When discussing the virtue of precision music selection, WABC midday talent Ron Lundy said, “It don’t mean nothinnnnn.”
AI is just like “Selector.” First, it strikes fear. But it will be used in every radio station very soon. How it will be used and its impact on you will be different than we can imagine. The more a person learns about AI’s capabilities and how to use its fresh options, the more control they will have of it.
Walter Sabo has been a C-Suite action partner for companies such as SiriusXM, Hearst, Press Broadcasting, Gannett, RKO General, and many other leading media outlets. His company, HITVIEWS, in 2007, was the first to identify and monetize video influencers. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.