Radio Veteran Named Top Programmer at AAR
A key position on the new management team of Air America Radio was filled today with the announcement that veteran talk radio executive, David Bernstein, will join the network as vice president of programming.
AAR, which has been criticized for not hiring enough people with a radio backgrou
nd, went with experience in bringing on Bernstein, who has been in the radio business for 32 years. His resume includes programming and news management positions at several top rated stations including WOR, WBZ, WRKO, WHDH, WPRO, WDBO, WAAF, and WTIC.
Bernstein is currently the owner/president of Bernstein Talent, a consulting firm for radio talk show hosts. He is also an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
"David is just the Rx that the doctor ordered," said AAR president Mark Green. "He has a successful track record of over two decades of building ratings and branding talk radio. Because his ability to work with high profile talent is unparalleled, David will be a vital part of Air America 2.0."
It will be interesting to see how Bernstein fits in with struggling liberal talk radio network since most of his experience involved jobs with conservative talk stations.
5 comments:
A successful track record of building ratings? Give me a break! This guy's last stop was at WOR. For a while, they were barely edging out WLIB (AAR's former NY station).
And their demos were geriatric.
Maybe he will bring back Marianne Williamson and some of those weekend advice shows like i.e. America used to carry.
David Bernstein left WOR in March, 2002, so he can hardly be blamed for its ratings since then. In fact, WOR did much better when Bernstein was there than it's doing now.
I think he was the guy who decided not to renew (famous libertarian)
WBZ host David Brudnoy's contract, opting instead for syndie talk with
Tom Snyder. Was reversed after
public outcry.
He left WOR after 10 years due to declining ratings. He lasted only two years in Providence. His most notable contribution there was to hire Joan Rivers to fill Rush's spot locally when Rush was in rehab.
He's been unemployed (teaching part-time) for almost two years.
At WOR he gave Jay Severin his first shot at syndication. And he was responsible for bring in nasty reactionary Bob Grant after WABC dumped him (to hire Hannity).
WOR's owner, Rick Buckley, is infamous for not giving his program directors a free hand and instead insisting on programming to HIS tastes, rather to what would work best in the marketplace. John Mainelli replaced David Bernstein in 2002 and only lasted a few weeks. And WOR's ratings were better when Bernstein was there than they are now.
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