Broadway Bill Lee is someone you can think about when you hear the words in the WKRP theme, "Town to town, up and down the dial." That's the way it was in that era. The rest of the story is kind of thing legends are made of. Broadway Bill Lee is the afternoon host at WCBS-FM in New York, a station which always carries a Hall of Fame roster.
I got my first taste of Bill Lee via Art Vuolo's Video Air Checks. Basically, Art would travel across America selling his radio guides for each market and film DJ's performing on the radio and sell those videos to young talent like me who would gather the air staff together and watch with a case of beer. I had no idea, but Bill mentioned during the podcast that he did the same thing back on the 70's.
Today Bill continues to inspire people all around the world to be great on the radio by doing what we really want our talent to do today- and that's connect with the audience on multiple platforms. He posts his "Break of the Day" to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The top comment I see online is, "Why can't we get radio like that in this market?"
Broadway Bill Lee will be at the Conclave Radio Learning Conference in Minneapolis July 26 to 28. I will be on a panel speaking about the opportunity between podcast and radio. Bill isn't sure what he will be speaking about but he would certainly qualify to join Drake Donovan's video seminar the way he has mastered this techincally. (Note how the music is still playing while he is recording.... Bill tells you how to accomplish this in the episode)
To Join us at the Conclave - click on the banner and you will be taken to the homepage. To find out more about the event - you can listen to our episode with event chair Lori Lewis here.
Did you like this episode? Another podcast from Australia about radio called Game Changers Radio by Craig Bruce also featured Bill Lee. There are even more stories in this episode. Subscribe to this podcast as well! Craig Bruce is the former national head of content for Southern Cross Austereo. During his career Craig did everything from push buttons behind a desk to managing and driving some of the biggest names in the industry. If you click on the Game Changers artwork, you will go straight to the Broadway Bill Lee episode.