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Movie “Worst To First”

This is an upcoming movie about radio. Specifically, New York radio in the 80’s. Make sure you catch this movie starting February 11th!

The 80’s, a great decade for music. The station Z100 was at the bottom of the ratings, or “The Book.” This is the measurement by which many radio managers live by, as stations can adjust their advertising rates based on the outcome.

“Worst To First” is a great documentary for radio and music lovers. It was so fun to flash back to the music, talk jocks, morning zoos, and live contesting during the time. Before there was internet and online choices, people got their comedy, music, and music news from radio.

WHTZ used to have a station ID bragging that they broadcasted “Serving the Universe from the top of the The Empire State Building!” Truthfully, mostly all NYC stations broadcast from there. It’s something radio stations had fun with. It would be like us shouting, “Broadcasting live from Shafer Butte!” I used to work at a station where our legal I.D. boasted that we were “100 Million Bubbawatts!”

Radio personality Scott Shannon left Florida to try and take Z100 from the bottom to the top of the charts. He did that in exactly 74 days. He didn’t do this alone, or by playing it safe. Howard Stern wouldn’t be where he is, if he had always played it safe.

Scott Shannon had a hand-chosen crew, including the WHTZ engineer. The radio engineer is such an important cog in the wheel of your radio family. You want someone with a balance of knowing how to fix things, great to get along with, and also knowing how things should sound. In the 80’s, radio just sounded different. Part of it might have been playing vinyl instead of digital files, but each engineer can fine tune the processor and compression to really beef up your sound. I can tell when someone has been messing with it. I had a boss once who would sneak a small screwdriver in and fine tune the processor in the engineering room. Eventually, the engineer put a metal rack with holes over it so the knobs were harder to reach. My boss found a smaller screwdriver, and he and I would sometimes adjust as needed. Now we have high-tech HD Radio.

Radio in the 80’s was a bit less “contained.” “Worst to First” is a really fun look into how music changed, and hits were made. Someone from Z100 gave Debbie Gibson the little black hat she was famous for. Jon Bon Jovi, Joan Jett, raved about what a great station and part of history it was. Madonna used to call the station daily, until they finally broke down and played her song “Holiday.”