Central Jersey’s Magic 98
During my quest for a new radio station to succeed Coastal Georgia’s 101Q in early 1982, I dropped an audition tape and resume off with Bob Dunphy, Program Director at Central Jersey’s Magic 98. The station’s studios are located in the heart of Central New Jersey, Metro New Brunswick. It’s the college home of the State University of New Jersey. The better known name is Rutgers and the football team is The Scarlet Knights. The legacy dates back to when it was called Queens College, founded in 1766, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in America.
My Dad was a graduate as well as my Grandfather, Great Grandfather and two Great Uncles. I was the first to break that line. Dad never pushed me to go since the town had become a rough place in the 70’s. I had no desire to attend and only cared about finding a way into radio, and he knew it.
Bob called in June and invited me to discuss a full-time opening he had on the Adult Contemporary formatted station. As much as I loved being a Rock Jock at 105-5 WDHA and teaching broadcasting to the next generation of Radio Personalities in New York, I longed for one skinny day off from my 7 day a week schedule. Full-time benefits including vacation time were on the positive side of the decision paper too. Some DJs have said that they would play “Gypsy Dance Music” if it paid enough and I was willing to play Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond for a full time gig.
Magic and WCTC were owned by Greater Media, a nationwide broadcast group with stations in major markets from Boston to Los Angeles. Central Jersey’s population was about 1.5 million making it the 36th size market out of 300 plus in the nation at the time. I also learned that the company owned the Magic name and no other radio station could use it…if it was spelled with “G”. Some stations in non-competing markets, used the word, but spelled it with a “J”. In addition, I was told that Julian Breen was the National Program Director. Julian was the former Production Director and assistant to the legendary Rick Sklar, Program Director of Musicradio WABC in its halcyon days.
The building was a nearly new state of the art edifice, also housing AM sister station, WCTC, The Voice of Central New Jersey. The Corporate Headquarters for the conglomerate were in nearby East Brunswick. If my eyes bulged out the first time I saw Rock 95's remarkable location 4 years earlier, I must have looked like a circus freak on my initial tour of the facilities. The current generation would have called it dope.
At WCTC, there was a full-time News and Sports Staff of about 12 people stationed in one of the largest rooms in the building. 7 satellite studios surrounded a large center studio that doubled as a talk radio or conference room. The rest of the building housed executive, engineering, programming and sales offices. From the outside, it looked like a 22nd Century bunker. The building was erected in 1978 and I was coming in at year 4. In the lobby area, the walls were adorned with head shots of all the personalities from both stations.
Framed Central Jersey WCTC legends included Jack Ellery, Mike Jarmus, Jack Shreve, Buddy Seibert and Tony Dee. On the Magic side, Joe DeRose, Bill Jerome, Ron Fillip and Amy Wright represented the FM crew. My photo would soon fill the empty spot on the line-up wall. The cozy corner look was completed with a curved orange couch from the 70’s and a glass window looking into the ‘CTC on air control room.
I accepted the Overnight Show on Magic to get in and let the school and Mark Chernoff know. The school said I could return any time I wanted. Mark wasn’t real happy that I was going to Magic, but we agreed to maintain contact should anything change. If a full-time position opened at “DHA, I would have definitely gone back. State of the art building or not, Magic 98 didn’t have the heart…or the music that WDHA had.
The one thing you should know, and probably the most important thing is that being on Magic 98 meant that we were squeezed in between two of the largest media markets in the country. Philadelphia to the west of us was market number 5 at the time. Legendary stations filled the city with hall of fame on air personalities. Album oriented Rock Radio is said to have originated at 93-3 WMMR. Closer to our east was New York City, the number one radio market in all of these United States of America. Sing “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra and you’ll get the idea. 99% of all radio personalities that are and ever were, strive to be on the radio in New York. It's a massive population center with people from everywhere on planet earth. Some call it “The Capital of The World.” New York radio stations can hire the best of the best talent money can buy. Back in its heyday, Musicradio 77 WABC would auction their commercial ad time to the highest bidders.
The whole region that stretches from New York, Connecticut and New Jersey to Eastern Pennsylvania and Philadelphia is populated by more radio signals than anywhere in the country and Magic 98 was right smack dab in the middle of it. We competed directly with New York and Philly radio. Similarly formatted 97 WYNY New York was right next door on the FM dial. I was definitely going to be broadcasting to more people than trees. Standing straight up with good posture would be a requirement.
My old pal and mentor, Steve Fox from Rock 95 in Jacksonville said “you’re right there, you should try for New York.”
