John Gorman (radio)

John Gorman
Born (1950-05-07) May 7, 1950
Malden, Massachusetts, United States
Education Boston College
Occupation Radio executive, author,[media consultant],[Chief Content Officer]]
Website GormanMediaBlog.blogspot.com

John Gorman is a radio executive and author from Cleveland, Ohio. He has a long history in media, but most notable is his 13 years at WMMS in Cleveland. In the 1970s, his innovative marketing of WMMS turned a nearly defunct station into one of the most popular in the United States. The station became legendary in promoting local and upcoming talent to the national spotlight. It was his ability to recognize, develop, and motivate talent that made WMMS the legend it became. He also had an uncanny ability, as did the rest of the WMMS staff, to stay in touch with the listening public and his programming reflected this. He knew good music when he heard it, trusted his staff when they made music add recommendations and found a way to make almost any flavor of music fit the wide open WMMS format calling it all Rock and Roll. His efforts earned him various industry awards and acknowledgments.[1][2][3]

In 2007, Gorman published his first book, The Buzzard: Inside The Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio.

Early years

John Gorman was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. At 12 years of age he began operating a private radio station out of his family's attic. His father eventually pulled the plug on his broadcasts but that didn't discourage Gorman. As a teenager he worked in the commercial radio industry as a programming assistant, music director, and talk show producer where he remained until his move to Cleveland in 1973.[4]

Career and achievements

Gorman was awarded "The Radio Consultant of The Year" (1985) at the Annual Pop Music Convention. He was also named "Operations Director of The Year" by Billboard (magazine) in 1995. In 2006, he received the Perseverance award from the Cleveland Entertainment Coalition.

In 2000, his outstanding achievements earned him a respected place in the Broadcaster's Hall of Fame following such prominent inductees as Herb Score, Alan Freed and Grandpa Jones. Gorman was also inducted into the Cleveland Association of Broadcaster' Hall of Fame in April 2008.[5]

Gorman was inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in the "Legends of Rock Radio-Programming" category for his work at WMMS in 2014.

Gorman currently serves as chief content officer of oWOW Radio, an Internet radio station based in Cleveland.[6]

Bibliography

Gorman, John (2007). The Buzzard: Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio—A Memoir. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59851-051-5

References

  1. ↑ http://www.coolcleveland.com /index.php?n=Main.JohnGormanAndTheBuzzard
  2. ↑ http://blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2007/11/memoir_recalls_the_heady_days.html
  3. ↑ Wolff, Carlo (2006). Cleveland Rock and Roll Memories. Gray & Company. pp. 15–19. ISBN 978-1-886228-99-3.
  4. ↑ John Gorman with Tom Feran (2007). The Buzzard Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio. A Memoir. Gray & Company. pp. . ISBN 978-1-886228-47-4.
  5. ↑ http://radiotelevisionbhof.com/detail.cfm
  6. ↑ Niesel, Jeff (February 21, 2015). "New Internet Radio Station From John Gorman Aspires to be Catalyst on the Local Scene". CleveScene.com. Cleveland Scene. Archived from the original on February 23, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
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