As the son of a radio station owner, Tony Renda grew up in broadcasting. His dad, Tony Renda Sr, started with an AM station in East McKeesport, Pennsylvania, before growing the company to many station in several markets.
Growing up near Pitt, Tony Jr. new about the Big East, and of course Syracuse. His dad was an alum. But he didn't go straight from high school to Central New York; he didn't have the grades. So he spent a year at Ohio University before transferring.
Once in the 315, Tony's fraternity brother, Scott Taylor, was VP of Business at the station, and he brought Tony over. Like many of us, Tony was in awe from the moment he walked in - from the jocks, to the sports and news guys, to even the bumper stickers on the wall. He knew he had to be there.
He quickly became development director, then VP of Business, which provided the opportunity to stay in Syracuse for the summer of 1993, when the station gave away a Geo Tracker. You've probably heard that story before, but today, you'll hear Tony tell the story of walking into Billy Fuccillo's office and securing the car.
After graduation, he could have gone straight into the family business, but Tony first wanted some real life experience. He followed Scotty T to Katz Media in New York, where he honed his skills. Eventually he did come to Renda Broadcasting, starting in Jacksonville, and having worked in Pittsburgh and now Fort Myers-Naples, Florida.
In today's episode, you'll also hear what Tony looks for when he interviews a job candidate. It's an important lesson.
To learn more about Renda Broadcasting and career opportunities, visit https://rendabroadcasting.com/
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.
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JAG: Welcome to WJPZ at 50. I am Jon Jag Gay. Contrary to popular belief, we have not exhausted the well of the tremendous class of 1995. And we have a very special guest today. That will be Mr. Tony Renda. Welcome to the podcast.
Tony: Thanks, Jon. I'm very happy to be here.
JAG: So I'll start with you where I start with everybody. Tell me how you found out about Syracuse and then how you found out about the radio station.
Tony: First off, I think we need to pause. I think we need to recognize what you have going on here. What you've created here with this podcast, with all these episodes, is really epic. This is gonna be in sci fi movies. When they go to the magic hard drive in the future where all information is this podcast It's going to be there 300 years from now in 500 years from now. You will be documented. It'll be transcribed. They'll extract us. They'll make us AI. They'll animate you. The studio that you're in, and you will live on forever. I think that you are a fundamental and foundational part of JPZ. Not just Hall of Fame, but this is like Rick Wright stuff.
JAG: Oh, come on.
Tony: This is like founder stuff. I'm telling you. In really depth, I'm something awesome here. I know everybody says that, but really, this will last forever, so my hat's off to you.
JAG: From someone of your stature, that is very high praise, Tony, and thank you very much.
Tony: That's great. I'm like five foot eight.
JAG: Let's turn to you and your story, getting to Syracuse and then JPZ.
Tony: Only two minutes into the podcast, I have to mention that other Tony Renda. My dad went to Syracuse.
And so when we were kids, we were aware of this. We appreciated Big East basketball. They were fun to watch. Pitt was in the Big East. I played lacrosse in high school and Syracuse was like a juggernaut in the 80s. So we were aware of what Syracuse was. There was this great school up there, that it was cold, that they had a great communication school.
And I really always wanted to go there. But Jon, I was a late bloomer, and I never really took my high school grades seriously. In fact, I probably did the opposite. And I don't think I really figured things out until probably my senior year. And I never even applied to Syracuse. In my senior year. I ended up going to Ohio University, which had a great communication school, which I loved.
I had a great, fun time there. I always wanted to go to the Cuse. I wanted to be closer to New York. I wanted to live in Manhattan or New York at some time in my career. And I thought that would be a great path to it. So somewhere when I started in OU, I immediately set about trying to get to Syracuse.
And I did, I eventually spent my sophomore, junior and senior years there. So I backed my way in. I was not in Newhouse, by the way. I always try to bring that up when people assume that. I was in the School of Management. I have a great deal of respect for Newhouse. In fact, so much so that I qualify it.
So yeah, I would have had to spend a lot, I think, a whole another year to build up the credits. I would have had to spend more time at Syracuse putting way more time to get those credits just to get into Newhouse because they wouldn't just let you transfer right in. But I went to school of management and I tried to extract as much as I could from those classes.
Lots of great business classes and finance classes and operational management classes and things that I knew I was going to use later on. Versus some of the board op stuff that I already knew.
JAG: From working for your dad at those radio stations. Did your dad's position as an owner of radio stations influence your decision to go into the management piece of it for a major?
Tony: Greatly. Big time. First off, a little bit more history about my old man. He was a general sales manager for a TV station, for the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh, which, in the 60s when he started was TV market number 6. Big station, big market. Anyway, he got canned. He got fired. In about 1972 or 1973, and he said, I'm going to strike out on my own, and I'm going to buy a little radio station.
So he bought a little radio station outside of Pittsburgh, 5,000-watt daytimer, 5,000 watt AM, at 1360 on the dial. WIXI 1360. 5,000 in the day, 1,000 at night, and he slugged it out. And as a kid, that's the life that I lived. I remember going to the station all the time. I remember sitting in the studios.
I remember letting these guys, putting me down in the production studio, allowing me to mess around and making mixtapes and hitting posts and dubbing, doing everything you can imagine. Splicing tapes at a radio station. I remember road trips he would bust out Across The Dial. Jon, have you ever heard of across the dial? Are you aware of this?
JAG: It rings a bell.
Tony: That's a no, which is the right answer for someone your age. Across the Dial. Someone's listening to this right now and they know what Across the Dial is, but it was part of every road trip. We took the Great American Family Road Trip often, it seemed. And Across the Dial was this glove compartment sized book, and it had every market.
And in every market, it listed the station, the frequency, and the format. He was an obsessed radio guy. Hey, I wonder what this CHR sounds like. Or, I've heard of this station in Raleigh, North Carolina. Or, we're gonna go down to Florida, so I'm gonna listen to this station and this station along the way.
The break was way more important than the song, of course. He would bring back little things that he would, challenges he was dealing with at work. Yes, we got a lot of experience. When I was a kid, one other thing, I remember when I got my license, I started board opping, I swear, it was like the first week I got my license.
I had all of this random experience sitting in the studio for hours. I got to know all the equipment. I had all this random experience listening to large market or major market, whatever you call it, jocks just sitting there and watching these guys. Behind the scenes at concerts. I got all this exposure that I don't think most of the kids that were at Syracuse I don't think that they had that. And I don't even think I told them that I had that, because I didn't think that it necessarily applied, but I was schooled in that world from a very young age, and I especially had an appreciation for what went on in the studio, and how a radio station should sound, and how good it could sound, and the way it should sound.
JAG: I do want to mention because one of the themes of the podcast has been the same story repeating itself in different variations over the years, two things you're reminding me of from my own personal life, so you mentioned the Across the Dial book. Back when I was at school, there was a new website called radiolocator.com.
It was the internet version of that. You were gonna go to a different city, you punch in the city, and it'll tell you, strength of signal, who owns it, all that stuff. And I do have to give a shout out to Emily Zizza Almas from the class of 2000, because you're giving me a chance to tell a story I've been dying to tell on the podcast.
Tony: Fire away.
JAG: She was from Somerville, Massachusetts, a couple towns over from me, and before I had a car on campus, she was two years older than me, she was gracious enough to give me a ride home back and forth for breaks. And we became great friends, and she didn't have a cassette player in her car, we only had the radio.
We would drive Syracuse, Utica, Albany, Springfield, Worcester, Boston, across I-90, and no matter what we were saying, at the top of the hour, I'd make everybody in the car shut up, so we could hear the legal ID of whatever station we were at, or whatever market we were in.
Tony: Yes, absolutely. I remember, you learn this as a kid. You're like, oh okay, this is the top of the hour. Let's listen in because you're just as interested. Yeah. And it wasn't like we sat down and were told like, this is a radio station. It just was an osmosis of information. And keep in mind, this is a struggling guy with one little AM station.
And it's survival time. We are eating trade most nights. We were living radio out of a little radio station in East McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Not downtown Pittsburgh, not Gateway Center, not Foster Plaza where these massive stations are and everyone has gotten all together. It was rough, but it was great. It was a great education.
JAG: You're the only child? Do you have siblings?
Tony: Yeah, I have an older sister and an older brother. So we were all schooled in this world. But your question was how JPZ? When I transferred, I was in a fraternity. So I carried it over to Syracuse and one of my fraternity brothers was Scott Taylor. And Taylor I think that the time was VP business. So, if I recall I didn't make it down to the station until the middle of my sophomore year that first year that I was there. And Scott brought me down to the station and it was I can't describe it.
I'm sure a lot of people had the same feeling. It was like, yep I get this. I love this. You walk in and what you kids don't know today is you know the whole thing is, it's a hallway. It's just bumper stickers from all across the country bumper stickers something that I recognized. It was like 10 degrees hotter than it should have been.
And the one thing that I remember, but yet don't remember, it's fuzzy, is whoever the jock was, it could have been, in my mind, it's Governor D., but it could have been Damian, it could have been Ed Brundage, it could have been Dion, I don't know who it was, whoever it was, the door was open, and they came out of a song, and they just crushed the break, it was high energy, They nailed the post as professional as I had ever heard on B94, or 96 Kicks, or DVE, or any professional CHR, or AOR station, in Pittsburgh, it was high energy, it was with swagger, Jon.
It was with confidence. And I'm like, that's a college kid! And I've seen, hours and hours of jocks do breaks and shifts. And I'm like, look at that. I was just stunned and quite simultaneously, 10 feet away were a bunch of nerds talking about the news and talking about the daily orange and. Had a laser like focus on delivering the news in a professional manner and delivering the news in only that delivery that news has and they were so good.
I could tell just from there I'm like, I know that voice. I know that delivery I know what they're talking about and I see them sizing up some particular situation. And then five feet away from them were a bunch of sports guys like talking about the Rangers, these are all Syracuse in New York or Jersey or Long Island guys talking about the Islanders and talking about the Yankees and talking about Orangewomen, throwing around a nerf ball.
And they're all talking a little bit like Marv Albert, and there's a little bit of Bob Costas in there, and it was this, not Land of Misfit Toys, but these very different personalities, and different ages, it seemed I was listening to McNaughton's podcast recently, and I think he mentioned, it was Dave Gorab, I think who was, he said, I feel like that guy's 40 years old.
And when he said that, I couldn't help but laugh out loud, because Friedman was that guy for me. I'm like, that dude is wise. I don't know anything about that guy, but he's wise. He's a mature individual. And he was one of those news guys. And he was in control of his news department.
It was great. And McNaughton and Mike Murphy were in the sports department. Just having a blast. And I wanted to be a part of that. In my own way, I did not want to be behind the mic. I wanted to apply what my goal was. Which was to run and operate a radio station. And it wasn't behind the mic and it wasn't exactly what everybody else was doing.
But I know I wanted to surround myself with this crew, because they were crushing it. And they blew me away. It was great. I'm so glad that Scotty T took me down there, in probably February or March of 93. Because I ran for development director and I got it. And then in fast fashion, that summer, they're like, Listen, we need a VP business.
But that person needs to stay up here for the summer. And I was like, done. Done, and done. And it's been one of the most fun summers ever out there.
JAG: It's so funny that you're telling me that your interest was the off-air, the operational and the business piece of it, Tony, because you're doing such a job of painting a picture right now when you walked into that radio station.
You are a professional broadcaster, and to hear the skill of you telling a story, yet simultaneously telling me you didn't want to be on the air, you wanted to do other stuff, is funny to me.
Tony: Thank you, but I have a true appreciation, like I said, for how things should sound, how things should look.
My number one passion is the marketing of it all. And making a great presentation and maybe I just walked in at the best break ever, but I don't think so. Most breaks that I heard were that good. But whoever that jock was again, it could have been Ed, could have been Damian, could have been Dion. Anybody man, they nailed it and I was like This is right on.
This is top pro level and man, I got to be here. So yeah, that was my introduction and the timing was great. So I was elated to be there. So yeah, and I jumped in like I said with both feet development director and then immediately VP business where I spent the summer with Bette Kestin and Carl Wiser and Jeff Dauler and everybody else that was up there that summer. It was a blast.
JAG: What were some of the stuff you, memories you have of stuff you worked on in both a development director and VP of business? Anything come to mind that specifically happened while you were at the station, Tony?
Tony: Oh, of course. I think the thing that most people will remember Was the Geo Tracker that we gave away. And I think they had given away a car the prior year and I remember saying hey, Dad. Listen let's talk about doing something big at this radio station give me some advice and I think he thought we were a college station I don't think that he even understood what the heck we had going on and I was like, no, let's give away a car and he's what? Yeah. Okay. Good luck.
And here's what we do at a normal radio station when we give away a car. So I put on my big boy pants, and I don't remember whether I went in here with Raffensberger, my GM, or Tim McCubrey, who was the summer general manager. I think it was Raff. I think Raff and I. If you were gonna buy a car, Jon, in Syracuse, New York, in the mid-90s, you gotta go to the Fucillo Auto Mall.
JAG: Oh, yes!
Tony: Scared to death, I grabbed Ryan, I'm like, we're gonna go trade a car right now. We're gonna go, we're gonna go into the lion's den. And this guy who's on TV, who is bigger than life, we're gonna go in and pitch him.
JAG: Huge, you might say!
Tony: Huge! We did. I don't know if I had an appointment or not, I don't think so. I remember walking in, asking to see Mr. Fuccillo, and we came into his office, big massive desk, and it was exactly like you would imagine it, and we got a little bit of the guy on TV, and a little bit of the real guy. And I remember shaking his hand and my hand disappeared in this meaty paw of a thing.
And I did the math, I went back, Fuccillo at that time in the 90s, he was only 37. In my brain, and I think everybody else, he was way older. He was like a 50-year-old grown man, but he was a 37-year-old, which isn't a kid, but this guy was successful, and Jon, we sat down there, and I said, Mr. Fuccillo, my name is Tony Renda, and we work at Z89, WJPZ. He's, " WJPZ, I've never heard of that radio station, what are you guys talking about?"
Oh. I mean it was the gauntlet. I was like we're in a Syracuse station and.
I don't know, where are you on the dial?
We're at 89.1.
89.1? I don't even think my radio station goes to 89.1.
JAG: Oh, no!
Tony: Oh, Mr. Fucillo no, we're really big with the college kids And I think what we'd like to do is we could promote the Fuccillo Auto Mall because you're on the thing and you know it has to be non -commercial. and you've seen my commercials, right?
And Jon the whole time he was just It was always with a wink and a smile. He was always, I felt like we were going down the right path. And he was always in a weird way helping us out, but making us jump through a hoop or two.
JAG: So he's asking, I've never heard of you guys, but it's tongue in cheek because he knows who you guys are at that time.
Tony: I'd like to think that he knows who we are, maybe. But I do know this, I know you're sitting across from someone, and you know based on the questions that they're asking you, that things are going right, or things are going wrong. I could tell they were going right because he wasn't being a jerk. He was being kind. He was just poking at us. He was like a cat playing with the mouse because he was almost asking us the questions that we should have been answering and pushing. What are you going to do with this car? Okay. And let's say I trade this car with you. What are you going to give me? Yeah. These are buying questions.
So I got to say that this guy was kind and he did this trade deal with us. He didn't rake us over the coals. He gave us a, it was probably 92 or 93, Barney Purple, Geo Tracker. And when I say Barney Purple, the guys, Barney probably didn't exist. They probably saw this Chevy Geo Tracker that they probably could not unload on the lot.
And they're like, that's the color that we want to make our dinosaur. That bright. Purple, pink, cute car, manual no less. I'm surprised it was actually on the road. But yes, we did the deal for the Geo Tracker and brought it home, and I felt like a conquering hero. And Jordan had put together the Summer Slam or Jam.
Which was massive. It gave us such gravitas, I thought, in the summer of 93. And it made that summer awesome. We sold packages into that car. We ended up giving it away to a person who was not perfectly in our demo, but it was fine. It went off without a hitch.
JAG: Who won?
Tony: This lady was like, in my mind, she was like 50, 55 years old.
And we wanted a youthful person, in the 18 to maybe 34 demo who was exciting and, but it was fine. And we had sold little packages to people to sign up and win for it. We had a cool cell phone. We had a big bag phone. It was a great summer, Jon. So when you talk about significant events in station history, I'm always super proud of that.
And Mr. Fuccillo got his spots. We got the car and then we gave it away. It was a fun time and it was, it made for a great summer. And I loved being a part of that crew during the Summer Slam or Jam. What a fun summer. And to see other colleges talking about other college radio and say that we're giving away cars was again, I was now enjoying part of that swagger amongst other college radio stations. So that was great, man. Happy to be part of that.
JAG: And I'm happy to have you part of this podcast. Because, yes, the Geo Tracker that the station gave away has come up many times in the podcast. But we've, until now, have never heard the story of going into Billy Fuccillo's office. So I love that story is now part of the JPZ lore you mentioned earlier. Any other lessons, Tony, that come to mind that you haven't already mentioned that you took with you from your time at JPZ?
Tony: When I was thinking about this, I tried to think about all the great people that I worked with, and what made them so great, or why I consider them so great.
And it goes back to that first, time when I walked through the door. There were a wide spectrum of personalities. A wide spectrum of talents, but the unifying factor was that they were all passionate about what they did and they were good at what they did and that it was a labor of love, right?
No one was making money. Maybe we were looking to build up a resume or a demo tape to make money down the road, but you can't logically explain the hours that I put in. That you put in. That you're putting in now. It was that passion for what they do. And I think I'd probably look for that now, most of all.
If I'm interviewing someone for a job, I ask them about, the last few jobs and what they did. And I want to see them discuss or interact something that they love doing. We all love doing what we were doing. And again, getting, not a dime for it. I remember my grades were mediocre in probably my junior and senior year.
And I'm like, yeah, but I'm getting all this great experience at Z89. And my old man said, time out. You want a job in radio? You could be a salesperson tomorrow right here. I'll give you a job. I might even give you a job. And you can get paid for it. Instead, you've got this opportunity at the University.
And I'm like yeah, I know. And my classes suffered, but I felt like I was getting a much different education there. And so when I looked around of the people that I worked with, I've tried to replicate it as best I can. I've tried to surround myself and work with people that had that same passion.
And it's tough. I got to say it was the purest, most genuine love of what you were doing that I've ever experienced. And I'm sure people, if you think about it, I'm sure other people feel the same way. When I think about, I mentioned Friedman. Who, again, would just, was so wise, so good at what he did. I remember that summer, Dauler and Carl Wiser and Bette Kestin.
Just crushed the crazy morning crew. I remember they'd have to get up at stupid hours in the morning. I mentioned Jordan while you meet the hours that guy put in to growing the radio station, to selling those packages that we had, to making the station look and sound good, and he had a foot in both camps.
He was also on the air. It was great. Jen Nycz. Everybody that I was lucky to work with, with that passion. And I'm trying to keep that going and surround myself with those same people. Oh, it was great.
JAG: What you said is a very valuable lesson for students and younger alumni listening to this for a job interview. What you said is very telling. When you said that you look for that passion., Tell me what the last couple of jobs you had. Tell me where you've been. Tell me about some of the stuff you've done. If you don't have that passion, if you rattle off your resume, yeah, I worked at this radio station and then I did sales here. That's going to come off in a job interview.
So having that passion is such an invaluable skill for a job interview. Yet another lesson learned from an alum of the world's greatest media classroom.
Tony: When I think about who's listening to this podcast, it's going to be mostly graduates. Sure. But I hope that some of the new kids are absolutely listening.
But yeah, that goes a long way. Talent is talent. But I don't think that you make it in the NBA with all the talent in the world, there has to be hard work. I don't think you make it in the NFL without that passion. And I'd rather have, if I had to pick one, I'd rather take that passion, because that's gonna overcome so many obstacles, it's gonna keep you going.
Not that I'm pushing for any kind of life lesson, but I hope that if you're listening to this, you're doing something that you're still passionate about. I don't know if you can replicate what we all had in college. But it makes the road much easier. You got a tailwind instead of a headwind, and try to replicate that as best you can.
JAG: Let's pivot to your career after Syracuse, Tony. Walk me through some of the stuff you've done since graduation.
Tony: My career, it's quick and linear and easy. I've taken a pretty, like I said, linear path. I graduated in 95, and Lynn Vanderhoek, I want to make sure to mention her name. She is such a friend of the station, and I know so many people have had great help with her, right?
JAG: Myself included.
Tony: Yeah. What a great, genuine person. I can't say enough stuff about her. Lil O'Rourke too, but yeah, she helped me craft my resume. Helped send me in the right path. When I graduated, no, not when I graduated. My spring break of my senior year I remember I had internships at 93Q, I had internships at 95X, and I remember my spring break was coming up and what are you gonna do in your spring break?
And these are grown men, these are adults, and I'm like I'm gonna go interview. They're like, you're gonna do what? I'm like, yeah, I'm going to go to Atlanta, and I'm going to go to New York, and I'm going to go here and there, and I'm going to interview, and I'm going to get a job in radio, and thanks to JPZ, thanks to this place, I had options.
I went down to Atlanta, and I interviewed everywhere, at ABC, and I interviewed at all those big boys down there, Kix, and why I think yeah, Star, CBS, Infinity at the time. And it was great. I mean it was because of JPZ. I had lots of options, thanks to this radio station. So I made some kind of sea change between my high school career and by the time I graduated and Z was a big part of that.
I felt like I needed to be as good as my contemporaries because when I walked in the door, I was not. And so I tried to elevate my game. My resume was awesome. It was perfect. I spent so much damn time on that thing. I didn't drool. I could walk in and shake a hand and I have a conversation and so yeah. So, I interviewed all across these places that I wanted to go Atlanta was hot. Because the Olympics were coming in 96.
My girlfriend went to UGA. And I it just seemed like that was the destination but I ended up Again, Scott Taylor ended up going working for Katz radio, you know there It's been a channel down there. Dave Gorab went down there. Scott Taylor went down there and a couple people that I graduated with went down and yeah, so I became a rep at Katz.
I was in New York for five years. I left in 2000 and went to run, I was a sales manager in Jacksonville, then the general manager, up to Pittsburgh general manager. And now I'm in beautiful Southwest Florida, Fort Myers, Naples, running that market. So I've been working with Renda Broadcasting ever since probably 2001 in Jacksonville and love it.
I'm a VP and our radio group is now 19 stations strong. It started with one little AM station, but my old man really was put through the fire, surviving that one little AM in the 70s with stupid interest rates and steel mills closing down.
JAG: Oh, yeah.
Tony: I think, he applied all of that blood, sweat, and tears to, eventually buying a full signal station in the mid-80s.
And applying those same scrappy tactics that he has applied in ever since. I'm happy to work for that guy. He is good at running radio stations and he's done something really unique. So I'm happy to be a part of his company.
JAG: What markets is Renda Broadcasting in now?
Tony: Oh I'm glad you asked. In fact, we should probably take a break. Renda Broadcasting is...
JAG: This podcast is sponsored by Renda Broadcasting.
Tony: In fact, use promo code Z for 10% off. Being the on the sales side, I have to get a plug. Jon, we are always looking for Z grads, either on air, in the sales world, in any capacity.
Check out RendaBroadcasting.Com for any of our job postings. I would love to hire any and all Z alums. I'm a big fan. So we have stations in Pittsburgh, in Jacksonville. In Southwest Florida, like I mentioned, Fort Myers, Naples. And we have stations don't forget, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, which is northeast of Pittsburgh. Home of Jimmy Stewart, and Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and most importantly, Jon, we have stations in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
JAG: Yes!
Tony: To all of those listeners who have not seen the Groundhog come out on February 2nd, I think that you should rush up there. It is something to see. It's nothing like what on that excellent movie, Groundhog Day. It's better. But yes, Render Broadcasting is humming along, competing against the bigger boys. It's been a great ride so far, and RBC continues to do well.
JAG: I do want to pivot back to you and ask you quickly. It would have been very easy when you graduated from Syracuse to just go work for your dad. Done and done. You've got the gig. You're starting sales. Work your way up. But the fact that you went outside the company and went to Katz and did work there and did stuff outside I think is a credit to you because I feel like it probably gave you a lot of perspective you wouldn't have had just going straight to work for Renda Broadcasting.
Tony: Yeah, and it was never really I don't know if we ever talked about it or not. I don't think that we did. I knew I wanted to work in New York in some capacity. I wanted to get outside first. I'm sure my old man liked that, but thanks, man. I appreciate that. And I got to say, I was always nervous about that at the station because, I told you all this stuff that I learned as a kid, board opping for years, every summer, holidays knowing how stations work.
I'm not sure that everybody that I worked with at Z89 even knew that stuff. I never shared it with them. I don't know why. Just, I don't know if it was, it just wasn't germane or not. I would have gladly shared it. But I spent a lot of time in radio stations, a lot of time knowing what, when you crack the mic exactly the way it's supposed to be, but I wasn't in that world.
So I didn't feel like, in a weird way, I didn't feel like it was my place. So I didn't know how much they knew about Renda Broadcasting. We are not one of the biggest broadcasters out there, of course. So I always dummied up about that. I figured I got to prove myself. And if I can get this job, or if I can hold this position station on my own. That's great.
I did want to blaze some trail to some degree for myself, even though I knew I wanted to work in this company, but I did want to do it in my own merits, which is good. And New York was great. You talk about getting chucked into the thrasher dealing with New York buyers.
It was a whole other world. And I loved living there. In fact, I remember I pitched Mike and I'm like, listen, your national business, your contacts are mediocre at best. I got this great idea for you. Because he's, listen, it's great that you've worked out there. I think you're gonna have to come back.
If you want to grow in this company, eventually, obviously it has to be at a radio station. And I put that off because I loved living in New York and I wanted to. And keep in mind, this is late 90s, Jon. Stupid internet time. This is, pre 9/11. I was having a blast. My buddies had moved down from Syracuse. It was great. Anyway, I pitched them on a job to be the group national sales manager. And so I was whenever there was a bail, I was handling it for national. It was a great time in New York. And I wouldn't trade it for anything. So yes, that's nice of you to say. I appreciate that. And that was absolutely part of the plan for me at least.
JAG: And that's a great place to leave it. Tony Renda, class of 1995. Thanks so much for hanging out today.