…and now for something completely different - although, it wouldn’t have been so different twenty-five years ago. Back then, there was no American Hit Radio program. There was a newly published book called ‘American Hit Radio’, and I was the newly published ‘author’ looking for ways to publicize my new book. WHPC had a talk show called ‘Listen Up’, hosted by a guy named John Gomez, and he asked if I wanted to appear on his program and talk about “American Hit Radio” (the book). Naturally, I accepted.

Over time, John asked me to guest on his show with a certain regularity, and I played Ed McMahon to his Johnny Carson for another five years or so, when John decided to move on. Rather kindly, he pushed hard to convince me to start my own show, and he worked even harder to convince the radio station to take a chance on me. That was twenty years ago, and the rest is history…except that John Gomez eventually ran for United States Congress in 2010 (Second Congressional District, Long Island NY), and then he lost.

There has been a lot of water under the bridge, but John and I have remained close friends over the years. Our politics are quite different – that is why we often debated on his radio program – but I’ve never known anybody as honest and easy to know as John. There were times that he genuinely changed my perspective, too. 

For that reason, I dug up the VERY FIRST appearance I ever made on this outlet, when a fairly nervous writer named Thomas Ryan made his first guest appearance on WHPC. Then, John joined us live to discuss his campaign and his thoughts on the upcoming election in 2010.