10 Questions with ... Cooper Lawrence

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

New York's Q104 in the early 90's, WLIR 1996-1999, Metro Traffic and Z100

Entertainment/Traffic Reporter 2000-2005, WOR 2001-2003, and 2006-present "The Cooper Lawrence Show" (nationally syndicated through Dial-Global).

1) How would you describe your first radio gig?

Tiring! I worked 60-90 hours a week regularly. I did my air shift, drove the van, and did production and promotions for the legendary 92.7 WLIR. One week I clocked 120 hours but I wouldn't trade it for anything. It was the greatest learning experience of my life. It was like radio boot camp.

2) Who do you consider your radio mentor(s)?

Kirk Stirland, Lynda Lopez, and Elvis Duran

3) What is your favorite part of the job?

Talking to the listeners. They bring it! They tell such great stories and are incredibly funny. We have so many laughs with them. It feels like a party that we throw every night where all of your favorite people are there.

4) Who is the most amazing talent you've worked with?

Definitely my producer Anthony Michaels. I am amazed every day at how incredibly gifted he is and I am grateful to have him on my show

5) If you are voice tracking shifts or syndicating for stations outside of your market, how do you get familiar with that marketplace/community?

That is such a radio question, we must move past this mentality and realize that entertainment is entertainment, funny is funny. Yea, Ross and Rachel knew everything about Arkansas and Friends only worked in New York...please! You don't have to know the mayor of Albuquerque to do a good show.

6) What's been your biggest disappointment in Radio today?

Radio has always been a male dominated business, especially from the programming side and it's disappointing that more women haven't been accepted as Program Directors but also as on-air hosts. The majority of women superstar hosts are relegated to giggly side kick co-hosts with a male as the host and I would like to see that change, primarily because most of the women on these shows are much more talented than their male counterparts are.

7) What techniques do you use to get a celebrity to open up in an interview?

No techniques, absolutely not! Just talk to them the same way you talk to your listeners or anyone else. Celebrities are sick of being treated like they're different and they hate being asked the same obvious questions. Treat them like anyone else and don't ask them what everyone else is asking them. Celebrities are only interesting if the interviewer is. For example, my entire interview with Rosie O'Donnell consisted of why lesbians don't hang around with the straight girls.

8) Do you believe that radio and the recording industry can come up with a fair compromise on royalty compensation for both Internet streams and terrestrial radio?

The fair compromise is radio playing the record company songs. Radio charges clients for airtime. If you charge $100 per 60 second commercial, then for a record company to get a song on the air, they should pay $400 to get a four min commercial on the air. What is a song? Lately with the type of music record company's are putting out, it's just a four minute commercial for the artist and record company. If a client has to pay then why not a record company?

9) Who was your most memorable artist you've ever interviewed?

Strangely enough it was Joan Jett but mostly because after the interview I had her do some liners for us and she shocked me by saying, "You're listening to our resident sex kitten, Cooper on 92.7 LIR."

10) Where do you see the industry five years from now?

As fast as our business changing, no one really can be certain as to how radio will look in five years, especially when we are relying on the same people to lead us. We still have too few women in programming positions. We also need to invite more young people into the inner circle or we'll continue to lose the next generation who rely far less on radio than the generations before them. Radio still seems to reflect the style and taste of the people that were running it 20 years ago. That didn't work out very well for the newspaper business.

1) What's one thing that would surprise many people to learn about you?

There are no surprises. My listeners know everything about me. I don't hold anything back. They know me better than anyone.

2) You're stuck on a deserted island and you only have 5 CDs with an unlimited supply of batteries. What are they?

• Dr. Dre "The Chronic"
• Eminem "The Eminem Show"
• Missy Elliott "Under Construction"
• Salt N' Pepa "Very Necessary"
• Counting Crows "August and Everything After"

3) What "reality show" could you see yourself appearing on and why?

"Confessions Of A Teen Idol" on VH1....Ha Ha!

4) What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Taller.

5) Your radio or records dream gig?

I'm doing it!