10 Questions with ... Mark Larsen

NAME:Mark Larsen TITLE:Morning Host STATION:NewsTalk 1040 WWBA MARKET:Tampa Bay COMPANY: Genesis Communications BORN:June 19, 1955 RAISED:Indianapolis

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

(Can't be too brief -- I used to be a jock!)

I've been in news & jocked CHR, AOR, & Oldies. Programmed CHR, AOR & Oldies. Also was in radio sales for 3 years.

1972-74 WIFE Indianapolis
1974-76 WERK Muncie, IN
1976-77 WNDE Indianapolis
1977 WROK Rockford, IL
1977-79 KAAY Little Rock (My all time favorite radio station! 50,000 watts & 28 states!)
1979-80 WEZB B-97 New Orleans (Inaugural staff)
1980-85 WYNF Tampa Bay
1986-99 WFLA/WFLZ Tampa Bay Retired 12/31/99
2002-07 WWBA Tampa Bay

1. How did you get your start in radio (at the tender age of 16)? Why radio?

My mom had parked her old Airline portable tube radio from college in my room. (I wish I had that thing now) It was plugged in and it worked great, so what's a 3 or 4 year old kid to do? I started fiddling with knobs. And it picked up everything. Of course, I gravitated to hit radio stations. Being in Indy, WLS was usually the station du jour all day & all night. WIBC played some cool songs, but WLS was IT. By the early 60's, I was aware of what I was listening to and was DX-ing more. Indy is right in the middle of a ton of signals and, especially at night, it was a buffet. So growing up I had WLS & WCFL in Chicago; CKLW in Detroit, WAKY in Louisville; 13Q in Pittsburgh, WABC in NYC, not to mention WISH, later to become WIFE in Indy. I was hooked.

My high school was very lucky to have a real 300 watt FM station, WHJE, which served the whole north side of Indy. Why go out for high school sports, when you can join the high school radio club and actually be on the air!? Without realizing what I was doing, I think I had the first truly progressive rock show in town, Friday nights after the football & basketball games, which we carried, I was playing stuff like Black Oak Arkansas, Atomic Rooster and a neat promo album we got from Atlantic Records, called the "Yes" album.

A couple of WHJE alumni had landed gigs at WIFE and got me in there answering the request line when I got my driver's license. There I was, answering the phone for guys like Lee Masters (later went on to run MTV), Buddy Scott (later WBBM) and Big Jim Wood, who went on to run the old Malrite chain (Z-100). Nice mentors! I was able to do news, run the automated FM station, smoke cigarettes and other combustible materials, and eventually do weekends & swing. Jim made me assistant MD, going full time in '73. Fortunately my parents made sure I went to college, but I always had a full time gig throughout.

2. About what are you most passionate?

Until 1984, radio. From 1985 and beyond, my wife, Beth. But radio is still a great mistress.

3. What led you to return from retirement to give it another go at WWBA? What had you missed the most about the job?

I was quite fulfilled when I left WFLA and was happy to go run my studio and real estate. I thought 28 years was a nice run and the 9 to noon shift was eating into my day. But I always said I go back in for morning gig, since I was all grown up and could go to bed early. 9/11 happened and I was still doing vacation fills on WFLA so I still had a presence in the market. A local owner -- yes we have one one of those here -- Bruce Maduri approached me about doing the morning gig on 1040 WWBA. The timing wasn't right and I was a bit apprehensive about doing a morning show with 420 very directional watts pre sunrise, against my over powered alma mater, so I asked him to stay in touch. He did and 5 years later, here we are. And darned if we didn't get some numbers, score some billing and quadruple the stick value. If we had our daytime signal 24/7, we'd really be dangerous.

4. If you hadn't gone into radio (and, for the sake of eliminating the media, let's also include the recording studio in that), what would you be doing today? Would it have been real estate full-time? Sales?

Like my father and my brother I like to build things -- still do. But unlike them, I can't sit still long enough to be an architect. So I'd be heavier into development and less landlording.

5. You did music radio for years before talk -- what, if anything, does your music radio background contribute to how you do a talk show -- what skills from music radio translate to talk?

The music radio background provides the timing and entertainment value. Look at Rush. He was the first talk host to really take the fundamentals of CHR formatics and put them to work on talk. The forward teaser elements, the positioning liners, the parodies & bits, regular features and ATTITUDE. It wasn't Bruce Williams on TalkNet or Larry King on Mutual. It was all new for conversation radio. He changed the rules. I credit Rush, to a great extent, for saving the AM band. BUT, not every jock can do this. It's radio aerobics. You must be converse on most every topic and study your material constantly. Even though you don't want to do solid politics, I recommend any budding talk show host pick up some remedial political science training and enroll in a Logics class somewhere. If you can't set up and defend an argument to a LOGICAL conclusion, you'll get the shit kicked out of you by your guests and your listeners. I was kind of lucky. I was hanging out in a newsroom when Watergate was coming down, so I was a news junkie the whole time I was playing REO Speedwagon. If you know who Britney Spears is, but don't know who Archibald Cox is, better bone up.

And can you monologue? Sometimes, no one wants to call. I can remember siting on WFLA with a 10 share -- and no calls! I've monologued for almost 3 hours at times. Ever notice how Rush will go an hour without taking a call? Without even trying? And you can bet he ALWAYS has calls. But the man knows how to TALK.

6. Who are your influences in the business?

My favorite PD was Carl David Hamilton at WROK and KAAY. Bill Hennes was my favorite for instilling concentration and discipline, but Carl taught me personality radio. I still think my best days in music radio were at KAAY and I owe that to Carl. When he was running WROK, it was named Billboard's Grand International Radio Station of the Year in 1977. (It's where I first heard the other Mark Larson, now in San Diego). It beat everything. KHJ, KFRC, WLS, you name it. I left Indy to go to WROK, when Don Geronimo left. It was THAT good.

7. Of what are you most proud?

I am proud of the fact that I was able to "grow up" in the '80s and start controlling my own destiny. This is a magical, but thankless business. There are too many guys who let it control them and now they're in their 50's and 60's jocking class reunions and bar mitzvahs. I saw one the other day at the beach at a street fair. The poor bastard must have been too stoned to see consolidation coming.

8. What do you do for fun?

My wife... even after 22 years. Oh, and snow ski.

9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ___________.

...my wife.

10. What's the best advice you've ever gotten? The worst?

Best: (1973) "I'm telling you kid, buy inflatable furniture, 'cause you gonna be moving a lot" -- Big Jim Wood, WIFE. The worst? (1985) "Watch me... I 'm going to make you a top flight CBS manager." -- George Sosson, when CBS bought WYNF from Taft. Thank God I was over at WFLA/WFLZ a few months later. I'll take Blair, Jacor and Clear Channel any day, thank you.