10 Questions with ... Bobbi Silver

NAME:Bobbi Silver POSITION:Regional Promotion Manager LABEL:Interscope/Geffen/A&M

Please outline your radio career so far:

I started as a rep in 1970 with Jamie/Guyden Records in Philly as a secretary and worked my way up to National Promotion Director. From my travels all around the country I met various other Nationals and took a position with Chrysalis Records. I have worked at Island, RSO, Casablanca, RCA, Polygram, Polydor, Geffen, Interscope and now Interscope/Geffen/A&M (I always like to add I was never fired, but was given offers to move on to a new label by good friends and the opportunities seemed like good ones). I had no idea that there was a record business, but a good friend (who is now a super-successful director/producer/writer in LA) introduced me to a promotion

rep who needed an assistant and I was available.

1) What is your favorite part of the job?

By far my favorite parts of the job are seeing talented artists flourish in their career and know I may have had a small part in enabling that to happen, and working with some incredible people and having them in my lives has been simply wonderful (and that goes for both the people I work with at the label and my friends at radio).

2) What's been the most significant change in the business since you've been in it?

Unfortunately, the most significant change is the business is relying more on matters unrelated to the "music" itself. For a big part of my career it really was all about playing music with people and going to a show, and because of the strength of the music, songs could get an "add" on the spot.

3) What's been your most rewarding project to work?

Some of the most rewarding projects are the ones that take the longest to break, and it still kills me every time I feel I have a "hit" and it doesn't get a shot.

4) What's the longest road trip you've ever been on, and where did it take you?

One of the longest road trips I ever did was when I first got in the business and was working Urban product, and in those days it was all independent distributorship. I went from Philly to LA, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, D.C. and back in one trip to meet the reps at those distributors and, of course, all the radio programmers.

5) What's the worst excuse you ever heard from a programmer?

I wouldn't say it is the worse excuse, but just about all the time the first thing I hear from everybody is there is no room (it is usually said before I even tell anyone what I am working).

6) What was your favorite station to listen to when you were a kid?

As a kid there weren't that many stations to listen to, as Rock radio really wasn't a format yet, and I listened to WIBG-A, the big hit music station at the time.

7) What artist would we be surprised to find on your iPod?

Cubumo Grafico, Bertrand Burgalet, Cornelius, Etienne Charry and April March.

8) Do you have a favorite hobby?

I sure don't do it enough, but I do like to play sports and I do watch many sports whenever I have the time.

9) What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?

I work hard and am a woman of my word. I don't lie; I do what I say I will and I will work as hard as I possibly can every single day.

10) What advice you would give people new to the business?

When young people ask me how to get into music business, I tell them move to L.A. or N.Y. and go to work in the home office.

Name the artist/act (living or dead) you'd love to meet and why?

I'm not quite sure how important it is that I meet them (and some are no longer with us), but some of my favorites are Bob Dylan, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, Dusty Springfield, AIR and Beck (who I work with, so I have met him and he is great).