Send us a text I was "on the air" at WFBL in Syracuse in 1976 when Stoner Broadcasting System hired me to host the morning show on their flagship station in Des Moines, Great Country KSO. I arrived one week before the fall sweeps began. The show went fom a 9 share to a 27 share in that book. Here is the continuation of my audio commentary on I managed to get at keep high morning show numbers year after year. https://talkingaboutradiowithjohnleslie.buzzsprout.com

Send us a text I had never worked with such a talented staff. The station was filled with magic when our new team of talent arrived in 1974. This is a continuation of my audio book memoirs on how I was able to muster double digit ratings year after year for nearly 5 decade. My year at WFBL in Syracuse introduced me to a stable of the nations top talent. What I learned from them has stayed with me til this day 51 years later.

Send us a text Episode one is a 34 minute look at my very earliest days as a morning show host. My friends and family have encouraged me for years to write a book about my morning show adventures. I would rather do it in the form that I know best, an audiobook as a podcast. There will be six episodes in the series This is the first one and it dates back to the early 70s in Binghamton, New York. I really didn’t want to do a morning show. But it was a blessing. &n...

Send us a text There was plenty of opportunity to find myself in awkward, creepy and sometimes life threatening situations during my decade of being a foreign correspondent for Stoner Broadcasting System. Bizarre events seemed to be my constant companion while on my assignment behind the iron curtain in the former USSR. This is part two of my adventures in Siberia and Armenia. You will enjoy this 34 minute narrative of my life and times as a foreign correspondent. http://t...

Send us a text Being a foreign correspondent on the other side of the world brings with it excitement, danger and intrigue, specially if you had never done it before. This is 20 minute episode is part one of a multi part special edition of Talking About Radio with John Leslie. This assignment took me as far away from home as one can possibly get. https://talkingaboutradio.buzzsprout.com

Send us a text For the first time, the entire story of this historic radio broadcast event is told in Audio Book fashion. Production of this epic retrospective required 39 separate creative sessions, 39 separate editing sessions, 39 separate rehearsal sessions, 45 separate recording sessions and 39 separate productions sessions. No other radio broadcaster on the planet owns this story. It is one of a kind. This special edition podcast of Talking About Radio is 1 hour and 52 ...

Send us a text This radio promotion is so complicated, there is only one way to tell the story in its entirety. None of the original sound exists so now I tell this story in a 57 minute mini audio book style so that all of the twists and turns can be described in detail. It is chronicled in this podcast to be saved for all of history. All of us in the radio industry have had great "on air" promotions from time to time, but never before or since have I heard of a more ...

Send us a text Any broadcasting job you can imagine, Doug Clark, known professionally as Jack Scott, has done it. From early radio and television, morning show host on both coasts, program management, general management and ownership, Doug is a thru broadcast professional. He joins us on this edition of Talking About Radio to talk about his transition from banking to broadcasting and what it has meant to him. Speaking from Gloversville, New York where is is an integral part...

Send us a text This podcast episode is Talking About Radio with, yours truly, John Leslie…with guest host Elizabeth Grattan. I recently had the opportunity to interview Elizabeth on a previous episode about her career in the industry and we decided it might be interesting to flip the script and the result is an entertaining and insightful look into my very own journey. Elizabeth is known all across the country for her outstanding imaging, voice tracking and voice-over work. ...

Send us a text In honor of the memorial day weekend Z-morning Zoo special with Ross Brittain and Brian Wilson, we are re-running this entertaining episode of Talking About radio featuring the ever talented Brian Wilson. It aired December 14, 2024 and if you missed it or would like to hear it again, I am pleased to air this entertaining episode of Talking About Radio with John Leslie.

Send us a text All you have to do is listen to Elizabeth for five minutes to hear high quality that she puts in her voice tracking, imaging, voice overs and everything else that she says professionally. She stumbled onto the moniker RadioElizabeth by accident and it not only stuck by has served her well in her profession. She is also a talented writer, producer and speaker. Elizabeth has done voice work for some of the biggest names in the industry and is still going strong...

Send us a text A retrospective on the birth, life and end of radio stations, their formats and their personalities. The tears, the anger and the heartbreak not only in the station but from their audience as well. You'll hear actual audio of stations big and small who met their early end. This is the most comprehensive report of its kind anywhere on the internet. It was six weeks in the making with over 200 hours of research and production.

Send us a text In this anniversary special episode we have put together segments from 11 great episodes featuring some of the to names in the Radio Industry. It was impossible to include all 200, but we think you'l enjoy hearing interesting and amusing stories. Thanks to everyone who has, in just two short years made Talking About Radio with John Leslie one of the to radio industry podcasts in the world. https://talkingaboutradio.buzzsprout.com

Send us a text When I first heard Don Clark, I said to my wife, "listen to this guy, he is really great." Turns out Don has been entertaining audiences and making them laugh all across the midwest, northeast and south. His humor is contagious and fun to listen too. In this podcast, I believe Don Clark and I did more laughing than we did talking. After 30 years of spinning the hits and give'm the fits, Don is now host of a popular syndicated show called, "Don's Basement Hits....

Send us a text Washington DC native Jeff Young began his radio career while in college in Miami. He worked his way up and up from early "free form" radio to distinguished positions with ABC radio news, the Z100 morning Zoo in New York as well as other radio positions in the Big Apple. His news positions took his back to his native Washington, then got the job of a lifetime, rebuilding the radio systems in Kuwait. Jeff found a new and different gig in London, "Live Streaming" top m...

Send us a text Jamie Grout was a master at doing what makes radio work the best. He was always live and he was always local. Fund raising, amazing charity work, service club membership and ear catching promotions. Currently working at legendary WHO in Des Moines and hosting a podcast, Jamie is still a busy broadcaster after 50 years of service. He is a great guest on Talking About Radio with John Leslie.

Send us a text Triangle Broadcasting in Philadelphia was one of the nations largest media conglomerates back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. One of their radio television groups was in Binghamton, New York, where they initiated an experimental program to attract young men interested in broadcasting. They formed Explorer post 12 which was an arn if the Boy Scouts of America but dedicated strictly to those interest in Broadcasting. A young high school student, Dave Freeman, was one of the ...

Send us a text It takes a lot of practice and skill to be a radio traffic reporter, specially in a bustling city like the Big Apple. Matt Ward, who sometimes went by the name Tom Rivers worked for Shadow Traffic for 25 years on some of the biggest and best known stations in New York. In this episode of Talking About Radio with John Leslie, Matt takes us into the Shadow Traffic operations area and explains how all those mounds of traffic jams got sorted out and transmitted on the air, on...

Send us a text Jimmy Diele started his radio career like many of us. He worked at small suburban New York City radio stations on weekends running the religious tapes. At the same time, he was working for Robin Leach, host of "The lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." Pretty soon Jimmy found himself working in the Big Apple at some of the top stations. WPLJ, WYNY Country Y-107 and more. Today, he is host of "Celebrity Spotlight", a semi monthly interview s...

Send us a text This is a remastered episode featuring the legendary DJ John Records Landecker who. appeared on Talking About Radio when it was in its infancy back in early 2023. Many of you may not have heard it since it it buried in a haystack of 220 episodes of this podcast. But you don't want to miss this rare appearance of Landecker on an interview program. Even if you have heard it, it's worth listening to a second time or even a third. As I say at the beginning of t...