Bill Gardner

What Are These Trophies???

Not long ago, well-respected National Radio Consultant Mike McVay told me, "You have done it all.  Bill Gardner understands radio more than most ever did.....or will." Thanks Mike!  The amazingly humble HRHOF Inductee Mike McVay said "YOU are the one who should be in the National Radio Hall of Fame.  Seriously!"  Thanks again Mike.

Legendary radio programmer and former Exec VP NBC-FM Stations  Walter Sabo just told me, "Mike Phillips said you were the best AC jock alive, and he was right!"  Thanks Walter!  (On the air as Walter Sterling, currently national talk show personality by the way).

Another of America's leading radio consultants and a national name you radio guys know, (not George Johns, by the way), humorously calls Bill Gardner "the best radio morning man in America NOT currently on the air!"  We protect his confidence.  Ask and I'll whisper his name to you.

During the halcyon days at KOOL-FM Phoenix with General Manager Clancy Woods and Program Director Tim Maranville, our many number one "25-54 adults and 12+ persons" rating "books" were rewarded with these personalized trophies, still proudly displayed here at our home. Bill Gardner's ability to "remain under the radar," (amazingly sometimes even to his own consultants and management), has allowed him to "sneak into a situation," and enjoy some of the most defense- free, dramatic turnarounds, and a 100% success record as morning personality and program executive! 

 

An Exact Fit for Your Job Needs?

Bill Gardner has been an "immediate impact player" in Adult Contemporary, Country, Oldies, Classic Hits, and Rock & Roll radio.  There's "easy-to-document" success* as a Drive Time On Air Personality, a VP/Programming or Program Director, even President/General Manager while owner-operator of an Arizona AM/FM combo, many times assuming both senior programming and morning drive on air roles simultaneously back when doing both was thought to be impossible :-)  And this "easy-to-document success" doesn't happen some of the time...it happens every time!

(*Search or ask for your copy of the Arizona Republic July 31, 1999, article where with virtually no other change in KOOL 94.5 mornings other than hiring Bill Gardner, the Spring 1999 ratings "book" their radio and TV columnist detailed Bill Gardner with "the biggest gain in Valley radio," almost immediately moving from 13th to 4th most popular morning show in Phoenix."  Soon after to be #1 25-54!)

Bill Gardner On The Air!

You've found the site for airchecks, interview samples, resume, letters of recommendation and more for legendary radio morning guy Bill Gardner, for almost a decade through 2008 the top-rated morning personality of KOOL-FM Phoenix, as well as morning personality and program director for Los Angeles area's 92.7 Jill FM through summer 2010.

And a special thank you to the many KOOL 94.5 Phoenix listeners who've sought me out via search engines and sent emails to my email address below.  Even after more than ten years, new emails continue to arrive in my inbox!  Really!  Your thoughts and loyalty are genuinely appreciated!  It's nice to be missed, especially when I wasn't given a chance to say goodbye on air!

 

 Bill Gardner IN The Air!

I enjoyed a wonderful forty-five-year radio career in some of America's biggest radio stations and greatest cities.  (See the list by clicking "resume" at the top of the center column if you like).  But when bottom-feeding corporations slashed radio salaries and replaced most of us with lower cost people or recorded or out of town recorded voices, I'm SO fortunate to also have that Airline Transport Pilot license and join a small airline here in Las Vega- for almost nine years.   Until my recent retirement, my position was as an Airline Captain, with 4AM breakfast in progress pictured below. It was fun to be in a profession where gray hair and plenty of experience are actually appreciated!  :-)  But when I realized it wasn't as much fun anymore, I'm gone!

 

FUN Web Search?

Web site archive!  Enter billgardnerontheradio.com, or koolradio.com at www.archive.org and see posts dating back to my decade doing mornings at KOOL 94.5 Phoenix!  There's different stories and different radio stations each week.  See some fun posts you may have missed!

 

After a couple years helping launch KVIL-FM Dallas-Ft. Worth and our ride to the top, I heard about a morning show opening at our company's radio station in Boston!  But those awful and so easy to misunderstand call letters, WVBF!  Turns out, the owner's wife was named Vera B Fairbanks, so her initials were staying!  I said "yes" to the move just over fifty years ago, which was the only thing I did big enough to get my name in the Boston Globe newspaper.  :-)         

   

We were talking to Boston, but our studios and transmitter were 21.7 miles west in Framingham Massachusetts.  Mrs. Gardner and I had an apartment on Route 9 and had this nice view out our window. 

  

    

 Free time, we'd make drives to the mountains in New Hampshire or Vermont; or a trip to Boston harborside, Cape Cod, or Marblehead for unbelievably fresh seafood.  Yeah, we also visited Suffolk Downs for horse racing and Wonderland Greyhound Park for dining and dog races.  What we remember most?  The food was incredible EVERYWHERE we went, and our biggest challenge would be dropping the fifteen pounds we immediately gained  :-)

At WVBF-FM, I did the morning show and sometimes things like MPG competition in a Ford Pinto with my WVBF team mate Chuck "Magic" Christian. Funny reading if you can zoom in.   And $11 a week to own a car??  Wow!  Then there's that big Massachusetts license fee and insurance $$$'s.  :-)

 

It's not like I attended Harvard or MIT up there or anything but I was honored to be invited to the panel to discuss radio at Boston University.. 

WVBF Framingham-Boston was sold long ago and when I Google Imaged the radio station, I saw the old offices and studios have fallen into total disrepair, been abandoned, and were soon to be torn down.  Ah yes, a lot can change in fifty years.      

Cool Pic of the Day....

A rare week here in Las Vegas weather.  No snow in the city.  (We usually get a dusting of snow every ten years or so here in the city).  But as closely as the hills and mountains to the west of us, it turned white at the tops this week!  This looks to be another year where temperatures in Las Vegas won't get below freezing, (he said with fingers crossed :-)

By the way, this pic appears photo-shopped, as the mountains west of Las Vegas are visually about half that height.  But a few minutes northwest, Mount Charleston is over 12,000' tall and usually snow-capped every year until July 4th. 

 

Those Beautiful Girls Keep On Coming! . 

 "If you want people to visit your web site, you'd better have a picture of a beautiful girl!"  One of my favorite quotes from my friend and radio consultant, the late George Johns.  I had a fun and excellent 40+ year radio career with plenty of it following good advice from George, so here we go again.  :-)

I saw this pretty face on my TV one day this week on a DirecTV screensaver advertising an upcoming show on Univision.  Meet Gloria Trevi.  :-)    An actress , but also Internet Movie Database says she "sings like Janis Joplin, with a personality like Madonna," and starred in several movies in Mexico.