Mr. Shannon capped a stellar 40-plus-year career with a super signoff party featuring radio and entertainment superstars and well-wishers from all over the place—not the least of whom was “radio’s best friend,” Art Vuolo, who, as usual, recorded the whole thing for posterity. While the event hardly fits into the “Small Market Radio” column, Mr. Shannon did get his start therein—a top-of-the-dial AM in Mobile, AL—and schooled the entire industry on great morning radio and, incidentally, the fundamentals of good local radio. For a master class in radio, just search “Scott Shannon” on YouTube; of particular interest are the Worst to First video, chronicling the humble beginnings and spectacular heights of Z-100 in New York; and Mr. Vuolo’s video of Scott’s last show at WCBS-FM. (No one gets off scott free, so in all fairness we have to acknowledge Scott’s “learning experiences,” including the infamous Pirate Radio in LA.)
The Spirit of Local Broadcasting
