The Echo of an Audio Legend

Gary was my first. He would like that line. "Oh REALLY?!" he might say. He was the first client I was introduced to, brand new at my job at AdLarge, and he had a cool product he wanted a sponsor for: The Classic Rock Roll of Honor award show. I made my first sale as a result! But when I grew to know Gary Krantz as a legend in the radio - and audio - industry, I asked him to be my first guest on my podcast, "Insider Interviews."

That was almost exactly five years ago.?It's surreal that my first did not last: a client/guest/co-worker turn friend has passed. But, his career, enthusiasm and drive lives on in the careers of many others, and via friendships throughout our industry.?

Being a classic rock lover with a decent "Rolodex" I was determined - even as a marketer - to sell that sponsorship for Gary. And I did: to Gibson Guitars, a first time advertiser, which Gary thought made ME legendary. It enabled me to go to London and Los Angeles for the annual award show, and meet and greet rock royalty from Ozzy Osbourne to Jimmy Page, with pictures that still pull in 'likes' on my Instagram (and, okay, on dating sites).

From then on, I considered Gary a friend, too. He loved the photos and the thrill as much or more. We laughed about those star photos right up to the last time I saw him a few months ago.

So, when I went over to MediaVillage as an editor, asked to both build out content about radio and this newish media darling called podcasts, I was ready, thanks to my tutelage by someone who had the determination to start as an unpaid “gopher," just to get into radio, to ultimately helping to run MJI Broadcasting (later acquired by iHeartMedia, where he became Executive Vice President of their Premiere division. It's worth noting that at one point Gary worked there with Ed Rivera, the man who later became my boss at Westwood One). Then Gary went on to become President of Air America, then to Chief Digital Media Officer at Westwood One.?Oh, and that's where he worked with another Gary -- Schonfeld -- and Cathy Csukas, who then went on to hire me at AdLarge (see above)!

You'll learn all that in?the article and episode I did on him, which was published in 2020.?

What you'll also learn is how Gary?also helped fuel the radio careers of such notables as Carson Daly, Ryan Seacrest and Rachel Maddow.

But get to know more about the person, too. His family shared?this obituary.

Our overlap continued in business, though, when Gary's instincts then led him to syndicate some of the biggest names and events on air and ultimately add to the utopian landscape of podcasting "back in the day." That brings us to him being on MY podcast (for which I've since gotten editing advice from the likes of Roger Colletti?who was the engineer in London with us way back when.) And we kept in touch, popping up at podcast conferences, dinners with Cathy ...even?occasionally on Fire Island with mutual friends, like his dear friend Max Felder (who happened to once work with one of?my?former co-workers when I was at Brand Innovators! Got that?)?And all that led to me freelancing for Gary, just recently, to help get sponsorships for the podcast and videos of another legend who he was helping, Peter Greenberg.?

You don't really need to follow all these connections; they are limitless. I think you can understand, though,?how one pebble in the pond of our industry doesn't go unheard or unfelt. Its ripples echo. And become the stuff of legends.?

Thanks for your impact and your friendship, Gary. You'll be missed.?