How does a goofball from the Crazy Morning Crew end up building a massively successful syndication company? You'll find out in today's podcast, with Hall of Fame guest Danno Wolkoff from the Class of 1986.
This Cleveland native starts by telling us how he found out about Syracuse and Newhouse by accident, and then how a dorm mate asked him to do a radio show. This was just before WJPZ moved to FM. After the move to 89.1, Danno moved to mornings with Danny Klass, E Double R, and one of this year's Hall of Fame nominees, Happy Dave Dwyer. Even though radio wasn't his career goal, Danno somehow found himself at the station every day from 7 to 10am.
Following graduation, Danno went with his then-fiance to New York, but needed to find a job. After failing to find paid work at all three major networks, he took a gig at MJI Networks - but not after completely blowing the interview, as he explains.
He worked his way up through affiliate relations and sales, before deciding he wanted to raise his growing family back home in Cleveland, not New York. So three decades before the world went remote, Danno convinced his employer to let him open a Cleveland branch of the company. His wild success spurred openings in Chicago, Los Angeles, and more.
MJI was eventually acquired by Premiere Networks. Danno and his wife created their own company, Envision Radio Networks, leveraging the relationships built with radio stations, and some of the soft skills he learned at WJPZ. To commemorate Envision's 10th birthday, Danno made a large donation to WJPZ to assist in the building of their new studios at the end of 2012. Turns out that wasn't as cut and dry as he'd hoped. There was a lot of "orange" tape to go through.
Eventually, Envision was acquired by another company, and the Wolkoffs left, "sort of retired," and are now focusing on other projects. These include turning podcasts into audio books through Happy Land World. and putting electric vehicle chargers in fast food parking lots - an idea his daughter was instrumental in.
Throughout today's podcast, you'll hear about the many lifelong relationships Danno has cultivated through WJPZ, and the lessons learned. But he leaves us with two hilarious stories. One involves "accidentally" broadcasting live from a moving bus in downtown Syracuse, and the other involves a big red button they were told not to touch!
Join Us in Syracuse for Banquet on March 4th: https://bit.ly/WJPZ50BanquetTickets
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast is produced by Jon Gay '02 and JAG in Detroit Podcasts
Want to be on the show? Email JAG at jag@jagpodcastproductions.com
Connect with the WJPZ Alumni Association: https://wjpzalumniassociation.org/
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