Bob sherman, paul's son
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Bob Sherman, when as the VP/General Manager of WNBC radio station in NY in the late 1970s, brought Don Imus back to New York radio, and also hired Howard Stern. “He’s one of the great radio guys ever,” Imus said of Sherman.
Chairman/CEO at Double O Radio, Partner Pilot Group LLC, President Interactive Marketing at America Online, President at Time Warner Cable Media Sales, Senior Advisor to COO at AOL-Time Warner, Co-Founder Della Femina Travisano and Sherman, VP CBS Radio, VP NBC Radio.
Chairman/CEO at Double O Radio, Partner Pilot Group LLC, President Interactive Marketing at America Online, President at Time Warner Cable Media Sales, Senior Advisor to COO at AOL-Time Warner, Co-Founder Della Femina Travisano and Sherman, VP CBS Radio, VP NBC Radio.
http://www.indyeastend.com/Articles-i-2011-08-17-98579.113117-BOB.html
BOB
By Jerry Della Femina
My good friend Bob Sherman died on Sunday. He was the nicest man. He was also a great broadcasting executive who was sometimes my client, sometimes my partner, and always my friend.
At one point Bob and I owned a country music radio station in El Paso, Texas, together. Our lead disc jockey was Fred Imus, who sadly also passed away last week.
Now the odds against anyone failing with a country western radio station in El Paso, Texas, are incredibly high. That's all they listen to. Somehow we managed to fail. We always laughed about it.
We first met in 1979 when Bob was VP/GM of WNBC and he came in to hire my advertising agency to promote Don Imus's radio show. Don, as he has admitted so often on his radio show, was totally out of control at that time. He looked like he had just consumed a sugar doughnut because he always had some white powder on his nose. He was drunk most of the time
Bob's job was to control Imus and get him to the radio show on time. This necessitated his sometimes going with Imus when Don was off on a controlled-substance-buying spree.
Bob never tired of telling the hilarious story of when Imus stumbled into the Greenwich Village lair of the Hells Angels and challenged the Hells Angels to a fight.
In this way Bob Sherman and Don Imus were a perfect match in those days. Don was fearless and liked to start fights and Bob – a strong, big, tough ex-military policeman – was there to finish them. The thought of Bob fighting Hells Angels to protect Don Imus was easy for his friends to understand.
Whoever you were, whatever the issue, if you knew Bob Sherman, you would always know that if there was ever a problem, Bob Sherman had your back.
If dealing with Imus wasn't enough, Bob hired me and my ad agency, and in those days I wasn't exactly dealing with a full deck.
A very talented writer in my agency, Frank DiGiacomo, created a commercial based on an Imus radio show character, "The Right Reverend Dr. Billy Sol Hargis," who was a Jimmy Swaggert-type of preacher at "The First Church of the Gooey Death and Discount House of Worship."
The commercial began with Imus standing in front of a black tabernacle choir who sang:
"I don't care if it rains or freezes, long as I have my plastic Jesus resting on the dashboard of my car."
Then Billy Sol Hargis (Imus) started the commercial with the line:
"You don't have a prayer if you don't have that rating share."
It was a funny, irreverent television commercial, and then the "merde" hit the fan. WCBS TV turned the commercial down and refused to run it.
I went nuts. I called Bob in to my office and outlined my plan.
"Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to buy one share of stock in CBS and sue them in a stockholders' suit for turning away a paying customer. This is why they are not making a profit for their stockholders.
"The best part of the suit is I'm going to call William Paley to the witness stand to explain why they are turning away business."
Bob eyes got wide and he shook his head.
"You're going to sue CBS and call William Paley as a witness? Jerry," he said, "you can't do that. That's Paley – he's the most powerful man in the history of broadcasting. I would have to fire you."
Bob then explained to me that broadcasting was one big unhappy family. He couldn't let me sue Paley. Everyone I know in broadcasting would think I was nuts.
"You're going to have to fire me to stop me," I said.
"Okay," he answered.
I decided to take a different direction.
"Bob," I said, "you seem to know everybody in broadcasting."
"Just about everyone," he said.
"Let's go into business," I said.
A few months later Della Femina Sherman, an entertainment advertising agency specializing in promoting radio and television stations, was successfully launched. WNBC radio was an account.
When I sold my ad agency, Bob's career went into high gear. At one point he owned 11 radio stations in five markets. He was CEO of a radio station holding company.
Bob and I lunched and started to write a book together.
I could always count on a letter to the editor of this newspaper from Bob disagreeing with my treatment of Barack Obama. Bob and I were not on the same political page.
Bob's letters were always well thought-out, and they would always make me smile.
I knew Bob was very sick when he didn't respond to my last few "dump on Obama" columns.
On Thursday, Bob's wonderful wife Mandy got word to me that Bob was in the hospital in Sleepy Hollow, and that he wasn't doing well.
Something told me that I had to go see Bob as soon as possible.
My plan was to drive from New York to East Hampton. Instead, I drove to Westchester to say goodbye to Bob. When I got there, Bob's son Tate greeted me and took me to Bob's bedside.
I leaned over, took his hand and whispered that I loved him and all of our friends loved him. He opened his eyes and said, "Jerry, it's too late to lie," then he gave me a big smile.
The smile. That's how I will remember him.