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Denny Somach is an American businessman, author, and Grammy-award winning radio producer. [1] [2] He is the founder of Denny Somach Productions, an independent production company that produces syndicated and network programming.
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Denny Somach is an American businessman, author, and Grammy-award winning radio producer. [1] [2] He is the founder of Denny Somach Productions, an independent production company that produces syndicated and network programming.
Somach attended Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduating in 1975, Somach became an announcer at WSAN, a progressive rock station in nearby Allentown. [3] He later worked at WYSP-FM in Philadelphia as an announcer and programmer before launching his own independent production company, Denny Somach Productions (DSP), in 1981. Among the syndicated and network radio programming produced by DSP are a number of successful productions, including The Classics, a widely syndicated weekly retrospective show that was originated in 1999 as The Rock of the Century; Legends of Rock;Psychedelic Psnack (Westwood One); Live From the Hard Rock Cafe NBC. Somach has been a consultant or director for several cable networks, including MTV, Cable Music Channel, the Comedy Channel and The Fine Living Network. He produced The News That Rocked '81, the first outside program broadcast on MTV. He is the co-creator of Friday Night Videos on NBC and was also a consultant for XM Satellite Radio and a contributor to Comcast Network. Among his television production credits are Evening/PM Magazine; Solid Gold Rock 'n Roll the first 30-minute music infomercial; and Sixty Greatest Hits of the Sixties, the first long form record collection infomercial featuring a package developed by a major record label. The infomercials featured Wolfman Jack and Davy Jones, respectively. Somach has also produced records and videos for artists such as Johnny Winter, Todd Rundgren, Alan Parsons, and Barbara Mandrell. He served as executive producer for Eric Johnson's album Ah Via Musicom , featuring the Grammy award winning song "Cliffs of Dover".
In addition to producing, Somach hosted the show Hot Spots, a weekly concert series he developed for USA Network. He has authored two books on the Beatles: Ticket to Ride (1989) and Meet the Beatles...Again (1995). His latest book, Get the Led Out-How Led Zeppelin Became the Biggest Band in the World," was published on November 6, 2012. [4] An updated version was published in April 2014. Somach currently writes and produces "Carol Miller's Get the Led Out," which airs on over 100 radio stations.
Somach is also the co-founder of the Cinema record label.
Candid Camera is an American hidden camera reality television series. Versions of the show appeared on television from 1948 until 2014. Originally created and produced by Allen Funt, it often featured practical jokes, and initially began on radio as The Candid Microphone on June 28, 1947.
A music video, sometimes abbreviated to MV or M/V, is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. These videos are typically shown on music television and on streaming video sites like YouTube, or more rarely shown theatrically. They can be commercially issued on home video, either as video albums or video singles. The format has been described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip", "film clip", "video clip", or simply "video".
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of direct response television (DRTV), they are often program-length commercials, and are typically 28:30 or 58:30 minutes in length. Infomercials are also known as paid programming. This phenomenon started in the United States, where infomercials were typically shown overnight, outside peak prime time hours for commercial broadcasters. Some television stations chose to air infomercials as an alternative to the former practice of signing off, while other channels air infomercials 24 hours a day. Some stations also choose to air infomercials during the daytime hours, mostly on weekends, to fill in for unscheduled network or syndicated programming. By 2009, most infomercial spending in the U.S. occurred outside of the traditional overnight hours. Stations in most countries around the world have instituted similar media structures. The infomercial industry is worth over $200 billion.
Hugh Malcolm Downs was an American radio and television broadcaster, announcer and programmer; television host; news anchor; TV producer; author; game show host; talk show sidekick; and music composer. A regular television presence from the mid 1940s until the late 1990s, he had several successful roles on morning, prime-time, and late-night television. For several years, he held the certified Guinness World Record for the most hours on commercial network television before being surpassed by Regis Philbin.
Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where broadcast programming is scheduled by television networks with local independent affiliates. Syndication is less widespread in the rest of the world, as most countries have centralized networks or television stations without local affiliates. Shows can be syndicated internationally, although this is less common.
Westwood One was an American radio network that was based in New York City. At one time, it was managed by CBS Radio, and was later purchased by the private equity firm, The Gores Group. Due to purchases, mergers and other forms of consolidation in the 1980s and 1990s, at one time or another, it had ownership stakes in or syndication rights to some of the most famous brands in network radio, including CBS, NBC, Mutual, CNN, Fox, and Unistar. The company was one of the largest producers and distributors of radio programming in the United States. It broadcast entertainment, news, weather, sports, talk, and traffic programming to about 7,700 radio stations across the United States. The company was the top provider of local traffic reports in the U.S. through its subsidiaries, Metro Networks, Shadow Broadcast Services, SmartRoute Systems, and Sigalert.com. Westwood One also offers weather services; originally using Accuweather, Westwood switched to The Weather Channel in 2009.
Simulcast is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio. Likewise, the BBC's Prom concerts were formerly simulcast on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Television. Another application is the transmission of the original-language soundtrack of movies or TV series over local or Internet radio, with the television broadcast having been dubbed into a local language.
John J. "J. J." Jackson Jr. was an American radio and television personality. He was one of MTV's five original VJs. In his appearances on MTV, Jackson often went by and introduced himself as "Triple J>"
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series ran on NBC from 1962 to 1963; in first-run syndication from 1965 to 1969 and again from 1972 to 1986; and on CBS from 1969 to 1972.
Nick at Nite is an American night time programming block broadcast by the American basic cable channel Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Monday to Saturday nights from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. ET/PT and Sunday nights from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. ET/PT. The block is similar to Adult Swim, the programming block that shares channel space with Nickelodeon's rival Cartoon Network.
An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast network. As such, it only broadcasts syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered programming, for which a third party pays the station for airtime; and local programs that it produces itself.
WMNT-CD is a low-power, Class A television station in Toledo, Ohio, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV and Cozi TV. The station is owned by Community Broadcast Group, Inc. WMNT-CD's studios are located in a shopping center at the corner of Reynolds Road and Dussel Drive in Maumee, and its transmitter is located on top of the One SeaGate tower in downtown Toledo.
Friday Night Videos is an American music video show that was broadcast on NBC from July 29, 1983, to May 24, 2002. It was the network's attempt to capitalize on the emerging popularity of music videos as seen on MTV. From January 5, 2001, to August 30, 2002, the show changed to Late Friday showcasing new stand-up comedian talent with original video of sets from a stand-up club like setting, with an established comedian as guest host.
Music television is a type of television programming which focuses predominantly on playing music videos from recording artists, usually on dedicated television channels broadcasting on satellite, cable, or Streaming Platforms.
Video Concert Hall (VCH) was launched in 1978 or 1979 on the USA Network and on Showtime, featuring an unhosted rotation of music videos. Often credited as being the precursor to MTV, Video Concert Hall was reportedly the most popular programming on QUBE, a cable television unit of Warner Communications. VCH, as it was often called, was created by radio and cable television executive Lloyd G. Crowe and Charles W. Henderson, a journalist who would later work for TriStar Pictures. Video Concert Hall was produced by Henderson-Crowe Productions and the company Video Concert Hall, Ltd. at studios in Atlanta, Georgia. Crowe and Henderson served as executive producers of Video Concert Hall, as well as other top-rated syndicated musical variety TV specials.
KMBR is a commercial radio station in Butte, Montana, broadcasting to the Butte, Montana area. KMBR airs a classic rock music format.
Drake-Chenault Enterprises was a radio syndication company that specialized in automation on FM radio stations. The company was founded in the late-1960s by radio programmer and deejay Bill Drake (1937–2008), and his business partner, Lester Eugene Chenault (1919–2010). Drake-Chenault was the predecessor of Jones Radio Networks with its syndicated satellite-delivered formats.
Ron Furmanek is an American Grammy nominated music producer and filmographer who has produced over 200 CDs. His most recent work, which includes six Kingston Trio titles, is currently released on RichKat Records, through Collectors Choice Music in the United States.
Andrew Solt is a British-born American producer, director, and writer of documentary films. Solt has had a long career in television. A frequent focus of his documentaries is rock and roll music, its history and star performers.
The Kendall Ross Bean - Chopin Polonaise in A Flat was one of the first classical music videos to be broadcast in the United States and Canada on 24 July 1986.