Accomplished NYC radio personality Bill Rock shares broadcasting memories

Four decades of "rocking" the mic/
Bill Rock

His name may not be met with instant recognition, even after a career that has spanned 40 years in New York. But Bill Rock has established himself as one of the most recognizable and hardest-working voices in the business.

Rock, a booming, deep baritone, with an inviting personality, is linked with his radio days at the old WYNY. Those days became years-- 15, in fact-- as ‘YNY went from the longstanding Adult Contemporary format to Country.

Sowing broadcasting seeds

His interest in broadcasting started as early as “seven or eight years old” while living in Connecticut. His formative years were spent in Paramus.

Early influences for Rock range from the familiar to the obscure.

No surprise, the first name Rock thought of was the iconic afternoon disc jockey at WABC—(cue the sounder) Dan Ingram.

Rock said he took something from Jean Shepherd, the legendary late night host at WOR-AM. Additionally, he was influenced by Don Imus, who he worked with in the 1970s.

Other broadcasting luminaries that had a hand in shaping Rock professionally: Martin Block, Dick Cavett, Dick Clark and William B. Williams.

But Rock didn’t stop with radio personalities.

He was also molded by Steve Allen, the man who was “The Tonight Show” before Conan, Jay or even Johnny. And there’s Arthur Godfrey, who Rock described as “the first one on radio to establish the concept of talking to one person.”

Another inspiration became more personal for the teenaged Rock---WDRC/Hartford morning man Ron Landry.

“I used to bug him all the time and he used to bring me down to the station. I would watch him while he did his show,” Rock recalled.

Landry, who died in 2002, moved to Los Angeles, where he formed a 1970s comedy team with Bob Hudson. After the split, Landry became a successful sitcom writer.

Rock, meanwhile, had a brief stint at ‘DRC in 1968. Coming full circle, he has been the station’s imaging voice for the past six years.

Rock went to Seton Hall University and worked on the campus radio station---WSOU. It was at that time that he built a foundation with the well-known DJ, Bill Mercer, a.k.a. Rosko.

In 1966, while still a student at Seton Hall, Rock became a paid summer intern at WOR-FM. He crossed paths with Rosko as his engineer. The bigger treat would follow, when Rosko accepted Rock’s invitation to appear on his college radio show.

“His [Rosko’s] feeling was if you got into the college campuses and build your audience one person at a time that you would eventually prevail ratings-wise,” Rock said.

After the unique experience of co-hosting with the WOR-FM jock, Rosko allowed his engineer Rock to open the mic for the first time on a New York City station.

With his first taste of radio, Rock honed his craft at stations up and down the East Coast (Pittsburgh, Albany, Boston and Hartford, among other markets).

“I don’t think I developed what was really me until I got to ‘YNY.”

But Rock was more than an on-air personality. He spent several years in radio programming.

Moving on to management

Management for Rock began in 1971 at WTRY in Albany, NY. From there, it was on to WMEX in Boston. For his next gig, Rock reached the heights---WNBC.

After being assistant program director, Rock was upgraded to acting P.D. before leaving in 1977.

But he wasn’t done with programming radio stations. From 1977 to 1981, Rock was operations manager at WELI in New Haven, CT.

Padding his resume further, Rock became the V.P. of Programming for Insilco Broadcast Group. With that, Rock was in charge of a radio network ---albeit a small one—with two affiliates each in Connecticut, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Florida.

It was during that same time, he started up his own business “Bill Rock Productions,” first as a producer of radio commercials. Eventually, Rock’s company would handle bigger projects---multi-image productions and video presentations. In the process, Rock earned numerous industry awards.

Despite the new venture and Rock’s growth as a manager, something was missing.

“I really wanted to get back to New York,” Rock said. He remembered his wife telling him, ‘You’re doing all of this stuff. You’re making all of this money…but you’re not really happy.”

His “happiness” came from a good friend who had been both a co-worker and a rival at Connecticut stations throughout the 1970s.

Returning to New York

Pete Salant, former P.D. at NBC-owned WYNY, offered Rock an opportunity to return to on-air work in New York. Rock would remain with the station from 1981 to 1996.

“He was great, the ultimate ‘dependable weekender,’” Salant recalled.

During Rock’s tenure (in July of 1987), the station evolved from its popular A/C to Country, a format he was unfamiliar with.

“I found it most interesting that they changed the program director and the format and they kept all the personalities,” Rock said.

It was at that point that the longstanding A/C jock working the Sunday afternoon shift made some changes to his on-air persona.

“I’m going to go on the air, and I’m going to tell everybody that I don’t know anything about country music. You guys are the experts. You tell me,” Rock recalled.

Rock built a close following with fans, allowing them to be a part of his show. “That’s where I started putting people on the air. I didn’t ask … I just put them on the air.”

Rock remembered fellow jock Dan Daniel telling him one day that he had the highest ratings at the station.

But because of his “going outside of the lines,” success for Rock proved to be difficult with management. “In an attempt to get rid of me, I think they put me on Saturday nights,” Rock recalled.

If that assessment is accurate, though, it backfired.

“What happened [is], I knew he [the unnamed program director] lived outside the listening area. So I just started from the beginning, just doing whatever I wanted on Saturday nights.”

In fact, as time went by, Rock would only be required to play commercials.

Within two or three ratings books, the shift, which historically had low numbers, suddenly showed a jump. He would prosper for eight years on the “Saturday Night Country Club.” During that time, Rock would outlast the “revolving door” of program directors.

“For the last four or five, they inherited me, as opposed to me inheriting them.”

Rock, 62, can still be heard implementing the style that made him famous at ‘YNY. For nine years he’s been at Sirius Satellite Radio. Rock, in 2004, was the first DJ on the Elvis Radio channel. He has hosted a Saturday night show on there ever since.

Salant said along with a “big, warm [and] recognizable voice, his adaptability and ability to grow into any format, as evidenced by his long tenure at WYNY,” are reasons for Rock’s long-lasting radio success.

Spreading wings for the “peacock”

But that “big, warm” voice was just starting to get recognized. In the mid 1980s, Rock returned to WNBC—this time as the voice of the famous top-of-the-hour ID.

“50,000 watts, clear channel. The flagship station for the National Broadcasting Company. WNBC, New York,” Rock demonstrated.

In 1987, Rock had the honor of doing the final WNBC ID, live in-studio, as the historic station made way for WFAN on the 660 am frequency.

He remained with NBC Radio until 1996, when WYNY left the air. Then Rock realized one of his childhood dreams---working for NBC Television.

After being made aware of an opening for the “NBC Nightly News” announcer, he auditioned.

"They had about 30 or 40 guys that had gone in for that, some of the biggest names in voice-over work. I was a fresh, new voice."

Rock has been employed by NBC since.

He announced for NBC News shows at the start, from “Meet the Press” and “NBC Nightly News Weekend Edition” to “Dateline” and “The Today Show.”

That led to Rock becoming the main voice on MSNBC, with an opportunity for fill-in voice-over work on CNBC.

Today, Rock is heard as the network’s exclusive announcer for prime time commercial billboards.

Since April 2008, Rock’s powerful pipes have also been heard on WOR Radio, where he handles all imaging and promos for John Gambling, and other station production including the station ID.

Rock crystallizes his career this way: “New York was the brass ring. …You got in your car. You went to a little better job. You got a little more money, a little more prestige… a little bigger market. Then you went on to the next one, again, again and again, with the ultimate goal of getting to New York. …Very few people did.”

Rock is one those rare talents who grabbed “the brass ring” at the pinnacle of his career while wearing many hats [in a management role, on-air and voice-over work] for so many years in New York.

(Editor’s note: I had the pleasure of meeting Rock in 1988, while at the time working at my college radio station. That fall, Country 103.5 (WYNY) was holding an on-air charity auction. One item that caught my dad’s ear (he was an avid country music fan), was the station offering one hour to “play DJ.” After he confirmed my interest, my dad was locked in a bidding war with one other person. $920 later, I was on my way to a “professional” radio debut.

Rock, shortly after the auction concluded, did a live phone interview with me. I told him I was using the abbreviated last name “Barr” because of my radio work at college.

Without missing a beat, Rock said, “Well my parents knew I was going to be in radio, when they named me “Bill Rock.”

On the evening of the actual shift, this new kid was allowed to “cross-over” with the radio veteran.

I’ll always remember as we wrapped our brief moment together on the air, he asked me if I had anything else I wanted to add. The only retort this nervous, hopeful broadcaster could muster was “Keep it tuned.”

Rock and the person who was my board-op (the usual on-air personality during that shift) laughed good-naturedly.

Rock said, “Keep it tuned for the debut of Jerry Barr …”)