My Nine Words With George

In the late 1970s I was one of the managers of WKTU-FM, in New York City, and was responsible for creating promotions that would increase both the audience of the station and grow the image in the community. We had just recently changed the format of the station from white bread “mellow rock” to become the first all-disco radio station in the country, and our image could use all the help I could create.


I contacted Barry Landers, the Promotional Director of the New York Yankees and arranged for a ticket giveaway for a doubleheader, which would also include a celebrity softball game to be played by the disc jockeys of our station verses rock station WPLJ-FM. You know, one of those rock verses disco things… in fact, the first rock verses disco thing ever.


Yes, there actually was a time that, not only doubleheaders were played, but the Yankees actually sucked bad enough to be able to give away tickets.


Anyway, everything was worked out and the day of the game began. WPLJ-FM’s rock listeners were in one section and “Disco 92’s” winners were on the opposite side of the field.


Well, everything went to hell a couple of innings into the game. Seems I had given away tickets to member of rival street gangs, who decided to work out their differences in the stands that day… with knives. The stadium went up, the cops came a running, everything was halted for awhile, the softball game was cancelled, and the Daily News had a headline the next morning of something like “WKTU holds knife fight at Yankees Stadium”.


I got up early the next morning, rushed to my office at 60th Street and Madison Avenue, and called Landers on the phone.


We were both doing damage control, when I could hear a click on the phone, telling me that a third party had picked up to join both Barry and I.


And then I heard those nine words.


“John… this is George… let’s not do that again.”


Click


And that was my moment in Yankee sun.


I’ll miss Mr. Steinbrenner and hopefully, the details of his illness over the past five years will be written about now so everyone will understand the pain he went through late in life. I was never a Yankee fan, but I always respected that fact that they knew how to run a team. They may have treated their players a little strangely, and we all know what he thought of managers, but the fact remains the Yankees were a better team under him.


Rest in peace, George. Let’s not do this again.