OMC: You spent time at WZMF, which has become kind of like a mythical station in these parts. As I recall it, the disc jockeys there didn't talk a lot. They just played a lot of great music that you didn't hear anywhere else.

BR: We didn't talk much. That wasn't the idea. It wasn't personality-driven radio. It was music-driven radio.

OMC: Do you plan to talk a lot on the new show or will it be mostly music?

BR: I want to give the listener enough information so that -- I know one thing that annoys me is if you hear five songs in a row and you want to know what the third one is and they don't tell you.

I'd like to start off with a song with a certain feeling to it; a certain message. Sort of like "I saw this girl standing across the room … I wonder who she is." Then, the next song is "I met her." The next song is, "We went out." I just envision, musically, just weaving that around.

There are different things I could do. I could take an album, say Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" and play the songs in order performed by different artists. I'd like to get a 17- or 18-year-old kid in the studio and play some of his favorite music and see what he's listening to and see if we like some of the same stuff.

OMC: You don't hear anything like that on modern radio.

BR: Now, it's mostly focus group stuff. It's research. That's one way to do it.

OMC: In the years you've been at WKTI, has there been a lot of music that caught your ear? Or, do you mostly ignore it? I don't imagine you'll be playing the latest Green Day mega-hit on your new show, will you?

BR: If it's good, I would. I like (artists like) Bright Eyes and The Paper Chase. I also realize I've got a lot of catching up to do. A lot. I don't want to be an oldies show. I just want to play good music; I don't care what era it's from. There is good stuff from the '30s and '40s. If you listen to the new Dylan album, its roots are way down into that.

OMC: Sort of like Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions album?

BR: That's a great example. There are roots in American music. I'd like to explore that.

OMC: It sounds like you've got enough ideas to do a lot of shows.

BR: There are a lot of directions I can go with this. I've thought about bringing people in to talk about some of their favorite songs. Wouldn't you listen to the show if the mayor was on with his favorite seven songs? I would.

OMC: We've been talking about your new show. What about the show you're leaving? What will you miss most about doing mornings at WKTI?

BR: What I'm going to miss, really, is what happens after a long time being in a market like Milwaukee. You run into people and they say "I've been listening to you since I was in high school. Now my kids listen." People come up and are so nice -- "You gave me a wakeup call on my honeymoon." I'm glad that the kind of stuff we were doing on KTI involved the listeners a lot. It's kind of like being in a small town.

Of course, after working so many years with Mueller, I'm going to miss him. I had a couple partners before Mueller, but nothing really clicked. Gino has been with us a long time. Amy hasn't been with us quite as long, but it's been fun with her.

OMC: When you work that closely with someone, it's almost like being married, isn't it?

BR: It's a marriage without sex. We went to five or six Olympics. We went to the Soviet Union together. We went to Mexico and Jamaica about 18 times. We made a deal early on, if there is a problem, get it right out there. Don't let it go. It's worked.

OMC: What's the secret to keeping it fresh?

BR: When you work with somebody, you have to find out where the borders are. A long time ago, Gene and I figured out where we could go with each other. With Amy, she was there a shorter time. It was a work in progress, but that was fun. We were figuring out where the borders are. It made it exciting.

OMC: What do you think will happen to the show after you leave?

BR: I honestly don't know. I would hope they would keep that morning show together. I think they'd do fine. Mueller was around about as long as I was. Gino has been around. At this point, I don't know what they're going to do.

OMC: Here is a question you've probably heard a million times since you announced your retirement. Are you looking forward to sleeping in? Were you able to get on a "normal" schedule during vacations or did you still get up at 3 a.m.?

BR: I can do it pretty well. I sleep about 6 or 6 ½ hours. I took about a 40-minute nap before I came to meet you here. That nap just shakes me up. But, I only have to get up a few more times.

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4 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by gofeden on Aug. 2, 2007 at 8:31 a.m. (report)

Let's have some 2007 updates, now that Reitman's show is on the air, it has to be GREAT, after all, it's REITMAN !! Some of us are only able to hear it second hand, so c'mon folks, let me see some positive comments !!

Posted by sandstorm on Dec. 13, 2006 at 8:36 a.m. (report)

listening outta curiousity this morning. Reitman seems like a nice guy, but this has to be the blandest, most vanilla, unfunny shows on radio. gino plays a clip of robin williams impersonating bob dylan "i told robin that reitman liked dylan and it took him one second to come up with that. genius!". really, gino? genius? no wonder there are no laughs to be found on this show. the bar is set waaaaaaay too low.

Posted by patrickm1964 on Dec. 6, 2006 at 11:14 a.m. (report)

Can't wait to hear the new show on WUWM. Reitman's ideas sound terrific.

Posted by chris on Dec. 6, 2006 at 8:48 a.m. (report)

Boy, I sure can't wait to hear more Gino Salamone in the mornings! Talk about a Milwaukee Treasure!