How did you get started in broadcast?
As a young college student home for the summer, I called a radio station in NYC to make a request. I was connected to a Vice -President of ABC Radio by mistake, and he began asking me questions about myself and music. It was a time when his FM radio stations were in a transition period from pre-recorded shows to going live with current rock music. There were many around him who knew about radio, not so many who were well versed in music. He said I had a nice voice and because of my music knowledge, invited me down to the station…. eventually putting me on the air. That summer job at WABC-FM turned into a 13-year relationship with ABC both on their Network and at their flagship station in NY that evolved from WABC-FM to WPLJ.
Tell us about your family.
I am married to a girl I dated in High School (Eastchester High)….we got married in 1973. We were married for 16 years before we had kids. During that 16-year period, we traveled, sowed our wild oats at rock concerts and clubs & discos like Studio 54, then bought a house in Westchester. Our son Robbie works as an Associate Director at a Spotify division known as Spotify for Artists. I have twin girls, Allie and Lucie. Allie is the principal of an asset management company and Lucie is a well-known social media influencer with over 500,000 followers on TikTok and YouTube. I’ve always been deeply involved in my kids’ lives and communication is the key to both a long happy marriage and being a dad. I am very proud of all my children and the lives they have chosen and their accomplishments.
What do you love most about Stamford?
We moved here in February of 2024 after living in Scarsdale for 34 years. I love being in the downtown area where I can walk to everything… restaurants, stores, the library and still have some greenery with Mill River Park so close to home. I love driving a short while to the beach (I like West Beach) and love the staff in my building, all so friendly and helpful. Apartment life is not new to me as for a while we also had an apartment in NYC. Stamford has the feel of a big city but still leaning towards suburbia. I’ve just started to get to know some new local friends and am proud to be part of a vibrant and thriving community.
What was your experience meeting Paul McCartney?
I was invited with lots of press people to attend a sound check prior to a McCartney concert at Madison Square Garden. I had no intention of meeting, no less interviewing Paul. But when the sound check ended, a McCartney aide came out and said, “OK, who was here to interview Paul?” I looked around and no one was responding so I raised my hand and was immediately escorted backstage to a green room where Paul and I sat on a sofa and recorded our conversation. After interviewing so many luminaries, I know how to be totally prepared and research for interviews, but in this case since it was so impromptu, I was not. I was excited to sit next to a Beatle and we chatted, but it was not one of my best interviews. I was too busy looking at his shoes, his fingernails, his hair and found it so hard to concentrate. He was friendly and talkative, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with him.
Tell us about some of the people you’ve interviewed.
I thought David Bowie was particularly smart, Billy Joel is one of the nicest and most down to earth people, Elton John was friendly and funny and working with Howard Stern was always fun and challenging…more on that later.
Favorite new artists?
Ugh….so many new artists. Some of them are new in terms of coming on the scene in the past several years…. others just came about in the past few months with a good song, but I don’t really know if they’ll be enduring. In the first category, I would put Lumineers, Decemberists, The Killers, Cage the Elephant, Noah Kahan and my son’s band, East Love. In the second instance, I like Sam Fender, British singer/songwriter, Orla Gartland, Irish singer/songwriter, a band called Peach Pit from Canada and Flipturn from Florida. In terms of my favorites of all times, I’ve always been a Beatle freak, both with the band’s music and the solo tunes the Beatles’ members released…. add Pink Floyd, Yes, Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra and Steely Dan and I could be stranded on a deserted island with their music and be very content.
Where can you be found these days?
I can be found at my apartment most of the time where I built a radio studio and do all my shows from home. Otherwise, you might find me at the Aquarium in Norwalk or Stepping Stones with my grandson and of course at some of my favorite restaurants in Stamford, in particular - Siena on Summer Street, The Americano on Main Street for a burger or picking up pizza at Remo’s on Bedford. I also frequent the Ferguson Library where I’ve discovered some books in my favorite genre, historical fiction. As for Howard Stern, my midday show on K-Rock followed his morning show, but he never got off by 10 o’clock when my show was supposed to start. Nevertheless, I always came into the studio at 10 and as a result became part of and one of the characters of the Howard Stern Show. There was always a twinkle in his eye when he would mock me or bust my chops, and I never took anything personally. It was always so much fun and I never got more reaction to things that happened on the radio than I did when I was on the air with Howard. Being part of his show also changed how I approached my on-air persona, and I think I became more real and less of just an announcer type after my time with Howard.
What’s next for Jimmy Fink?
What’s next…. I don’t have any plans to retire any time soon. I love working on 107.1 The Peak. I also write, produce, voice & record a daily hour of special programming called the 10@10. It’s ten songs from a particular month of a particular year sprinkled in with some news headlines and radio commercials or movie trailer audio that you might have heard back then. I also let my free form radio passions out with a section of my show called After 6, it explores a theme one day, maybe play an entire album another or feature a particular artist…. whatever suits my fancy. I’ve never been told I can’t play something during that hour, no matter what the genre. It’s exciting to be able to do that at a time when so much radio is preprogrammed and sterile, and too many stations play a very limited number of songs in a very tight rotation of repetition.
Can you share your thoughts on AI and its impact on broadcasting and music?
I am not sure of the impact of AI on the broadcast and music industries. AI technology, it seems, is still in its infancy and I’m sure there are many more developments to come as it advances. Yes, in some cases an AI robotic voice can replace a disk jockey, but whether it can replace an actual human personality is yet to be determined. The state of radio broadcasting is currently under fire as there are so many ways for people to listen to music…. Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, YouTube, iTunes and other streaming services, but they are also providing an outlet for budding musicians to get their music out there to the public. I think the key to the sustainability of radio and the philosophy of The Peak is to be live and local. You can listen to satellite radio, but it will never tell you what’s happening in your neighborhood the way a live, local radio personality can. Broadcasting and music have always been changing with the times and no doubt, will continue to change and evolve as the technology of delivering it progresses.
What’s the title of your movie and who’s doing the soundtrack?
The title of my movie and book in development is Dead Air. I’ve been thinking about it for years and I’m not sure if it will ever come out…I’m not ready to reveal its exact plot line or soundtrack but the song Don’t Fear the Reaper by the Blue Oyster Cult might give you a hint.
I’ve always been deeply involved in my kids’ lives and communication is the key to both a long happy marriage and being a dad.