Remembering Seth Mason
• Seth Mason, one of the “Founding Fathers” and first General Manager of WXRT/Chicago, died Saturday, July 11 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.
It was in early 1972 when Mason joined a small band of “underground” DJs who had leased time to play Progressive Rock music from midnight to 5am on 93.1 FM, which at the time was time-brokered to different ethnicities during the day. As the Rock music gained in popularity, it gradually took over more hours on the station until it became a fulltime format in 1976. In 1992, Mason helped launch WSCR (The Score), Chicago’s first all-Sports radio station and one of the nation’s earliest Sports-Talk stations. When WXRT and WSCR’s owner Diamond Broadcasting purchased additional stations in Oklahoma City and Memphis, Mason was named as the company’s President. Mason left WXRT and WSCR in 1995 when the stations were sold to Westinghouse Broadcasting, and in 1998, he left the radio business completely when Diamond Broadcasting sold off the remainder of its radio assets.
Veteran broadcast executive Harvey Wells, who now operates the Radio Reps LLC consultancy had the pleasure of working for Seth Mason twice at WXRT — first, in 1975, doing weekend overnights, and a second stint as a salesperson, and later, succeeding Mason as the second GM of both WXRT and WSCR. “I got to know a completely different side of Seth,” Wells wrote of his stint in sales. “This was Seth the person who protected the business side as much as he protected the programming. We were taught never to negotiate a rate, never bump a spot and always to write thank-you notes. There is no doubt that Seth’s passion for both the programming and business sides of WXRT, and later The Score, helped lead to the staggering sales price of the stations in 1995.”
After leaving radio in 1998, Mason went on to re-invent himself as a high school and college soccer coach. Wells said, “With all of the success he achieved during his life, the miraculous birth of WXRT (the original station lease company was called ‘Minor Miracle’), will always be remembered as it was indeed a minor miracle that it ever happened. Seth Mason is survived by his wife Susan and his children, Ashley and Eric.”
Pictured at WXRT’s 25th Anniversary party in 1997, (l-r): original WXRT PD John Platt, GM Seth Mason, original XRT air personality Terri Hemmert and original MD Bob Schulman. Wells said, “Legend has it that Seth drew the short straw and all that was left was Sales Manager. He then became the first GM.” [Special thanks to Harvey Wells, who shared his own remembrance of Mason in a rare Facebook post, and thanks to John Platt for the use of the WXRT anniversary photo].
