Steve Resnik Remembers Mike Borchetta
• RAMP‘s own Steve Resnik fondly remembers the legendary Mike Borchetta, as he reflects upon how one special person can absolutely change your life…
“I was nineteen years old and had graduated high school with a C- average. All I cared about was music and sports. I went to Glendale College simply to please my father, but I flunked out. A year later, after working on the assembly line at General Motors in Van Nuys, I went back to school — LA Valley College. I finally found a major I could be passionate about — ‘Communications.’ Soon, I was scoring good grades and working at the college radio station. I was voted by my fellow students to be the station’s music director. I asked the GM what an MD’s responsibilities were, and he told me I had to get records for the DJs to play.
I asked, ‘How do I do that?’ He said, ‘Write letters to the local record labels and distributors.’ Halfway through the 20-week course, I was getting a failing grade, as no records came in. One more fail and I was out of school for good, so asked the GM, ‘What else can I do?’ He asked, ‘Did you call the promotion people?’ I said, “No, I didn’t think of that.’ I then called thirty or more local promo people. How many took my call? Zero. At fifteen weeks, I was failing the course. I got in my car and visited Capitol Records, MGM, A&M, Warner Bros and about ten of the music distributors, mostly on Pico Blvd. None would see me. It was after 5:30 on that fateful Friday that I decided to try one more location: Mercury-Phillips-Fontana. If I struck out again, I would fail the course, flunk out of college again, and it’s back to the GM assembly line, possibly for a long, long time. [That’s Steve and Jim Croce, left]
I walked into the building at about 6 pm, just as the receptionist was walking out. She asked who I was there to see. I told her Mike Borchetta. Instead of buzzing him on the phone, she pointed to an office and told me he was in there. I introduced myself to Mike, and he said he remembered my name, and apologized for not returning my calls and for not sending me any music. We ended up talking for over an hour. He told me to come see him the following Monday morning. While sitting in his office, Mike called at least ten record labels and spoke to promotion execs. He said, ‘Are you not responding to Steve Resnik? He’s the music director at KLAV in the San Fernando Valley. He is a fantastic, energetic radio person with a great ear for music. Don’t brush him off.’
Mike had either forgotten — or didn’t yet know — that my radio station only reached as far as parking lots A & B on windy days. He lined up appointments for me for that day and the next two days at 20 labels and local distributors. I should have rented a truck — the trunk, seats and floor of my 1968 Chevy Caprice were filled with thousands of records! Mike later invited me to a Four Seasons showcase with backstage passes, and at Capitol, I was invited to a Beach Boys concert at the Forum with backstage passes. [That’s Steve and BB King, left]
Pretty soon I was meeting every prominent DJ in LA, like Casey Kasem, Wink Martindale, and The Real Don Steele, and doing interviews with Creedence Clearwater Revival, Little Richard, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Bill Medley and many more. All the interviews went well — except for one — this new group that hadn’t released a record yet — Led Zeppelin. They didn’t appreciate that I didn’t know anything about them or where they were from. Three days later, A&M called and asked me to interview another new artist who had also not yet recorded his first album — Joe Cocker. I had learned from my earlier mistake and found out everything I could about this Joe Cocker. A&M was so impressed, they hired me that day after the interview and I later became partners with promo legend Charlie Minor and did 23 years in promotion — A&M (twice), ABC/Dunhill, Liberty/United Artists, and EMI/Capitol. I then formed my own company with Billboard legend Tom Noonan. After that, I worked at Gavin with another legend, Dave Sholin, and in 1998 teamed up with the most talented writer and my longtime partner, Kevin Carter, at Gavin, Radio & Records, and now at RAMP for the past 16 years.
A few years ago at CRS, I shared my story with Mike’s son, Scott Borchetta, who immediately called his dad and put me on the phone with him. It was an honor for me after some 30+ years to say ‘Thank You’ to a man who had changed my life. Without a man by the name of Mike Borchetta, it is doubtful any of the above history would have come to pass for me. I thank you Mr. Borchetta. You were my mentor. Rest in peace.”
