RAMP Turns 10… Who Knew?
• September 23, 2019 marks a very special milestone in the history of RAMP — it was ten years ago today that we published our inaugural issue! You probably know our history — it was more than 20 years ago when my partner Steve Resnik and I first teamed up to produce and market what was then considered a groundbreaking concept in an industry where the traditional business model was a weekly trade magazine mailed to your station — a daily publication. It while working at Gavin that we launched a daily fax(!) product that was dubbed gmail (oh, if only we had known…).
When Gavin folded in late 2001, we were fortunate enough that the forward-thinking Erica Farber, the President & Publisher of Radio & Records, hired us to spearhead a similar daily publication. Utilizing some fancy brand extension of a longstanding R&R feature, we named it Street Talk Daily — and it took off. For seven years we cranked out an issue every weekday, until that dark June day in 2009 (making it even worse — it was Steve’s birthday) when this venerable trade magazine suddenly ceased publication.
Less than two months later, a partnership was formed between three former R&R colleagues: Kevin Carter, Steve Resnik and Keith Berman, and longtime radio exec Rob Barnett and his business partner Warren Chao, who at the time were running video production studio My Damn Channel. Behind the scenes, all the necessary pieces were pushed into place, and on September 23, 2009, we hit the “send” button and published the inaugural issue of this little science experiment called RAMP (Radio and Music Pros).
Today, as we begin Week No. 503 of RAMP, Steve and I would like to sincerely thank our amazingly loyal readers and awesome advertising partners who continue to make this the best (and longest-running) job I’ve ever held over a 40-year career in this industry. Special thanks to our Graphics Goddess™ Sonia Horne, who has been with us since Day One and continues to make RAMP look fantastic every day. Here’s to the next ten! — Kevin Carter
