Tag: Anna on the Bus

By Walter Sabo
a.k.a. Walter Sterling, Host
WPHT, Philadelphia, “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night”
and TMN syndicated, “Sterling on Sunday”

Conventional industry wisdom: “If our morning star leaves, we’re dead. How could we replace them?”

First, loosen up the criteria. There are actual conversations taking place right now at an AC station between executives afraid to hire a great country jock because she has never “done AC.” Let that nonsense go and pay attention to the qualities of a star.

Consulting work brought regular demands to find star talent. Disruptive. Audience builders. Talent can be found anywhere, everywhere when we put down the notion of an ideal resume.

FAVORITE STORY: I was on the 23rd Street bus a few years ago. It was packed. There was a woman on her cell phone giving advice to a caller about living with a man prior to marriage. She had a big personality, easy to hear. New Yorker after New Yorker listened to this intriguing conversation and then… passenger after passenger started to express their opinions to this passenger, on a New York City bus, at rush hour. By the time she had to get off, half the bus was participating with her in her private conversation.

I wrote her a note on my card and asked her to please get in touch with me.

She did. We had coffee for one hour. It seemed like five minutes. Her life story was intriguing, overwhelming, timeless.

Anna Smith. “Anna on the Bus.” I had her in the production room at Audacy in New York and tough big city radio people gathered around the studio and whispered to me, “She should have her own show.”

Anna tells compelling stories: Her father was an 18-wheeler. He would arrive first with his deliveries. Dispatchers usually sent him to the back of the line because he was Black. After waiting for hours to dock, he was fined for late deliveries.

Anna lost several of her seven children to disease and shootings. No anger. Just “the way of the world.” Stories like that. She’s been on my show many times. She’s a radio star.

“Anna on the Bus.”

Walter Sabo has been a C Suite action partner for companies such as SiriusXM, Hearst, Press Broadcasting, Gannett, RKO General and many other leading media outlets. His company HITVIEWS, in 2007, was the first to identify and monetize video influencers.. His nightly show “Walter Sterling Every Damn Night” is heard on WPHT, Philadelphia. His syndicated show, “Sterling On Sunday,” from Talk Media Network, airs 10:00 pm-1:00 am ET, and is now in its 10th year of success. He can be reached by email at sabowalter@gmail.com.