An Interview with Danny Coleman on radio, writing, music and more!

In the last twenty years, I don’t think I’ve met anyone as dedicated to the local music scene as Danny Coleman.  He’s a writer, a DJ, an emcee for events, and a musician himself.  Most of all, he is consistent.  He’s doing these things week after week after week. I have seen a lot of people come and go in the local music scene over the years, but Danny just keeps plugging away and his radio show will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a big bash on April 28th.

The anniversary show will take place at Salty’s Beach Bar (1705 Main Street) in Lake Como, NJ from 1:00pm-6:00pm.  The lineup includes sets by Radio Fiction, The Williamsboy, Dave Vargo, Jerry Monk, Helen O’Shea and Friends, Jump Back and more. Admission is free; there will be food available as well as a cash bar.

Many people have no idea just how difficult it is to run a weekly column or radio show, but I do.  Setting up interviews, gathering research for the interviews, and conducting them is far easier than it sounds.   And working in the arts is often done for little or no pay.  New Jersey Stage has been fortunate to run Danny’s weekly column for many years. Sadly, we are one of many outlets that Danny contributes to as a volunteer.  None of our writers are paid.  It’s one of many reasons I respect him so much. He doesn’t have to do these things, but he does them because he loves music. He gets just as excited talking to a local band who is releasing their first record as he does talking to someone in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  That’s the kind of guy I want writing for us.

I’ll never forget being in a venue in Bordentown once when the owner said, “Oh, you’re with New Jersey Stage… I read Danny Coleman’s column each week.” We know that music fans, venue owners, and musicians are reading his column. He may not realize just how important he is to the New Jersey music scene, but we do.

I thought this was a good time to talk to him to get more of his back story – what led him to radio and writing and, just as importantly, what keeps him going when so many people get disillusioned in the industry.

Fifteen years is an amazing run, my friend. Tell me how the show first began.

When I was 16, my band Valhalla was in an “Unsigned Heroes” contest on WPST FM out of Trenton; Dave Hoeffel, the DJ at the time, had put it all together. One summer night, I was at a local church carnival and a girl from school approached me and said, “Come with me, c’mon, you’re on the radio” and sure enough she was right. The feeling I had was just incredible and that began my desire to discover more about radio. So,as a 19 year old kid, I went to a small broadcasting school in Trenton called, “The Allen-Singer School of Broadcasting” which was run by two retired local radio station air personalities; I believe they were on WTTM AM and I learned the basics of radio broadcasting which included editing with a razor blade and tape, using 8-track “Carts” as they were called and voice cadences. Unfortunately, upon graduation, there weren’t many radio jobs that I could find and none which offered any perks like medical benefits or that sort of thing and I put it to the side and worked for The Wall Street Journal for eight years.

In 1988 I was married and in 1989, with an eye on the future, I left The Wall Street Journal and took a job as a driver for United Parcel Service and for the better part of 20 years that is where I stayed but I always had an eye on music and an interest in radio. One day in January of 2009, my life changed forever. After waking up one morning and having more than usual back pain, I dressed for work, walked out the door and before I could get into my pick-up truck; I literally collapsed in my driveway in the most intense pain I’d ever felt. The issue, as I would find out, was four herniated discs with blood in my spine and one of the discs leaked just enough to cause nerve damage and thus ended my career at UPS.

Forced with having to reinvent myself, I saw a Craig’s List ad stating, “Radio Show Hosts/Ideas wanted” and I called the number. The station was WIFI 1460 AM located in Burlington County, NJ and they were more than happy to set up a meeting so I could pitch my “Idea” and that was to give musicians the opportunity to hear themselves like 16 year old Danny did at a church carnival in 1979. The meeting took all of 20 minutes, they loved the idea and “Rock On Radio” was born with the first broadcast being on April 26, 2009 and my guests were my current band mates Mike Mattaliano, Bob Furda and Mike “Slim” Thompson who was in an Asbury Park area band at the time called Agency.

The show was on at 10 p.m. and was only an hour in length when it first aired and shifted to 7 p.m. and two hour length three years later when I switched to internet radio.

What is the best part of producing the show each week? And what is the worst or most difficult?

Oh, the best part of producing the show is, hands down, the musicians. Meeting new artists and hearing so much talent and getting to interact with them is very rewarding but I have to give credit where credit is due and that is to my producer Claire Henwood (seen above with Danny) who has been an absolute Godsend and I mean that in every sense of the word. She is thorough, quick, pays way more attention to detail than I do many times and her mind thinks in ways which mine doesn’t. Claire assists with booking guests, does a lot of our social media posts, updates the show’s website and with the sad passing of our engineer Art Ackerman, she now handles the sound board as well.

The worst part? Getting my guests to promote themselves and their appearance on the program. I don’t know why that is and I wish I had an answer but yeah, if I could get them to do that; I’d be ecstatic.

Tell me about your favorite radio stations growing up.  What stations do you remember? Were there any DJs that inspired you to go behind the Mic?

As a kid, my alarm clock was set to WFIL, the big AM station in Philly; I used to wake up to Jim O’Brien’s voice every morning before school. WFIL was using the old “Boss Jock” style and O’Brien was funny, and maybe a little crazy even and I liked him. Then when album oriented rock took over and FM was where it was at, stations like WMMR and WYSP out of philly had guys like Michael Tearson, Earl Bailey, Ed Sciaky and my favorite female personalities Cyndy Drue and Debbie Calton. Later on when I was working more north of where I lived, it became Scott Muni, Carol Miller, Dave Herman, Vince Scelsa; I’m sure I’m missing others from WNEW but yeah, all so smooth and professional and all of them, I felt like they were talking directly to me.

What was it like that first time you went on the air?  Were you a DJ before the Rock on Radio show began?

No, I was never a DJ but I had been on air before on a station in Levittown, PA, WBCB AM. My good friend Cal Iszard had a show and I was invited to be a guest and it was actually what re-ignited my passion for radio.

That first time on air hosting my own show was a disaster. The station forgot that I was starting so there was nobody there, there was no engineer, my guests and I were waiting outside the studio for what felt like hours before a janitor came and opened the door and then I had to sit behind a control board that was far different from what I was trained on 27 years earlier in broadcasting school and figure out how to get Rock On Radio on air. We went on 15 minutes late but somehow got it done; so yeah, wasn’t the best way to start and a definite learning experience.

You’ve been doing this long enough to see plenty of radio stations come and go.  How much of a challenge has it been to keep the show going?

It has been very much a challenge at times and the show has bumped around for various reasons, stations closed, creative differences and the such but fortunately I have met so many great people like yourself who have helped me when I needed it. Luckily for me, the program has enough listeners where stations have always been willing to add the program to their schedules.

Over the years you’ve added quite a few radio shows to the mix. Tell me about each show and what they mean to you. Were people surprised at you creating shows about the blues and jazz?

Rock On Radio has of course been my mainstay but the second show, “Danny Coleman’s Got The Blues” came about  because a long time friend of mine from back in my Wall Street Journal days was  retiring from doing a blues music show on WWFM 89.1 and he reached out and suggested I contact them to take his place. I said, “Do you think my style will fit?” To which he replied, “It better, I already told them you were taking my place.” So On January 6, 2020 I went to WWFM in West Windsor, NJ and did the first show which now airs twice every Monday at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

The “Rock On Radio Indie Hour” was something I began because I’ve got six large Rubbermaid totes of CDs that are from former guests or from musicians all around the globe who have sent me music; not to mention the dozen or so emails I get a day containing MP3s and downloads and I though, this stuff need to be heard. I have so much great original music from so many talented people seemingly going to waste just sitting here. So, I started the one hour music show to put it out there for everyone to enjoy.

The most recent show is a monthly show which airs the third Sunday of every month on WWFM 89.1, WWNJ 91.1 and I believe it is WWCJ in Cape May; don’t quote me on that one at 8 p.m. The program is called “Chip Off The Old Rock” and it’s part of the stations “Jazz Potpourri” series. It is a two-hour program where I interview two different guests in the entertainment or artistic field and each gets an hour to tell me their story.

(SIDE NOTE: New Jersey Stage will soon be making the latest episode of all of the shows Danny runs available on our music site, ThePenguinRocks.com)

Tell me about playing the drums.  When did you first start? Did you have any bands that gave it a serious shot at fame?

I started playing the drums at age 11. I used to use pencils to beat on coffee cans and my mom’s Tupperware containers. My grandfather found a set of old bongs, one had a cracked head but he gave them to me and I started doing the same on them. The only band I had that ever had a “Shot” was the one I spoke of earlier, Valhalla. We had some agents and a supposed record company AR guy looking at us but nothing concrete ever came from it.

Who were some of your favorite drummers? Was there one that inspired you to play for the first time?

My favorite drummer was and still is John Bonham, I marvel at Neil Peart, Carl Palmer, Steve Gadd but the one who inspired me to play the drums and play for the first time was a guy in a wedding band and to this day, I couldn’t tell you his name. I was 11 years old and the drummer in the band at a family wedding just mesmerized me and at the end of the night gave me a pair of his well-used sticks and the next day I began using them and some months later took my first drum lesson.

Are you still playing out a lot these days?

Sadly, as far as playing gigs which require a drum kit; not much at all. I sit in here or there, I’ve done some studio work but nothing consistent. I do pick up a few Latin percussion type gigs where they want congas, hand percussion and that sort of thing but not as much as pre-COVID.

Do you play any other instruments as well?

No, I used to dabble with the harmonica and the guitar but no, no other instruments.

In addition to music, you’ve been entering chili contests and have had your chili sold in restaurants.  How did that first come about?

Before my now ex-wife and I were married, one of her bridesmaids gave me a cookbook called, “His Turn to Cook” and in it was a chili recipe. I’m one of those cooks who doesn’t follow recipes and thinks I know how to “Tweak” them a bit. So, I took the basic meat ingredients, subtracted everything else and added my own flavors; things I liked like Jack Daniel’s, beer and a multitude of spices. Turns out that people really enjoyed it and soon after I was encouraged to enter a few local contests in which I either placed in top three or won out right. So, like I often say on my programs; it’s easy to have your product loved by friends, family and local places but the true test is to step outside those comfort zones and see how it does where those elements aren’t in play. So, I started entering contests in Woodbridge, Mount Holly, across the river in Pennsylvania and once again, I either placed in top three or won outright and that led to me taking samples to several local restaurants who thankfully embraced it and put it on their menus. 

How hot do you like your own chili?

I like spicy but not overpowering. I’m not looking for something that is lip searing but something with a nice smooth burn or heat. My chili is both savory with a kick and has many flavors to it.

Do you ever watch the show where a guy interviews people while they sample hot sauce? I always think you should do that with your chili sometime.

I have seen that and I have sampled many varieties of hot sauce over the years. My favorite was actually made by a fellow ’80s musician who was a former guest of “Rock On Radio,’ ‘ who wrote “Shadows Of The Night” for Pat Benatar and who lived in Manhattan; a guy named DL Byron. He made his own from ingredients he’d buy at produce stands in ChinaTown and various other ethnic shops around the city and it was called Zen Archer Hot Sauce. Sadly, DL passed away several years ago and with him my hot sauce supply.  

Other than music and chili, what are some of your other interests?

I love a good Irish Whiskey or a nice smooth bourbon and a good cigar. I also love to play golf, if you can call what I do golfing that is. 

Finally, in addition to being a DJ, you’ve been writing the Rock On column for a long time as well. I don’t think people realize just how much work is involved to do a column each week. But I do.  I am completely in awe of your dedication.

Yes, thanks to you and New Jersey Stage I’ve been able to have a home for my column and I can’t thank you enough for all of the opportunity and support you’ve shown and given me since 2009 when you were one of the first affiliates of “Rock On Radio.”

I started doing the column in June of 2010 for the Trentonian newspaper and that opportunity happened because the gentleman who was doing it left their employ. My nephew and occasional co-host Terry Loda tipped me off and I reached out; they asked for a sample and I published my first piece. Then in 2013, you were kind enough to allow me to put it online at NewJerseyStage.com and it has been there ever since. 

Yes, it is a tremendous amount of work, especially doing the second portion where I list all of the venues I can find in a tri-county area near me that host entertainment; very tedious. The great part is interviewing and talking with the artists and finding out about them and their careers.  

I hope you can make it out to Salty’s Bar on April 28th and celebrate with Danny.  Let’s pack the house and give the guy an anniversary party he’ll never forget!

Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Upstage Magazine, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station The Penguin Rocks. He can be contacted at gary@newjerseystage.com.

 

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(HACKENSACK, NJ) — The Rockit Live Foundation is honored to showcase the music of Garfield’s Eddie and David Brigati by presenting “A Celebration of Garfield’s Brigati Brothers” at Hackensack Performing Arts Center on Saturday, April 13, 2024. Showtime is 7:00pm.

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