PETE SALANT:  Bio In Brief
 

In 1979, Pete Salant created a groundbreaking Adult Contemporary/ Top 40 hybrid format for heritage easy listening station WKCI New Haven. KC101 debuted at #1 statewide, bringing Salant to the attention of NBC Radio executives, who recruited him to program the network’s beleaguered flagship FM station in New York City, 97 WYNY.

In short order, Salant propelled #22-ranked WYNY to #1 in America's largest radio market, and #1 25-54 in the nation. Legendary competitor WABC (AM) switched to talk within 18 months. At age 26, Pete Salant held the most important radio programming post in America. He is widely credited with having developed the sound of today's Adult Contemporary radio while at WYNY.

Pete left WYNY in 1983 to begin a successful 20 year consulting practice.

As a programming consultant, Pete Salant advised hundreds of winning CHR, Hot AC, AC, Country, Oldies, Classic Rock, and Talk-formatted stations in markets of all sizes around the country. A skilled musician and audio specialist, Salant was a key player in the development and proliferation of today’s multiband audio processing. As consultant to the major vendors of digital radio automation, Salant collaborated on the user interface for the first generation of digital playback systems featuring voice tracking technology.

As the demand for consulting services decreased in the new millenium as a result of radio industry consolidation, Salant began to create and produce television commercials for radio stations, drawing on his extensive production background. He went on to join Clear Channel Radio as Program Director of WWYZ (FM) Hartford and the company's Connecticut AM stations, WPOP/Hartford and WELI and WAVZ/New Haven, in 2005. In a restructuring move affecting thousands of employees, Pete's job was eliminated in 2009.

Pete Salant lives in North Haven, Connecticut with his wife, Stacey, a clinical psychologist in private practice, and their 15-year-old daughter, Caroline.