NYC Radio: Z100 Docu Hits Number 2 on iTunes

NY Post composite graphic 2/15/22

In 1983, Madonna was just a girl knocking on doors and trying to get her song “Holiday” played on the radio. The NY Post reports she was so desperate, she’d even make the trip out to Secaucus, NJ, where the new radio station Z100 had just elbowed its way to No. 1 in a crowded Big Apple market.

“One day our music director came in and said, ‘There’s a lady out front who won’t go away. She comes every Tuesday and she insists we have to play her record,’ ” recalls Scott Shannon in the new documentary “Worst to First: The True Story of Z100 New York.”

Shannon, who was the program director and host of the “Morning Zoo” show at the time, said the track was popular in the clubs but hadn’t yet hit the airwaves. Still, he said he’d play it if she stopped calling on them.

“It became a pretty big hit for us. We were one of the first Top 40 stations to play her song. She was so appreciative she said when she got big, she’d pay us back. Well, we never thought she was going to be that big,” Shannon, who now helms the morning slot at WCBS 101.1 FM, told The Post.

But the Material Girl stayed true to her word.

After making the movie “Who’s That Girl” in 1987, she struck a deal to allow Z100 to broadcast from the world premiere. “We had a stage built in the middle of Times Square, and she came out in this beautiful white gown and greeted the crowd. There must have been 10,000 people,” he said.

It was a testament to the power of Z100, which became a juggernaut and full-fledged anointer of pop and rock stars like Duran Duran, Bon Jovi and Debbie Gibson.

“We were one of the first to play Debbie. Her mother was a great promoter. She drove me crazy,” Shannon said of Gibson’s late mother Diane, who was relentless about making her daughter a star.

Meanwhile, Elvis Duran and Scott Shannon's "Worst to First: The True Story of Z100 New York" documentary hit #2 on the iTunes Top Documentaries chart on its opening weekend. 

Essentially a love story for radio, "Worst to First" captures 74 days in 1983, when Shannon launched a new station, took it to #1, and with it, created one of the most successful station's in history. Inspired and humbled by the success, partners Duran and Shannon are motivated to do whatever it takes to show the world the greatness of radio through this documentary.

"I'm blown away by the support our little documentary has gotten and am immensely grateful," commented Duran.

Shannon added, "I can't believe it. This thing has really turned into something!"

Worst to First is available on VOD platforms including Apple/iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, Vudu, and Microsoft. Additionally, it's available on such cable platforms as InDemand (Comcast, Spectrum, Charter, Cox, Frontier, etc.) and DirectTV.