Insight from Iovino

COMING TOGETHER FOR A GOOD CAUSE....

The 3rd Annual City of Hope - Taste of Hope Wine Auction has become one of the East Coast Music Industry's prestigious gatherings of cause and unity against the fight for cancer, MS and Leukemia as well as a lengthy list of other debilitating and life threatening diseases. 

This year's event raised to date over $700,000 making it yet another stellar one for creator and hostess Alissa Pollack (EVP, Mediabase Music Initiatives & VP Affiliate Relations at Premiere) and City Of Hope's Britta Bucholz (Sr. Director Development/Entertainment Industry) along with their fellow board members Steve Bartels (President/COO Island Def Jam Music group), Tom Corson (Executive VP & GM of RCA Music Group), Zach Horowitz (President & COO Universal Music Group), Richard Palmese (Executive VP Promotions, RCA Music Group), Bruce Gearhart (President, Bacchus Importers, LTD.), Rich Meyer (Former President, Mediabase) and John Kapon (President & Auction Director Acker Merrall & Condit). 

Noteworthy at this year's event was the addition of new attendees from the CHR radio community who flew in at their own expense to attend and support this amazing charity. Program Directors such as Rob Morris/KDWB, Tommy Chuck/WFLZ, Rod Phillips/WHYI and Michael McCoy/WNCI. This was in addition to the overwhelming NYC Radio presence of Sharon Dastur (PD/Z100/WKQI), Darren Phieffer (Director of Marketing Clear Channel NY), Eric Wellman (PD/NY Classic Rocker Q104), Rob Miller (PD/WKTU), Brian Thomas (VP/Classic Hits Programming for WWFS/WBCS FM), Jon Zellner (Senior VP Programming Sirius/XM), Chris Coneley (PD/WLTW), Helen Little (On Air Host/WLTW), Morgan Prue (MD/WLTW), Ebro Darden (PD/Hot 97), Rick Cummings (President of Emmis Communication), Elvis Duran (Host of the nationally syndicated Elvis Duran and the Z100 Morning Show). 

A strong label presence was also in attendance including Jive Records Group's Joe Ricitelli, John Strazza and Jessie Maldonado, Universal Motown's Todd Glassman, Atlantic's Andrea Ganis, Jon Lewis and John McMann. Island Def Jam Music Group's Steve Bartels, LA Reid, Erik Olesen, Trina Schaefer, Mike Chester. Universal Republic's EVP Joel Klaiman and Mike Nazzaro, Columbia's Jim Burruss, Pete Cosenza, Epic Records' promo crew of Tommy Nappi, Marnie Halpern and NY promo legend Paddy Rascona. Also, enjoying the night were Capitol Music Group's Greg Thompson, Dennis Reese and Patty Morris, RCA Music Group's Richard Palmese and Peter Gray, Roadrunner Records' promo Batman and Robin team of Mike Easterlin and John Boulos as well as fellow promo peeps such as Dale Connone of In2une Music and Lyrical Marketing's Jason McFadden. Of course I couldn't forget Vinny The SIN who was seen making a bid on one of the cases of wine auctioned at the event. A special attendee at this year's event was Warner Brothers Recording Artist Ashley Tisdale who was there in support of the worthy cause and partake in the night's festivities escorted by WB's West Coast team of Ron Cerritto and Jason Prinzo. 

A heavy hand of gratitude should be extended to everyone who attended the event and bid on the fantastic vintages of both European and California wines. All in all it was a very successful night for the charity as well as all the friends and colleagues in attendance who showed their support.

For those of you who wish to attend next year's event make sure you contact Alissa Pollack at apollack@premiereradio.com or Britta Bucholz at BBucholz@coh.org.

Mercury/IDJMG is on fire with newcomer Kristinia DeBarge's debut single "Goodbye" which is blowing up at CHR with major market support coming from WHTZ, WIOQ, WKSC, KKHH, KDWB, WXKS, WHYI, KZZP and tons more. "Goodbye" brings a radio friendly tempo, hook and the look all rolled into one for this rising pop star.

Ultra Records promo kid Phil Nieves and crew are finally enjoying the full throttle on Pitbull "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" climbing this week to #34* on the Mediabase Pop chart. This is Pitbull's highest charting Pop single at a format where he has seen previous support and now at an even higher level. Coupled with strong activity at Rhythm where it is Top 10, "I Know You Want Me" is moving fast at Pop with the non-traditional Pitbull markets starting to take notice along with the song popping up in music meetings in core mainstream markets.

Let's give WB's Promo surfers Ken Lucek, Jason Prinzo, Bob Weil and Sr. VP Ron Cerritto some props on the new Ashley Tisdale "It's Alright, It's Ok" that is hitting the ground running with spins at Sirius Hits 1, KIIS, WDOD, WNKS, KKOB, WSTW, WHTS, WPRO, WWHD, WSSX and KMXV. V Factory's "Love Struck" continues to grow and is bringing the boy band back thanks to its energy and strong hook. WNCI and WPRO lead the way at the close of 2008 and the single has grown with with stations like XM's 20on20, WIOQ, KDWB leading the airplay charge with new spins popping up at KSMB, WYOY, WEZB, WSSX, KLAL and WAKZ. This week it ranks #44* with 145+ spins.