The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 54

D8 LivingjArts Til BO ON 0,1,0 i A ir a FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 2001 for Mittman at WAAF and now co-hosts WRKO-AM's morning show "If you're on his side, great. If you're not on his side, watch out." ASIZZLIM'HOTCLIVEOWEM. IMAGINE THE FULL MONTY' IN PULL 'FNX goes from rock to shock and talk -Suun Wltticzgni, USA TODAY L0VE BLOOMS! PLOWERS SPROUT! And against all odds, seeds of affection took toot in this stony critic's heart." life Kami, TIME OUT NEW YORK OME OF THE MOST DELIGHTFUL FILMS IM YEARS! Lii Smith. NEW Sri 4 ijt t-t Tl, I 'T UK I jf' ''l I5W Vrf A3 BLOSSOMS TODAY AT THESE SELECT THEATRES! SftSf I WfWS II WOWCASI CINEMAS 11 IHOWCAS! CINEMAS 11 GIN5HAI CINiMA ftit if BQWMON DEDHAM ALLSTON FRAMINGHAM rifillfliJi 175 TIMONT SI. IIUSEXIT1H HUMID ML HM WStl WOfffli WW I MllllIIMa 1617-423-5801 1 1 781-326-4935 II 6 1 7-577-2 1 40 1 i 508 28-4400 1036 CINEMA "I PoOHIM CINEMA 1 1 LOfWJ 1 1 SHOWCAIt CWfUAl 1 1 SHOWCASE CINEMAS 1 1 GENIRAL CIWMA ERAINTREE 10 FENWAY THEATRE SOMERVILLE RANDOLPH REVERE BURUNGTON 10 kfjwusu muim i mookunuvi.

at assimbly itf.w (Tiin mnMwnH m. i squiri n. ite. nt ixit3 617-333-FILM lOMlUlMM-Wjil 097jl 333-F1LM 018 II 781-963-5600 781-286-1660 1078 LDIWS )l SHOWCASE CINEMAJ tO.WS,.. WTE FRESH POND WOBURN DANVERS 1- imsh knoTiaia m.iiiTii!iim.ii ujun jm Mil fetti m' tMnitaa 333 -FILM 1017 1 1 781 -9M-S330 1 1 978-750-9019 II I "mmlM Special Sneak Preview TOMORROW NIGHT! "Non-Stop Funny." Roots rock Nursing a bagel at a Brookline deli, Mittman, 51, seems to be classic amalgam of ex-hippie and hard-nosed businessman.

It wouldn't be too hard to imagine him as the guy who bought the good munchies for the dorm party, but made sure to recoup expenses before leaving. (Asked about his favorite mu-w sic, Mittman cites everything from modern rock to classical settling on the Rolling Stones' 1969 "Let It Bleed" as his favorite album.) He grew up in Queens and Long Island, came to Northeast- ern in 1969 and took a work-study job in the advertising industry. After handling some radio sta- tions as an ad executive, he went to work at WRKO and turned en- trepreneurial in the mid-'8Cts, buying WICE-AM in Providence and WWFX-FM in Bangor, Maine. When the recession ended the go-, )( up, his loans were called in, and in 1989, he "negotiated my way out of the radio stations." After a short hiatus, his career took a fateful turn in 1991, when he was hired as general manager of what he calls a money-bleeding )t Worcester rock station WAAF- FM (107.3) that "really wasn't on anybody's radar screen" in Bos- ton. By the time he was fired last year as general manager of WAAF and WQSX-FM (Star 93.7), he had jacked up ratings and revenue and earned WAAF awards as best "ac-, tive rock" station and "station the year." lr How he did it with a heavy I dose of P.

T. Barnum has be- come a hallmark of his philos- ophy. "We started realizing that the Boston press was our way into Boston," he says. WAAF put a mys- terious billboard on the Mass Pike that read, 'Tor a good time call" and listed only the station's phone number, attracting, Mittman says, about 50,000 calls in four days. In December 1993, WAAF dis- guised morning DJ Greg Hill as Santa Claus, put him in a limo and had him pass out $50 bills.

For days, the mystery built into a ma jor media story that culminated in a press conference in which Hill doffed his costume. In a Globe ar-, tide, Mittman claimed the free coverage was worth a quarter mil-, lion dollars in advertising. To this day, Hill calls it "the greatest radio promotion IVe ever seen." One day in 1995, Mittman -popped in a demo tape of two? Long Island guys while heading home and "almost drove off the road laughing. The rest is history." Opie and Anthony became; WAAFs marquee players and bad boys. They introduced "Whip 'em Out Wednesdays" (or WOW) to i encourage female motorists to dis-" play their breasts, something Mitt-man admits was his idea.

Then, on April Fools Day 1998, i they announced that Boston may- or Thomas Menino had been killed in a car crash. Menino was i incensed at the hoax and it back- fired badly, with the DJ's fired and Mittman suspended. "I will swear on my children I had no idea about that stunt," says Mittman, explaining that he was celebrating '4 his 20th wedding anniversary and 3 not at work that day But Mittman's m.o. was well established. "He's the one who said, You don't have to play re- but could fill the time with "lots of weird stunts and sat- ire and messed up humor," says former WAAF DJ Liz Wilde.

"He was on the air with us about every other day screaming and yelling about something." I With WAAF soaring, new own- er Entercom suddenly fired Mitt- man in March 2000. They want-' ed their own guy in there," says Mittman. But some observers say his ego and ambition created ten- sion with with Entercom executive i Tom Baker. Baker wont comment, 5 but says, 'You cannot deny that he's a very innovative manager." After leaving WAAF, Opie and Anthony became national stars at WNEW-FM in New York hosting a crude and rude syndicated show, This week, it was announced that 1 they will resurface in Boston, i afternoons on WBCN-FM (104.1). Had WBCN passed, his old prate- ges would likely have fit Mittman's -j WFNX game plan.

"I'm sure we would have looked at the option," he says. 1 Station identification Mittman met Mindich, the smart and tough founder of the Phnpnix media emDire. manv years ago and they once had adjoining lockers at a country club. (Mittman's claim of a 13 handicap evokes an "on a good day" growl YORK POST i Vv LANDMARK' KENDALL WEST NEWTON 1196 WASHW10N SI. lOUTi It 617-964-6060 MIIINDlUia.UMHIt 617-494-9800 BostonWorks The best jobs in Boston In Ihm Sunday Glob and at EkistonWorkft.com.

SHI1B MITTMAN Continued from Page Dl alternative music into a commercially successful operation aimed at younger males. Where once you'd hear the Cure or Tori Amos on FNX, a listen today features a steady diet of aggression-driven rapmetal music along with stunts, shtick, and gross guy talk. And if the new ratings are any indication, he's having some success. "I think the old 'FNX, which was a great radio station, a great boutique radio station, was great in Boston," says Mittman. "But I thought it wasn't mainstream enough to compete in six markets.

It had to have a sound that had mass appeal and the personalities were not as strong as they could be." So Mittman is bringing that "boutique" station in line with the mainstream musictalk mix at other top rock stations. Critics say this tradeoff has a price. WFNX is into "the angry white male thing, every band sounds the same. People there realize it's 'BCN lite, 'AAF lite," says an industry source at another station. But for better or worse, he adds, "Mittman is going to make something happen." "He's a fighter," says John "Ozone" Osterlind, who worked FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE, 2 SHOWTIMES AT SELECT THETRES TOMORROW NIGHT! 7:00 9:30 LOEWS BOSTON COMMON 175 TREMONT ST.

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