Scott Shannon

Early radio career

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Shannon grew up an Army brat in Indianapolis, Indiana. He began his radio career during his own Army stint at WFBS/1450 AM in Spring Lake, North Carolina (later WFBX). From there he moved to WCLS/1580 AM in Columbus, Georgia. After leaving the army, Shannon worked full-time in radio at WABB in Mobile, Alabama, where he acquired the name Super Shan.

After a brief stint at WMPS in Memphis he moved to Nashville, where he was the evening disc jockey at WMAK/1300 AM, later becoming that station's program director. While at WMAK, interactions and an interview between Shannon and Neil Young were recorded for Young's film Journey Through the Past.

Record-promotion career

Shannon left Nashville to take a job as a record promoter with Casablanca Records, and while there in 1977 recorded an album with Jack (Stack-A-Track) Grochmal. Calling themselves "Wildfire," they scored a #49 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 remaking a 1959 Jerry Keller song titled "Here Comes Summer." Scott returned to radio in Washington, D.C. as program director of WPGC-FM, taking that station to the #1 spot in the Arbitron ratings. From there he moved to WQXI in Atlanta. Then, in Tampa, Florida, Scott, along with partner Cleveland Wheeler, developed the morning zoo radio format while at WRBQ-FM, known as Q105. Again, he dominated in the ratings, this time making his station one of the most listened to in the United States. He was also primarily responsible for the renaissance of the musical career of vocalist Charlene, whose song "I've Never Been to Me" he revived by his programming of the long-dormant track.

Shannon also hosted a "Where are they now?" radio program in 1989, where the subject of the day was the one-hit wonder Benny Mardones, who had the 1980 hit "Into the Night." Scott began putting the record in rotation in 1989, and soon after, many other DJs around the nation added the song to their playlists. The song re-entered the top 20 singles chart, prompting a resurgence in Mardones' career, including a new re-recording of the song, a tour, and a new album.

The Z Morning Zoo

Shannon is particularly known within the radio broadcasting industry for his work on Z100 in New York City in the mid to late 1980s. Along with former disc jockey Ross Brittain of WABC's Ross & Wilson Show, he founded the "Z Morning Zoo". He was the driving force in helping Z100 become the top-rated FM station in New York City within a mere 74 days of signing on the air. During this period, he served as one of the original VJs on VH1.

Rockin' America

From 1984, Shannon hosted Westwood One's weekly "Scott Shannon's Rockin' America: The Top 30 Countdown" on over 200 radio stations. This rapidly proved a popular show with its own countdown chart style and comic character element, known as "Mr. Leonard" (John Rio). The show used its own chart and was very close to the Radio & Records Magazine CHR Top 30 chart, albeit from 2 weeks before the broadcast weekend. The final show to air using its own compiled chart was for the weekend of 28–30 August 1987 which was very similar to the R&R chart published in the issue dated 14 August 1987.

Beginning with the broadcast of 4–6 September 1987 the countdown switched from its own compiled countdown to the R&R CHR Top 30 chart, however, it used the chart from 2 weeks earlier, thus for this broadcast, the R&R chart used was that published in the issue dated 21 August 1987. This continued into 1990.

There is uncertainty as to whether the show again moved away from using the R&R chart during mid-1990. At that time, the show was renamed from Scott Shannon's Rockin' America: The Top 30 Countdown to The All Request Top 30 Countdown, and based on requests from all around the world and Radio & Records Magazine, suggesting it was now using a combination of both ratings methods.

In March 1992, Shannon left Westwood One (1976–2011) Radio Networks which effectively brought an end to the show. Shannon, went on to start a new show named "Scott Shannon's Battle of the Hits," produced by Cutler Productions and aired over the July 4th weekend in 1992. The show was aimed to bring new life into the Top 40 countdown format which had been struggling right along with the Top 40 format.

Pirate Radio

In 1989, Shannon left Z100 for Los Angeles to start up Pirate Radio, KQLZ. Pirate Radio employed a similar Top 40 concept. As the 1990s began, Top 40 radio experienced a decline, and eventually Pirate Radio struggled as well, leading to Shannon's departure.

Back to New York

In 1991, he returned to New York and resurfaced on Z100's biggest rival, WPLJ. This station had also been struggling since its glory days of the mid 1980s, and Shannon became program director and morning drive co-host. At the outset, the station's direct rival was Z100, and used the slogan "Mojo Radio", downplaying the WPLJ call letters, but this approach was eventually changed.

Shannon copied a Top 40 format sweeping the country that was geared more toward the adult contemporary audience, brought in co-host Todd Pettengill to form The Big Show, and the WPLJ call letters were re-emphasized. While the station did well in the suburbs, it never caught on in New York and was constantly tweaked during Shannon's tenure. On February 7, 2014, he announced he was exiting WPLJ effective immediately.

On February 25, 2014, WCBS FM announced that Scott Shannon would be hosting a brand new Morning Show entitled Scott Shannon in the Morning in New York starting on March 3. At the release of the first run of ratings after Shannon took over at WCBS, his show was rated #1, although most of the audience was already established since CBS-FM was doing very well ratings-wise before Shannon came aboard. Shannon carried over the "Big Show" name from WPLJ.

Shannon is also the host of his TRUE OLDIES CHANNEL radio network and is the voice of talk radio's The Sean Hannity Show. In October 2014, the United Stations Radio Networks announced that Shannon would host their new syndicated radio program, a four-hour program featuring music of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Features included special countdowns on various topics or from the particular week from a past year, artist interviews and other features such as one-hit wonders and hit cover versions of previous hit recordings. The new program premiered the weekend of November 1, 2014.

Other

Shannon is one of several disc jockeys honored in an exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2000, FMQB, a radio trade magazine, named Shannon "Program Director of the Century".

In 2003, he was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C., and in 2006 he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago.

Shannon was also a radio consultant in the 1990s for WPLY Philadelphia and WKCI-FM New Haven. In September 2010, Shannon was named Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year at the 2010 National Association of Broadcasters' Marconi Radio Awards.