Turn on 91.3 in Akron or 90.7 in Youngstown and you’ll hear what The Summit has to offer. Contemporary music, ’80s music and local music — it all has a place on this station. There’s more than just music, though, and Tommy Bruno had something to do with that.
Bruno has been general manager at The Summit for the past 12 years and counting. He had such a need to work for The Summit that he called up Bill Gruber, The Summit’s program director of 27 years, and asked: “What can I do for this station? I’ll volunteer. My family has a restaurant. I have food. I have a truck. Just tell me what I can do.” The answer came in the form of an e-mail from Gruber asking Bruno, “Want to be my boss?”
It wasn’t easy getting to where he is now. He was born into a family business, a restaurant called Papa Joe’s in Merriman Valley. But he took a different path that led him through John Carroll University and a stint at Fox 8 TV. The Summit, however, is where he is and where he means to stay. “I am just so thankful from the bottom of my heart that this is where I’m working,” Bruno said.
Bruno knew that in this age of iPods and Sirius Radio, he needed a way to expand The Summit and establish it as a charitable force in the community. Putting his head together with Garrett Hart, the director of creative content, along with his team, they figured out how to branch The Summit out into four channels geared towards niche markets and increase their presence.
First, there’s TheSummit.fm on the radio. It plays a variety of music and is completely commercial-free, as the station is funded by local, regional and national foundations and businesses. To recognize businesses that donated money, they air spoken thank-yous. Second, There is also the original Summit Flashback ’80s that streams online and on The Summit’s new phone app.
“We want to reach out and give back to our community who have helped us so much by supporting us,” Bruno said. So they came out with more two unique channels on the phone app, which leads us to the third station, which is called KidJam!
“There is a neglected niche for 9-to-12-year-olds and we wanted to see if we could fill that,” Bruno explained. The channel plays vibrant music that the young listeners pick up on, interspersed with current and past musicians like John Mayer, Michael Jackson and Taylor Swift. In between the songs are positive messages that say “Celebrate courage, friendship, family, exercise, etc.” Kidjam! is participating in “forced listening,” where the channel is played in public spaces that kids gather in, such as school playgrounds and the Boys and Girls Clubs. “We’re trying to send these kids messages that they’ll remember by association with music, so they can make better life decisions in the future,” Bruno explained.
The fourth channel, Rock and Recovery, also follows the same model. This channel is geared for people recovering from addiction. It’s a groundbreaking tool that health centers and mental-illness facilities are excited about. “It’s not meant for someone who is just beginning their recovery, but rather for someone who is maintaining their recovery and needs a friend,” Bruno explained. The channel plays uplifting music and airs stories, humor and positive messages.
The most exciting feature is the GPS that can instantly direct the user to the nearest health center in case of a crisis. It works all over the country and is a vital part of people’s recovery.
Bruno, who has also been a board member of the Akron Community Foundation, continues to make The Summit a place where the community can promote and benefit from charitable deeds. They established Music Alive where they take donated music instruments, refurbish them, and donate them to public schools. They also air free announcements for various nonprofits who need to advertise events and messages. “Coming to work at The Summit was like coming home finally,” Bruno said. He’s home, and he’s never turning his back.
913thesummit.com
913thesummit.com/app or search
The Summit Radio in the iPhone App Store