Ep. 96 Paul Herzman (4th & Broadway, Lincoln Center, Nanuet, Yonkers)

2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

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“A month before my 12th birthday, I turned on the TV on a Sunday night and there were these guys calling themselves The Beatles…And after that, everything was different for people of my age. After that, music was our art form.”

Like many of that time and after, Paul asked his mother to buy him a guitar. He started with an acoustic. And then he got a cheap Japanese electric guitar. But it was a friend in his building playing records by Classical guitarists that really caught Paul’s attention. Paul went back to college as a music major and studied music theory at Brooklyn College.

Riding on the subway one day, a customer across from Paul was reading the New York Times. The side Paul could see had a full-page ad that said “World’s Largest Record Store”. Intrigued Paul ended up visiting 4th & Broadway and checked out the brand-new Tower Records. A couple of months later, looking for a job, Paul applied at Tower, got interviewed and got the job.

Starting as a clerk in #125’s Classical Department to being promoted to Supervisor and then Classical cassette buyer, Paul was on his way to a Tower career. He recounts his unforgettable “new employee” meeting with Store Manager Matthew Koenig and Matthew’s parting advice to the assembled group.

Lincoln Center, Nanuet and Yonkers came next and then Paul called it a day for his Tower career. He ended up doing all of the Classical buying for the 3 Virgin Megastores in New York City before leaving music retail altogether and working on the label side at New World Records.

Before wrapping up with us, Paul recounts three of his favorite Tower Record stories of all time.

Join us for a lively, fun conversation with Paul Herzman.