About the Relic Rack…

The Relic-Rack.com is based on the Relic Rack Review, a popular rock 'n roll radio show hosted by Rick Lonz...

Meet the Relic Rack Staff…

Richard J. Lorenzo

Richard Lorenzo is a multi-faceted broadcasting executive, radio personality and programmer and music journalist with a long list of accomplishments.

He began his craft as an eighth grader creating a concept oldies radio program called the Relic Rack Review (on his VM reel to reel tape recorder). Yes, it's true the relic idea came from Monsignor Burke's talk about church artifacts called "relics". A few short years later the Relic Rack Review hosted by teenager "Rick Lonz" premiered on radio October 2, 1965. Nearly 4 decades later The Relic Rack is still enjoyed by millions.

Teaching pix After graduating college, Richard taught Social Studies on the high school level, served in the US Army and earned his MBA in Management and Marketing. Soon thereafter, Rick realized his dream and worked on the air at KUDL and WDAF in Kansas City, MO.

Next in 1979, he was hired as program operations manager at WWYZ in Hartford, CT where Richard conducted audience research that prompted the development of "YZ" as America's first light FM radio station. It was both a ratings and revenue success. As a result of his soft rock programming success, he was hired as a program consultant at General Electric and Southern Broadcasting owned radio stations. It was a Southern Broadcasting station in Richmond, VA that introduced the first "zoo" morning show concept patterned after the movie Animal House.

In 1982, Richard moved to his "home radio market" New York City, as Music Director at America's most highly rated oldies radio station WCBS-FM. There, he created and produced The daily CBS FM Hall of Fame program that ranked # 1 among all stations.

In 1985, Richard was hired as an executive at ABC Radio Networks where years earlier he had produced Super Seventies the most listened to network special that aired internationally. During his long tenure at ABC, he managed the highly rated full service Direction Radio Network and then was General Manager of ABC Newswire, Capitol Cities innovative digital data news and entertainment wire service that served radio stations everywhere.

In recent years, Richard has continued to do his The Relic Rack music program, written numerous magazine articles on Rock n Roll, contributed to books, documentaries and radio programs on music and is currently an Adjunct Professor teaching Business courses. He also works closely at RR Bowker with major publishers to promote their books using the Web.

While visiting relic-rack.com you will learn quickly why Richard is considered one of the most deeply knowledgeable people on the subject of Rock n Roll and The Baby Boom culture.

His warm and personable style has earned him respect among his media peers everywhere.

Richard is married to Margaret and is the father of two "dot.net" generation children, Kristin and Jacqueline.

Jack Kratoville

Jack is an integral part of the Relic Rack team. His expertise on media in general, and radio and rock n roll in particular qualifies Jack as an industry leader. His music programming prowess is second to none. He and Rick have been collaborating on successful radio and rock n roll projects for more than 20 years.

Among his many accomplishments are his remarkable musical tribute to the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles aired moments after they took their vows in 1981. Another Jack Kratoville treasure was his widely aired weekend music series America's Coffeehouse.

After graduating Emerson College in Boston, Jack embarked on a 25 year radio career that took him to New England, Philadelphia, Birmingham, AL and finally to New York, NY. Since 1997, he has been heard filling-in for various hosts on WLTW, 106.7 Lite-FM. It's the same year he started his web businesses of "resumedesign.com" and "InnovativeWebPages.com"

"I'm really excited about working with Rick on Relic-Rack.com. His passion for music is un-equaled and I knew the Internet would provide an excellent venue for all the information that was stored in his brain!" Jack currently lives on Long Island, NY with his wife Tanya and two children, Kyle and Jackie.

Oh, you will surely see pictures on relic-rack.com periodically of his great nostalgic radio collection that reside in his Long Island Relic Rack mansion of memories.

John Staunton

John's music career ended shortly after his 8th grade band broke up. But, he remains a classic rock fan and is the technical guru behind the Relic-Rack.com. John is the president of Hilltop Associates, a company he founded in 1999 after spending 11 years in the electronic publishing industry leading product development and production efforts for McGraw-Hill and Reed Elsevier. Hilltop provides computer and Internet consulting services to large corporations as well as small businesses and also offers both web hosting and site design... including for the Relic-Rack.com.

John is active in the community, serving on various agencies and boards. He has served as both President and Captain of his local First Aid Squad, a member of the City's Board of Health, and a volunteer firefighter for 20 years and a former president of the local Jaycees chapter. He also serves as co-chair of the Technology committee as well as webmaster for the New Jersey State First Aid Council. In his "spare time", John teaches Emergency Medical and rescue courses.

John lives in New Jersey with his wife Patty and their son Michael.

Robert Longo

Bob Longo is a long-time associate with RPM Entertainment. Bob sings lead on the Relic Rack theme song that opens relic-rack.com. It was recorded in 1965 when Rick and Bob were teenagers. It has played 1000’s of times on Rick’s radio shows. Bob has been leading many RPM entertainment events for the past 2 decades. He applies his deep media expertise to RPM events running the sound system, mixing music and coordinating presentation activities.

Bob’s varied background includes a very enjoyable and challenging career in education, a lifetime of experience as a mobile DJ, musician (bass, guitar and singing), photographer, videographer, and sales associate. He is intimately involved in Instructional Technology and has a long-time, strong and deep interest in writing.

Bob has an extensive knowledge of music, from Oldies and early Rock’n Roll to country, classic rock, disco, contemporary rock, punk, new wave, world music, R&B, and hip-hop. He tends to get impatient with efforts to categorize music like the terms listed in the preceding sentence. He is an avid collector of music with an impressive music library. (A dwarf next to RPM Entertainment’s massive archives.)

A native of New Jersey, Bob and his family currently live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Margaret Lorenzo

Margaret is RPM's Chief Financial Officer. Her previous experience as a CPA at a major international accounting firm coupled with her current experience as a Special Education teacher clearly qualifies Margaret to keep www.relic-rack.com and RPM's books well managed. She always knows where every penny is!
She is no stranger to Rock n Roll, well sort of, as her favorites include Neil Diamond, John Denver and Rod Stewart. She brags that she brought Tap Root Manuscript by Neil Diamond along with a handful of 8 other albums to her marriage to Richard. FYI, their collection together now exceeds 30 thousand albums, CD's cassettes, 8 tracks and 45 rpm discs.
She is proud to say she loves Lite FM radio and a well known rocker from the UK, Paul McCartney, and a little known British star Shakin' Stevens, who's sound never quite caught on in the states.

The www.relic-rack.com staff willingly solicits Margaret's opinion about new things being created on the site. Although Richard and Margaret have not won many twist contests lately, they still like to "cut the rug" at RPM entertainment events.

Relic-rack.com "where everything old is new again"