“Authentic. Hard worker. Genuine.”
Those are the words Julie Potter, the station’s operations manager at KBeach Radio, used to describe Sammy Mastroianni, aka “Sammy the Blade.” If you have ever listened to KBeach on a Monday, any time past 3 p.m., you have heard Sammy the Blade.
Sammy started at Cal State Long Beach in spring 2011, originally as a physical education major. He had no radio experience and no desire to work in broadcast. Although he did change his major to communication studies, it is not what got him into KBeach.
After stumbling upon KBeach’s website, Sammy said he “was talking to a friend, and [said], ‘You and I should do a radio show, we could talk about sports or something on air,’ and he ran with it. Then the show really took off, he said.
Sammy the Blade did his first sports radio show Sept. 21, 2012. His sports show has attracted a few high profile guests including: Rob Wigod, the California Interscholastic Federation Commissioner and CSULB alumnus and multiple members of the Angels Strike Force, a “cheerleader-like interactive squad” according to the Angels’ home page. Another guest included former defense-man and Stanley Cup champion for the Anaheim Ducks, Joe DiPenta. The show currently has 86 episodes completed, and it just had its two-year anniversary.
When asked about how his second show, “Beatles at the Beach,” got started he said, “I think I was just bored and had too much time on my hands.” He ran it by Danny Lemos, the faculty advisor at KBeach, who thought it was an awesome idea.
The first “Beatles at the Beach” episode aired on Jan. 28, 2013. Each show features music only by The Beatles. Each episode has a theme — one episode included Beatles’ songs covered by other bands.
The “Beatles at the Beach” show has also seen its fair share of note worthy guests, such as Suzannne Marquez, the entertainment reporter for KCAL9 and CBS news, and Jim Berkenstadt, a Rock and Roll Detective and author, according to Sammy’s website.
After graduating from CSULB in May 2013, Sammy said he was lucky that it didn’t mean he had to leave the station. People do not need to be a student to have a show on KBeach, which was great for Sammy because he said he “would have been really depressed if [he] had to give this up.”
Though their schedule is full of shows, with only about five slots open, there was no hesitation when he asked about putting on a third show. Potter said “the fact that Sammy has three shows to himself says something huge about the quality of his shows, his dedication [and his] preparation.”
Potter said that “he has just earned it from being such a hard worker,” and the best part of Sammy is that he is “really eager and really humble.” She said that “some people will walk in more entitled and Sammy has never been that way.”
Sammy’s third show, “Glory Days Radio,” focuses on the music of Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. According to the show’s website, “each playlist is carefully handpicked and operated on a weekly basis, and each song and playlist has something significant about it, whether it is a theme based playlist, or history based playlist, or just a collection of favorite songs.”
He said he hopes that his playlists give his listeners that same nostalgic feeling. The show’s 50th episode will air on Monday. Sammy said he has something very special planned. Using social media websites like Instagram and Facebook to reach out to his fans, Sammy asked that they send in their top three Bruce songs.
“I reached out, like a blind shot, thinking I wouldn’t get as many requests as I did,” Sammy said. However, he got enough requests to fill two hours of airtime. He said he did not want to cut out people’s airtime, so he asked for an extension.
When approached by Sammy, Potter said, “there was just no hesitation on my end. Yes, give Sammy more time. He takes advantage of that time well; he is never a loss.”
Sammy sat and worked until he had put together the perfect Bruce playlist. “I’ve listened to this playlist I don’t know how many times, making sure everything is perfect time wise, flow wise. I’m not doing it for me, I’m doing it for the people who listen to the show,” Sammy said.
The show will feature requests from Sammy’s global fan base. There are listeners internationally in Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands and Scotland. The more local listeners come from places like Seattle, Washington; Denver, Colorado; and, of course, Long Beach, California.
Great profile. Sammy rocks! 🙂