Ed Salamon

Who is Ed Salamon?

Edward R. Salamon is an American entertainment industry executive and radio broadcaster. He is credited as one of the forces that led to country music becoming a major force in the mid-1990s. He was dubbed “country radio’s most influential programmer” while programming WHN, New York, which became the most listened to country radio station of all time in the mid-1970s, an accomplishment that led to his induction into the Country Radio Seminar Hall of Fame in 2006.

Salamon’s success at WHN encouraged the establishment of country radio stations in other urban and non-traditional country markets, which greatly expanded the audience for country radio, and, in turn, increased the exposure of country music. He has been credited with reinventing country radio because his programming techniques, viewed as radical at the time, were emulated by other broadcasters, many of which went on to greater successes in the radio industry. After WHN, Salamon headed a succession of national radio networks for twenty consecutive years.