Ep. 23 Jon Burk (Capitol/CEMA Distribution) Phila, NYC, Boston, LA

2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

Jon Burk grew up in South New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia. In the mid 70’s he was a teenage Beatles fanatic and all he wanted to do as a young man was work in a record store.

Jon never worked at Tower Records, but he did put in his time, working several years for the Listening Booth record chain where he specialized in doing displays, i.e. visual merchandising. He made his move to the distribution side after banning the local CEMA Distribution merchandiser for producing lousy displays. He talked his way into the position and a career in record distribution was Jon’s.

Meeting the Tower brass before opening and then calling on Tower Records’ first Philadelphia store was a treat for Jon, until he had to regularly track down buyers for orders. After Philadelphia, Jon headed up and staffed CEMA’s Boston office, where working on Marketing ideas with Tower Newbury’s Robert Stapleton was “kismet”. His appreciation for the store’s Art Department was significant as well.

Jon’s declared his biggest win in Music Distribution to be building the Blue Note Lounge in the lobby of Tower Newbury’s Jazz department.

Enjoy this week’s episode where in addition to Tower Records we discuss one hit wonders, being a Beatles fanatic in the 70’s, the upside and dark side of making your bones in the music business in Philadelphia, Philly radio’s role in the music business overall and bringing it all back home at the World Premiere screening of “All Things Must Pass” in Los Angeles and catching up with all the Tower people he partnered and did battle with in this heady years of record stores.