Keith Naftaly

Keith Phillip Naftaly is a radio program director, a music business professional and A&R executive for various major record labels including Arista, J, DreamWorks, Sony Music and presently Executive VP and Head of A&R for RCA Records.[1] He is often credited for the breaking of early hip hop through the San Francisco radio station KMEL and collaboration with many renowned artists and has won many awards, most notably AIR’s "Best Ears In Radio" competition, as well as several important industry awards.

Early life

Naftaly was born and raised in San Francisco to a Jewish family and lived in the Miraloma Park neighborhood. At age nine, as a result of desegregation busing, Naftaly began attending a majority black school in Hunters Point.[2]:301 Although Naftaly studied classical piano as a child, he also took interest in popular music, especially R&B played on local radio station KDIA.[2]:302-303

After graduating from Lowell High School in 1980, Naftaly attended the University of California, Berkeley and briefly worked for student station KALX.[2]:303-304

Career

While a student at UC Berkeley, Naftaly took a night shift job answering request lines at San Francisco top-40 station KFRC after dissatisfaction with KALX. Naftaly also explored the workings of KFRC's music department and made connections with record promoters. He eventually dropped out of college to produce KFRC's morning show with Don Rose.[2]:304-305

In 1984, Naftaly became assistant music director for KMEL, which had recently switched from its "Camel" rock format to top-40. Naftaly incorporated more R&B, dance and rap music into the station and helped raise KMEL's ratings by a percentage point. Naftaly became the Gavin Report's "Music Director of the Year" in 1987, the year he was promoted to program director.[2]:305-306

As KMEL program director, Naftaly moved KMEL from a general top-40 to a rhythmic format focusing on R&B and freestyle artists. By early 1988, KMEL's ratings share rose from 4.9 to 6.1, enough to be the Bay Area's highest rated music station and beat rival KSOL.[2]:308 Naftaly also recruited Sway & King Tech to host The Wake Up Show mornings on KMEL.[2]:315-316 In 1993, Naftaly was appointed Vice President of Programming for Los Angeles' station KKBT (92.3 The Beat), a sister station to KMEL.[2]:324

In 1995, he left radio to work for the music mogul Clive Davis at Arista Records.[3]

Then he moved on to other record labels with positions added:

In 2011, Naftaly took part in the judging panel of BravoTV's Platinum Hit,[4] an elimination competition series featuring 12 as yet undiscovered singer-songwriters, where talented newcomers battled through a series of innovative songwriting challenges to find out who's ready for the top of the pop charts.

References

  1. ↑ Keith Naftaly Named Head of A&R at RCA Records
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Charnas, Dan (2010). The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop. New York: New American Library. ISBN 9780451229298.
  3. ↑ Tyrangiel, Josh (February 19, 2003). "Greatest Hitmaker". Time.
  4. ↑ RCA Music Group site: Bravo Gives Fans All-Access Pass Inside Bravo's New Series Platinum Hit
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