For decades, Paul Rappaport was one of the key people at Columbia Records, dealing with rock radio promotion, particularly when the music business was thriving.
Now, he is publishing a new book with a self-descriptive title Gliders Over Hollywood: Airships, Airplay, and The Art of Rock Promotion. It will reach the reading public on April 1, 2025, via Jawbone Press.
It represents Rappaport’s first-hand account of guiding the top label’s promotional efforts to album rock stations for releases by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Billy Joel, Judas Priest, and scores more. It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
“Rap,” as he is still known in music circles, produced jaw-dropping marketing events like firing a powerful laser beam off a hilltop into the Los Angeles night sky seen for 30 miles as it “danced” to a radio premiere of a new Blue Öyster Cult album and launching the Pink Floyd airship, a gigantic psychedelic blimp that crisscrossed the country giving rides to fans as rock radio stations broadcast live from its beautiful pink gondola. Both are featured in the book with photos and will also help explain the book’s subtitle, Airships, Airplay, And The Art of Rock Promotion.