For many kids, their introduction to music was someone like Raffi. Eric Gottlieb’s earliest musical memories were listening to Frank Zappa’s Them or Us with his father. That alone might uniquely qualify him to be WFUV’s Assistant Program Director. From there his interest in music progressed to playing in bands in high school, then majoring in Jazz Percussion at Five Towns College on his native Long Island.

Eric’s postgraduate career has included being an independent musician, road tour and press manager, and intern at radio promotion companies and labels, while also teaching drums full time.  Prior to joining WFUV he spent seven years at Music Choice, a cable TV entertainment network, which provides commercial-free music stations in 50 million homes. As a manager in the Music Programming Department, he programmed a dozen formats, including Alternative, Triple-A, and Americana, and was a Video on Demand playlist curator.   

At WFUV Eric’s duties involve executing the strategic goals of the station's programming team and the station’s overall vision. On a day-to-day basis, he works closely with the content team, managing air staff schedules and programs, plus coordinating with Production Director Sarah Wardrop, on broadcasts and new features. And, oh yes, listening to lots of new music!

As for his musical leanings, Eric says, “In my heart I’ll always be a R&B guy. My wife jokes that my record collection is all Motown, while hers is all Stax.” His taste also encompasses an array of artists from Warren Zevon to Milt Jackson to Kendrick Lamar.   

As someone who grew up listening to stations like WLIR and WBGO, Eric says coming to WFUV feels “very much like a natural progression of my career. I’ve been a longtime fan of the station and gotten to know many of the wonderful people at WFUV over the years.”

Now living in Brooklyn, Eric is an amateur bartender, an avid poli sci reader, a big podcast listener, and a member of an R&B band called Brandi & the Alexanders. He also likes to go to as many concerts as he can, but as he and his wife just welcomed their first child, he had to cut back on some of that. “Diaper duty is in heavy rotation now,” he says.