Eddie Trunk - Biography

Biography

Trunk was born on August 8, 1964, in New Jersey, United States (US). He grew up in Madison, New Jersey, where he attended Madison High School. As a teenager, Trunk became a fan of Kiss, Raspberries, and other bands including Aerosmith, Rush, UFO and Black Sabbath. Trunk has stated that he has never cared about which bands are "cool" and endured teasings for listening to Kiss during the 80s when they fell out of fashion. During high school, he began to write reviews of records for school credit and soon found his passion in music.

Trunk's first exposure to radio was when he learned about a local college radio station that would allow high school students to work there during the summer while college students were at home. Trunk volunteered, and while the program was scrapped due to security concerns, the idea that he could make a living in radio remained. Trunk then briefly attended a local community college before dropping after deciding it was not for him. Trunk then got a job at a record store across the street from WDHA-FM, his favorite New Jersey radio station. There, he got to know many of the DJs and other radio station employees, who began consulting him on which hard rock and heavy metal songs to play, though the station's program director resisted this.

From a friend, Trunk learned of a pirate radio station that was broadcasting from someone's basement. Trunk did a few shows at the station, recording his performances and presenting them to WDHA. His enthusiasm, along with the increased popularity of the metal genre, earned him an invitation to "hang out" at WDHA. After about a year of working at the station as an unpaid intern, he convinced management to do a hard rock and metal specialty show. For ten years he worked part-time and eventually hosted, produced and programmed the show.

Around 1986, Trunk became an employee of Megaforce Records which had signed both Metallica and Anthrax. He became vice president of the company at age 25. During that time, he earned executive producer credit on some works from the following bands: Anthrax, Raven, TT Quick, Manowar, Overkill, King's X, Prophet, Icon and Ace Frehley. In fact, Trunk was the main driving force behind reviving Ace Frehley's career, convincing Megaforce Records head Jon "Jonny Z" Zazula to sign Ace to a solo deal.

In 1994, Trunk devoted himself to radio full-time, and was hired by a radio station called Pure Rock Q104.3 in New York. He wanted to do a metal show, but was not permitted to do so because of rumors the station was going to be sold, which happened a year into Trunk's career there. During his last shift at the station, Trunk abandoned the playlist and played requests. Phone lines were jammed and the last show was a great success. Pure Rock Q104.3 became Classic Q104.3, but the new management were so impressed that they allowed Trunk to stay. He spent two years there and became incredibly popular.

Around 1997, WNEW FM was looking to become a more "heavy" station and move away from their classic rock playlist. Trunk was one of the first people hired for the new concept. He wanted to do a metal show for the station, and eventually Saturday Night Rocks was born. WNEW became a talk radio station, but Trunk's show was one of the few retained. He was able to program his own show after the format flipped and was the only music show on an all talk radio station that featured the Opie and Anthony and Ron and Fez shows. WNEW made a format flip in the early morning hours of January 27, 2003 to a soft-rock station, firing all on-air talent.