By Harry Lichtman
Eddie Applefeld is the promotions director for WCBM and Q1370 Radio in Baltimore, and he has been working in local media since the late 1970s.
“It’s been a fun ride after all these years,” Applefeld said. “I’ve lasted a long time in this field and it’s a little unusual. I have no interest in traveling. I’m very educated in everything here, so I just wanted to stay here and was able to do so.”
Applefeld, 74, grew up in the Pimlico area.
“It actually might be known to most people as Hilltop,” Applefeld said. “It was very close to the famous diner that Barry Levinson made famous in his movie ‘Diner.’”
He went to Hebrew school and had his bar mitzvah at Rogers Avenue Shul. The synagogue no longer exists, having merged in 1993 with Beth Jacob Congregation, which later merged with Beth Tfiloh Congregation.
“It was a self-contained area there,” Applefeld said. “Everything you needed was in that little area. Very good place to grow up.”
Applefeld attended Baltimore City College for high school, the Baltimore Junior College for two years and later Towson University, where he graduated as a mass communication major in 1970.
Applefeld, 74, got into broadcasting because of his uncle, Royal Parker, who was a TV and radio pioneer in the Baltimore area.
“He had kiddie shows and was Mister Poplolly and P.W. Doodle,” Applefeld said. “He did ‘Pinbusters,’ he did the news and I would go to the studios and watch, and I said to myself, ‘You know what, this looks like it’s fun.’”
Applefeld’s first two jobs were at two small radio stations in the area: WASA-AM (now WHGM) in Havre de Grace and Channel 2 in La Plata when he was in college.
For 13 years, Applefeld worked for WQSR, where he did radio coverage of entertainment news and was known as “Mr. Hollywood.”
“I would give news out of Hollywood, and jokes,” he said. “Corny, silly, tired jokes.”
In May of 2001, Applefeld became the promotions director for WCBM, where he is responsible for events, contests, prizes and announcements.
“I’ve attended many events in Baltimore City and the five counties that surround it,” Applefeld said. “County fairs, city fairs, so many nonprofits that we were involved with, so many sponsors we were able to tie in with.”
Over the course of his career, Applefeld has interviewed various celebrities, including Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles and Jackie Mason.
“My capacity as promotions guy was doing a little interview with them,” Applefeld said. “That was always interesting. All of them actually were very nice. That was fun.”
Applefeld currently lives in Pikesville.
In terms of his religious life, Applefeld does not belong to a specific synagogue, but he has visited various synagogues for the High Holidays and Passover.
“I should be a little bit more involved than what I am,” Applefeld said. “My intentions are to be involved in that arena. I think I owe it to myself and my religion to learn a bit more about it than what I know now.”
In addition to his WCBM position, Applefeld has a YouTube show called “Eddie’s Corner,” where he highlights restaurants; a writer position for the Baltimore Post- Examiner, where he also talks about restaurants, travel and attractions; and a Facebook page for movies, theater, travel and restaurants.
“At one time I had a cable television show called ‘Dining Out,’” he said. “I co-hosted that show for about 10 years and went around highlighting various restaurants. That was back in the late ‘80s and throughout the ‘90s.”
