Dream big, deliver bigger
Matt Feinberg ’83

att Feinberg ’83 wanted to be in showbiz since he was a kid. When he got to college, he saw a whole new world behind the showbiz scene—“what made the showbiz clock tick”—and since then he’s made a career of delivering smart media strategies and deciphering radio regulatory issues for major corporate clients. In December, Media Week magazine counted the votes of his advertising and media peers and named Feinberg 2002 Radio All-Star at a Manhattan gala.

Feinberg is senior vice president at Zenith Media Services in New York. There since 1998, he leads a department responsible for buying in excess of $40 million annually in network radio advertising for such clients as Lexus, Red Lobster, Schering-Plough and Verizon.

He traces his success to his undergraduate education and recalls classes relevant then and now. “Mike Donovan could really stimulate debate on current media issues by relating to subjects that were close to the pulse of college students. Frank Hogan described how radio stations work technically,” he says. “It was absolutely fascinating. I use that knowledge of coverage patterns and relative signal strength to this day.”

As an intern with All American Television, Feinberg produced a syndicated radio show which gave him soup-to-nuts experience in writing, producing and “clearing” a new broadcast vehicle. Later he ran his own independent media consultancy, Millennium Media and Marketing.

From 1991 to 1997, he worked for the in-house advertising unit of American Home Products, where he rose to the position of special projects director. He was responsible for a broad range of media duties for such brands as Anacin, Advil, Gulden’s Mustard, Jiffy Pop and Primatene Mist.

Feinberg’s boyhood dreams of showbiz have come true in his life as a musician, too. He plays bass guitar at clubs and bars throughout Manhattan, has jammed with the likes of Rick Derringer and has a couple of CDs to his name.

At Rowan he was a member of the jazz ensemble and several rock bands. “One of the things I’m proudest of is being one of the winners of the composition contest in the music department,” he says. “I had two pieces picked during my senior year. I still have them on tape, and 20 years later, one of the pieces still sounds good!”

The music department had a profound affect on him, he says. “Teachers like Al Stauffer, Harry Oliver and Manny Album made a mark on my creative soul that follows me today.”