If you’ve listened to the radio in the past 40 years, there’s a good chance that Ted Cohen has had something to do with it. As a veteran music executive, Cohen has been involved with releases by Alice Cooper, Dolly Parton, Paul Shaffer, Neil Diamond, and many others. He consulted for Napster, DreamWorks, Amazon, and Microsoft, and co-chairs the Grammys Technology Committee. Recently, he’s been hired as the Entertainment Executive in Residence at the University of Tulsa, working with students in the Arts, Culture, and Entertainment Management program. I met up with Cohen at his apartment.
Z.B. Reeves: How did you end up as the Entertainment Executive in Residence at TU?
Ted Cohen: What happened was: Do you know Larry White? Everybody seems to know Larry. Larry and I worked together at Warner. We would hire managers for what we referred to as “baby bands.” Larry moved here in 2014 from LA. I still don’t know how he ended up here. I know I ended up here because of him.
In 2018, [Larry] invited me to [talk to the] Woody Guthrie Center, give them some ideas on some fundraising stuff. We ended up getting tours of Gathering Place. We went to Cain’s, saw where Sid [Vicious] did his thing.
I came back in 2022 for the opening of the Bob Dylan Center. We went and saw [Sid’s] hole in the wall at Cain’s again. I said, “I was here with them, in ‘78.” They said, “We’re going to do this event: the 45th anniversary of The Sex Pistols. Why don’t you come in for it?” I came in for it.
[While in Tulsa,] I got a call from a friend of mine who’s an ex-Microsoft person, saying, Sean Alexander heard you’re in town and wants to have a drink with you. Come to the Valkyrie.
So I went to the Valkyrie. Greatest bar I’ve ever been in. I show people pictures; they say, that’s not real. Anyway.
So I sat with Sean. He says, I want you to meet Brad Carson; I end up doing a call in April of 2023 with him. He invites me back in August for Alice Cooper, Motley Crue, Def Leppard at the stadium. We’re in Brad’s thing on the 50 yard line on the top floor and there’s a guy and his son. We were talking for a while before I found out his name was George Justice; he was Provost at the University.