When I was in high school between 1957 and 1961, both my life and career began to take shape under the tutelage of legendary Billboard music editor Paul Ackerman and then-chart editor Tom Noonan, who first opened the magazine’s doors to a fifteen-year-old kid. At that time, Billboard was certainly the communications center of the music industry, and what I learned and saw and heard there has indeed served me well over the years.