WEA PICKS AN APPLEQUIST

Longtime Sony Music Distribution exec Craig “Welcome to the Big” Applequist has been named Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing Services for WEA Corp. by WEA Inc. President John Esposito “Parmigiana.”

In this newly created post, the NYC-based Applequist will provide the sales and marketing staff with a variety of information-based tools, enabling them to be more efficient in the marketplace. He’ll also recount the story about how he jumped into the pool from the fifth floor at the Orlando Marriott during a NARM convention in the late ’80s. Among his duties will be overseeing the sales and market analysis staff, management of sales, terms and policies, advertising process and additional support functions and fixing the HITS retail chart.

Commented Esposito: “I am thrilled to have Craig join WEA. He is a highly skilled and experienced executive who will wonderfully complement our senior management team. Craig will help us strategize and execute our company vision. And I hear he brews up a mean espresso.”

Applequist had been with CBS Records, which later became Sony Music, since 1977, rising to Sr. VP Sales & New Technologies for Sony Music Distribution in 2000. His first job was in Epic’s promotion department, after which he held a variety of posts, including CBS Nashville W.C. Regional Sales and Marketing, Columbia Records VP Sales, SMD Sr. VP Sales and Paul Smith’s beard.

The Shawnee Mission, KS, native and University of Kansas grad is proud to be a Jayhawk. He began his career in 1970 at Denver’s KTLK and was named PD at crosstown KFML in 1974.