In the most recent installment of This Week in Music, Ian Rogers talks with Atlantic Records co-chairman/CEO Craig Kallman about his beginnings in the music industry, from DJing in the clubs of New York City to signing his independent Big Beat Records label onto Atlantic’s roster.

“We had a good run of four years from 1987-91 with a string of club hits that kept catching the attention of major labels,” said Kallman. “I was fortunate that one of my records caught the attention of Irving Azoff… and then the next record after that caught the attention of Doug Morris and Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic Records.”

After discussions with the Atlantic team about building an indie label inside a major, Kallman — who says he grew up idolizing many of Atlantic’s stacked roster, including Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles — signed Big Beat to Atlantic at the age of 26, and has been with the company for over 20 years.