The jump from bagels to radio might seem strange, but to David Wolf it made perfect sense.

ON THE NET www.smallbizamerica.com

Wolf was a musician and composer in Dallas - a successful one - when his brother Bob called in 2000 asking if he wanted to move to Albuquerque and help salvage the bankrupt family business, Wolfe's Bagels.

"I was curious," Wolf says. "I came out, and we talked to Wild Oats, Whole Foods, and decided, yeah, we can do this."

And they did.

David Wolf works on a script for an upcoming edition of his syndicated radio feature, "Smallbiz America." Wolf works out of his Albuquerque home with dog Logan. (Craig Fritz/Tribune)

But it took nearly six years (Wolfe's only recently became profitable), countless challenges, lots of money and some mistakes.

"I hadn't functioned in small business," Wolf says. "Music is la la land, totally different. While I wanted to get into a small-business opportunity, I had no idea what I was in for."

His conclusion: "What an education, with a capital W."

What he learned about business is he liked business people. He liked their optimism, their persistence - their stories.

"After Wolfe's was on its feet, I took myself out a bit," he says. "Then one day I had an `Aha' moment. I dreamed of merging what I know of audio production with the experiences I had been through. I knew there had to be other stories like it."

In November 2004, Wolf launched Howl Media and "Smallbiz America," a syndicated radio feature that captures the trials, tribulations and advice of small-business owners.

"I wasn't interested in the balance sheet," he says. "The thrust was the person."

Wolf got on the phone and interviewed the business people he'd met in Albuquerque. He edited and structured the 60-second spots around a 30- or 60-second advertisement, wrote a jingle and shopped the demos to radio stations.

"Right out of the gate, I found a radio affiliate rep, an independent guy in Phoenix, RadioLinx," Wolf says. "I showed him the project, and he liked it."

RadioLinx sold the feature to a few stations in small markets like Tulsa, Okla., and "Smallbiz America" went on the air last May. But Wolf says he realized that, with the station-by-station approach, it would take "20 years to get to level of making money."

"It would take forever to reach the economies of scale to interest a national sponsor," he says.

Last July, Wolf approached Business Talk Radio run by Jeff Weber of Greenwich, Conn. "He liked what he heard," Wolf says.

Wolf signed on and all of a sudden was in 70 markets nationwide, a feature in Ray Lucia's two-hour financial planning show.

"Now I've got something I can sell," he says.

RAISING THE BAGEL David Wolf says he learned "a thousand lessons" in reviving Wolfe's Bagels. "As a new entrepreneur, I want to push to grow, expand," he said. "A better answer is not to expand but to go for depth." Wolfe's Bagels, started by Wolf's cousin Henry Silver in 1992, went belly up in 1998. At one point it had seven retail locations and a large plant on Candelaria Road. Wolf and his brother Bob took over in 2000. "Wolfe's was a known brand. We had to figure out how to unravel and re-ravel the brand," Wolf said. The bagel market had changed. Einstein's was in the picture, and bagels had become something of a commodity. The original Wolfe's was a large operation focused on retail. The Wolfs started with size, and scaled it back, and then switched the focus to wholesale. Wolfe's now has a single retail and baking location at Montgomery and San Pedro boulevards Northeast. Seventy percent of the business is wholesale. "We're wholesale with a retail component," Wolf said. And it works. Wolfe's will turn a profit this year, Wolf said.

Wolf's spots - he has done about 120 - now feature national and Albuquerque area small-business owners, including Jim Stovall, who created the Narrative Television Network, which narrates movies for the blind; Fred Emmer, whose company Mewvie produces baby-sitting videos for cats; and Lisa Ayres of Arid Solutions in Albuquerque, which makes water reclamation barrels.

Each feature takes about two hours to produce. Wolf also puts together a newsletter in tandem with "Smallbiz America."

He ships Weber five features a week, a couple of them recycled and two or three new ones.

Albuquerque was not among the 70 stations in the Business Talk Radio network, and so Wolf struck a separate deal with KAGM-FM for 90-second profiles and a Saturday morning radio hour featuring a longer profile and a segment of expert business advice.

"I still wanted to serve the Albuquerque market," he says. "I wanted to connect locally."

He recently switched to KABQ-AM 1350, a Clear Channel Communications station. The show debuted Saturdayfeb4. Wolf is in talks to also bring "Smallbiz America" to Sirius satellite radio.

Wolf pays a fee for airtime and sells sponsorships. Past local sponsors have been the New Mexico Health Insurance Alliance and First Community Bank. He does the local selling and gets help for the national piece from sales manager Johnnie Pegues in Dallas.

"We've been in the sales process about four months, and we haven't bagged the elephant (a big national sponsor) yet," Wolf says. "It's a process you have to be patient with. We know we have a good product."

He says the format gives advertisers a targeted audience and wraps them in a story that creates a bond with the listener.

Ira Lipson, who works in advertising and media in Dallas, and has known Wolf a decade, says "Smallbiz America" taps into a part of the business market that is not well represented but is a huge part of the economy.

"You usually hear about the monster businesses," he says. "There's not much about small business on the radio. There are some financial shows, but usually about buying and selling stock. There's not much in the way of good advice for the small-business owner. I think he found a good niche."

Wolf says he's not worried about running out of subjects - he finds small-business owners everywhere. And he never tires of their stories.

"I love the direct correlation between passion and the ability to pull together resources and get the end result," he says. "A business starts in the imagination and plays out. I love the imagining, and working out on paper and planning and strategy, and molding it as it goes, and seeing it play into reality. That process is fascinating to me."

It's a process that is playing out for Wolf.

"I'm fiercely passionate about this thing," he says. "It's absolutely going to happen. It's not a question of if but when."