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Did you start in high school or college?

M

monkeymanmoi

Okay, I'm just one of those folks who posts here as a radio fan (I actually work in television... biggie in Atanta). But I did spend many years working at my high school radio station in the Indianapolis area and down at Auburn (music director at both stations for a couple of years). It was a total blast, but I decided not to pursue radio over television because I didn't really have the voice, I hated the idea of being forced to play gawd awful music and I thought TV would provide more stability (it has so far... 17 years at the same company).

Anyway, my point is how did you get your start? Did any one else here get to do radio at their high school? There seemed to be a bunch of high school radio stations in the Indy area, but I don't know of any in Atlanta.
 
I actually was fortunate enough to start in junior high (8th grade) on a 500 watt AM in the midwest. Been at it ever since.
 
My first experience was "volunteering" (it wasn't called interning then) at my hometown 1kw AM daytimer. I did anything and everything until they put me on Sunday mornings running the taped church shows. By the time I was 14 I was doing a weekly "high school news" show which i wrote and announced. By 15 I was jocking weekends. At 16 I was jocking from after school to sign-off at local sundown (4:45pm in December--but 9:30 in June!).

That was, uh, over 35 years ago. Went on to many years in the majors as jock and pd. I am still at it. And loving it.
 
While I went to school at Georgia State I never worked at WRAS. I made a tape once......they laughed so hard it made me go home cryin'!
The only place for people so lacking in talent was/is WRFG.
I remember the first night I was on the air....board oping some recorded programs. There was only one time that I had to open the mic and utter words on the air.....and that was to do the top of the hour, legal ID. And I gave the wrong call letters!!
There were some really cool folks at WRFG back in the 70's....community activists, college professors, city council members......I couldn't believe all these really cool people would let a surburban dullard like me hang around!!
I eventually started toing the engineering work....'cause nobody else wanted to! $200 per month and all the 2AM phone calls a young guy could ever dream about! We had the clunky-est of all transmitters....a McMartin...... and it's electrical "fits" were very common. I used to stand there at 3 in the morning and just stare at that critter.....it had some perplexing "personality issues." And I learned alot about strange transmitter issues....knowledge that helps me to this day!
I had a country program which was very popular....by WRFG standards. For the first couple of years I did the show with a professional clown /juggler/accordian player-musician, Roger "Phineus" French....he taught me to juggle!
You can argue about the political bent of some of the folks at WRFG. But this station needs to exist, if for no other reason, for people like me!
 
Man, Tom, I would love to read your biography! When's the book going to be done? ;D In all seriousness, I've loved your "horror/happy times" stories, and it would do well for us younger guys (I'm 30) to learn from your experiences.

I never went to a 4-year college, just Augusta Technical College, where I was learning Electronics Technology, but dropped out after my financial aid fell through. Anyway, I started getting my voice out by doing the announcements at my High School (just the PA announcements, the A/V system came in about two years after I graduated, so I couldn't get my mug on TV, even if it was just CCTV!). In '98 I was blessed to do Saturday mornings at WBBQ 104.3 and Sundays at WZNY, Y-105 (which CC changed to "The Bull" WIBL after they bought the stations from Cumulus). But, my TV career as a "bored-op" (Master Control) took off and brought me up here to Atlanta, which put my radio career on the back burner. I hope to, one day, light it back up again. Sometimes, it's not about making the "big bucks", but just enjoying waking up and do what you do every day.
 
Unofficially, 8th grade, when the guys who did the high school basketball games for our local 1kw AM decided first to let me read the JV stats I brought them on-air at halftime myself. That in turn evolved into me being the guy they brought in for p-b-p when our girls games got out of hand (they were usually very good, so that was pretty often). When the coach emptied his bench, so did the station.

I started working weekends at the same station when I was in the 12th grade, took a full-time shift on the Monday following HS graduation.
 
I started at a small town FM station when I was 15. The format was "Beautiful Music." Shortly after that, the family that owned the station bought a dark AM station and programmed Top-40 on it. A few months into the job, after I turned 16, I also started working at the small town TV station...a commercial network affiliate. I dabbled in radio off and on, on a part-time basis for years. Early on, I realized I didn't have the pipes and I wasn't all that good at ad-libbing...TV offered better pay and more stability, especially for one more technically inclined. After jobs at a few different markets in Alabama, I landed in Atlanta, been in the same job at one of the big Atlanta TV stations for going on 19 years. To me, radio was more fun than TV...but I don't think I'd care for it now. They've killed the soul.
 
I started as a High School sophmore at KOBS in Orange, TX. The station was literally home-built. The owner was Charles Kobs. Any guesses where the call letters came from?
 
Another Indiana high school starter here. After graduation, I went on to the hometown 500w directional AM. After 30+ years, I discovered that the learning process doesn't stop.

The poster that said "Radio had the soul ripped out of it" nailed it. I'm not having fun. It's just a job. Just like working in a factory or a shoe store. The only job satisfaction is still working after yet another round of cuts. Kind of like working for GM, without the great salary & benefits.
 
I started in middle school at a rural Georgia daytimer. Those were the days. I worked remotes at town festivals and stuff. Lots of free food. :) Gotta love small town radio.
 


my high school didn't have a radio station and my college didn't get one until after i graduated. so i was lucky enough to get an internship for college credit at an atlanta station my senior year, and they offered me a job. much to my parents chagrin.

and i couldn't agree more with the comment about there being no soul in radio anymore. my last radio gig, i could feel my soul being sucked away on a daily basis. and it wasn't even a clear channel station!
 
Anybody remember "Carrier Current"? I started as the "Cowboy" half of "The Cowboy and The J-Man" on AM 850 WLHD (Lincoln Hall Dormitory) at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio - and it was carrier current, which meant that the feed from the station basically bled through the buildings' electrical wiring, and so you had to be plugged into a wall socket to even get us! OU has a pretty big Mass Com dept, and SIX college radio stations: One for each 'green' (East Green, West Green, South Green) that was like WLHD (typical college station fare), the 'official' WOUB AM and FM (NPR-type crap and jazz - the only real 'broadcast' stations), and 99.3FM ACRN - the All Campus Radio Network (The 'Rock Lobster' - yes, from the B52's song - AOR basically), which wasn't really broadcast in the traditional sense, either - it was Cable only! Anyway, I spent more than a few quarters jocking mornings on WLHD, then went to graveyard on ACRN, then came back to WLHD as a PD (beacuse they asked me too). I even fired (can you fire volunteers?) two guys for inappropriate language once (amazingly, I was just thinking about that earlier today). God, I was an ass. I still feel bad about that, a little. :) We had an incredible music director and some great personalities - you'd never know hanging out in our offices and studio that chances were near 100% that NO one was actually listening - I miss that misguided enthusiasm... ;)

From what I understand WLHD and ACRN both got ballsy long BEFORE my arrival and stood up pirate transmitters - that was all long gone by the time I got there.

(man, I use TOO many parentheses)
 
---> Continued, sorry. Did not answer the question..... 8th grade. My Mother had to drop me off and pick me up.
 
I started at WUTK 90.3 FM at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) when I was 19. It was my freshman year, I and was filling in for some of the regular jocks who were gone for Christmas break. I thought I was originally going to become a high school history teacher, but the radio "bug" had bit me ever since coming out of the womb. I used to set up tape players and a microphone and pretend I was on the radio when I was little, so it was only fitting that I try this "broadcasting thang" out. Many years later and now General Manager of a radio station in Georgia, I've never looked back.
 
I used to set up tape players and a microphone and pretend I was on the radio when I was little
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LMAO!!! I swear I thought I was the only one that did that!!!
 
I started on a walikie-talkie at 27.125 mhz 100mw as WHRIB (Hobart Indiana Radio Broadcast) yes I know a 5-letter call is nothing.
A 10 year old has no background. It did lead into Valpo Tech, many saturday afternoons at WNWI 1080 , a 250w local, I was so sure I would go into radio, and graduated from a REAL radio school (Valpo Tech), but watched the market implode in the 80's and stayed out.....
There was no radio stn in my town, as it was part of the Chicago market. And it was educational to watch such a big market.
But I never went into it, as the First Class ticket was eliminated.

Anyone who got to go into the biz after 1975 should feel lucky.
I graduated HS in 1979, too late for "real radio".
 
cleavo said:
I used to set up tape players and a microphone and pretend I was on the radio when I was little
Click to expand...

LMAO!!! I swear I thought I was the only one that did that!!!
Click to expand...
RadioGaGa75 said:
Yep Cleavo, I guess you and I are a rare breed.
Click to expand...

I guess you have to add me to the group. I used to spin records, have the TV on the local time and temp channel (remember with the weather forecast scrolling on the top in red, the middle in blue with the currents, and a green bar with ads scrolling on the bottom?), a toy CB was my transmitter. I used duct tape to key one CB and had the other wherever my mother was in the house! I guess I was about six or so.
 
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