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How I got started in radio

B

budman1

I had just turned 15 years old. In my hand was a Third Class Radiotelephone License with Broadcast Endorsement.
(which I had just recieved along with my Technician Class ham license). It was a warm saturday afternoon when
my dad dropped me off at the radio station. A phone call on friday had invited me to drop in.

It was a small AM/FM. The AM was a 1000 watt daytime / 250 watt nitetime country format, while the FM was Adult
Contempororary / Top 40. Local college baseball, via phone, was in progress on the AM. The PD / AM morning man
introduced himself, made some small talk, as he worked the game. Play-by-play guy says " We will be back in
60 seconds", pot him down, start the cart. Play two, with about 10 seconds to go push-to-talk on the phone and
say "10 seconds", then pot him up. Old 'gatesway' mixer board. 8 down, 7 up (who remembers what that meant ?)

We went through a couple of innings. He was impressed with the license, but I was just a kid. But, all was
not lost...he went for a bathroom break and lucky me, the sports announcer called for a break. I ran the spots
and was just finishing the break when the PD returned, a bit out of breath.

Ok, kid. You got a job. $3.85 an hour.
 
budman1 said:
Ok, kid. You got a job. $3.85 an hour.
Click to expand...

So when ended up happening in the years since? Did you stay in radio? Are you still in it? If so, and if you were transported back then to age 15, would you do it all over again?
 
I got 6 bucks an hour. My start came when I called the weekend overnight DJ and told him he was pretty terrible, then I called the PD Monday morning and reiterated that.

The PD gave me a 3am to 6am try out early on a Sunday morning. It took me two months to wrestle the weekend overnights away from this guy.

At that point I was working midnight to 6am, Friday nights and Saturday nights; after a while I thought JFC what the hell have I done?

Still...it beats working for a living.
 
I used to win everything and feed the top 40 night guy all the bits he could use. I was at the station about twice a week and the promotions guy said, "Your up here so damn much we should just give you a job so you quit taking all our stuff." Starting driving the van and handing out T-shirts and spotting bumper stickers about a week later. Produced a night show for about 3 months and ran the board for syndicated stuff before earning my way on the air via a gracious PD who took the time to critique tapes I made in the production room. I'll still never forget the time he listened to four breaks in a row without a word and then stopped the tape and asked me if they were all first attempts. I said yes and he asked what I had planned for 2am Saturday morning. That was that.
 
Always been fascinated by stories of how people got into radio and some of the early stations, small markets, salaries, etc. Often, I've heard guys say they "played radio" as kids, spinning 45s on an old record player. My story is a bit different. I enlisted in the Marine Corps at 17 (had a helluva time convincing Mom & Dad to sign the papers for me.) After boot camp and infantry training, I was sent to Ft. Ben Harrison in Indianapolis to DINFOS (Defense Information School.) It was an Army base, but the school was joint service with all branches represented. I was trained as a journalist, thinking I'd write for a base newspaper, or if lucky, perhaps Stars and Stripes. But the military is notorious for training you for one job, then assigning you to something different. I was deployed to AFRTS (American Forces Radio & TV) on Okinawa, Japan. I had no idea what radio was like. Had never even thought about it. But I got hooked and boy, once it's in your blood....well, you know how that is. BTW, in late 1969 the Pentagon paid me a whopping 138 bucks a month. Based on a 40-hour week, that's roughly 86 cents an hour. Course, food, medical care, insurance and housing were free. Cigarettes, booze and women weren't. But that's another story for another time.

Jason Walker
 
budman1 said:
Ok, kid. You got a job. $3.85 an hour.
Click to expand...

How about $1.10 an hour?

I hung around WJMO and WCUY (FM) in Cleveland and carried coffee, cleaned the toilets, and general gofer work before it became legally impossible for stations to let kids hang out and learn.

When the AM moved closer to the inner city, leaving the FM alone, new FCC rules required the FM to expand hours of operation... I got a job with real pay. Those were the days when we could do logs three months in advance, because we had no clients.
 
How about $10.00 an hour?! That was my first radio wage. My high school had a small 100-watt transmitter on top of a 9600 foot peak. That little box would go 100 miles in every direction. I was really the only one interested in running the station, so I was quickly assigned the "Station President" title. That job included holding the flashlight when ever our contract engineer had to fix something. I showed an interest in the engineering side of the job and after high school graduation, our contract engineer hired me as his assistant. It paid $10.00 an hour and it was mostly part-time grunt work, but I loved it. So radio engineering is where I stayed.
 
Let's see, the producing work was 4 hoursx5 days/week for 400.00 a month and my air shifts were 10.00 an hour. That was late 80's early 90's at KVIL. I was 19 and didn't have many bills, but do have a lot a great memories! Luckily the pay did go up a bit from there and kept me interested for a few years at various stations around the market while I completed college and graduate school.

I was a part-timer relegated mainly to weekends and sometimes weekday fill in evenings and even got to do PM drive a couple of times. I had offers for more, but decided against going radio full time at the expense of everything else. Although I miss it and still talk up intros at red lights, given the current climate of the industry I am glad I made the decision I did.
 
Well, I think I started at $1.25. After a year or so parttime, I was told if I got my "First Phone" I could work fulltime at $300/month and be Chief Engineer plus mornings on air before high school (and afternoon doing traffic logs). That $300/month my Senior year in high school came in handy when I entered college. That was nearly 50 years ago. Time flies. Currently I own 5 stations near the Washington Coast. And I'm still the engineer.
 
Our high school radio station was a startup deal when I was a junior. We all volunteered time just for the "thrill" of being on the air, and everybody helped wire every hallway in the school and cafeteria, and even donated speakers (half of the school was equipped with used 6 x 9 Jensen Tri-Axial car speakers!) Later, we got a nice boost of confidence when Storer Cable (conveniently a few blocks away) ran a line to the station so we could broadcast the audio over the public access channel. We also had Labella and Rody over once to broadcast; same for K-104's Chris McCoy. Even Larry Dixon and Leeza Gibbons came over to see our little project.

First PAID on-air radio gig was at KDNT/KZRK-Denton. $3.35 an hour, IIRC, in 1988. Read the whole story here: http://www.knus99.com/shannon.html

Now, 29 years later, I'm back doing radio for free. :(
 
MikeShannon914 said:
Our high school radio station was a startup deal when I was a junior. We all volunteered time just for the "thrill" of being on the air, and everybody helped wire every hallway in the school and cafeteria, and even donated speakers (half of the school was equipped with used 6 x 9 Jensen Tri-Axial car speakers!) Later, we got a nice boost of confidence when Storer Cable (conveniently a few blocks away) ran a line to the station so we could broadcast the audio over the public access channel. We also had Labella and Rody over once to broadcast; same for K-104's Chris McCoy. Even Larry Dixon and Leeza Gibbons came over to see our little project.

First PAID on-air radio gig was at KDNT/KZRK-Denton. $3.35 an hour, IIRC, in 1988. Read the whole story here: http://www.knus99.com/shannon.html

Now, 29 years later, I'm back doing radio for free. :(
Click to expand...

I loved Z-rock...i still had the sticker on my truck until a few months ago. I still have the metal milicia tag on the mirror.
 
Summer of 1985 I interned at KCLE 1120 AM in Cleburne, TX before I graduated the following December. I worked under News Director Larry Cooke (Chambers) doing the rounds at the police, fire, jail, county commissioners, city council meetings, chasing police and fire and ambulance calls. Learned a lot. They put me on the air almost immediately. I was horrible.

After graduation I returned to Cleburne, my hometown, and worked for my parent's plumbing shop about 20 hours a week and worked at the radio station when they needed help. I spun country records (I was a terrible DJ) and helped set-up remotes and did news on occasion.

It was shortly after the shuttle Challenger blew up in 1986 that I was offered the news director gig. Larry had decided to run for county office and due to equal time rules, could not longer be on the air. His loss was my gain.

I was able to learn my craft by falling on my face many, many times. I listened to the big boys in DFW like Joe Holstead, Mark Watkins (who now works with me at WBAP,) Mark Elliott (Woolsey....now at The Wx Channel) and tried to parrot how they did things.

I chased tornadoes, learned tons about government and the judicial system by covering commissioners court, various trial, city council etc.


I made $800 a month and probably worked 80 hours a week and loved it.

Then I ran into Deborah Ferguson at the Tromboli murder trial and she told me WBAP had a morning producer job open. I applied and the rest is history.
 
First job was at KCLE in Cleburne doing weekends when I was 17, playing Country and doing those LONG 15 minute newscasts. Then was promoted to afternoons and for a short time was PD. Learned a lot and was able to make the mistakes and get them out of the way. Then it was on to Amarillo as OM for two stations there, then a stop in Salt-Lake City. After that it was Classic Rock in Boston. Classic Rock PD in Atlanta. AC Mornings in Atlanta and lastly AC Mornings in Charlotte.
Had a great time everywhere I've been and learned so much along the way. Still can't wait to get back at it!
 
First job at KRLD.

I pestered then news director Peter Gardner after reading "local news station looking for traffic reporter." I was in outside sales, but had a ton of TV/commercials/stagework under my belt and I figured since I was out driving all day, what the heck, I could phone in a report or two.

After two weeks of calls Peter called me and said what he was looking for was someone who could, "turn a dial with one hand, while writing down information with the other all the while he was on the phone talking with police dispatchers on the phone and simultaneously flipping the switch to go live on the air while the editor was giving him instructions loud enough to overcome the sound coming out of the speaker wired to pick up Dallas PD."

"So what's your qualifications?"

I told him I was an ex-air traffic controller.

"You're hired."

Start date, Dec. 31, 1984, fired Dec. 31, 1994.

In 10 years covered traffic from the 1080 Trafficopter, anchored weekend sports, anchored midday news, Rangers, Mavs, Cowboys; high school football, conventions, murders, trials and Fat Stock shows and State Fairs.

Thanks in part (but not exclusive) to Peter G., Frank G., Brad B., Brad S., Craig W., Mark W., Doretta D., Alex B., Roger R., Rick E., Richard W., Chuck C., Tom T., Fil A., Bridgette B., Helen B., Brooke A., Steve C. (rest in peace) and elsewhere on the dial: Ron, Dick, Jack. There's more, you know who you are and what you all did. What a great time to be in radio in Dallas.
 
Started working in promotions for one of the country stations in D/FW back in the fall of 2000. Just your typical hour-long remote at a car dealership one day, a weekend remote at a Kroger another, with a concert sporadically sprinkled in-between. I'm not sure what minimum wage was back then but I believe I made somewhere around $5.75 an hour. Still, it was a pretty neat experience for a college kid.

After a few years I started getting opportunities to do production and commercial traffic work and continued to do so until I made my exit in the spring of 2005. Now that I'm married, I'm at a point in my life where I don't see myself getting back into anything radio related anymore, but those five years were a great experience in my life. I made a lot out of the time I spent in the radio business, and I firmly believe it only assisted me in growing as a person as well.

So there ya go.
 
RobotGreggo said:
Started working in promotions for one of the country stations in D/FW back in the fall of 2000. Just your typical hour-long remote at a car dealership one day, a weekend remote at a Kroger another, with a concert sporadically sprinkled in-between. I'm not sure what minimum wage was back then but I believe I made somewhere around $5.75 an hour. Still, it was a pretty neat experience for a college kid.

After a few years I started getting opportunities to do production and commercial traffic work and continued to do so until I made my exit in the spring of 2005. Now that I'm married, I'm at a point in my life where I don't see myself getting back into anything radio related anymore, but those five years were a great experience in my life. I made a lot out of the time I spent in the radio business, and I firmly believe it only assisted me in growing as a person as well.

So there ya go.
Click to expand...

Sad to see so many people have the love and passion for radio only to be kept out or not do it anymore due to crappy pay and lack of security. :'(

I started out making 65Cents an hour at a hotdog stand in San Antonio when i was 15. (1969) Got a dime raise 8 weeks later! :D
 
My first job paid me $45.00 a week. I was 17 and I thought I had it made back in 1970. My, my, my. How things have changed for the worst. I keep saying that some college kid is going to get into radio programming and they are going to bring back "Local, Live creative use of words, entertaining radio." It'll catch on like wildfire and everyone will think it's latest thing. The problem will be that there is no training ground for these wannabes. I love radio and I wish I could help it recover, but no one wants to listen to an old man. What do I know, anyway? I'm just sayin'...
 
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