On This Day, Forty-Five Years Ago

My long trip in a strange business began

June 30, 1980.

I filled out my first job application.

It was for a small-town AM/FM combo station in Belle Glade, Florida. The FM side played country music. The AM side was wall-to-wall preachers and Southern Gospel. The only other job possibility in town was hauling boxes in a drugstore stockroom, which sounded way worse than sitting in a tiny room and spinning records.

That was also the summer my dad shook me awake from a nap on the couch and said, “Hey, I’m going to start charging you rent.” So yeah—suddenly, I needed a job.

I got hired.

My first shift was overnight on the FM side, "babysitting" during the Larry King Show on the Mutual Broadcasting System. My only real responsibility was to hit a single local commercial every hour.

But that first night, the guy who was supposed to come on after me forgot about his shift. So I stayed. I played a few records. I was Mr. DJ.

I never meant to get into radio. It just kind of happened.

I wound up becoming the full-time afternoon guy, racing to the station after high school.

And somehow, I never left.

Of course, the job is vastly different now. The industry is almost unrecognizable from what it was back then. The changing of ownership rules, consolidation, deregulation, the shifting fortunes, and the shrinking of its importance cast some scary shadows over its future.

And while I’m currently between gigs and not sure what’s next, I suspect my next regular paycheck will still be coming from radio.

Forty-five years in—and I’m still in it.