Photo Courtesy Detroit Free Press
Sunday’s the day – the day we honor Mom.
If you’re in the radio or the music side of the entertainment industry, chances are you owe a special thanks to Mom. No doubt she played a role in your career choice. Or at least putting up with it.
It’s one thing to aspire to be a dentist, a CPA, a lawyer, or a software engineer.
It’s another thing entirely to announce to your mother you’ve decided to be a morning show host or a rock ‘n roll drummer in your friend’s band.
Even if you’ve made it to the top and have experienced a successful career in radio or records, you very likely started at the bottom. That probably meant interning for a radio station or record label, or even schleping amplifiers around for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.
Not only are radio and music very difficult fields in which to break in, it’s even harder to achieve success. And for so many of us, the support and understanding from Mom may have been just what you needed when perhaps your career choice wasn’t looking so smart.
That was on display last Friday night at the Detroit Music Awards held in downtown Detroit each spring. The photo at the top of this post shows a couple of very proud rock n’ roll moms – Lori Wagner and Karen Kiszka – collecting three awards because their sons – Frankenmuth, Michigan’s Greta Van Fleet are currently on tour and were unable to show up for the event. These two women collectively gave birth to the entire band – specifically, Danny Wagner, and the three Kiszka bros, Josh, Jake, and Sam.
As the oldest of three boys – all of whom went into radio – I can only imagine what it may have been like in the Kiszka home a decade or so ago. It’s one thing when one of your kids takes the plunge into the great unknown – but when all three elect to cast their fates to the rock n’ roll winds, that’s a whole other thing. It takes special parents – and a very patient Mom – for good things to happen in these kinds of households.
I remember how my Mom (and Dad) were understanding of my career path down Radio Lane – mostly. But they also required some explanation and rationale along the way, too. And then there was the problem they had explaining precisely what it was I was I did for a living to friends and family.
I’m not alone by any stretch of the imagination. Many of you reading this post remember all too well the wild roller coaster ride with Mom about your choice of livelihoods. Hopefully, for most of you, she was understanding and supportive. And in the event she was adamantly against your decision, well, you know she always had your best interests in mind.
Today at 89 years-old, my Mom has watched it all happen with great interest and loving support. She’s proud of her boys, and always makes sure she’s keeping up with news stories and publicity we generate.
I remember at the beginning of my run at WRIF, the station had a less-than-spectacular rating book. A story about the ratings appeared in the paper, with a note that my return to the station hadn’t moved the needle. I was devastated by that blurb. My Mom, on the other hand, was excited to read my name in the paper, and called her friends to brag about it.
Oh, Mom.
I’m sure that if you’re lucky enough that your Mom is still on this earth, you’re able to share your successes – and even your setbacks – with her.
She always had the ability to make you feel better. And even if she thought you were nuts, she meant well. For so many of us, Mom believed in us, trusted in our career choice, and encouraged us to pursue a path that would make us happy. We owe her a lot.
And as my Mom asked more than a couple of times in the early years, “But can you make a living from it?”
To which I not-so-confidently answered, “I think so.”
Happy Mother’s Day to all those women who suffered with us, got us through it, and supported us along the way.
We wouldn’t be here without them.
Special thanks to Stacey Sherman and Gary Graff. Gary is the founder of the Detroit Music Awards Foundatie hon, celebrating its 27th anniversary this year. He’s one of music’s great supporters, a wonderful journalist, and a good friend.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Mom’s are special! Yeah, they are.
Thumbs up for Mom!
My mom was supportive of my career choice of radio, which involved me moving half way across the country for basically minimum wage, while my dad said I was an idiot. During my 22 year run in the business my dad came around to the idea of me in radio, while mom was always there….especially when it came to helping out financially during those early years. God bless mothers!
Everyone has a different story, Doug, but there’s something special about getting the “seal of approval” from mom. Thanks for chiming in.
My parents actually WANTED me to be a fine arts major. What parent does that?! And they thought it would be a better idea to pursue that than to go to Emerson College and major in communications. I ended up switching my art major after my first year at UMass.
Marylee, sometimes you just know, right? It’s interesting the way we end up learning, whether we follow their advice or go the other way. Congrats on making the right call.
Boy, Fred, I’m going to try my best to keep this under novel-length but no guarantees.
A radio geek from as early as I can remember, I never had the desire to do anything else in my life but be in radio. And my mom–a widow since before I was born, my father having died while expecting me–could not possibly have been more supportive. She took me to all the stations to pick up prizes and countless remote broadcasts. I just couldn’t be around it enough.
And though our finances were limited, she never once complained or resisted when I’d want her to buy me this or that component for my little home-built station, “K-Dave.” I would drop a record on my turntable, hop on my bike–transistor radio in hand–and see how far I could pick up my little station. About four blocks was the farthest I ever got with my limited technical knowledge. And before I was even driving myself, she patiently–joyfully, in fact–drove me to my first radio job, which like all first radio jobs in those days, meant weekends, overnights and holidays. I’ve been blessed to do the only thing I’ve loved for nearly four decades now and my mom far and away is front and center as the star who made that happen.
But wait til you hear the real kicker to the rest of this amazing story. When health issues forced her need for full-time care, I moved back home–the same home I grew up in–to be one of her caregivers, which I continue to be to this day. Meantime, happily in management with some technical duties, I never dreamed of being back on the air. But two years ago, my current employer–a national Christian radio network–asked me if I’d be interested in doing mornings. Much as I loved my time on the air, I really was happy with what I was doing and wasn’t sure how good a fit I would be on the air with this company’s much more conservative style than what I had always done. Well, super-long-story short, I accepted the position and have never regretted it.
But, back to the real kicker. My employer, who has always known of and been very supportive of my home situation, told me sometime back to just have them buy whatever I need to comfortably work from home–yes, again, the same home I grew up in! Fred, as I write you today, I am waking up people in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, L.A.–and around a hundred other cities–from the very same ROOM I was “broadcasting” four blocks from just a few, seemingly very short decades ago.
It’s been an amazing, wonderful ride of life, so believe me when I say, yes, I do wish my mother a most happy Mother’s Day, AND, I ALWAYS remember her on Father’s Day as well!
And if I could take just one more moment to share a fun “Oh Mom” story YOUR “Oh Mom” memory triggered, my mom was born in Sicily. She learned English later in life but some of the nuances of language–especially humor–were a bit lost on her. I used to use a lot of fun, jokey liners between songs on the air, one of them which said, “David Manzi–the number one rated program on this station, during its time slot!” After that liner played on the air this one time, she called me and in a very serious tone says, “That’s wonderful but YOU REMAIN HUMBLE!!” I’m laughing as I write!
Ok, novel over. Thanks for letting me share about my wonderful radio life and my even more wonderful mom! And a happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms that made all our radio dreams possible!
Dave, wonderful stories – thanks so much for sharing them. And it’s more than amazing you’re still broadcasting from K-Dave all these years later. Best to your Mom & thanks again for reaffirming my faith in people…and radio.
Can’t say my mom was always supportive of my radio/records career, but was certainly a part of it since the beginning.
My best memory was doing a mother’s day call-in-to-win contest on my airshift during my early days of working. It was also long before the age of cell phones. I got my contest winner, caller #9 – recorded the surprise of the listener winning, told her what she won, put her on hold to air her, & then picked up the phone after to get her info for the prize sheet. I said, “Hi Linda! Congratulations again! What’s your last name?” She responds very exasperated with, “Jennifer… This is your mother!!”
I asked her why she didn’t tell me it was her when I’d answered originally. She said she’d called the request line to ask me something without turning on the station to know that I was doing a contest. She’d thought we were live on-air when I answered and proclaimed her “Caller 9 and the winner!”, so she had played along to not mess up my show!
She knowingly has done a phone bit or 2 for me since, but never quite like that one!
Awesome story, Jennifer! I’ve had a couple “I had no idea there was a contest happening when I called in” winners in my time–but never my mom! Fun story, thanks for the smile!
Great story, Jennifer. Mom always is supportive, after all.