"My first job was playing the religious tapes on Sunday mornings. Every now and then one of the tapes would break and I’d be on the air live."
— John Tesh, TeshMedia CEO
"My first paying job was as a part-time disc jockey in 1976 at WLYV/Fort Wayne. I got fired three months later because my voice was still changing."
— Tony Richards, Federated Media CEO
"WMID/Atlantic City. It was summer, and I thought it would be a good idea to get a job ‘down the shore’ while my friends were flipping hamburgers on the boardwalk. I was playing tunes for $80 a week, from midnight to 6am, except on Sunday, when it was midnight to 8am."
— Bill Figenshu, former Viacom President, and now President/Broadcast Operations for Peak Broadcasting
"I had my first full-time job before I graduated (Emerson College). In my junior year, I started working for Greater Media. I was producing the Wolfman Jack show overnight. I learned a great deal about being a personality from that show. Wolfman Jack had an influence on how I was on the air, and I never even knew the man."
— Ken Johnson, Format Director/Urban, Cumulus Broadcasting
"I went on to Utah State, and working in radio helped put me through college. I did overnights on Q92 FM, KBLQ in Logan, Utah."
— John Dimick, Lincoln Financial VP of programming & operations
"My sophomore year (Swarthmore College) I sent a tape to WMMR in Philadelphia and started doing part-time at the dominant station of free-form progressive radio. I graduated college and started doing afternoons at MMR. I was very lucky."
— David Dye, host of WXPN’s "World Cafe"
These are great stories, and they’re just the tip of the radio iceberg. (I "borrowed" them from Erica Farber’s always entertaining "Publisher’s Profile" column in R&R.)
These reminisces are from a handful of radio’s celebrities and movers & shakers who first got their start in the business doing overnights, part-time, and/or weekends. Those were the "gateway shifts" where aspiring radio professionals got their start, learned their craft, and fell in love with the business. Radio was so intoxicating that most aspiring broadcasters felt considerable pressure to get that first job in the business, the stepping stone to bigger markets. There was always a great deal of competition for radio jobs, even in smaller markets.
Today, radio finds itself at the opposite end of the spectrum. A recent report from the U.S. Labor Department notes that radio will be among the slowest-growing industries in the next decade. Among the "negatives" for radio work, reports Inside Radio, are shift work and low pay."
If you talk to station managers and PDs in Norfolk, New York, or Nome, the story is the same. We cannot find talented, motivated, energized young people like the Bill Figenshu’s and Ken Johnson’s of decades ago. That’s because many of them aren’t captivated by radio as an entertainment medium. We saw this in vivid color during our "Bedroom Project" interviews. If you’re not a core radio listener, why would you want to make it a career?
Among the many difficult challenges facing radio in this new millennium, perhaps the most glaring is the need to reintegrate youth into the business. As we have noted in this blog before, HD2 stations should be doing just that. But the problem runs deeper because the training grounds, known as overnights and weekends are too often walled off by the economics of voicetracking. We are so intent on saving money during this quarter that we are in the process of mortgaging the future of radio’s employee base. One of the key reasons why there aren’t many great new morning shows, sales reps, research companies, and consultants is that we’ve virtually eliminated radio’s equivalent of baseball’s minor leagues.
I was impressed by the spirit of Edison Research’s recent "30 Under 30" campaign, designed to shine the spotlight on talented youth in radio. But the fact is, our numbers are down, there isn’t a line of young, energetic, intelligent people ringing around our stations, and we need to take action to reverse this trend.
As the NAB continues to move forward with its recently announced "Radio 2020" initiative, let’s hope that a youth component is part of the plan. Because long after the PR campaigns have run their course, attracting the youth of America back to radio ought to be on the front burner of radio’s new strategic plan.
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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Fred,
The issue is not a lack of a creative youth class. The youth no longer need our distribution nor do they find it an attractive outlet for creative expression (i.e., the eight dollar an hour overnight shift with no opportunity to be creative). In my experience there has never been a cohort more passionate about creating original audio and video. No previous generation empowered by tech to create and share that work. We have met the enemy and he is us so said Pogo. He was right. Want to be the next star of national and international TV? Why apply for some entry level TV job just join Mogulus. Check out the very cool audio on PRX.
Fred:
And your first radio gig – “on-air” that got you “moving and shaking” was…?
I came out of the research world, so my first gig was with Frank Magid in Iowa, the groundbreaking research company. I would love to see other JacoBlog readers list their first radio gigs. I know there are great stories out there.
First radio gig was WEEF AM & FM, Highland Park, IL (suburban Chicago).
A visit to the station in 7th grade soon made way for very frequent visits; just about every Saturday and Sunday afternoon spent there.
It was an hour bike ride there and another hour ride back home on my Schwinn; at times my parents drove me back and forth.
I was fortunate to be with a group of people who tolerated a kid in the studio with them. A new staffer would be hired and my presence explained as “thats Dan…he just hangs out here…and he’ll run to McDonald’s for you if you ask.”
Eventually I made my way in the production studio to play and learn to edit tape, record carts and the like.
The staff told me I needed at least a 3rd class FCC license to get on the air so I took the train into the city, took the test and got mine.
My big break came Christmas Night 1972 when I was given the privilege of my first paid board shift. Nobody else wanted to work Christmas Night. There’s nothing more I wanted to do.
By my junior year in high school, I was doing afternoon drive on the station; getting out of school at 2:35 to be on the air by 3.
How many kids can get into the biz this way these days – between automation, voice tracking, labor laws and liability issues?
Had the graveyard shift weekends at KQMQ FM, Honolulu about 1980, locked myself out of the studio while in the stairwell. Took awhile to get the building security guy to let me back in, he was sleeping of course. Many listeners called later to say how much they enjoyed hearing an entire side of a Stones album.
Had the graveyard shift weekends at KQMQ FM, Honolulu about 1980, locked myself out of the studio while in the stairwell. Took awhile to get the building security guy to let me back in, he was sleeping of course. Many listeners called later to say how much they enjoyed hearing an entire side of a Stones album.
I was one of dozens of Syracuse University students who went to class, volunteered endless hours at campus CHR powerhouse Z89 (WJPZ 89.1 FM) and worked part-time (weekends, overnights, fill-in) at the NewCity cluster (then Cox, now Clear Channel) in Syracuse. Weekends on WBBS-FM, WYYY-FM, WSYR-AM were always filled with eager future broadcasters like myself. And now, those studios — like most — are empty.
As an active member of the WJPZ Alumni Association, we are working to help educate, encourage and cultivate future broadcasting standouts. Activities like our recent Fall Conference are integral to this effort. Anyone who wants to contribute to the cause (financial, mentoring, or otherwise) can check out https://wjpzalumni.org/ to learn more.
The purposes of the association are: 1) To raise the profile of WJPZ on and off campus as the greatest media classroom on any college campus in the country 2) To provide an educational and professional support system for the current staff members and alumni of WJPZ Radio; and 3) To develop the next generation of communications, marketing and entertainment industry leaders.
Hi Fred,
I broke into the business at KGWB-FM in Wahpeton, North Dakota at the
age of 14 doing weather 2x per hour during the Rick Dees weekly Top 40
countdown. By age 16 I was on the air every weeknight from 7p-midnight.
While doing that I was airchecking with Jay Trachman via long distance
telephone and going to Dan O’Day seminars in places like Des Moines,
Iowa. Radio was purely an obsession that was instilled in me at an
early age – because someone gave a high school freshman the chance to do
weather updates 2x per hour on a Sunday morning. You can actually hear
me going through puberty in my old airchecks!! I’m 31 years old now and
forever grateful for the opportunity I had at such an early age.
—
Kyle Guderian
Assistant Program Director
Marketing & Promotions Director
KPNT.fm – 105.7 The Point