Sophomore year found me back on campus after a summer spent in the Theta Chi house as a renter. It was the only time I was in a Greek house. My work schedule made it a tough fit with my alarm clock sometimes going off well before 5am. But the most interesting part was having to share a shower stall with some kind of vegetation (mushrooms, I think).
I worked two jobs that summer, KDMI and full-time in the Registrar's Office. This was the pre-electronic times, so much of my job was moving cards from one cubby hole to another and doing other tasks as directed. There were some nice people there, one who became a friend, spent a weekend with me at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City using free tickets the radio station provided. My other memory is of my boss telling me to slow down as I was getting my job done too quickly.
Lunch was at McDonald's - a burger and coke for .98. Supper was a stop at the Goodrich Ice Cream Shop - where I'd get a large malt with extra malt and two raw eggs (gotta get the protein). Most of the time I was on my bike going around the city. It was fun and the last summer where I wasn't either in class or working.
The fall semester meant more interesting classes in the Radio-TV production courses and it was that fall I realized I needed to do more than just work in radio. The conscious thought I had during one of my 9 hour shifts at KDMI was that I couldn't be a DJ when I reached 50. (At the age of 19, that seemed like a time very far away, indeed!) So, I added Broadcast News and Political Science as majors. Thanks to Professor John Lytle, I applied for an internship.
It seemed like a long-shot since at that point I had yet to take any classes involving cameras or being on camera.
The accommodations were improved with our move to Crawford Hall that year. Scott and I shared a second floor room overlooking a lawn and 30th Street - nice and handy for our friends from Domino's.
While there was no idea what exactly was in front of me at that point, it seemed like I was heading in the right direction.
Then, I got the word that KWWL-TV in Waterloo and news director Grant Price wanted me as their intern for second semester of sophomore year. Little did I know then it would change the path I was on - permanently.
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