Men and women in radio work hard. It's not digging ditches, but on some level it's important work. We count on them for storm warnings, school closings, and breaking news.
Joining their ranks for several years was great fun. During high school I started at WCLO/WJVL in Janesville as a board operator for sports broadcasts and an occasional shift as a d-j.
It's difficult to explain why. In my bedroom, dad built a clock radio into the wall. It only picked up AM stations, but I could tune in stations from Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. Pete Franklin was a sports talk pioneer on WWWE. Sarcastic and biting, he was funny and I imagined what it might be like "on the air."
Later, while attending my first professional basketball game I acquired an autograph - from the play by play man. Jim Irwin was the broadcaster who later became the voice of the Green Bay Packers. I wasn't sure how, but I wanted to be the voice like Jim or Eddie Doucette, the main man for the Milwaukee Bucks.
You might not give a second thought to the voices in the box. A morning man who worked at WHO in Des Moines when I ran the board overnight once told me it was the ultimate personal medium. TVs (at least then) couldn't fit in a bathroom; radios did. It doesn't get more intertwined with life.
While in college, working a 9 hour shift at KDMI, I realized I might not want to be a d-j when I was 50. I changed my major to include news, but still included radio.
WCLO/WJVL, KDMI, KWLO, WHO, and KJJC were part of my early life. I'll never forget it. Maybe when I retire I can find a place who needs a mature voice for a music shift or play by play. If so, that will really be my Radio Day.
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