This is the fifth installment in the on-going biographical series which answers a weekly question. At the end of they year, StoryWorth compiles the answers into a book.
This week's question: How did you get your first job?
 |
| The Jotter weekly paper Internet image |
Andy and his brother worked there after school every Tuesday. For some reason the older brother couldn't work there anymore and I was asked to take his place.
One cool perk was that our boss picked us up. We were members of the same church which was our main connection to the job.
Tuesday the weekly shopper paper was delivered to their office. Andy and I unloaded the truck, stacking the papers into piles for each carrier. When the carriers arrived, we paid them and made sure they had everything for their route.
We were paid $9 for three hours work, it felt like a million. After the first couple hours things slowed. That's when we sometimes ordered a pizza from Pizza Villa across the street. Cans of pop in the office fridge were 25-cents a can. I don't recall what we paid for the pizza, but it wasn't much because we still took some money home.
The Jotter was 'right place, right time,' but getting my next job took persistence. I sent letters, made phone calls, turned 16, and succeeded on a second interview several months after the first. I was hired by WCLO/WJVL-FM as a part-time board operator and disc jockey.
My main job was running the board during ballgames. That meant connecting with the crew at the game, getting the broadcast on air, playing commercials, and after the game getting music back on the air.
Much of the job is behind the scenes. The FM station at the time was automated with five reel to reel tape machines. Every two hours two tapes were changed and every four hours all five machines got new tapes. If you forgot or something else went wrong a bright yellow light flashed in the AM studio indicating WJVL was off the air. During 1980 and 81, AM stations were still the focus for radio listeners, now FM rules the broadcast world.
Just a few other things came with the job. One was taking transmitter meter readings every hour which was required by the Federal Communications Commission and the reason I had an FCC 3rd class license. It was also the board operator or disc jockey's job to pull the cartridges for the next shift. The carts, as they were known, were how we played commercials.
If you worked the sign-off shift, you had to play the last song and turn off the transmitter at 1 am then get the coffee maker ready for the morning crew so they just had to do was plug it in 3 and a half hours later. I always made strong coffee.
The WCLO experience helped me land a part-time job at KDMI in Des Moines in the fall of 1981 when I arrived for my freshman year of college. I enjoyed running the board and the moments when it was time for me to announce the time and temperature or talk on the air.
It didn't lead to fame or fortune, but those jobs at The Jotter and WCLO/WJVL moved me along life's path to where I am now.
Comments
Post a Comment