Comments

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  Jamee T. Perkins September 3, 2008 at 12:34pm

  I found this old College Aircheck in my yahoo account. It's from 2000. Recorded at WASU, Appalachian State University, Boone NC - yup...it's really Vanilla Ice...don't hate ;)
  aircheck WASU 2000.mp3
  ...and here's another from my first gig out of school. WOBR, Wanchese, NC, The Outer Banks
  aircheck THE ROCK 2000.mp3
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  Warren Garling August 28, 2008 at 9:51am

  Aw, come on Sonnie, you can't tell me there aren't some crazy stories from behind the scenes at your Public Radio station. I've worked in both commercial and public radio settings and I've found the experience to be similar, because a radio nut is a radio nut, no matter how you crack 'em!
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  Sonnie Brown August 28, 2008 at 3:59am

  Okay, so I'm not a DJ in total recovery. I work full-time at a Public Radio station -- going on 13 years. We're not even called "DJ's" we're called "music show hosts". You guys had ALL the fun, commercial radio pre-computers was "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" wasn't it?? With an NPR affiliate we must remain calm, cool and 'just the facts.' You know, it's exactly as they portray it on SNL. and I love it. As long as I can still do VO on the side, I'll keep the public radio gig-- my co-workers are creative and whacky and we're at the heart of a great small town. It's good stuff. Thanks for all your stories, I love reading them!
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  Jamee T. Perkins August 26, 2008 at 2:03pm

  Fun story...I'm fresh out of college. It's my first night at the new gig. A small FM station on the Outer Banks of NC - Wanchese, NC. The station is located in the middle of what seems to be a vast swamp. I was sure I heard some wild boar under the studio at one point. But anyway, It's one of the first times I'm cracking the mic without the help of the part-time guy who is showing me the ropes. So I'm talking about the surf, tide, weather and ...OMG There's a huge spider walking across the board! Quickly, after a small scream/squeal, I kill it with the promo copy binder and continue with the weather. Welcome to the SWAMP!
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  Allison Scussel August 21, 2008 at 3:42am

  Bill, what a precious story!! Oh, I'm feeling your pain in the butt as I read it. Don't you wish you could have played "American Pie?" 00/8:25/C
  
  Gina, telling everyone to decompose is priceless. That's much better than telling everyone to listen to their fav song on Compact Dick. You're mishap happened during drive time! Wish I was a fly on the wall when that happened.
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  Bill Andrew Quinn August 19, 2008 at 3:27pm

  These stories are fantastic! It's great to join this group and read posts of your past radio experiences. I've been out of radio for 12 years now, and that's when I made the leap into the voice-over world full-time here in New York City and haven't looked back. Well, I do look back, but with rose-colored glasses on. :::snicker::: It's nice to know I no longer have the dreaded weekly air-check meeting. ::rolling eyes!:::
  
  Here's one for you: When I firsrt began at the now-dark and legendary WNEW-AM in New York City I was working overnights playing American standards. After a couple of years it was necessary for me to have, uh, well ... hemmorhoid surgery (too much information?), and after two weeks of recovery there were certain guidelines the doctor told me to follow, like when it was time to take #2 to go, go, go.
  
  So, being the dutiful patient I heeded his advice when the urger hit me in the middle of my shift, but given the time it still took to, uh, move things along it was necessary for me to put on a long record....a really, really long record. SO, of course I just knew I'd be able to get away with playing an entire album side at 3 AM because though there was a decent size audience at that hour (it is NYC) I figured a 20 minute side of Benny Goodman featuing "Sing, Sing, Sing" would be approriate.
  
  Well, after my business was done and I'd made it back to the turntables just in time to take a commercial break the hotline rang at 3:20 AM! It was my PD asking, "Why in the world did you do an album side??!" I calmly said to him," Remember the surgery I had and the instructions I told you regarding my #2 trips to the bathroom!?" After a moment of silence he muttered, "Hope everything came out okay. Goodnight, Bill."
  
  True story!
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  Gina Martell August 17, 2008 at 4:17pm

  wow..I feel so much better. Don't feel bad Allison..I told everyone one day in my Afternoon show to go home and Decompose!! After I realized what I had said..I quickly said.."No wait..stay the way you are..I mean..come home and decompress!!"
  I 'm back on just part time weekends in a much bigger station..kind of wish I was just doing a fun show on a Mom and Pop station..so much less pressure!!
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  DAN LENARD August 14, 2008 at 6:15pm

  Whoa,
  
  This could be addicting. For every year in broadcasting there are 365 stories. I'm just so grateful that technology has brought us out of the dark ages of grease pencils and razor blades, long, lonely nights and slave wages.
  
  We now control our own destiny! Woo hoo. I look forward to participating here!
  
  Dan L.
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  John Weeks August 13, 2008 at 11:03pm

  Here's a story that I thought I would share that an engineer friend of mine told me. He was doing contract work for a little station in the mountains of North Carolina. They called freaking out about being off the air. So he went up the mountain to the transmitter site and found they had a leak in the roof just above the transmitter. It had rained the night before and the leak was dripping into the top of the transmitter. He got them back on the air, then went to the studios and told them to get the roof fixed or this would keep happening. A couple of months later he had to go to the transmitter site and when he walked in he found that they had ripped the gutter off of the side of the building and had it hanging from the ceiling over the transmitter and then down to a window that was opened so the gutter could go through it. He said that was about the strangest thing he'd ever encountered.
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  Debra Cole August 12, 2008 at 10:14pm

  What fun reading your on-air experiences! The 5 years I spent doing the morning show at KLBJ FM in Austin, Texas, was done in a format that made most PD's cringe -- we basically improv'd our way through 4 hours a day; listener participation was critical and resulted in a ton of Wow Factor -- funny, scary, and intimate relationships between hosts and callers. So, I miss that kind of interaction with listeners ... little did I know at the time that the improv work would be extremely beneficial once I moved into full time voice work.