Radio Will Kill What Killed the Radio Star . . . Again!

I have a confession to make. I'm a radio junkie.

I love radio.
As a young kid I had my ear glued to Casey's Top 40 every weekend (this was before Mtv - or at least before we could afford cable.) And in grade school and Jr. High everybody listened to Z95 before school each morning. I would spend my afternoons waiting for my favorite new songs to come up with a tape recorder pressed up to the speaker. Those were my first mix-tapes! I used to get so annoyed when the disc jockey couldn't hit the post and would step all over the song.

And when I got my first "boom box" with two, yeah that's right, TWO tape decks, I would produce my own little radio shows, talking up songs, trying to be funny, always giving the weather as "sunny and 78 in the city!" Even in the dead of a long miserable Chicago winter, at my station it was always a beautiful early summer morning. The funny thing is, I never really considered being on the radio when I grew up. I didn't even think it was a job you could get. DJ's were these mysterious, etherial creatures who weren't even real. They were voices in the air.

My Freshman year of college, I saw a flyer for anyone interested in being on air at the school's station to come to a meeting. It immediately clicked - I wanted to do a real radio show! And as fate would have it, I knew the station manager through a high school friend so there was a real chance I could get a show! He'd met me, he'd seen I was amusing and had a decent voice. The odds were in my favor, if I could just beat out the competition. I was only slightly disheartened when at the meeting, pretty much anyone who showed could sign the sheet and they had a show. The meeting was simply to choose your time slot. Mornings were pretty much out. I think there was a morning show two days a week, but otherwise it was kind of the verboten time slot due to classes, and being a Baptist college, morning Chapel three times a week.

So if I couldn't have mornings, my choice was clear. Late night! I started watching The Tonight Show about age 5 with my Granddad. It was our tradition when my brother and I spent summers with them. Gramps would watch the news and I'd kill time with toys or something til the talking heads said Good Night, and I heard Ed McMahon's voice. I seldom managed to stay awake through the first guest, but it didn't matter. The monolog was what mattered. Carson was a master. No host will ever fill those shoes.

Then there was David Letterman, a fellow Hoosier. While he was not Carson, he wasn't trying to be Carson. Dave was unlike anything. He was dry, and smart, and weird (which I really clicked with - to be witty and weird.) Beyond all that, Dave seemed almost angry. Maybe even a little dangerous. Like if broadcasting hadn't worked out, we might have all been in trouble. And I liked that.

I scribbled my name on the 10 - Midnight shift. I was disappointed at the prospect of only two hours a night. How quickly I learned that filling two hours with content can be a Herculian task some nights. Especially while attempting to balance the rest of school (which those who know me know how successful I was at that!) Not too mention if you think FCC regulations are tight, try a Baptist college radio station. Talk about having to be funny, irreverent, and inappropriate without crossing the line! Carlin would be grateful he only had to worry about 7 words.

Rumor was a guy got kicked out just for playing a Grateful Dead song!!!

It took some doing, especially since our signal didn't even reach the far end of the campus, but by my second year, I actually managed to build a bit of a following. Only had two riots nearly erupt outside of the studio, and contrary to popular belief, I did not inspire some rapscallions to steal a box of forks and plant them in the school President's front yard. I applauded them, but did not encourage them!

Freshman year I had my roommate on the air a lot and we'd perform live music. We had some fun late nights, going on way past 12. It was during my Sophomore year I found a partner that I really clicked with and to this day think Brad and I could have pursued a real broadcasting partnership and been successful. We shared a similar sense of humor, but he was able to keep it reigned in, while I tended to fly off into the stratosphere. I still have a cassette of our biggest (and possibly best) show.

To show you how sheltered the kids at this school were (think the movie Saved, but in college) there was an explosive article in the school paper about the problem infecting our campus like a virus: PDA. That's right, Public Displays of Affection. The author, a wannabe-goth girl who'd likely never felt the ackward groping of a young man ( but desperately wanted it) was outraged by couples making out in every shadowy corner of the campus. I had a field day with that one! I think Brad and I stayed on the air for at least 4 or 5 hours because the calls kept coming in.

Then of course, I left college. Whether I quit or was kicked out is a subject of some debate. That was the end of my radio career.

I considered broadcasting school. Even went down to the Loop's AM 1000 studios and met with a few of the on-air people, though by the mid-90's it was a shell of its former self. Even Danny Bonaduce had already come and gone, ditching Chi-town for the Motor City (don't quote me, but no wonder he went off the deep end!)

If not for Steve Cochran covering mornings with his smart, funny laid-back style back then, the station was dead. Cochran I might add is the only one who has managed to stay on the air here consistently since those days.

In the end, while there's nobody to blame but myself, I allowed the fears my family planted in my brain to talk me out of chasing that dream any further. One more of those choices in life I'll always regret at least a little.

Still, the invisible sounds and voices coming through the speakers will just always have a hook in me.

Maybe it's because I live in Chicago, and for my money there was a time when we had the best radio personalities in the world. Back in the late 70's on into the 80's and early 90's, Chicago had radio locked.

And the definitive station of the day was WLUP, the Loop!

I remember as a kid you couldn't take five steps without seeing the familiar white on black logo. Bumper stickers plastered everywhere, billboards, tee shirts . . . it was THE Chicago rock station.

While Howard Stern was shocking the east coast , personalities like Steve Dahl & Garry Meier, Jonathon Brandmeier, Kevin Matthews were connecting with those of us landlocked in the midwest. These guys were rockstars.

And their live appearances drew the crowds to prove it.

Steve Dahl made history with Disco Demolition in the 70's when a stunt blowing up disco records made national news and caused fans to storm the field at the old Comiskey Park. Footage of the Stever in an army helmet leading the cry "Disco sucks!" was seen all across the country that night. Even the Bee Gees and K.C. & the Sunshine Band have attributed Dahl with bringing on the beginning of the end for their so-called "art form." If so he deserves a medal to go with his helmet!

I was in Jr. High when Jonathon Brandmeier and his band, Johnny B & the Leisure Suits played a series of Sold-Out concerts at Poplar Creek Music Theater. This was not just some local bar. It was a 20,000 seat amphitheatre, and this morning jock sold it out! I have a VHS tape he put out of the shows. I'd pay a fortune to go back in time to be 22 at one of those shows! It was a concert party of beer soaked rock & roll debauchery that nearly rivaled a Buffett show.

Those are the guys I wanted (and still want) to be like. Local legends. Entertainers. Commentators. Public voices. And even at the height of their popularity, they could still go to a restaurant, or to a movie, and for the most part choose whether they wanted to be recognized or not. With the exception of maybe Howard Stern, the paparazzi isn't usually stalking radio guys.

Speaking of Stern, there are those, he chief among them, who say the medium of radio is dead. And it's true that in the last few years, circling back to right about the time he left free radio, that the industry has been hurting. Satellite radio, the David that no one ever gave any thought to 10 years ago has risen up and become the new giant in town. Some radio execs are no doubt fitting their necks for the right sized rope, but I would say don't pull a Carradine just yet. Now there's a double-entendre for ya!

I have a little secret. Satellite radio is only strong because of Mr. Stern's presence. And his contract is up in a year & a half. He has practically said he will not renew - at least not in the form of doing a full daily show again. He's too tired, and by God he's made more money than he can possibly spend . . . and I get the feeling he'd like to spend it. Mark my words, he will not be a factor after this 5 year deal of his expires in 2011. And when Howard leaves, so will a large percentage of satellite subscribers.

When the product they've been paying for is gone, they will stop paying. But they'll still want to be entertained in their cars.

So to the boys at terrestrial radio, just hang in there a little longer. Or better yet, start fostering some young local talent now so that when the day comes, and it will literally happen over night, you are ready.

To the radio executives here in Chicagoland, we need a Radio Renaissance. We need to bring back the days (and the ratings) of 20+ years ago. Allow me to humbly throw my hat in the ring as your next Da Vinci!