It was a Saturday afternoon.
I was the only person in the building.
About an hour into my show, the sound of another radio station blared inside the control room.
And whenever I opened the mic to speak, the other radio station continued to blare. That’s right: Cracking the mic didn’t mute the interfering audio.
It was the Emergency Broadcast System, and I was hearing the continuous live programming of the designated EBS station in our area.
Why? I don’t know.
But the monitor was wired so that it could not be turned off or unplugged. At least, not by a rookie DJ whose very first airshift was…
…not as much fun as he’d expected.
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I remember what happened in The Netherlands on the station I worked in 1971; a rookie dj at the offshore station Radio Northsea International (RNI), had to tape his first program. Someone told him that good modulation was very important, so he recorded his first show with all the control level meters in what you call the “right” or “red” corner.
You can guess the result….big fun!!
My first day? The guy who was supposed to be training me to run those Sunday morning show was passed out drunk on the station couch. Nothing would wake him. So, trial by fire, I jumped in there and got it (barely) done.
It was so long ago that I can’t remember anything about my first day. I’m just surprised there was a second day.
My first job was overnights, and I was fresh outta broadcasting school. I was so scared I think I grabbed on to the leg of the 7-midnight guy and begged him not to leave me alone as he dragged me across the floor on his way to the closest bar. By the end of my first hour I was okay.
IT wasn’t so bad, except Lana needed a manicure that day.
I was doing News but never had been on Air . When one of the presenters got the boot for smoking in the studio, i had a show waiting. I prepared for my maiden show but before my colleague left the studio, he placed the headphones behind the CD rack, now i dont know why the hell he did this. I imagined a show without headphones . i rushed to the news room and borrowed a set. I had the best show just to pay him back.
I remember….
First day full time in commercial radio, working for Alice Bayliss and Jeff Harris in Santa Maria California, 1985….
I was smoking in the newsroom [back in the day]…when Alice walked by [I didnt know her, Jeff hired me] and asked me to put the smoke out inside the building [kind of unusual at that time, EVERY jock smoked, with the ashtray next to the board]
I said, to myself, who does she think SHE is??
I then, put the cigarette out, or so I thought, and pitched it into the trash can, which also contained alot of AP wire copy.
Minutes later, with the plastic trash can in flames, and smoke pouring through the back of the station, I realized only then what I had done.
I was fired just days later, but finally convinced Jeff I wasn’t really THAT stupid. He re-hired me, and 25 years later, Im thankful!