I tell people all the time that my career in radio was an accident, but looking back, I see that it really wasn’t.
Growing up, radio was magical to me. I made a microphone out of Tinkertoys. I played DJ with my record player, imitating my favorite DJ's trying to "talk up" a song before I even knew what that meant. My heroes were guys like Philadelphia radio legends Hy Lit and Joe Niagra., and too many NYC radio personalities to even begin to mention.
I was the stereotypical kid with the transistor radio under the pillow at night listening with an earplug, trying to find the farthest radio station I could get (answer – it was in St. Louis and it was a Cardinals game).
On family trips to New York, it was the sight of various AM transmitter towers sitting “somewhere in the swamps of Jersey” (to quote that Springsteen guy) that always fascinated me.
Radio immediately transported me to a completely different world via theater-of-the-mind. When William B. Williams spoke of "The Make Believe Ballroom," I could literally see it in my head. And when my cousin turned me on to New York City FM rock radio at the age of 13, I couldn't believe what I heard at all, to paraphrase the great Lou Reed.
Yet even with some on-air experience in high school at WMTR in Morristown, and in college at Fordham University on the campus station, it wasn’t until my junior year in college that I actually started thinking of radio as a career path.
What has followed since then was the great fortune to work at two heritage rock radio stations over the course of my career, including nearly 22 years at WDHA. As the host of the WDHA Morning Jolt, it never ceases to amaze me that my voice might be the first one you hear each day when the alarm goes off. The daily challenge to make a connection with you as a listener is something I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. Happy #NationalRadioDay!
