The History Of Radio Randy

  WIVQ Lasalle-Peru Illinois  T he voice on the phone said, how would you like to be our program director? Uh, you do know that I have never been a PD before, right? I was talking with Ben Granger, the General Manager of WIVQ in Peru Illinois. He said, that is not a problem, we really liked your air-check tape and the commercials you included. Plus, we like your Air Force Service and think you will be right for the job, when can you start? Right away I said, how much does it pay? 110 dollars a week, Ben said. OK I said I will be there in a few days. I hung up, told my folks I had my first full time job in radio and that I was moving to Peru Illinois. I loaded everything I owned into my Ford Torino and headed west. It would be the first of many moves in my radio career, but the only one I made by myself. Vicky and I had been dating for several years and had gotten engaged while I was in the Air Force. The plan was for me to go to Illinois, get settled and then get married ...

  Advanced Training Center studio on Sheridan Drive, Buffalo NY I predict you will be programming big radio stations one day. Those words rattled around in my brain for a minute. I did not know what to say. Here I was, in my final meeting with my teacher, reviewing my final project and he had just stunned me. This man had taught me so much and given me such great advice and encouragement along the way as well as entertaining us all with is wit and sense of humor. Bill Desing, a Buffalo radio legend, known as Bradley J. Cool on WBLK had been teaching me for six months at a School called The Advanced Training Center in Buffalo. The school was primarily a trade school for auto mechanics and beauticians and other trades. But Mr. Desing had created a six-month curriculum for Radio and TV broadcasting, and I had enrolled shortly after I got home from the Air Force. My mom had seen a TV spot for the school and mentioned it to me as a possible step towards working in radio. I foun...

Airman First Class R Bliss USAF Langley AFB Hampton VA   GET OUT OF MY BED! An angry man was shouting at me, just inches from my face. I struggled to wake up and discover what the hell was going on. I was in the top bunk of a bunk bed in my dormitory at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton Va. It was the middle of the night and I had been in a deep comfortable sleep. Yet here I was, awake and the target of a barrage of expletives and looks that would kill. I had just recently arrived at Langley, my first base assignment after completing basic training and the Law Enforcement Academy at Lackland AFB in Texas. I was told to move into the room, that I would share with a Martin French. He was away on leave, so I set about moving in and getting set up. As I surveyed the room, I noticed that both bunks were made up and looking squared away. I have always maintained that my decision to choose the top bunk was one of courtesy. I assumed that anyone in this situation would choose the bott...

  Langley AFB Hampton VA I was not snatched from obscurity  due to my minor notoriety around Rushford Central School, or my half a dozen or so appearances on Teen time on WLSV in Wellsville. No surprise. But it did solidify for desire to work in radio. With the help of Mr. Shaner(guidance counselor) I decided on the State University of NY at Geneseo for my college education. Primarily a "teachers’ school" they did have, according to some an excellent communications department. Talking on the radio is communicating right? So naturally a degree in communications would be a great way to build a career in broadcasting, or so I thought. With support from my mom and dad, I enrolled at SUNY/Geneseo. I moved into Onondaga Hall dorm, met my roommates and began attending classes in the communication curriculum. As I slowly became accustomed to living with two roommates in the tiny dorm room, I also began searching out the college radio station scene to get some hands-on experience. WGS...