CHAPTER 5 THE HISTORY OF RADIO RANDY : BRADLEY J. COOL

 

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 found out that I could use my GI benefits to pay for school and we went into Buffalo to meet Mr. Desing and tour the facility. I knew it was right as soon as I saw the radio and TV studios.

The course was six months, 6 hours a day, five days a week. The equivalent of an associate degree. It was an hour drive into the city from Rushford but that was ok, it gave me plenty of time to listen to the radio to and from school each day.

There were 12 of us in the class. 11 kids from the Buffalo area and me, the commuter. We began to learn the history of radio, including hours of listening to old radio shows from days of The Shadow and The Lone Ranger. We also studied some of the technical aspects of radio to prepare for a test we would all need to pass to attain our Third-Class operator’s license. This license was an FCC requirement for any person who was operating and radio station.

I passed the FCC test with flying colors and was awarded my license. I started looking around for a part time job at a radio station on the weekend to get more experience. This led to one of the most terrifying experiences I have ever had on the radio.

I stopped in to see the program director at WMNS in Olean NY with no appointment. His name was John and He agreed to see me, and I told him I was going to school in Buffalo but lived close to Olean and was looking for weekend on air work. I did have an old aircheck from the college station from my ill -fated overnight adventures and he listened to it while I grimaced at how bad I sounded.

Afterward he said, it is not bad, would you be willing to work the god squad on Sunday morning? WMNS was a daytime only AM station and was only allowed to “sign on” at daylight each day and then had to “sign off” at sundown. The God squad is a common name in the industry for a block of programming on Sunday morning dedicated to various religious programs.

I said yes of course, and he said great. First, I want to do a little test. I said, sure. Follow me he said, and we went into the on-air studio. A DJ was in there doing his show. John said hey, take a lunch break, Randy is taking over for an hour. The DJ happily handed me his headphones and took off without another word. John took a few minutes to explain the control board and controls, showed me a stack of commercials to be played and the “format clock” to follow and then left. He said, I am going to lunch, I will be listening.

It was one of the worst hours of my life. I stumbled my way through the hour. When I saw John come back into the station, he gave me a thumbs up and sent the DJ back into the studio to take over.

Show up Sunday morning at 530 he said. He promised to meet me and show me how to fire up the transmitter and take me through the six hour shift, which included some DJ and news duties as well as playing a block of religious  programming on tape and joining a live church broadcast at 11am.

My face was still red hot with embarrassment as I drove home after leaving the station. By the time I got home I had convinced myself that I could do it with the realization that I had a job in radio.

Back at school I told Mr. Desing and my classmates about my new part time job and they all offered their congratulations.

We all continued, under Mr. Desing’s guidance toward the conclusion of the course. A snappy looking resume, a three minute on-air example and some commercials we wrote and voiced was the goal.

Most days at school we had a few hours of classroom instruction following by some “air-time” in the on-air studios.

My final meeting with Mr. Desing to review my final project before graduation turned out to be one of the most important meetings of my life. He told me, that he felt I would be programming “big” radio stations one day and that I should go wherever I needed to go to get that first job in radio.  In other words, pack your bags young man and get out there.

I have never forgotten that meeting or his advice. I often think about that, and how much it meant to me, and how I wish more people were able to verbalize that kind of encouragement. It had a big part in shaping me as a leader and a teacher across my entire career.

Sadly, we lost touch after I left the school and began pursuing my career, but we recently reconnected on Facebook. He wrote on Facebook about how proud he was of me and that he had followed my career and my life as a family man.

We all have teachers or mentors in our lives that we can point to as being pivotal in our ultimate success and I have some others you will met as my story unfolds.  There is no doubt in my mind that I was set on a road toward a long and successful career because of the guidance I received from Bradley J. Cool and I will never forget it.