My last show on Magic 98.3 was Friday, September 2, 1994. An overnight cold front washed away the humidity and summer haze leaving a spectacular and sunny early autumn type day with cloudless blue skies and a crisp afternoon temperature of 72 degrees. It was the kind of September day that leaves me with a wistful feeling that change brings. The Monday Labor Day Holiday promised to relay the seasonal torch into a new life in a new place. One more commute to Broadcast Center and the book would close on a twelve year run.
The fun part of the last show was choosing last songs that weren’t on the play-list. What were they going to do? Fire me? That thought made me laugh out loud.
I walked into the studio at the stroke of Midnight with an arm full of my own CD’s and tapes that I had made especially for the show. My old friend Liz Maita, a WCTC talk personality who had done shows on Magic as well called in to wish me well right away. I appreciated her support as I expressed my enjoyment of having worked with her over the years.
I opened the mic and stated that this would the last night with the best audience dating back to over sized eye wear and the first personal computer. I played the first song I ever played on the first day from the Original Musiquarium, Stevie Wonder’s “That Girl”.
The night wore on with lots of kind calls, well wishers and goodbye themed songs. During Roger Whitaker’s Last Farewell, I stepped outside to breathe the 50 degree weather under a star filled sky. My thoughts turned to my upcoming new life in Tennessee. No longer would I be looking over my shoulder for a sudden firing. I pictured working at a normal time of day with a normal sleep schedule. To this day, I have never taken that for granted.
My counter-part on the AM side at that hour, Dave Marthouse, stopped in occasionally to see how things were going. Dave, who was blind from birth, was a brilliant broadcaster. He did a live, call-in talk show on WCTC. All his notes and newsworthy items were in braille that he typed out before his show. I was always fascinated with how he operated his braille writer with speed and accuracy. Dave was able know when callers were on the phone by using a system he devised with his acute hearing ability to know if someone was on a telephone line instantly. He would talk on air and constantly press the phone line buttons down and put someone right on the air and converse with them as if he was sighted.
Marthouse was an inspiration to me and always showed up for work on the night show, good natured and happy to be doing something he loved..and was born to do. I would have not made it on the night show in good shape without his friendship and company. He was the one who introduced me to the Internet during several visits to his house in the 80's. In those days, it was mostly a monochrome affair on a CRT monitor. The search engines were called "Veronica" and "Archie." It was a free-wheeling place with mounds of information and no control.
Dave had a computer with a text reader that he would cursor across the screen to turn typed words into an audio language that would play out of a speaker. He ran the cursor quickly with a mouse and what came out of the speaker sounded like gibberish to me. I asked him how he understood it. He said "you have to realize that my hearing and the processing of that speech is lot different than a sighted person. It's like another language to me that I have mastered. I'm not distracted by sight." I then asked, why do you have a monitor? He smiled and said "that's for you, so you can follow along." In addition to his computer capabilities, there was a tall radio tower behind his home for his HAM radio transmissions. It wasn't surprising to me, a few years later, when I learned that he had become a radio station owner.
Five hours flew by and I was now down to the last half hour. My heart rate quickened and a feeling of anxiety came over me. Would I be able to pull off the last half without becoming emotional? Cousin Brucie couldn't complete his departure from WABC after a long run there. Chuck Leonard actually had to finish the show for him. George Michael's voice cracked when he signed off from WFIL in Philadelphia for the last time.
At the stroke of five am, I hit the button for the legal ID voiced by Jan Ochs “WMGQ, New Brunswick, Central Jersey’s Music Station”. In rapid succession, I pushed the start button for CD player number one housing Kenny Loggins’ “This Is It”, the acoustic version from “Live From Outside The Redwoods”. The final thirty minutes was underway.
Four songs played and I took a deep breath and started my last break. “Central Jersey's Music Station, Magic 98.3, with the number one fan of the man from Tennessee, ‘Please Come To Boston’, Dave Loggins on Magic 98.3. Seals and Crofts with ‘We May Never Pass This Way Again’…Cathy Dennis, Remembering Those Moments of Love and Kenny Loggins up first with ‘This Is It’…Indeed my friends this IS it. My last time on Magic 98.3. The beginnings are always so great, it’s the endings that are so hard. I’d like to, but it would be impossible to thank everyone and I mean everyone who has made my stay here at Magic 98.3 a great one… and my home for the past decade. Thanks for being my friends, I won’t forget you…thanks for being here..” * I pressed go for the final three songs. “Sitting” by Cat Stevens, “Bad Goodbye” by Clint Black and Wynonna….then it was simply "Goodbye” by Mary Hopkin leading to a cold-fade, definitive close.
That was it. The end. I was 25 years old when I walked in for the first time, wide-eyed and shaggy haired and weeks away from turning 38 when I walked out of the front glass doors for the last time, bearded and balder, but not defeated. Keith Hill, a well known consultant and one time Program Director for WCTC once told me “this radio station is taking pages off your life, you need to find some wings and fly.” I found the wings.
I drove my maroon Chevy Corsica with a U-Haul attached up the little hill on Huffine Road to my new broadcast home in Johnson City, US-99. I walked into a locked glass door to the station and peered in to see a pretty, blue eyed, slight lady with wavy shoulder length strawberry blond hair approach to unlock the door with a smile. She extended her hand said “you must be Dave, hi, I’m Deb, Lee’s girlfriend…the boys are in Evan’s office…nice to meet you!”
Evan, Robert and Lee were in the spacious office with living room furniture and wooden and bronze colored community award plaques on the walls. Lee stood and shook my hand heartily with a big smile. He looked at his watch and said “I thought you weren’t going to show.” Lee was of a sturdy Midwestern build, standing six foot two with blue eyes and a short blond, well manicured haircut at thirty-three years of age. They were plotting strategy for the launch of the new format about a week away. Evan had artwork on his desk for billboards that were going up around the region.
The discussion turned to the remaining members of the current air-staff. Evan stated that they “were not in our plans for the new format, so don’t say anything to them as this is a confidential matter.” Lee then announced that HE wanted to be the one to fire them. “I want to fire them, can I do it this afternoon? Please?” Then he told the story of the time, at another station, of how they were changing formats and let the whole air-staff go at one time. The manager lined up little green toy soldiers on the edge of his desk. Next, he called the Personalities in one at a time, and in one motion, flicked a soldier off the desk with his finger and handed them their last check and said goodbye.
Wow, was my thought. To think someone's job ended with toy soldiers piled up on the floor and a bunch of fired people walking around, wondering what just happened. Sometimes there’s writing on the wall, sometimes it’s a sudden and devastating firing. Now, I was on the other side of the fence. It’s that kind of business. Some see it as a badge of honor to get the boot and continue. In one broadcast trade magazine, they published a list of unemployed personalities and called the section "On The Beach".
Some struggle with being fired. I had been fired in this business two times. In fact, I was fired, re-hired and quit in a twenty four hour period in one of them. Take this job and shove it was how I felt in that particular situation. Most know what they’re getting into with broadcasting. Formats change, ratings dip, manager had a bad day, a pretty girl walks in the door. It’s dicey at times and sometimes quite complacent. I was lucky enough to see that side.
Lee then told the story of a time when he was hired in Boston on a Friday afternoon. He signed the papers in the manager’s office shook hands then walked down the hall to the On Air Studio. He walked in, shook hands with the guy on the air and introduced himself saying "I’m your replacement in this time slot, you have about fifteen more minutes to work here." That poor guy hadn't been yet told by management he was going to be let go. Everybody in the room chuckled at the story…how funny it seemed at the time. After everything I’d seen in the last couple of years…well, my thought was you might as well laugh about it at this point. However, I knew lots of people who were not seeing any humor after being let go.
Evan changed the subject and said “I want you boys to go on the air on Wednesday to get familiar with the new Scott Studios computerized broadcast system. Robert is a genius with that system and will be able to answer any questions. Don’t use your name on the air, use something else, as we want to reserve that for The New 99.3, WAEZ”.
Lee turned to me and said “are you moved in yet?” I said not yet, the U-Haul is still attached to my car. Lee returned with a “let’s go and get some lunch, then I’ll help you move in..OK?” On the way out in the hallway I asked him what name he wanted me to use until the launch. Lee grinned and said “I don’t care if you call yourself Buck Rogers! We’re going to burn down this old Country format of theirs before we show them how it’s done.” I thought of calling myself Jethro Bodine. Jimmy Crack Corn occurred to me. I ended up settling on Earl McCoy from Kentucky. “Howdy everybody, this is EARL on US-99.” was how I was going to sound.
When I finally did get on the air at US, imitating the biggest redneck you ever heard, the girl on the air before me looked at me like I was nuts. Her look was much like a confused dog when I pulled out a CD of “Colorado Coolaid” by Johnny Paycheck. In a defiant tone, I stated "I can play this. Watch me." Paycheck sang and I listened with evil eyebrows. "What's that, you don't know what a Colorado Coolaid is? It's a can of Coors, brewed from a mountain stream..set yer head on fire and make your kidneys scream."
Lee jumped the car with me and immediately said “you’ve got to get rid of those Jersey plates…they’re going to think you’re in the Mafia. My truck has Illinois plates that say ‘Land of Lincoln’. I’m sure these good old southern boys like that. I parked it in the corner of the lot..maybe they won’t notice.”
Part 3 next
*"thanks for being here" was my signature sign-off for most of my time at Magic and the rest of my broadcast career
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