How is it possible to sum up over 50 years on the radio? Impossible, but I’ll do my best.
Two great things happened in my life in February 1964. The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan, and I got my first radio job. KPER in Gilroy didn’t pay Beatles money, but $110 a week was the most I’d ever been paid. I was just 17 (you know what I mean?) and I’d answered an ad at the Chris Borden School of Modern Radio Technique (what a name!). I asked my dad how to get to Gilroy, and he said “drive south on 101 and follow your nose”. So I went down to Gilroy to see what was up. Fortunately for me, that day the regular DJ had suddenly quit, and the General Manager, John Gregory, was doing the show. John listened to my tape for about 30 seconds and told me to sit down and take over!! I was shocked and extremely nervous, but apparently adequate. in a couple of hours, the job was mine! KPER was an odd programming mix: mornings were held down by a popular Portuguese personality, Benjamin Gutierrez followed by The Reverend Carl McEntire, a devout anti-commie preacher who managed to ask for money at the end of almost every sentence, proving he was pro-capitalism and anti-communism. Then at noon, I took over to read 30 minutes of news, and host the midday music show, “KPER Bandstand”, which ran until 5PM. That spring and summer I was also paid a lofty $2 per game to broadcast the local little league games. I called games from a tiny booth on stilts with a transistor radio for a monitor. The field was located at the corner of Sixth and Dowdy Streets in the “Garlic Capital of the World” beautiful Gilroy. I wasn’t a baseball fan back then and knew nothing about it but was game to learn the game. The first time out, I kept score in points, instead of runs, until a coach gently informed me that I was an ignoramus! But I took that extra job to learn, and I sure did! The little transistor radio in the corner of the booth was there to tell me when the station signed off – at sundown, often in the middle of games. This breach of professional broadcasting didn’t really matter – I was pretty sure no one was listening. Once, on the music show, I held a contest – you know – “The ninth caller wins this brand-new Louie Armstrong LP! Nobody called! The only “listener” call I ever received was from the guy who owned the local movie house. He complained that I was mispronouncing the word theater. I think I mispronounced a lot of words in my first year, but never more than once. One day the GM told me that a once-famous talent named Slim Gaillard was buying an hour of my – MY – show for $60 bucks, and I would have to run the board for him while Slim did his thing from a club in San Jose called the Safari Room. Slim been a successful recording star, with several big hit novelty songs in the 40’s. Since that time, he’d mostly struggled to stay relevant. In 1964 the Beatles were just taking off, and Beatlemania was all around. Slim decided it would be good for ratings to give away a pair of tickets to see the Beatles perform at the Cow Palace that August. He hired a local garage band to play a concert, and the plan was for Slim to headline, and I would be the emcee. At the end of the evening, I would give a lucky winner two tickets to see the Beatles. But in 1964 Gilroy was a very small town, and KPER was an even smaller station, so despite our relentless promotion, on the night of the concert only about 15 or 20 young people showed up. I did my best to entertain the “crowd”, teasing that Slim would be performing later. Meanwhile, Slim sat in the back of a black Cadillac in front of the auditorium and refused to come in. By “refused”, I mean he ignored my entreaties and soon just drove away! I went back inside and gave away those tickets. That was my awkward introduction to show biz. You can’t really learn to avoid the pitfalls if you don’t fall into the actual pit yourself occasionally. KPER eventually went dark, and a few years later the studio was taken over by the notorious KFAT gang. That Summer, I found myself “on the beach” for the very first time. KPER had a guy named Tom Mills at the transmitter, and to cut costs, they decided to move him into the studio to save money. He had a “First Phone” license and I did not. So long for now, Gilroy! It took me a little time to finally get my First-Class License, but since a “First” was almost a prerequisite to getting a DJ job by the late 1960’s, I studied hard, hoping’ to pass. College, other jobs and real life took up a few years before I went back to school to get that license. When I finally did get the First-Class License, in 1970, I had to make another audition tape. That memory is especially fond because my father helped me make it. I needed to splice out some dumb stuff, and Dad helped me dub it on our living room floor. It was the first time I swore in front of Dad, and he put me at ease by swearing right along with me! But we got the tape right and I took the first job offered, in “San Angelo, Texas, population redneck.” My dad had a brother living there, so that was a good sign, and I jumped into my junky old Ford station wagon for the long drive to Texas. I was paid $100 a week to do the night shift on KTEO, a country music station. I was dubbed “The Night Creature.” The guy I replaced left to work at the Jimmy Dean sausage factory! He told me the pay and working conditions were better there than working as KTEO! My shift was from 6PM to 12:30 AM, because bars closed at midnight and you could get home from anywhere in thirty minutes or less there. The PD was a nut-job pill head. The GM was an idiot who knew only one joke – a dirty joke – and told it every chance he got. The staff was a cast of characters similar to every radio station staff at the time – a goofy morning man with a booming announcer’s voice, whose name was “Thurston Springer.” The midday guy was insanely funny. Greg Norberg did character voices and wrote his own funny bits. Greg would go on to write some very funny movies. Texas was everything I expected and more, and I was on my way! But the story of KTEO “Rodeo Radio” and all the other stations gathering dust on my lengthy resume will have to wait awhile. Or you can hear me tell all about them at CHRS Radio Central in Alameda Friday the 13th of June! It’s been a wild ride! I can’t wait to bring you along!
Really interesting to read about the career start of someone I’ve heard on the radio for the 45+ years I’ve lived in the Bay Area. Of course, I could hear his voice in my head the whole time.