[BC] How we got our first break in radio...long ago.

[Mike McCarthy]

I got bit by the radio bug listening to WOKY in Milwaukee by day and WLS 
(and others) at night in the early 70's.  I still have the Pansonic sphere 
radio which I used to tune up and down the band looking for those far away 
stations.  When we moved back to Chicago in 1974,  I met some new friends 
where who were equally interested in radio and we all learned our local HS 
had it's own REAL station.  We were a bit young at the time to do anything 
about it...but it was cool looking into the studio from the outside of the 
Applied Arts building when the windows  were open.  We had to wait a couple 
more years before twisting the knobs and cueing records.

One of the missions of the electronics teacher advisor was to get everyone 
in his classes working for the station FCC licensed.  So at the tender age 
of 14, off we went on a field trip to the testing center at the FCC 
downtown.  Now, all of us had been there before taking ham tests.  So this 
was nothing new...or so we thought. The test was completely different.  Of 
course, we call passed and the people at the testing center were impressed 
with the group of prospective radio people.  A couple of the guys in the 
class would also obtain their first class later that year.  One with the 
radar endorsement.  The true geeks of the group.

A side benefit of an isolated studio at school is alone time with your 
opposite gender friend doing evening shows and some long records.  Oh if 
those acoustic tiled voice walls could talk...

During that same year, I met a couple other people managing stations I 
would come full circle on many years later. One person's family owned the 
local commercial station who did the football and basketball games of the 
conference. The other is a tour I went on which was THE first real radio 
station I stepped into some 33 years ago. When I saw the wall of rack with 
the old Cetec automation system clicking away and the R/R's switching 
automatically, I was hooked.

On the former, I'm now the engineer for the station (which has been sold a 
few times since the family owned it) and I built the new TX plant 9 years 
ago when I was a contractor for the then owner. I still see the former GM 
as he's a buyer for TV spots. We rode the train downtown some years ago on 
a daily basis.

At the latter station (plus his other local station), 20+ years later I 
replaced their F/T retiring engineer who was there at that first tour. I 
now consult and assist them on complex RF and other projects which their IT 
centric full time engineer is not as well equipped to deal. This owner 
embodies local involvement (he sits on many civic boards.)  His stations 
are sold out even today.  And is a testament to what LOCAL radio can and 
still does.

In that regards, I have been blessed....

MM