[BC] How Radio happened for me :)

[WBRadiolists at aol.com]

In a message dated 03/13/2009 9:02:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
garyz347 at gmail.com writes:

> When I 
>  write it down...it still seems pretty amazing to me. How lucky can I be?

Amen, Gary. I am thankful to be able to say that I am one of those who got to 
meet you. :)

Wow... now to tell my story! ;)

All of these stories I have read are truly fascinating AND inspiring! I need 
to roll up the ol's sleeves and start typing, here! ;)

Where to begin? As with most here, it started in childhood. *Early* childhood 
for me. I was absolutely *Fascinated* by the radio... being only about 3 or 4 
years old, I wondered about the tiny people that must live in there... and 
the light from the tube filaments were the lights in their tiny city! ;)

As I got older, my utter fascination with radio continued to grow. By the 
time I was in 2'nd grade, I was beginning to show a strong aptitude for 
electronics, and my parents (thankfully!) obliged my interest with various kits. These 
were augmented by the little things I would find while walking home from 
school... parts and pieces on the ground, and the every now-and-then treasure 
trove/jackpot of a discarded TV set! I'd run home, get my meager tools, and run 
back to rip the thing apart... taking out anything I could, especially the 
speakers! (I had a major fascination with speakers back then, even homebrewing a few 
very crude but working speakers!)

In those 2'nd-3'rd grade years, I remember being amazed at how a radio turned 
that 60 Hz HUM, or that "click" from a battery, into the words and music of 
radio!

As I got older and learned more from reading the manuals with those 
"multi-in-one" project kits, I began learning quite a bit more about how radio 
worked... building "crystal" radios, then 1 and 2-transistor ckts, etc. (This was the 
early 1970s.) Since I was a kid, and much too afraid of "Plug Voltage", I 
stuck to batteries for a few years. :)

Enter 6'th grade. I loved listening to the local AM music station, which had 
a call-in show every weekday. It was Frank Derak's "Instant Request" on WICC. 
Man, was I hooked! ;) then one day, I got the courage to call-in. It took a 
LONG time to get through the busy signals, but perseverance paid off! We chatted 
just a moment, and he recorded my call as I requested the song I wanted to 
hear. He told me to stay tuned, because a few minutes later, he would play it.

WOW!! Hearing my own voice on the radio was positively spellbinding! Sure, I 
sounded like Mickey Mouse (I was only 10 or 11 by now) but I didn't mind... my 
voice was ON THE RADIO! ;) Ok, fast forward a few months. Frank was talking 
about how he was going to be live and in-person at a local carpet place that 
Saturday. I was totally awed... and prepared myself to get on my knees and beg 
my Dad to take me there... When I asked, he just said, "Sure." I was blown 
away! :) The week flew by... and I was so thrilled, I couldn't stand it! The 
morning arrived, Frank was ON THE AIR, talking about being at that location, so 
into the car we went!

Naturally, he didn't look anything like I imagined he would (hehe!) but there 
he was... in person... and there was THAT VOICE! The guy I loved listening 
to, right in front of me! I nervously shook his hand, and told him how much I 
LOVED his show, and listened all the time. After a few minutes of friendly 
banter, and watching him do his part of the "Remote" ( I didn't know that term, 
then.) he asked if we would like to come down to the station some evening for a 
tour.

You'd think someone just handed me the Golden Ticket... I turned to my Dad 
and squeaked, "Can we? Really?" and again, Dad said, "Sure!" Oh man... I was 
wound up tighter than a clock!! I couldn't WAIT until Tuesday!!!

When it finally arrived... man, oh man... I was hopping from foot-too-foot, 
riding that elevator to the top floor. It was as though I was about to meet the 
President, or something! ;) When those doors opened, I beheld the INSIDE of a 
radio station for the first time! (OK, it was the front office/reception 
area, but still... I was only a kid! LOL!)

After waiting a few minutes (that felt like an Eternity!) Frank came through 
the door... and invited us to the hallowed ground..  The Studio!

I had never seen so many knobs, switches, lights, tapes, records, etc.. Not 
only was I in The Studio, I was watching My Favorite DJ doing My Favorite 
Show!! I watched everything with such intensity, I remember almost every detail of 
that visit to that day... over 35 years later! Watching him work those 
controls... cue the records... record and then play the calls... pure magic. That was 
it... the "Radio Bug" sunk it's teeth in, DEEP!

One of the first things I wanted was a transmitter kit... and I got one! 
Built it, and started DJ'ing my own micro-powered AM transmitter station! :) A few 
years would pass, and the "bug" faded a little, but not completely.

Enter High School. One day in my sophomore year, Junior Achievement was 
there. One of the companies they were offering was Radio Broadcasting. I was 
intrigued... when I learned that it was hosted by WICC, that was it! I signed right 
up! :) For two years (the max allowed) I was privileged to participate in 
something that I consider life-changing, although the true effect waited 8 more 
years. I got to actually participate in the operation of a "small company" that 
ran a radio show. Again, I devoured everything I learned, and even got to 
befriend a few of the other DJ's at WICC! :) Once in a while, they even allowed me 
to come by and borrow their production studio to dub songs to tapes! (For use 
on my micro-transmitter, which had been improved somewhat by this time!) I'll 
never forget that one of the songs I dubbed was "Convoy". ;)

By the time High School had finished, though, the "dream" of actually being a 
DJ on the radio began to fade... mostly by how expensive it would be to 
attend the CT School of Broadcasting... so I pursued Electronics as a career for 
the next few years. 

During that time, my interest in AM dropped, as I "discovered" that I could 
hear the same music I loved on FM, and it sounded orders of magnitude *better*. 
Still, I "played radio" off and on, at one point building a 4-watt AM 
transmitter that could be heard for *miles* instead of a block or two! I actually had 
to *drive* away to measure the coverage! ;)

Well... I didn't get into Radio until my life had TRULY changed... I became a 
Christian in early 1986, and all kinds of amazing things happened! First, I 
discovered WLIX, "Christian 54" and was instantly hooked! I was disappointed, 
though, that it was AM, and the signal wasn't that great here in CT. (They were 
on the South shore of Long Island.)

So, while scanning the FM dial for *anything* Christian, I was 
disappointed... again and again... until one fateful Saturday evening. It was a late fall 
day in 1986, when I finally heard some Christian music! I listened for a station 
ID, and heard one... and recognized it as the local college station. (WVOF) 
Then they gave a phone number, and I called. After some friendly chat, they 
invited me to come up to the station the following week. (Their time slot was 
just about over when I called.) The following Saturday, I was there... and made 
some friends, and would join them at the station many Saturdays after that. :)

By now, I had set up a small FM transmitter at my house, and was "playing 
radio" again... this time, with my newly acquired Christian music. :) After few 
months, the guys at WVOF gave me the name of the Student Station Manager, 
telling me that with summer approaching, there would be more time slots opening up. 
I left a note on his door, and called him the following week. He set me up 
with two, two-hour slots! It was now the summer of 1987... and I would soon be 
running a real (albeit small, but still REAL) radio station! The Faculty 
Advisor gave me the forms for the "RP" and I sent it to the FCC with my check for 
$25. A few weeks later, I had it.. and soon after that, started hosting my show 
on WVOF! Monday and Wed, from 11am to 1pm! Many people in my Church were able 
to listen, and when I'd give the phone number, I always got calls. :)

The Faculty Advisor eventually told me that I was getting more calls than 
ANYONE else on the station! I was floored! (I was averaging 5-8 calls every 
show.) Several people at Church told me they loved it! LOL!! I was a rank amateur, 
but they loved it! :)

BTW, during that spring, before I started the show at WVOF, I had befriended 
someone at WFIF! I started hanging around with him now and then, and got to 
know the rest of the staff there. I even started helping them with some mundane 
production, dubbing promos from reels to carts, stuff like that. I took to it 
like a fish to water! Now, WVOF was happening... and I was also helping out my 
local Christian station! :)

When one of their part-time staff decided to leave, the position was 
eventually offered to me! (Nobody else there wanted it.) I started working with my 
friend, and he was impressed with my abilities to run a tight board, etc. (This 
was 1987, so everything was still 100% analog, with no automation at all.)

I guess you could say that I was BORN to do this. There is actually a WHOLE 
LOT MORE to the story, including some bona fide Miracles, that I won't go into. 
Suffice it to say, I knew, beyond any shadow of doubt or question, that 
Christian Radio was THE REASON my life was preserved, (I was nearly miscarried... 
another Miracle) and I was born.

So, this is why I miss Radio SO MUCH that it aches... a deep, soul-ache that 
is impossible to describe. This is what drives me to continue to pursue my 
Life's Goal of getting a Christian MUSIC station onto FM, in the Fairfield County 
area. (Which has NONE.) 

See: http://www.wphafm.org 

Whew... that's the Reader's Digest version of my story. Really. :) I hope 
someone here found it interesting... it is absolutely TRUE! :)

Willie...