My Sojourn

 The Jack

Governor Mike Huckabee once said "I'm either the Jack of Trades or I can't keep a job." That sounds like me.  I have done an assortment of jobs and trades in my 50 years of W-2 employment.  If you include three more years to that 50 in non W-2 and 1099 endeavors, you can add church grass cutter and newspaper delivery boy for The Central Jersey Courier News.  In 1969, I filled my bicycle baskets on the Schwinn with exactly 100 subscribers. When Don McLean's "American Pie" was popular,  I delivered bad news on the doorstep, so said the song. In 50 plus working years, one thing I've learned is that you can reinvent yourself multiple times.

Growing up in Central New Jersey gave me the perfect opportunity to listen to some of the best radio in America from both Philadelphia and New York. Legends were made in two of the largest media markets in the country.

In 1968, I heard Dan Ingram on WABC in New York and knew immediately that I wanted to have as much fun as he was having as a music radio Disk Jockey. His quick wit, impeccable timing and double entendres (most of which were way over my head at the time) reeled me in like a hungry fish. I was hooked! It was a gleeful epiphany that this kind of profession was for me.  Dan has been said to have been the inspiration for thousands of radio careers. He was that good. He was that reveared. 

As it turned out, I felt that I had become a combination of guys whom I aspired to be like. Two, I consider to be the masters of what I believe to be the Golden Rule of Broadcasting. The rule? Know that every listener counts. Nobody gets left behind. I extend a heartfelt gratitude to New York's Jim Kerr and Cousin Bruce Morrow for exemplifying that valuable lesson on air. I never reached the pinnacle of their successes in that business, but I do feel that I was true to that rule. 

By 1975, my Mom was horrified. I can still hear her saying..."you don't really want to make Disk Jockey your 'Ambition' under your senior class yearbook photo...do you? As it turned out, unlike my classmates who had a diverse collection of life ambitions, I had nothing! My coveted ambition was left out of the 1975 book. 

I dabbled in radio at local WBRW, Somerville early on as part of the 4-H radio club with my buddy Hans Koch. Ralph Saro, Newsman extraordinaire, was the leader and mentor for the group. Ralph went on to Newsradio 1010 WINS in New York and had a long career there. John Stanley was the Chief Engineer and Afternoon Personality DJ.  I vividly recall asking him what kind of training or schooling would be necessary to enter broadcasting. John replied "all you need to do is entertain people." As fate would prevail, I ended up working with John years later.

1977 turned out to be the magical year that I was finally able to get behind the microphone and broadcast as a real live Disk Jockey. Appropriately, my first song was "Feels Like The First Time" by Foreigner.  I didn’t aspire to this kind of work for notoriety or fame, I simply liked the prospect of communicating with people, being a part of an on air lineup and playing music.

I would get a 22 year radio career that I recall with fondness, but it doesn’t define me completely. There were other careers, that if you had said I would learn in 1968, I would have shrugged my 12 year old shoulders with a confused dog look. Back then all there was..was radio. 

This is my sojourn. My many temporary stays.