This year, I celebrate my 27th year in radio. I got my start in Amarillo, Texas on January 7th, 1988. I was given the weekend overnight position at KAKS-FM and at the moment I cracked the mic to utter my first word, the station tower was struck by lightning and we were off the air for three days. I chose to look at that moment not as an omen of things to come or not to come, but as an opportunity to practice on the air (but off the air) until our engineer fixed the transmitter!
During my senior year in high school, I attended classes for half of the day. In the evening, I worked as the night personality at Top 40 - KAKS-FM. at 11:50 pm every night, I handed off the reigns of the station to the overnight DJ and drove across town to host the overnight position at Classic Rock - KATP-FM. I worked until 6am, took a power nap and made sure I was at school on time by 8:30am. I learned a lot about radio that year and I learned a lot about my work ethic and how much I loved what I was doing.
In 1994, I left my job as the night personality at KQIZ-FM and moved to Austin, TX. I was born in Austin and my dream at 22 years of age was to host a morning show there. That came later. During my first year in Austin, I landed a job at the legendary Alternative - KNNC-FM doing weekends and overnights. By the time I left KNNC-FM, I was programming the station and scheduling the music. It was 1996 and that year, I discovered how much I loved scheduling music for a radio station.
I moved to Kansas City in January of 1997 for a morning radio and Music Director gig at Modern AC - KCHZ-FM in Overland Park. Mornings was tough for a 25 year old me and I faced some stiff competition like legendary morning hosts Randy Miller, Johnny Dare and Mancow. I segued to cross-town rival, Modern AC - KOZN-FM to host the night show and turned in the best numbers of my career but I longed to be back in Austin. It was home to me and Kansas City didn't seem like it fit my career goals and it wasn't TEXAS.
I was given the opportunity to become one of the first voicetracking DJ's for AMFM/Capstar which later sold to Clear Channel and enjoyed one of the best jobs in radio for almost three years. When the department was liquidated and the staff was let go in 2000, I landed my dream job in Austin. I co-hosted the morning show at Alternative - KROX-FM. Morning radio in Austin had become a reality but to my surprise, I wanted more and while it was fun for a time, the job in store for me next was the job that offered the greatest horizons.
I began working at A-Ware Inc. on September 5th, 2005. I was tasked with teaching programmers the art of music scheduling using the MusicMaster scheduling software and the rewards were many. I learned more about music scheduling than I ever thought I knew and I got to work with some of the most influential programmers in the country. I got to help stations like Classic Rock - KSHE-FM in St. Louis, Triple A - WXRT-FM in Chicago, MTV, Sirius/XM Radio and countless other radio and television stations. I got to meet and work with legendary programmers like Rick Balis, George Gimarc, Norm Weiner and Scott Shannon.
In 2012, I was allowed to continue my passion for radio while I worked at MusicMaster and I took a side job as the night personality and Music Director at the legendary Alt Country - KOKE-FM in Austin. In 2014 I became the Music Director and night personality for Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel in New York City. In 2015, I became the program director for Classic Hits - Classic 105.3 in Austin. 2015 also ushered in a new title at A-Ware Inc.; Learning and Development Director. I teach music scheduling workshops all over the US and Canada to programming staffs at both radio and television. Today, I hold four full time jobs in radio and I'd do it all for free. (Don't tell anyone!)
Since 1988, radio has been my passion. It continues to be my purpose in life and the greatest reward I get to experience now is giving back and helping others to achieve their goals in radio. Whether it's helping out a Program Director in Seattle, WA. to create a killer music log or assisting young radio talent looking to break into the business, my greatest joy today is teaching others the art of music scheduling and helping fellow lovers of the craft find their voice and passion in the industry.