Dear Sweet Lou,

How did you get your start in Radio?
Thanks,
Jeanne in Dixon

Jeanne, thanks for the question! Here goes!

The phone rang one afternoon just before Labor Day in 1983. It was my sister calling to let me know "she had gotten me a job!" I told her I already had a job. I was managing a Kragen Auto Parts store and doing pretty well with a child on the way. “This job,” she said “was on the radio!” Little did I know that my life would be changed forever.

My sister had attended The California State Fair that day and ran into a guy by the name of Chris Collins. Chris was doing a live broadcast there that day. She was a pretty attractive young girl and I got the impression he must have been flirting with her.

She explained to him that her brother did impressions of celebrities like Rodney Dangerfield. He asked if he could get her number so he could call me? (right) She went on to explain that her brother was married and didn’t live with her. So he asked that she have me call him. Sounded like a bunch of hooey to me. But I took down his number and thought about calling.

Thinking I might have some regret if I didn’t do something, I decided to give him a call. He was very receptive and invited me to come and “sit in” on his show on Labor Day Monday. The show started at 5:30 and the studios were in Woodland (a rather long drive from Sacramento). It was called the FM102 Morning Zoo and though it was very popular, I had never heard it. They played Top 40 (CHR) and that just wasn’t for me. I was more of a rocker. I had never done anything like this before and no idea what to expect.

The morning came and I was extremely nervous and anxious. I woke up at 4:30AM to make sure I wouldn’t be late. The studios were on the second floor of a bank building, so I climbed the stairs. At the top were a group of guys in suits. Turned out that one of them was Rick Gillette the Program Director. As soon as he saw me, he said “You must be that guy that does Rodney Dangerfield! Do Rodney for us! Right now!”

So that’s exactly what I did. In high school, I had been part of a group of guys who spent their lunch hours making each other laugh! My specialty was Rodney. I knew all his jokes by heart! So. I busted out a few one liners and he loved them. I heard him yell “Chris, this guy is great, put him on the air now!”

The very next thing I knew, I found myself wearing headphone and they shoved a huge microphone in front of my face. Chris Collins then says “You’ll never guess who stopped by this morning! It’s Rodney Dangerfield! Rodney, how’s it going? That was all I got! Not knowing what to do, I just started with a series of what I thought were his best jokes! Everybody in the room was rolling on the floor in laughter. In stand-up comedian terms, I killed it!

And that began my 34 year radio romance.

To be continued....