John
fills us in on his time in Central Florida Radio.
"My radio career took quite a
few twists and turns over the years. I began my professional career as a weekend
jock at WAMT-AM 1060 in Titusville
in the summer of 1981. During the week, I was working at WUCF-FM
89.9 (originally called "Stereo 90", then "89.9 FM")
while I was a student at UCF. Six months after I started at WAMT,
the format changed to easy listening,
and I left, not only because I wasn’t really in to that format as a young 19
year old kid, but also because I wasn’t in to the commute from Orlando each
weekend, either.
In the spring of 1982, I was hired as a weekend producer at WDBO-AM
580, producing the Pat
Flannagan show on Saturday nights. I left there a year later, in early
’83, to work weekend overnights at BJ105, WBJW-FM
105.1 in
Orlando
. I worked at BJ until the end of college in December 1984. From that
point, I left BJ to go back to WDBO in early ‘85 managing the WDBO Starship, the station’s
mobile broadcast studio. It was definitely not the job I wanted at the time, but
anything to get my foot in the door. I left WDBO three months later to
head back to BJ as a full time jock (mostly overnights). It was during
this time I worked with Terry Ross and Bob Benjamin (Robert
Peterson), both of whom I worked with at WUCF. Bob went on to manage WMFE-FM
90.7 following college. I also worked for a time with Darrell
Hammond, of Saturday Night Live fame, who co-hosted the morning show
during this time.
I was kind of a restless kid during these years, and left BJ nine months
later in late ’85 to work at WWLD-AM
1190, which had recently launched a format aimed at
Central Florida
tourists. One of the station’s founders was Walter
Windsor, the former GM at WFTV. The station went belly up just
five months later, in April 1986, and I was hired not long after as a news
writer at WKIS-AM 740. I thought my
transition into news would be a short-lived one at the time. However, I wound up
working my way up to reporter, producer, and afternoon anchor over a 5-year
period from Susquehanna through Guy Gannett ownership and a
call change to WWNZ-AM 740. For a few years during
my career there, I produced the morning news with Wayne
Trout and Lynn Levine. During
my news career at WKIS/WWNZ, I worked part time as a weekend jock at
"Hot Rockin’ Y106"
(WHLY-FM 106.7), which later changed its
calls to WCAT and became “Y106, the
Cat”). PD Mark McKay led a
CHR powerhouse in the
Orlando
market in the mid-to-late 80s. I was very lucky to work for him at the time.
Among other shows, I hosted the “Saturday Night All Dedication Party.”
In looking back, it was one of the best radio gigs I had ever had. I loved CHR
and Y106 was “it” in those days.
Back
to WWNZ,
In 1991, I was let go in a
station mass exodus. During this time, I was working part-time in television
news, which is where I would continue until Wayne Trout hired me
to help produce the morning news in 1992 at the revamped (and newly Paxson-purchased)
WWNZ. I worked there until the end of 1993, when I decided that my career
should be on the television side.
I worked in TV news for the next nine years before transitioning completely out
of broadcasting.
Today, I work as a senior proposal writer at EyeMed
Vision Care, a vision benefits administrator, in the Cincinnati area.
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