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[continued from yesterday's post; series started 05/09]
So it was time to start my new career as a radio station disk jockey. Getting the job was simple; I went to KOBS, showed Kobs my third phone certificate, filled out a short application and was on my way. Mr. Kobs took me into the studio and introduced me to Randy Fuller, the DJ on duty at the time and the guy that would be training me. They got me a chair and I sat outside of the console and watched him do about an hour of his show, knowing that the following Saturday I would be sitting in that seat doing my own show. I was sixteen years old.
Saturday came, and I was nervous. I really had no idea what it would be like in the "hot seat", but once I sat down there wasn't much to do but follow Randy's instructions. He trained me how to cue records and gave pointers on how to sound professional in my announcements. I forget how long he stayed with me...could have been for the whole program of four hours. What I do remember is how the time flew by, how nervous I was, and how I was hoping to God that nobody that knew me was listening! Turns out that my girlfriend, Linda, was in fact listening as well as a few family members. I was not encouraged by what Linda said afterwards.
But after a few shows I did get the hang of it, and ended up feeling somewhat comfortable being on the air. Jason Blalock was hired a short time after I was, and we developed a camaraderie that was very close; we were already good buddies, but this unique shared experience really cemented our friendship. Our shows often ran back-to-back, and we sometimes hung around long after the first show was over to shoot the breeze and help smooth the transition.
Jason, being silly while making an announcement: The stack of top-40 hits is in the foreground; the phone with its "gumball machine" light on the other side of the board. As stated in yesterday's post, everything here was built from scratch by Mr. Kobs.
Jason sitting at the console: You can see the shelves in the back next to the wall, which had the records for our shifts in separate stacks, labeled "AM" and "PM". Also seen here are the reel-to-reel machines and the actual PSAs and commercials above. Mr. Kobs didn't have a teletype machine, the standard for radio stations at the time.
Jason was very careful putting his feet up there, as even the slightest bump on the plywood would cause the records to skip.
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