This picture of me was taken at KCFV 89.5 MHz Ferguson, MO in the summer of 1995. At that point, I was in the final months at the station before my eight-semester service limit was met. I was one of the few DXers to hold down an airshift at any radio station in the United States in the pre-Telecom Act era. In the 26 years (as I write this) since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 became law, the number of DXers holding on-air employment in the United States have declined significantly.
On July 24, 2009, I signed off the broadcast airwaves for the final time when my morning show on WSIE 88.7 MHz Edwardsville, IL ended due to budget cuts. I was one of those who attempted to turn my DX hobby into a broadcasting career. From what I've heard, many DXers who enter broadcasting are usually engineers. Very few DXers ever get put on the air, no matter how much they know about radio or the format of a given station. Not all DXers who attempt to make a career as a radio announcer or DJ are successful. I only wanted to be known in the Saint Louis area, where I grew up and worked most of my 22 years in the radio field. Not all DXers are familiar to worldwide radio listeners, like Glenn Hauser or Arnie Coro. Not all DXers have been able to make an honest living in the radio business, like Tom Bryant, Jerry Starr or Adam Rivers. Some DXers have made an honest effort to try their luck on the airwaves, like Phil Wayne, Carey Westbrook or Luke Steele.
I thought by having a DXer on the staff of a radio station, regardless of whether he or she is an announcer, engineer, copywriter, manager or account executive, that station would benefit from his or her knowledge of signal propagation and better explain why, for example, a station's signal was heard far outside a given station's coverage area. When I was at WFTD 1080 kHz in Marietta, GA at the tail end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s (I was a member of the church that owned the station at the time), I typed up the form letter that the station sent to DXers verifying reception of the station. I received my own copy in January 1993. I even signed a couple of verification letters during my nine years at WSIE, acting in my position as Public Service Director. I did work at one station that was NOT DXer-friendly: my last commercial station, WFUN-FM (now KXBS) 95.5 Bethalto, IL. The last AM I worked at, WGNU 920 kHz Granite City, IL (now licensed to Saint Louis, MO), may have been a 500-watt station, but it got out quite well for such a station. The signal was reported by DXers as far away as Pittsburgh, PA and Joplin, MO. While the stations are most interested in how they're heard in the local area, it wouldn't hurt a station to find out how far that signal gets out under extraordinary circumstances or conditions. This is why I feel that having a DXer on a station's staff, regardless of position, is beneficial to that station's overall operation. Sadly, most stations, especially in today's environment, can't see the benefit of having a DXer, let alone an Amateur Radio operator, like myself, on their staff in ANY capacity.
Would I ever consider a return to the broadcast airwaves? The answer to that question would be a resounding NO! For one thing, my being both a DXer and a Ham is not beneficial to a station's overall operation. My on-air presentation does not fit today's music formats, especially youth-oriented formats like Contemporary Hit Radio. I also find most of today's music formats to be intangible; they sound nothing like the way Top 40 radio was in the 1970s, '80s or '90s. I also refuse to voice track a shift, since I believe that local radio (especially music radio) is best done live and spontaneous, not voice tracked. If I did talk radio, I would do my own thing, putting local communities first. I would steer clear of hot-button topics. I would not stoop as low as to be a right wing extremist mouthpiece or a sex-driven "shock jock" (which I consider illegal). I see the ratings system as pure hogwash. For me (and for many), fewer owners mean fewer opportunities to start (let alone continue) a career, and fewer opportunities in proving the industry's naysayers wrong. Today's broadcasters have very conservative employment policies, especially on-air policies. The industry actively discourages anyone with even the slightest hint of a disability, regardless of level of education or experience, from seeking employment (let alone a career). I went into radio to serve the community that gave me a chance to become a productive citizen, to bring down unnecessary barriers to entry, and to prove the industry's naysayers wrong. I did not go into radio to serve the whims of greedy corporate stockholders and owners. The stockholders and owners are NOT the audience; it is We, the People.
Our colleges need to teach prospective broadcasters that the chances of a career that pays a living wage in the radio industry are extremely slim. When I started in radio out of high school in 1985, I had planned for radio to be my full-time career. As time went on, I saw radio becoming less of a career field and devolving into nothing more than a part-time job. I do not see the logic in broadcasters' refusal to college radio as a source of new talent; I feel that college radio is the only legitimate source of new talent. Broadcasting students should also be given clarification of the words "An Equal Opportunity Employer" on broadcast employment applications before they start looking for work or internships. If you've been involved in the DX hobby, like I have, that could put you at a disadvantage.
And, to wrap up this entry, here's the verification I received from WFTD 1080 in the winter of 1993.
