It would be interesting to know where everyone learned radio. Maybe you learned at a broadcast station. Let's find out what school or radio station produced the most broadcasters. This can be any where in the world.

I came out of Keith Allen's KPCC at Portland Community College.

i spent 1yr at lane community college and was standing in the teachers office when mike stone called needing a jock to work 12m to 6a sunday morning at keed in eugene. i never looked back. this will be my 34th year in the biz and still enjoy it.

KPCC/Keith Allen here, too, Craig. Then 3 years in radio (KPOK & KQIV)and 34 now in TV.

The KYXI/KGON/KUIK then back to KYXI and then KJRB mid 70s School of Hard Knocks. And the Q and A manual study guide for the FCC First Class Radio Telephone License.

2 years as a full time studio ENGR and partime on the air. To full time on the air, but partime at the staions collectively 25 more years in Medford and Tri Cities markets. I got cold feet to be in the Broadcast biz full time while in Spokane @KJRB. I was worried about having to move too much to do what I really enjoyed most : being on the air vs being an Engr. Sensory overload, so I just 'did it my way', for better or worse.

MHCC

It's nice to see all of my fellow OF's chiming in!

John Rice at MHCC, Class of '83.

ojt - even home studied for the 3rd class radiotelephone license...then once in it, community college then 4 year college and if a professor found out who I was or what I did for a living they would frequently ask me in the class in front of everyone real world advice or questions, which made it feel kind of wierd...am I not here to learn...but I could verify their theories, yes, that is how it really is.

It's in the Blood, as they say. However, I didn't go to a formal school, I was taught by coming aboard a station right out of high school, in which it was KISN. That was the BEST schooling!

I've named those that 1st trained me in their area of expertise below.

Engineering: Gary Hilliard/Dan Dubay (Remote eng)
Production: John Hugill
Sales: Steve Forsyth
On-air: Everyone at Kisn
Promotions: Self-taught

I'm a Fall '77 Graduate of the KiiS Broadcasting Workshop in Hollywood, CA.

KBVR - Midnight to 5 a.m. on Monday mornings for 3 years.

Which would explain why I have no sense of anything that even smacks of talent.

Ahem.

But I like it still.

I have a Mass Media degree from a small mid-western college, but as far as I'm concerned, I learned radio by doing it. 8-years later, I'm a PD/Morning host...

I learned from Keith Allen, Eric Norberg, and Company when they ran - Broadcast Professionals: The Complete School of Radio Broadcasting

At the age of 14 I was put in front the microphone for the public affairs program Open Door which was produced at KGW. At 16 was hired as the request line operator at KGW and just kind of hung out talking to jocks and messing around in the production room, occasionally taking the station off the air.

Eventually I headed to Spokane for college and while there the college started a campus radio station. I pretty much hung out at those studios for my remaining years.

I continued to read for Open Door while in Spokane by "Voice Tracking" to reel to reel tape and sending it into the producer of the show.

Moved back home to Portland after college and learned that a part-time weekend position at KPAM 1410 was open. Contacted the PD on a Monday, had an interview on a Tuesday, came in on Wednesday to learn the board and pick up my format booklet and was on the air that weekend.

WOW! Great Response. I want to add, if you didn't graduate that's ok. I was told back then, it didn't matter. Get enough broadcast experience at a school, then get a gig.

Forgot to mention before PCC, I had taken a broadcast class for 2 years at KPAM-FM. First year was taught by Craig Walker. The 2nd year by Gary Stevens. (Anyone out there from the KPAM-FM course?)

Here's what we have so far with 2 or more mentions:

KPCC = 3
MHCC = 2

Sacramento State College, Communications Studies Department, KERS - a 5400 Watt FM station on campus.

See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KERS_Radio/

Make that two for Broadcast Professionals...had a great experience there, met many of the people who post on this board.

Keith Allen and Co. had an influence on many of the careers here. Impressive.

Benson High School/KBPS

WIXY School of Broadcast Technique.... You passed the 3rd, or you didn't graduate........ I was one of three out of 26 who did........

ten years later I did Bates, Radio and TV....

then TCC for two degrees, then the money ran out...

KBPS-1450, long before the broadcast courses started! It was a BPHS extracurricular activity.

BTW, in the late 60s, KBPS was one of only about five or six non-commercial educational stations on the AM band in the whole US of A.

Pacific Northwest Electronics between my Jr. & Sr. year in high school. Bob McAnulty owned it.
Joe Allen was Tech instructor. Had my First Phone by spring break of my Sr. year...then part-time gigs at KKEY-Vancouver and 1520 Fabulous KIM in Oregon (KYMN).

Interestingly, McAnulty pulled in guest speakers like Tiger Tom Murphy, and Doug LaMear on the talent side...and other radio types like Nat Jackson, KISN's copy writer...great instruction regarding writing spots: 1) Get their attention. 2) Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em. 3) Tell 'em. 4) Tell 'em what you told 'em.

That basic structure still works today!!!

My school was Keith Allen's Broadcast Professionals and getting on at Z100 at the same time. Always respected Keith's honesty and integrity about the business and what, where and how it could become part of our lives, no matter where we came from or where we might end up.

I was one of the youngest portable DJ's in the 70's when most places were using bands, so I loved the club life. When I first met Keith, it was because he had critiqued a commercial I cut, which I really didn't like, but the club boss did. So I wanted some pointers and Keith was quick to point out that I had a very different sound, but my energy would keep me working. He was right.

He was also amazing at asking each of us how are work environments were progressing, whether we were at a station or something else. He would point out how we could practice our craft even if we were not currently working in radio.

I always enjoyed stopping by unannounced to watch him talking to some new class or going over pointers about news breaks, etc. At times it was great listening to him reminding everyone to look around the room and notice each person, as in five to ten years away, odds were that only about 1 in 5 of us would still be working in primarily radio, plus some in TV or print.

I've done my study at Clark College and WSU too, but he is still one of the best instructors I've had in my lifetime. Thanks for the memory jog!

Learned the ropes in Fred Scheller's great broadcast program at Pacific University. Twice! The rest came through OJT - just like everyone else!

Another OJT at age 17. Owner of KIHR, Hood River asked principal at Wy'East High School for a recommendation for someone to train for fill-in work. In five months I was doing 6-11 nights while going to high school during the day.

Great training, as the station was heavily dayparted. Basically MOR, but with many special shows. There was the Fun House from 3:15 to 4 pm weekdays after school which played kiddie records (Tubby the Tuba, The Little Engine that Could) plus some old Lone Ranger and Commander Cody episodes on record. The idea was to keep them busy right after school so mom could have a change to get dinner ready. Then there was an hour of dinner music from 6 to 7 pm (Montovani, 101 Strings). And a Friday night polka hour, Saturday afternoon country show, Sunday night classical selections from 6 to 10 p.m. and a Monday night teen request show., which was the only rock appearing on the station in 1966....

It's interesting to hear the names of individuals who were influential in the development of professionals. Keith Allen's name comes up, John Rice's...I wonder whatever happened to those guys. You hear the name Kevin Flink, from KBPS. Wonder if any of you remember Pat Swensen.

For me, it was OJT at an age so young that I lied about it for my first two gigs. In high school I lucked into a board-op gig at a big market all-news station that evolved into on-air when somebody noticed the kid on the intercom had better pipes than the anchor. What made the difference was a series of significant mentors, who took an interest and pushed me along. I wonder if mentors even exist anymore. Even so: your own talent and desire should always be the biggest factors of all.

KGFC-George Fox College radio. I taught myself since I was the dj, pd, engineer and cleaned up after.
I always envied those who got "professional" training, but alas, self taught.
Learned from many greats though, including Eric Norberg, Bill O'Brien, JJ Jensen, Harry Gift, Dale Parsons, Rick St. Clair, Carl Widing and many more.
Took a little from each and a lot from jocks I listened to all over the country, then added a little of my own flair and that was it.
Thanks for the memories Craig!

My training has been strictly on-the-job, but I never anticipated doing any paid radio work. The summer before going off to college, I was listening to Lee Mirabal, and one of the callers asked her how to get into radio. Lee told the caller that before making the commitment to go to a broadcast school, he should locate a local university or volunteer-run community radio station. This way, he could learn some of the basics and see whether he really liked doing broadcast work.

That autumn, I went off to college with the mission of locating the school radio station and seeing what they did over there. The station was WITR 89.7, which broadcast 910 watts from atop a 13 story dorm building. The studios were in the basement of the student union building. It turned out that due to asbestos removal work that was going on, the station had to move and build brand new studios. If memory serves me correctly, I attended an orientation meeting at the station and within a week or so, I was punching down and soldering wires at the station's new production studio. I completed the on-air training program that winter and was doing on-air work in late spring.

Lee was quite right in that at a place like this station, there were a lot of roles that one could learn: live on-air work, record label relations, production, engineering, promotions, office clerical work, etc. The only drawback was that because WITR was at a university that did not have a broadcasting program, the station was operated as a club without any formal guidance from faculty. Thus learning anything beyond the basic minimum was done by trial and error. For instance, to get on the air, one had to submit two demo tapes, shadow an on-air personality for a few weeks, and take a quiz on FCC rules and station policies. In the first demo, you put together a newscast using AP wire stories. In the second, you put together a DJ program to demonstrate that you understood the station's program content rules. However, after one did that, there was no mechanism to provide additional feedback so that one could keep improving. If one were to really screw up, people would call the station to complain, but that was about it.

In the mid 1990s, I did some volunteer work for Austin's KOOP 91.7, though I never did any on-air work there.

A few years later, I provided assistance with a live performance at KMHD. This primarily involved equipment setup and ocassional sound mixing.

From late 2003 to early 2005, I did paid radio work with Crawford (KKSL/KKPZ). Although it was entry-level work, it was still pretty interesting. Some of the programs were actually fun to produce.

John Rice moved to a different area within the college that was completely disconnected to radio. I don't know if he's still there or not.

Looking at all these posts , it is interesting to match up the screen names with each resume'. Eastwood is right, natural talent is the key and how flexible and useful is it ? And then determining exactly what your talent " is " within the scope of the 'biz'. And are you multi-talented? How many hats can you wear well?

Oftentimes it takes someone else to recognize your talent before *you* even have a clue. Is it a great set of pipes, or is it high energy and timing, copyrighting and production, promotions, management or is it fixing the damned automation, cart and tape machines ( old days ) when it breaks?

I got told by a prominent PD once after listening to an air check and a live session in a production room " You dont start at K..., go someplace else and get some experience and besides... you sound like a frustrated Rock Jock ! Why would I hire you anyway? I might hire you to maintain our station , but we dont need anyone right now to do that.

Got my first phone while studying for my BSEE degree so I could snag a part time opening at then prog rocker WSAN AM in Allentown. They were DA and needed a night DJ with the license and I was friendly with one of the guys that worked there and knew the music well from my work at WLVR, Lehigh's FM station where I volunteered.

Kahtik (Todd): Yes! Keith Allen was a great teacher. Remember all the radio stories he would tell as examples. Loved his stories at KENO Las Vegas & KOLO Reno in late 50's, early 60's.

Eastwood: Keith & Rosemary (Reynolds) are living in Woodburn.

Yes I do! You're right, those were great! I wondered where he ended up, so Woodburn 'eh? Is he just retired, or what's he up to now?

The last I heard they're involved in some business.

Here's the way the schools break down with 2 or more so far:

3 = Broadcast Professionals (Keith Allen & Co.)
2 = Mt. Hood Community College (John Rice)
2 = Benson High School KBPS (Dr. Patricia Swenson)
2 = Portland Community College (Keith Allen)

Ron Bailie's school in San Francisco in the 70's. Got my 1st phone there too and went to work for Norman Aldred in a little town called McMinnville, Oregon.... never heard of it before.

I've worked at KMCM, KCYX (same station, different owners), KPEN-FM and KFOG-FM in the Bay Area. There are two facts that remain true for me: (1). I wouldn't trade my years in the biz for the world. (2). I wouldn't be in the biz these days for love nor money.

Great thread everybody!

I am also a "KBPS kid" who remembers Herself (Patricia Swenson) in vivid colors. She drove a white Caddy with yellow Oregon vanity plates that said 89.9 FM. She earned weeks of extra time in her rowboat by clipping newspapers at home for the show I usually engineered and sometimes produced on Sundays. I also observed that she discouraged every girl in the program because she still wanted to be the only woman in radio. On top of it all, she was mad as a hatter, but showed rare moments of compassion and clarity that left you stunned. She fought hard for the program though, and deserves credit.

Darryl Conser was the demanding perfectionist at the helm of the FM. He was tough, and kinda weird, but he could still be impressed by a job well done. As a student, he treated you like an insect, but once you were a peer, he was much more open about his love for classical music and production techniques. He was not paid to teach, so he appeared to do as little of it as possible, but by being hard on folks, he actually prepared you for the career.

To balance out the program, the staff was absolutely fantastic. Kevin Flink is one of the finest teachers I had in high school, but he did not do the job all by himself. Scott Young, Tim Underwood, John Pittman, Tanya Thompson, Bruce Van Pelt and Ron Ross all taught me a hell of a lot. There were some great people in the program to learn with too. Reuben Nisenfeld, Chris Sargent, Chris Hough, Heidi Zeck, Marie Kelleher and Troy Harrington to name a handful. I also learned a great deal from engineers who always shared their stories and knowledge. It was never dull with Tom Cauthers, Richard Wilson, Jim Boyd, or Pat Franklin around.

I wouldn't trade those years for the world either.

Craig, I don't want to mislead you. I didn't study under John Rice. I just visited him in later years after he took over for the founder of the program, Ralph Rogers, who was PD for KGW and KEX, when they were in the same building, Don Ameche's announcer in Hollywood and the person responsible for Franz Bread having flavor BEYOND compare. It seems that various bread companies were saying, "compare this", compare that". When they came up with "beyond compare", it was all over! To this day, everyone knows that Franz Bread has "flavor beyond compare"! Anyway, if they don't chime in personally, you can add Warner to the list and also Bill Cooper. They were both classmates of mine.

KSFC - Spokane Falls Community College
A woman named Richie Cauldwell ran the program.
In the fall of 1987 we were learning proper care for LP's. We didn't get a CD player until my sophmore year in the program. I landed a job at KKZX in Spokane and never graduated. Money well spent in 1987.

Never went to Radio School,, BUT went to High School at Benson back in 92. Kevin Flink is an awesome instructor!

I am enjoying this thread immensely, thanks Craig.

Short answer for me, Centralia College (no degree) Ron Baillie School of Broadcast-Seattle (for 1st Phone)and OJT in Centralia, Olympia, Shelton, Coos Bay (where Dodger and I share some history as competitors), Longview (hi Kahtik, I kept KEDO running) and Seattle.

For the long answer gang, I ask for your pardon in advance of my ramblings, or simply scroll past...

I chose radio as a career before I had even the slightest idea how to do it. Then someone told me there was a station at nearby Centralia College so, not knowing any better, I enrolled. During the day, ten watt 91.3 KCED had an educational format, block programs in classical music, WSU Extension offerings, things like that. And KCED had to sign off whenever there was a TV production class because they shared the lone control room. The plumb shift was at night, when the faculty advisor left and the rock and roll came out.

What a blast! Of course I sounded like total crap, as there was no format and nobody to critique my "performance". Fortunately, there was a group of us who wanted to get jobs doing this, so we struck out on our own, asking Seattle DJs to come speak, and arranging some field trips to stations. We collected airchecks, discovering stations like KHJ and KFRC, WLS and WABC. We also petitioned the College Board to change the station's charter from "educational" to "vocational",. The head of the Radio –TV department, a fan of classical music, did not appreciate a group of upstart “superstars” (his word) trying to take control of his station, but we basically won out.

Our little group was running KCED when Derek Shannon's group bought this really bad sounding daytimer at 1420, changed format and hired an airstaff. The music was contemporary (a little heavy on Charlie Rich's "Rollin with the Flow"), and most of the jocks had worked in Seattle. Thank goodness jocks like Roger Dale, Bill Michaels (Cooper), and Dave Edwards (who later became country programmer John Hendricks) took interest enough in my career to offer critique, advice and even employment, or I may never had had a career. I learned much from them, as well as from jocks at competitors like KHSN and KSHR in Coos Bay, KLOG and KUKN in Longview. Belated thanks to all.

Ron

Mt Hood Community College Class of 1995 BABY!
Jeff YOUNG ROCKS!

MHCC/Jeff Young for me also.

Class of ??? (dont remember).. same class as I.Ropp and "Tiny" aka Andy (before they bailed)

I read down this whole list wondering if anyone would mention Richi Shackette/Caldwell (depending on the time frame) at SFCC. I went through most of the program but did not actually graduate.

I had already worked in small-town radio before I went there in 1982-83, and I think I learned more from the OJT before I went there than when I actually got there.

KSFC was a great experience and good practice, but not much better than working for someone.

I was a short-timer at a variey of NW stations on and of from 1978 to 1985. While I had a great time, others were obviously better and I went on to other things in life.

Again, great blog on this. I've enjoyed coming back and reading. Ron G, you did a great job on keeping it running. I was just chatting with one of my co-horts down here about those old reel-to-reels and counting the tape splices. I used to have a side bet with Joe E on when fially order a new one. LOL Ah, radio and how it changes... let me put my feet up now.

I've also gotta represent for Mt. Hood's radio program.

I wrapped up my time in the radio program around June of 2005 and had a job by the begining of July.

JEFF YOUNG is the man. There is nobody better at instilling a love for radio in their students.

The program taught me tons of theory, got me on the air a lot, gave me direction, focus, and an outlet for creativity. I couldn't have asked for more. I feel on some level, that I got out of it what I put into it, but there was alot that the program offered, that would be difficult to learn in the real world.

The one semester I taught out at MHCC was memorable. Couple of students from my class are currently working in the Portland Market in production and traffic.

Jeff Young asked me back but by then things got busy for me. Hope he is enjoying his well-deserved retirement.

I rented "Pump up the Volume" until I had the basics down and the rest is history

littlesongs:
I hired Chris Sargent out of Hood River when he was about 19 years old! Put him on the air as "the sarge" even got him to deejay my wedding.
Now that he is a big shot, he don't return my calls? Oh well, they all forget their roots.
Glad someone learned from him, that means it came indirectly from me

Yes, MHCC for me! Semoochie, Cooper, many others learned at the feet of Ralph Rogers. This was waaaaay back in the day. I had to decide between Keith Allen's program at PCC and the MHCC bunch.

It's very heartwarming to hear the calls "KMHD" still going strong. In our day, it was just "KMH". We were the early verison of "Charlie". We played everything!

Thanks for this.

"In our day, it was just "KMH"."

You must have been there just before me, Warner...I was there during the KMHD startup. I just recently found my old aircheck cassettes under each format (if you want to call KMH a 'format'), but was apprehensive about giving them a listen...

Dodger -- You made a fantastic hire! Nothing could dampen his enthusiasm for the medium and it rubbed off on everyone he knew. I remember congratulating him at the time, but now I can thank you for giving "Sarge" his first big break. Did he play any Night Ranger at your wedding? :0)

Funny story: When Chris and I were classmates, his Scirocco was broken into and they took all his tapes and schoolbooks. The next day he had an alarm that was so sensitive the seagulls would land on it and set it off. I think he ran downstairs twenty times during that shift.

I was the first student at Benson to "Major" in KBPS as a shop...before 1971 it was only an elective class. Learned a lot as a request line operator and part-time production/weekend jock at KGW.

In the fall of 1978, I was lucky to get an intership at KEX for my junior year of high school. During that time, I learned from the likes of production guy Arlan Walker, along with Jimmy Hollister & Bob Swanson. I would sit in the studio with night guy Steve O'Shea and get a real earful of radio stories. "Rock A Day" O'Shea was a piece of work!

I went to MHCC in 1980. At the time, John Rice was really working hard to get approval to try and get an FM station at the college, so he had started cutting back on teaching.

Speaking of Chris Sargent, I had Chris part-time intern for me at KEX back in 1986. He answered phones for me when I produced Don Wright's (AKA "Dr. Love") Friday night "Loveline" show.

I go back to the Keith Allen (early 70's) era at KPCC. While everyone wanted to jock, I was a stubborn son of a gun and preferred news shifts. I just couldn't get away from the UPI wire machine. I remember the studio in the PCC commons area. Anyone experience a news/jock shift when a listener would press up against the glass booth and give you that "deer in the headlight" look? FUN TIMES!!!

Scotty: Oh Ya! I always attracted attention doing the news at KPCC. If You were looking through the window, You were always guaranteed to seeing this newsman derailing every time! Love the news but I was never very good at delivering it. (Know your limitations).

Rich: You mentioned Steve O'Shea. Did he use "Rock A Day" O'Shea on air? If so, that's another name for my AKA List.

Here's the latest school/station tabulation:

4 = Benson High School-KBPS (Dr. Patricia Swenson)
3 = Mt. Hood Community College-KMH (Ralph Rogers)
3 = Broadcast Professionals (Keith Allen & Co.)
3 = Mt. Hood Community College (Jeff Young)
3 = Portland Community College-KPCC (Keith Allen)
2 = Mt. Hood Community College (John Rice)
2 = Ron Bailie School of Broadcast (1 San Francisco, 1 Seattle)

I went to Rob Bailie S.O.B. in Portland, '78-'79. The EP-UH-TOME of dia-phrag-matic breathing, right Mike?

I will take this opportunity to give my most sincere respects and love for Keith Allen. No one person had a bigger influence on me by instilling the right attitudes regarding our ever changing business. He was a mentor, a friend, and a person that truly exemplified the passion and magic that can be. He also consistently kicked my ass at raquetball. I could not have done better than "The Original Godfather".

KRVM-FM Eugene. Roger Houglum, Instructor. In my senior year (64-65) at North Eugene High School, I went to KRVM as my electives for the first three hours of my day. Got a job from there right after graduation. First Phone at Ron Baillie in Spokane.

MHCC 2001

To top it all off, after hearing about Alaska from Jeff Young every day for 2 years, I now currently work in Alaska.

Good times.

Frankfurt American High School radio club. The club did a weekly one hour program for teenagers. Why was that cool?

The program was produced at and aired on Armed Forces Network HQ station in Frankfurt, Germany and at the time, probably had a half million watts. You could hear it all over europe. The station was located in a real Castle and overflowing with great (read that as cost was no object) Grundig and Telefunken professional broadcast gear. Fool that I was then, I thought all stations would be in Castles and equipped like that. HA!
But, I was hooked. After HS graduation, returned to USA to college and started working at commercial stations. Immediate goal was to pay for school, but ended it up as my profession.

On a side note, I have not seen any mention of Tom Costello at MHCC. I thought he did a good job with that program too.

Great idea for a thread!

Wally Rossman School of hard knocks! Training started watching McAnulty do his magic at KPFM on the hill. Bob lost his drivers license and my Brother & I would pick him up & cart up to Fairmount Blvd. (I was too young to drive!).......Watching the master do his thing was 101 for me. Those were the best of times.. grabbing records from the library for requests, playing around in the production room doing faux shows...... Terrific times.

I was lucky enough to have attended a year at MHCC with Ralph Rogers (1974-75) before I went into the Army. When I got back, I finished up with John Rice at MHCC. I actually left MHCC in 1979 to take my first job in Sweet Home. I had to take another class before actually getting my diploma in 1983.
Dodger - very funny that Sarge won't return your calls. I can't get him to return my e-mails. I actually worked with him in Roseburg, also. I must have made a bad impression.

Haha, Steve, you and me both!
What do you think we did? Sheesh, I paid the guy to do my wedding, and he didn't even bring a microphone for the pastor! On our video you just hear sounds of the wedding but can't hear the preacher, who by the way was my father in law!
LOL! Dopey kid!
Well, now he's big time and you and me are just old dogs I guess!
Remember we also gave Kevin Welch his first break too! Where's the love from him?
Glad you are still around Steve!

Dodger ... I did get a little love from Kevin. He WOULD return my e-mails when he was at KINK. If I knew how to e-mail him in Seattle I would. I also got some love from CYD when he was in Eugene. Tanis June (I think it was Tanis) sent me an e-mail not too long ago. You're right, though, we ARE old dogs ... but at least we're willing to TRY to learn new tricks.

1 year at Eastern Washington State (Dan Clark and I were in the same media class, great program)
2 years at Mt Hood...Ralph Rogers.

MHCC - Jeff Young

I was the one who didn't split after getting a part time gig. I actually stuck around and finished the program and got the degree. Low and behold, I STILL work in radio, unlike so many who decided to jump ship...

Uh Mr. Jackson why don't you share with those on this thread what name you used back in your Eastern Washington days.

Yea Chris,

First some setup...our elementary school toured 91KISN and a guy named "Buzz Barr" was on the air at that time (playing Winchester Cathedral) I thought that was the greatest!
Then in 9th grade at Covington a classmate of mine won a birthday party from 91KISN where Michael O'Brian hosted at her house.
Also, my girlfriend and I used to watch Dave Records Stone thru the Burnside window when I was at Evergreen High.
(so of course at EWSC I had so many shifts, I also used Dave Stone on a breathy FM delivery for a time)

Gawd I'm old...

Some of my favorite days at MHCC where in Steve Pringle's production class. He was a cool guy, who made class fun.

Where is Blinker, Andy, Jackson, Les, Gabe, Porter, Trisha, Charity, Yorkie, James, etc. etc. now?

I started before High school -KRAK in Sacremento in 68", KROY also in Sacremento in 69" KPNW AM 1120 with Paul Featherstone, and Si Wise as mobile DJ in the seventies in Eugene. Then over to the rocking 1280-KBDF way near Sheldon High is today. To Armed Forces radio- Then to Ron Ballie in Seattle in 1979 for about three month then into full time radio. My last stint KKNU New Country 93
in Eugene ended in 05"

I started at Seattle Public Schools KNHC. Was on the same high school staff with PDX's own Dan Packard. What an excellent way to learn radio!

That led to KWSU Pullman, and that led to a commercial job just down the road in Lewiston, Idaho, all at age 18. Credit the high school experience for that.

Oh well this might be a good place to say that I acutally did post graduate work at the Paul Walker School of Broadcast at KIOK Richland , Wa in 1990.

Does that count for being in a broadcast school??

Ha. Sarcasm duely noted...

MHCC - JEFF YOUNG

Most of my favorite days spent there. A great majority of my closest friends were classmates. I got my first radio job the day I graduated, and still in the bizz!

Jeff Young is an awesome instructor! I still stay in contact with him and receive much valued guidance on the side:-)

I learned more that a few radio "rights' and unlearned a couple of radio 'wrongs' from you Paul !

So that would be the truth.

Thanks, Al. We were all learning back then, in between the Winger records.

MHCC, under Jeff Young's last year of teaching. I feel lucky to have had a chance to learn from him. A great guy for sure!

I learned by watching and listening to Ron Leonard and the rest of the KYTE staff anytime they would let me in. The cool thing was I don't ever remember not being allowed, except maybe J.J. Jeffries. In addition, from Steve Naganuma taking me into the production room, showing me around and then telling me practice making air checks. Then be sure all was back the way I found it and be out by 3am. As a 16 year old kid it didn't get much better than that.

Brown Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota

My parents insisted I go to a "real" college. (They weren't too happy about my decision of radio for a career.) On the advice of a friend, I chose Linfield College for their radio program. I had some radio experience already, and was on the air at the college station, KSLC, within a couple of hours of arriving on orientation day. I had a weekend job at KCYX in McMinnville the next week. I was a hungry young guy back then, and was engineer and PD of KSLC by the end of my first semester.

I learned radio and TV basics from Professor Craig Singletary at Linfield, but I became a master of tape spicing during a summer internship with Doc Winston at the old KSND in Eugene.

I haven't touched a soldering iron or tape splicing kit for at least 10 years.

I learned the basics at KGRL in Bend back in 1981 while going to Bend High School as a Sophmore. In those days, you could actually still "hang" around the station. The jocks kind of took me under their wing back then too and I got my first on-air job doing Sunday mornings 6-12pm. Mike Anthony was there at the time (later KCNR) and he taught me a lot...Later, Les Sarnoff was our PD. I also learned from the late Scott Campbell (former KJR guy). What a great place to grow up and learn!!

It is a shame that young people that have a passion for radio can't cut their teeth on air in a small market anymore....It is rare. The Farm league ended when Big Corp-radio took over.

I attended a 12 week class which I think was called "Intro to Broadcasting" through Family Stations Inc (Oakland, CA). My first gig was a six hour shift New Years Eve '81 at KEAR San Francisco. Everything was "automated." By automated, I mean large reel-to-reel tapes for the "network" programming and a cart carousel for the top and bottom of the hour breaks. The only live programming was a five minute newscast at 11:55pm where I had to pull copy from the AP Teletype machine. I received my restricted radio-telephone operators license by simply sending a form in to the FCC.

Andy I worked with Mike Anthony at KCNR. Haven't seen him since the mid 80s. He ended up in Denver and I spoke to him once but that was like 1986 or so.

Stoner I couldn't agree with you more. And to honest I know the voice tracking my wife and I are doing as a morning team has taken that possibility away from someone local.

My time at KBPS (thanks to Littlesongs for the shout-out, glad someone remembers) was my only exposure to the world of radio. Life intervened for me in the form of a wife and a newborn baby at 20 years old, so dreams of working at backwater FMs doing part-time weekend jock shifts were pushed aside to put food on the table for my family.

Looking back on my time at K-Bips, I was a young, wide-eyed, cocky kid who thought I could make a splash in the business, but listening back to some of my old air-check tapes, man, I was horrible. Maybe fate worked out for the best.

Stoner, they still can, but it's like my days of WSU, LOTS of Top Ramen and M&C to get through the low pay. When I was PD/Mornings in Wenatchee, now market #175? I took two of our beginner part timers and showed them the ropes.

Last I heard, one of them is now hosting a two hour show, and the other is doing production, in addition to his original loading of shows. BOTH were shy and quiet, but I saw the seeds within them. I am so proud!

In fact, another such person always wanted radio, so I advised her, but knowing what I know about TV and her skills, I mentioned she should go film or TV. Now she is working as an AProducer for Boston Legal. She cut her teeth on very small market radio.

It's out there, but YES, very tough to find. It's just that newbee's have to realize they are REALLY starting at the low end of the food chain. Which is another reason why our pay scale is so low, there are too many in it. It's a very saturated field of work.

But if it's what you are willing to put up with, then go for it! That's what I always say... most of us agree, it's because we LOVE WHAT WE DO, not what we get paid...

I'm not adding extra points to schools or stations if you mention other people in your class. THEY need to post. I encourage you to post if you learned out of the Portland area. We have a load of single mentions that just need one more mention to get listed.

Here's the latest school/station tabulation:

7 = Mt. Hood Community College (Jeff Young)
5 = Benson High School-KBPS (Dr. Patricia Swenson)
5 = Mt. Hood Community College-KMH (Ralph Rogers)
4 = Portland Community College-KPCC (Keith Allen)
4 = Ron Bailie School of Broadcast (Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Spokane)
3 = Broadcast Professionals (Keith Allen & Co.)
3 = Mt. Hood Community College (John Rice)
2 = Wally Rossman School of Hard Knocks-KPAM/KPFM

Like Paul Walker mentioned earlier, I cut my teeth at Seattle Public Schools KNHC FM 89.5, baby! A great student run radio station put together by Larry Adams at Nathan Hale high school. We kids did hands-on everything (as they still do today, I believe). To get there, it took an hour and half bus ride from West Seattle.

I spent a ton of $ to get my F.C.C. first phone license at Seattle's Ron Bailie - then the feds phased out its importance within a year. I also worked at University of Washington's student run KCMU and Bellevue community college's KBCS.

Thank heavens I found Keith Allen at PCC...I found a way to pay the bills, keep the dogs in kibble and talk at the same time! Its been an adventure. I feel blessed I don't have to "work" for a living.

Years ago, I went to an orientation at the National Broadcasting School in SW Portland, not exactly sure what building, but close to SW First Avenue. If I remember correctly, they advertised on radio and television.

I have to say that I wasn’t at all impressed. In fact, it seemed like a trade school rip off. The equipment was dated and the staff seemed more interested in getting me signed up for financial aid than discussing the course of study. Needless to say, I didn’t take the bait.

So, there was a National Broadcasting School AND a Columbia School of Broadcasting? That's quite a coincidence!

Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton. Class of 86 KRBM-FM Now a repeater for OPB.
While in school, works weekends at KWHT as a board op.

Here's the latest school/station tabulation:

7 = Mt. Hood Community College (Jeff Young)
5 = Benson High School-KBPS (Dr. Patricia Swenson)
5 = Mt. Hood Community College-KMH (Ralph Rogers)
5 = Portland Community College-KPCC (Keith Allen)
5 = Ron Bailie School of Broadcast (Portland, San Francisco, 2 Seattle, Spokane)
3 = Broadcast Professionals (Keith Allen & Co.)
3 = Mt. Hood Community College (John Rice)
2 = Seattle Public Schools-KNHC (Larry Adams)
2 = Wally Rossman School of Hard Knocks-KPAM/KPFM

BTW... not that it matters, I was in the LAST WIXY school of broadcasting class before the name changed to the OHIO SCHOOL OF BROADCASTING

Good old Jackson Bottom Community College, aka KUIK in 1970. Nothing better for discipline than cueing up those James Last records when you really wanna be rocking out with The Raiders.

Lane Community College in the early 70's for some basics beyond cueing and sequeing. Dennis Celarie taught a ton of radio from his wheelchair.

Now for the flip side of this thread... how about the places and people who learned the least from? The anti-teachers?

Lisa Karr E-Mailed me. Here's what she had to say:

Hi Craig-

I was reading this thread and don't forgot about National Broadcasting School on 1st and Arthur back in the 80's. That is where I went and I think I am the only one who actually ever got a job from there, although, I could most definitely be wrong. Rusty Kimball was the director of the school at the time and became a dear friend of mine until he died. My first instructor was Ted Rogers (old KISN good guy) and my second instructor was Joe Casavettes. Other notables hanging around as 'studio instructors' were John Hugill, Mike Tanner, Scott Lander and Bill St. James.

Good times! It was run by charlatans but it helped me.

Lisa Karr

I am so glad Ted Rogers and Rusty Kimball's names have appeared on this thread. I'm occasionally in contact with Ted and he loves being retired. He told me he's got it down pretty good.

Ted was instrumental in my broadcasting life at a time when I needed it.

It was Ted that told me of Rusty's passing. Rusty was a decent musician too. I can still see his piano tie he wore often.

I too came from National Broadcasting School class of 90! As far as I know no one else from my class made it anywhere in radio.

Tommy Boye

I didn't know Ted Rogers was ever at KISN! When was that?

I used to extol the virtues of Ted Rogers in my MHCC classes. People didn't get it, because they were stupid kids. I was a smart kid!

Anyway, if he's ever reading any of this; Ted, I thought you were great!

Rich Johnson...Dennis Celorie was a great broadcast teacher. I had the pleasure of being a classmate of his and Steve Hanson's at Pacific. All this was pre-ADA, and we kept in shape carrying Dennis from his wheelchair up to the KPUR studios on the 2nd floor!

On another note, I have to laugh at some of the mentions of Pat Swenson. When I was a kid at Benson, I applied for a position on the airstaff. Pat (Green at the time) told me that I'd never make it in radio and to give it up. She was damned brutal about it too. I was crushed. In retrospect, the pimply-faced adenoidal scarecrow she was addressing was probably not prime broadcasting material. The point of the story was that 15 years later she came to me at KOIN asking for a favor. All she knew was that she was talking to the PD at KOIN. She didn't remember me from Benson. It wasn't until I reminded her of the incident that she realized she probably wasn't going to get her favor! Gawd, I loved that moment!

Dave Bell: My Gosh! How old are You, if You thought Pat Swenson was "green" at the time? She became KBPS G.M. in 1948!! (Maybe she was MEAN all the time).

Trying to remember just when Patricia Green became Patricia Swenson - around 1960?

Dennis Celorie! There's a blast from the past Rich.
Dennis Celorie was the GM at KFIR in Sweet Home when it first went on the air in 1968. It was the first station I ever applied with. Dennis gave me the tour of the station which still under construction, a lot of encouragement and then told me how to go about getting a third phone. I faithfully studied up and had my dad drive me to the big city (Portland ) to take the test. By the time I had my third they had been on the air a month and one of the first hires was so bad the owner (Hiram Groves) told him "No more first time broadcasters!" I was out before I was in. I peddled myself to KGAL instead where the chief signed the logs for me. (The statue of limitations HAS run out, hasn't it?) Last time I saw Dennis his PD Ken Sturdevant was planning on taking him to the Mustang Ranch...for some non-ADA riding lessons.

Dave Bell: I don't have copies of every Broadcasting Yearbook but the name change occurred between 1956 & 1957.

Lets see....I am probably the only one here to have gotten my start at the mighty KSPR, voice of Hillsboro High school, playing Van Halen and the like for the 6 (yes 6) lunch periods during the triple shifting phase in 79-80. That led to alot of staring at the automation machine at KUIK, waiting until someone had something for me to do...then I started calling in sports reports after HHS games...and got on air wknds at the end of my junior year in HS . That led to doing evenings in the summer (it was a daytimer then) and about every other possible duty for a few years, while I also went to PCC and Keith Allen's teaching. Also did a brief shift at TrafficNet with Todd Dorsey and the guys....I really didn't believe them when they said the last one to the bank would have their check bounce! (but it did!!) I didn't finish PCC as I learned more by going to work at KUIK. I would like to blame Jerry Allen and Doc Jones, two Medford on air guys in the mid 70s when I was in junior high, for being sooo good at radio that I dropped my long standing plan to be a lawyer and instead pursued radio. No one told me about the pay disparity between lawyers and radio folks.....

KSPR ??? what was that? part 15 FM? Carrier Current AM? Over the PA system? How did it work?

Here's the latest school/station tabulation:

7 = Mt. Hood Community College (Jeff Young)
6 = Portland Community College-KPCC (Keith Allen)
6 = Benson High School-KBPS (Dr. Patricia Swenson)
5 = Mt. Hood Community College-KMH (Ralph Rogers)
5 = Ron Bailie School of Broadcast (Portland, San Francisco, 2 Seattle, Spokane)
3 = Broadcast Professionals (Keith Allen & Co.)
3 = Mt. Hood Community College (John Rice)
2 = Lane Community College-KLCC (Dennis Celarie)
2 = National Broadcasting School (Rusty Kimball)
2 = Seattle Public Schools-KNHC (Larry Adams)
2 = Wally Rossman School of Hard Knocks-KPAM/KPFM

Hey Kyle: DOC FREAKIN JONES!!!
Haven't heard that name in years.
I followed him at KBOY back in the early 80's. He was a great air talent, but a little strange.
He would lock himself into the studio, then he had a big jar of water that he would dip paper towels into and wipe his head off, then throw them against the walls all over the studio. All the while, he would be screaming between songs all kinds of obscenities and various mad things. I would be outside watching this through the windows. Very scary. Then by the time my shift came, he had it all cleaned up and ready for me.
He had a car, an old Plymouth I think, that was basically held together with radio station stickers and he occasionally slept in it out in the parking lot.
He was quite a character. I would love to know if he is still around? When I was at KBOY it was Chris Leonard, Rick St. Clair, Doc Jones, Dusty Rhodes and myself as the daily lineup. This would have been about 82-84.

I got my foot in the door at Horizon Broadcasting in Bend. Great people-great company. Keith Shipman & Larry Wilson gave me my first gig. I will always be grateful!

KSPR was probably speaker wire from the studio to the cafeteria....a couple hundred feet away.....

i was also a student of dennis celorie. he was a great teacher and a wonderful person. i talked with dennis about 2 years ago. he is in a wheelchair commercial that runs here in eugene. he is a ceo for make a wish foundation in north carolina. i also got to say that tom parker has always been one of my favorite jocks. we have never met but your the man tom.

Andy: You were the first one to post on this thread (Thanks), plus mentioning Lane Community College. So I counted your first post in the "2" count tabulation above.

Coug: you are very correct, Keith is a wonderful guy and great to work for. He does however need to work on the combover, cmon Keith, shave it!

You can add my name to the list for Mount Hood C.C. In fact, I still have my 1977 mini diploma from MHCC in my wallet. Mike Byrd and Ralph Rogers played a big part in my journalism degree.
I could name names of my fellow 70's students if I have to.

Val: Would we recognize any?

Bob Kuhn's memories of working in the building with National Broadcasting School:

Craig, I was in the middle of a career with the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife when they were headquartered in Portland. This around 1990. We had just bought and relocated to the building at First and Arthur and inherited as tenants, an upscale day care center and the National Broadcasting School which occupied most of the NE corner of the first floor of the building.

Apparently this Portland branch of the school was doing okay...they always seemed to be busy. They had both radio and television studios with training in both. There was also a broadcast phone loop to the KLVS operation at Oaks Park, or at least a line and other equipment was labeled as such in the basement phone switch room. I think the students did news breaks or something for the mostly-automated KLVS format...somebody else might be able to fill in the info on this arrangement.

After a year or so the school suddenly moved out over the weekend. This was quite unexpected, but I guess some of the school's locations in other parts of the country were not doing so well and the whole company was being pulled under. For some reason, some of the misc. equipment was brought back as some kind of partial settlement of the lease. I still have an official Allied Broadcast Quartz clock hanging on the wall.

Bob Kuhn

Craig,
I knew I met my match when I took a radio lab with the soon to be famous Bill Jackson.Who knew we would host a show some 25 years later on Mix 1075. Our instructor was Jim Linniger, or Layback Lenny, K103's first mid-day jock I would work w/ 7 years later. Mary Volm of city spokesperson fame was the first in our crowd that would snag a job with KGW's "Good Evening".

I too am a product of the Keith Allen's School of Broadchasing at PCC..'71-73...I can still remember the records melting on the hot turnable in the booth (located in the Commons area).

Still remeber first getting the AP wire installed in the "Newsroom".

Rosemary Reynolds wanted to contribute to this thread. Here's what she writes:

I went to PCC in the late 70's. I was a single mom with 3 little kids. I'd been thinking about radio since I received a transitor radio for Christmas at age 9. I never missed Dick Clark's Television Program growing up. I loved seeing the artists and singing their songs along with them.

It was pretty startling to hear Keith say "What do you wanna be when you grow up?" My brain said what? It was the question he asked all of us. There wasn't a day when he didn't make us all work hard. Lots of practice in the booths repeating the same sentence 10 different ways and come aircheck day he still wasn't happy with it.

I gained confidence at PCC. I walked into the program lacking that. It prepared me for the thick skin I was going to have to have. When I started on the air, you could count the women in the Portland Radio Market on one hand. Women needed to be twice as good as the guys and we all worked twice as hard. Tom Michaels really helped me along.

I worked with him at my first on air gig at Wally Rossman's KPAM on the FM side. I'm thankful for my broadcast education, it's put food on the table for 30 years. I love it. Never thought I'd be working in TV. My PCC education is allowing me to work in both these days in Oregon, Washington, Idaho.

Keith and I have been married for almost 26 years. We live in Damascus. He's happy and pretty healthy. He'll celebrate his 78th Birthday in December. If any of you would like to contact him. His email address is: keithallenradio@comcast.net

Believe me he shakes his head a lot when he listens to the radio or watches TV. Mispronounciation his pet peeve along with screeching female voices. You wouldn't believe what I hear him say...or maybe you would.

There was an earlier question about John Rice at Mt. Hood ... he is in the Social Sciences Department there. I'm teaching Broadcasting PT at MHCC and I see him a couple times a week.

Take Care Everyone.

Rosemary Reynolds
_______________________________________________________________

Side note: Rosemary was one of my broadcast classmates at PCC. The next E-Mail comes from one of my radio buddies, Tom Hunter:

Hi Craig,

I rarely ever look at PDX Radio but I was told I should drop you a line about where I went to school. I attended Broadcast Professionals The Complete School of Radio Broadcasting and graduated in 1990.

A few things I'd like to point to the radio alumni about the Mt. Hood program. The MHCC program was started in 1968 or 1969 by Keith Allen and then he segued to PCC in 1970 and taught there until the program was discontinued in 1986. Broadcast Professionals 1982-1995 was the 9 month version of the two year program he built at PCC taught by Keith Allen, Rosemary Reynolds and other names you will recognize including Eric Norberg and yes Lars Larson even taught a newsroom class in the early 80's when he was a reporter at KPTV Channel 12.

In this market, Broadcast Professionals, PCC, and MHCC faced competition over the years from Ron Bailey and National Broadcasting School, who would pay jocks $50 to speak to a class to prove they had star power...the sad reality with both of (the latter programs) was they would sell the sizzle and would take anyone with a pulse all in the name of grants and loans. Most of those people got taken for a ride and learned nothing.

The difference that Keith Allen has made in this business is immeasurable! He's always been an honest, hard-working, realist that believes you get what you put into it. Focus, motivation, passion and a kill for the cause is what makes radio great and has shaped many awesome broadcasters.

The new kids to the biz are not broadcasters but 98% of them think they are and have a huge right of entitlement that because they went to school they deserve a full-time gig. The reality is you have to earn it. Attitude is everything if you walk in and act like you know everything your less likely to have the veterans willing to spend anytime with you. But, if you come in with passion, a willingness to learn and don't get sucked into the politics you can go anywhere in this business.

How do I know this? I grew up under the roof of Keith Allen and Rosemary Reynolds and spent 17 years in radio myself and still know that the people who make careers out of this incredible business are the ones who know more than just how to talk on the radio.

Tom Hunter

The Keith Allen Glutsch School of Broadcasting at PCC, of course! Remember the redhead who used to stand outside the window and request Lenny Welch's "Since I Fell For You"?

THANKS Craig! I've been wondering what Keith's email was, as I wanted to touch base with the guy! Really appreciate you printing those emails as I remember Tom coming by the school once in a while when he was a kid.

Rosemary was such a great news teacher! I learned more from her than I thought when I was asked to do news. In fact, just enough to know that I'm not a news guy, but at each station I run, thank God for keeping them on this planet!

Have a good one!

"Since I Fell For You": Craig Walker's favorite song!

Rosemary Reynolds worked as a Dj at the old Q105 in the late 80's, correct? That name sounds familiar.

Justin: If Rosemary did work at Q105, I would think she did Newscasts. I don't have Rosemary's radio bio but I can find out. I do have Keith's.

Here's the latest school/station tabulation:

9 = Portland Community College-KPCC (Keith Allen)
7 = Mt. Hood Community College (Jeff Young)
6 = Benson High School-KBPS (Dr. Patricia Swenson)
6 = Mt. Hood Community College-KMH (Ralph Rogers)
5 = Ron Bailie School of Broadcast (Portland, San Francisco, 2 Seattle, Spokane)
4 = Broadcast Professionals (Keith Allen & Co.)
3 = Mt. Hood Community College (John Rice)
2 = Lane Community College-KLCC (Dennis Celarie)
2 = National Broadcasting School (Rusty Kimball)
2 = Seattle Public Schools-KNHC (Larry Adams)
2 = Wally Rossman School of Hard Knocks-KPAM/KPFM

Justin: Here's what Rosemary said:

"I worked at Q-105 twice once as news person another time as morning side kick doing traffic and weather as well."

I found this info regarding KNHC:

http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0106/t.530.html

http://www.knhcroots.9ax.net - which has an audio download from Dan Packard 1977!

Reading this thread has been a kick in the proverbial! I just applied and was accepted on this board. I doubt if any of you remember me from the 70s and 80s but here's my story. I went to Ron Bailie School of Broadcast - Seattle and because I got a job I graduated. You see, they considered getting a job graduation so they could legally advertise that 100% of their graduates were placed in the business. If you never got hired anywhere you were a student for life! I'm from Cathlamet, WA on the Columbia and when my roommate, Greg Coghlan, came home (he was in the class ahead of me) with the news that he was offered an audition in Longview, WA at this really cool FM station KLYK even though I hadn't completed all the courses I convinced him to let me come along since they were needing two DJs. Hap Schoff hired us both after putting us on the air live for 1/2 hour each. When he called the school and said he'd take Max and Greg, the director said, "Max! What was Max doing there?" Hap asked if I was a student and the director said yes but he hadn't sent me on the audition and that there was another student who was much better than I was and Hap should consider this person before making any decisions. He sent down the only loser student who hadn't "graduated" yet from two classes before and sadly Hap hired me and this other guy...my roommate was devastated. So I graduated three months early! Did the 6 to midnight shift in this little old cobweb infested house next to the tower out in the boonies. They were in the process of building a new studio and it was awesome when completed. It was next door to George's Broiler and upstairs was George's Attic...the happening, live music dance bar in town. A spiral staircase was put in place in the back of the radio station that went up to a glassed in booth next to the stage. I broadcast from 6 to 9 downstairs and 9 to midnight up stairs putting the current band on live from 10 to 10:45 every night. I stayed at KLYK for a year and then met the bass player for the band Raving Maniac & Overload, Kevin West, who had a day job at KVAN in Portland. He introduced me to Mrs. Brown, the station owner, and I moved to Portland to do morning drive at KVAN. As it was stated above I wouldn't trade my radio days for the world but minimum wage was only $2 back then and that meant a daily wage of $8!!! I left radio and got into the club scene before Disco started. I fought Disco tooth and nail but succumbed to the avalanche that it was. M.L. Marsh from KINK and I started the Portland Record Pool in order to get the 25 Portland club DJs all the latest 12" singles free and it was a smashing success. I also worked with M.L. at KINK doing live interviews with any number of groups/single performers between playing cuts from their albums. I worked with my partner, Jennifer Lobianco, on a KINK public service program called Optimistic Voices. We also had a monthly throw-away R&R publication called RagMag for 4 years in the 70s. OK, I'm sure I've rambled on for far too long but finding this discussion group had brought back some wonderful memories. Last but not least, the reason I got into broadcasting in the first place was because of Jim Bosley, who we lost last week. His on-air presence amazed me and I wanted to be just like him. Later, in my club-spinning days at Horst Meager's Odyssey in Lake Oswego, 78 through 80, Jim and his wife were regulars and we became good friends. I will miss him dearly. Thanks for wading through all this. I look forward to learning more about all of the members here.

Maxflasher: Welcome aboard! If this thread enticed You to join pdxradio, Great! That's what it's all about, getting readers (aka lurkers) to come out in the open with their stories, information and opinions. Great first post!

Got my first taste of radio in 1974 at U of O in the TV/Radio Workshop class...then decided that radio was all I wanted to do at that point. Dropped out of U of O and talked my way into the Lane Community College program with the amazing and wonderful JEFF YOUNG. Convinced him that I wouldn't lag behind in stuff and had lots of speech and drama classes in my background. He gave in. Thank God!!
Enrolled in LCC, got almost through the program, was hired to do weekends and stayed in school as well. Then when Mornings at KFMY was offered, I quit school and here I still am.

Thank you Jeff. He's still a great friend. By the way, he is enjoying his "retirement" by recording local musicians in his private studio. It's in his blood, that's for sure.

Maxflasher and I did the exact same shift work at KLYK, he obviously right before me. He also obviously went on to be way more successful than I.

Max, somewhere here there's a whole thread on KLOG/KLYK reunion. Check it out, and welcome!

> You see, they [Ron Bailie School of Broadcast]
> considered getting a job graduation so they
> could legally advertise that 100% of their
> graduates were placed in the business.

Ha ha ha! That is a very sneaky marketing strategy.

This from the U.S. Department of Education website on Ron Bailie:

Significant Prosecutive Actions
Resulting from OIG Investigations
(October 1, 1994 March 31, 1995)
School Owners and Officials

Bailie School of Broadcast
Seattle, Washington
Ronald Bailie, president

Ronald Bailie, radio personality and president of Bailie School of Broadcast, was convicted of nine counts of em-bezzlement, false statements, and criminal conspiracy following a two-week trial in Federal District Court in Seattle. Bailie's wife, Nada, and daughter, Terri, were also convicted. The case arose out of the Bailies' operation of the Bailie School of Broadcast in the late 1980s.

An OIG investigation revealed that, between 1988 and 1990 (the last full year of operation for the Bailie School), Ron Bailie, Nada Bailie and Terri Bailie embezzled approximately $270,000 from the school's Perkins Loan accounts and falsified financial reports required by ED attesting to the amount of Perkins Loan funds on hand.

Here's more on all this:

http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/99/99.F3d.1147.96-30049.96-30048.96-300 47.html

Craig....N.B.S. was in the old Grantree Furniture Building, right???

Scott: That I don't know.

Steve checks in:

I went to LCC when dennis celorie was teaching also.

regards Steve Taylor.

Here's the latest school/station tabulation:

9 = Portland Community College-KPCC (Keith Allen)
7 = Mt. Hood Community College (Jeff Young)
6 = Benson High School-KBPS (Dr. Patricia Swenson)
6 = Mt. Hood Community College-KMH (Ralph Rogers)
6 = Ron Bailie School of Broadcast (Portland, San Francisco, 3 Seattle, Spokane)
4 = Broadcast Professionals (Keith Allen & Co.)
3 = Mt. Hood Community College (John Rice)
3 = Lane Community College-KLCC (Dennis Celarie)
2 = National Broadcasting School (Rusty Kimball)
2 = Seattle Public Schools-KNHC (Larry Adams)
2 = Wally Rossman School of Hard Knocks-KPAM/KPFM
1 = Lane Community College-KLCC (Jeff Young)[note: this 1 listing is on the tabulation since both "Lane" & "Jeff" are on the tabulation in other listings]

The National School of Broadcasting was in the northeast corner of the first floor of a four story office building at 2501 SW First Av...overlooking I-205. This was the GrandTree Furniture Building until they moved out and the Oregon Dept of Fish and Wildlife bought the place for its headquarters, getting the NBS as tennants for awhile until they moved out over a weekend.

Bob Kuhn (future pdxradio poster)

Oops...that should have read "over-looking I-405"

Bob, you just made history by doing something I didn't think was possible: On your very first post, you corrected yourself from a previous post! Welcome to the board!

LOL!

Thanks,..it was a good experiment to see if I could make thru the posting process...I spent a year in the early 70's trying to get a job in Portland radio while punching the timeclock at K-Mart, but it never worked-out...I did get into a freelance stringer gig at KATU News, shooting film mostly on the weekends, though, and that lasted into the news video era. I still have some video news film stock and my trusty Bell and Howell camera.

Add another school to the list, Craig. Northwest Schools located at 23rd & NW Irvine. Ed Butherus (sp?) was the main instructor (booth announcer for KOIN) and Gary Hamilton (KPTV-sports. Died tragically in a house fire) taught us editing. Received my 3rd phone from there, then went to Ron Bailey just off Burnside for my 1st, all back in '71/'72. Boy, am I glad those days are behind me...

time to put centralia college and KCED on the list: that's where i learned radio and did my college shifts, as well as a successful stint as music director under instructor wade fisher

I think Gary Hamilton also worked at KOIN. He and his wife, Ruth, lived in a house they owned in Dayton. When he died suddenly in the fire, I did a memorial story about it in the sports section of the News-Register. At the time, Ruth wanted to set up a scholarship in Gary's name. In later years, she would be seen around town, in driving a car that was stuffed to the gills with all kinds of things.

Again, a great idea for a thread. BUT... it would be nice to tally those who came through OJT as well. (Yep, I realize the OP was on schools, but I suspect we've earned our radio GEDs by now).

As I tally it, the OJT total is 16 so far. (My apologies if I've misread any of the posters' remarks).

Kennewickman
Ricksalemradio
Alex_hart
Hero_of_the_day
Chris_taylor
Eastwood
Dodger
Alfredo_t
Andy_brown
Justin_timberfake
Mack
Richpatterson
Stoner
Andy_west
Talpdx
Seguedad

For us denser folk, I finally had to Google OJT.

Seguedad: Great Idea listing OJT! I don't know why I didn't think to make a listing, since I brought up OJT in my first post. Centralia College makes the list but I can't find another post that credits Northwest Schools.

Here's the latest school/station tabulation:

16 = On The Job Training
9 = Portland Community College-KPCC (Keith Allen)
7 = Mt. Hood Community College (Jeff Young)
7 = Ron Bailie School of Broadcast (2 Portland, San Francisco, 3 Seattle, Spokane)
6 = Benson High School-KBPS (Dr. Patricia Swenson)
6 = Mt. Hood Community College-KMH (Ralph Rogers)
4 = Broadcast Professionals (Keith Allen & Co.)
3 = Mt. Hood Community College (John Rice)
3 = Lane Community College-KLCC (Dennis Celarie)
2 = National Broadcasting School (Rusty Kimball)
2 = Seattle Public Schools-KNHC (Larry Adams)
2 = Centralia College-KCED (Wade Fisher)
1 = Lane Community College-KLCC (Jeff Young)[note: this 1 listing is on the tabulation since both "Lane" & "Jeff" are already on the tabulation.]

Actually Craig, you should change the name associated with KBPS to Kevin Flink. Dr Swenson may have managed the station, but in reality she knew next to nothing about radio other than how to turn it on (there are some incredibly funning stories about that - for another time). Don't get me wrong, she did an amazing job of promoting KBPS and keeping it on the air during an incredible 46 years as GM...but as for teaching kids about radio, it was Kevin who deserves all the credit for the period from 1972 thru 2007!

Bill: Thanks! I'll make the change in the next update. When I was putting together the list, I didn't see anyone mention an Instructor at KBPS, so I stuck Dr. Swenson in.

The desire was there before I went to Pacific Northwest Electronics to get my First Phone.

Achieving that...and I'm sure this is true for others who made radio a career...the learning and perfecing skills came directly from the number of hours logged on-air. Early in the career, 6 hour airshifts were not unusual.

The FCC used to require News, Public Affairs, and other content. It was not unusual to start out nights...jocking, doing your own news, sports, weather, and headlines every hour...as well as taking 2 complete set of transmitter readings each half-hour.

When you try to execute the perfect break, deliver a compelling newscast with authority...and aircheck each break...and listen back to each...you couldn't help but perfect your craft.

Positive encouragement from a good PD cannot be discounted.

Being done in real time 6 hours a night is a much stronger learning experience, that cutting tracks for a 6 hour airshift.

Sorry the opportunities to develop have disappeared for newcomers. However, how many seasoned pros would even be interested in entering broadcasting if all you had to hear is what is coming out of speakers today?

We were compelled by compelling radio, and challenged ourselves by believing we could do it better.

Excellent, Robin. This is precisely why broadcast radio is no longer a creative, thriving industry. The very best of what it once was will survive, probably based in IP delivery ... but with so many originators it all seems pretty hopeless with regard to building a major audience when microcasting is the rage of the new generation. The next paradigm happens soon, though, when IP mobile becomes more widespread and the standard entertainment receiver in the automobile expands to include WiMax or its successor.

BTW: The commission dropped the requirement from four hourly transmitter/DA readings to once every 3 hours in 1972 or 1973.
Damn, we're old!

Right on the mark, Robin.

It does seem like ancient times when you actually had to have an FCC license to be on the air. I achieved the basic "Third Phone", but wasn't motivated enough (or probably smart enough) to get that all-important "First Phone".
I entered the business during the last years of that first phone requirement to be on at night. Probably cost me a lot of good job opportunities at the beginning. But I do remember how important those meter readings were, and it was usually grounds for dismissal if you missed one more than once or twice!

I too was already working when I got my First Class. I had a third class and knew to move up I needed a first. (At the time, in order to get hired at a high power station or a station that was directional, there had to be someone with a first signed on the transmitter log. Most stations looked for jocks that had a first so they didn't need an extra engineer.)

So I went off to get mine. It was summer and the class was in Atlanta at a company called Elkins Institute of Radio. (EIR) for you engineer types. Did I say it is HOT in Atlanta in the summer. So I spent 6 or 7 weeks there learning to pass the FCC exam and got my first ticket.

The irony was, I changed stations in the fall, to a station that was in the same building with a TV station and the TV engineers read the meters. I never used that first class. Everywhere else I worked after that, there was someone to read the meters. But it was a positive experience and my first opportunity to hear Don Rose on WQXI.... Doctor Don on Quixy in Dixie. He showed me that not only was there "the envelope" but there was an entire world outside it and that's where he worked.

Talk about inspiration! He personified it for me.

I still think he was the best jock I ever heard.

And yes, I am old.

My first time on the air was at age 16 on KBPS in 2001. We were given a lot of freedom in those days. I was at KBPS well after Pat Swanson left the picture, and learned under Steve and Kevin.

Went on to work Summer Sound at KBPS after my senior year. I was hired 2 weeks before I graduated high school (that was 2003). I worked at KBPS for almost 5 years after high school.

I enrolled in the radio program at MHCC in 2004, and that's where I think I really learned what it takes to make a living in this business. Finished the program in '06, as Jeff Young's last class (along with Gmheller). A lot of folks from my MHCC class are actually working in radio!

Presently hosting Evenings on KITI-FM in Centralia, WA.

For those that say that there are no small markets for new comers to get their starts, that's not true. There aren't as many jobs today as there once were, but there are still jobs out there.

Joe, if you're registered with Reel Radio, you might be interested in this aircheck of DDR at WQXI in 1967 - enjoy!
http://www.reelradio.com/ram/beg2.ram?ddrwqxi022867-u.rm~0:00.0~50:42.0

EIR, that's funny! Ohms Law, right?

Here's the latest school/station tabulation:

16 = On The Job Training
9 = Portland Community College-KPCC (Keith Allen)
8 = Mt. Hood Community College (Jeff Young)
7 = Ron Bailie School of Broadcast (2 Portland, San Francisco, 3 Seattle, Spokane)
7 = Benson High School-KBPS (Kevin Flink)
6 = Mt. Hood Community College-KMH (Ralph Rogers)
4 = Broadcast Professionals (Keith Allen & Co.)
3 = Mt. Hood Community College (John Rice)
3 = Lane Community College-KLCC (Dennis Celarie)
2 = National Broadcasting School (Rusty Kimball)
2 = Seattle Public Schools-KNHC (Larry Adams)
2 = Centralia College-KCED (Wade Fisher)
1 = Lane Community College-KLCC (Jeff Young)[note: this 1 listing is on the tabulation since both "Lane" & "Jeff" are already on the tabulation.]

I was pretty much born with radio in the blood as my dad was a Boston jock back in the day. To get some paper behind me, I went to what was the Northeast Broadcasting School in Boston.

Better late than never...

My first radio gig was in K Falls at KTEC. They offered an elective class that got you your 1st phone test as the final. Probably one of the last years that one was needed to sign the logs. Then a few years of the late, late shift spinning Heavy Metal for fun. Probably the best reason to do this was the access to the newest metal records, man did Metallica change my life!

But I wasn't in college to learn radio so I toiled away in electronics manufacturing until the late 80's when my employer laid off 30% of the workforce. That qualified me for more gov'ment assistance to continue schooling and I enrolled in the MHCC Radio Program. I'll let Craig figure out how to 'score' this one: John Rice was the head of the department, but I took classes from Jeff Young AND Happy Tom Costello. Second year I interned at KEX with JD and he hired me out of school that summer. Then I blew the live toss to Bob Akamian out at PIR for a Robbie Knievel jump. That caused me to miss the final spot set in Scott Lynn's show and I was FIRED! Next at KFXX for 6 years where I got to work with some of the greatest people I've ever had the luck to meet in ANY business. Jumped ship to TV when I realized that Entercom wasn't EVER going pay me a living wage. 2 years and the local news biz ground me up and spit me out, right before 9/11. No more broadcasting jobs to be had so I went back to computers for 4 years until I heard of a job opening and a chance to work for Larry Holtz. I am STILL amazed that I have such a great job.

Sorry for the ramble...

So I take it You must have known Larry at Entercom previously. Commercial radio's loss of Larry Holtz was Non-commercials gain, that's for sure.

It's wonderful to see a fellow KTEC alumnus post here! That was my initial training in radio too, Craig. I made my way up to general manager of that station BEFORE I realized that I wanted to do radio as a career. When OIT launched the new communications degree, I was in the first graduating class. =)

What years were you there The_special_master? What was your on-air name?

Craig-Larry was the chief engineer for the years that I was there. But I was at KFXX during the FUN years before it was sold to Entercom. When Roy Disney sold the station he ACTUALLY CAME BACK and threw us all a big party.

Jake-I was there in the mid 80's and I went by the lame handle of the Zombie Master at the time. But I was hardly professional at the time. When did they add a communications degree at OIT?

Zombie Master! That's so KTEC! I love it. =)

I graduated in '03, so I think they started the Communications B.S. in Fall '01. I believe there are a few more radio electives now, and more than a few graduates of the program who are currently holding down radio jobs. =)

Okay, so I realize I'm coming in way late in the thread, but chalk another one up for KBPS at Benson High School,'85-'87. Kevin Flink and "Herself" ran the program. I owe them huge thanks for giving me the opportunity to join the program. At the time KBPS was an elective and Leslie Rodebaugh, Rick Eska and I successfully petitioned to make it a major again. Unfortunately, I've lost touch with most of my friends from Benson, with the exception of Chris Sargent. Yes, he still takes my calls. :-)

Every once in a while I still see/hear a former KBPS-er and am reminded of what a great program that used to be (and may still be).

I was lucky, during my sophomore year at Benson Bill Jackson hired me to work overnight weekends on K-Lite 97.1, formerly KCNR. Those were good times up at Council Crest where the Stonehenge tower now sits.

I owe a huge thanks to many people for helping me along the way: Steve Naganuma, Dave Allen, Bill Jackson, Jeff Salgo, Bill Prescott, Vince Mertz, Ken Martin... and the list goes on. I hope you guys don't think I forgot about you or remember how much you helped me. There are many things I would do over in my life if given the chance, but working with you guys and the KBPS experience is NOT one of them!

If there are any former 'BPS-ers that were there during my era (and I didn't manage to piss you off) feel free to look me up at CBS Radio - Portland.

Good to see posts from Hough and Klopfenstein!!

Hey, Troy welcome aboard! I'll do another update soon.

--------------KUPL PD Johnny Paul Takes On Teaching Role---------------

CBS RADIO KUPL/PORTLAND PD JOHN PAUL tells ALL ACCESS that he has been asked to teach a radio class at Mt. HOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE this fall.

A true innovator, JOHNNY is going to call the class, “The Jock Meeting,” saying that it will resemble an actual air-staff meeting (remember when air staffs were actually big enough to have a meeting), and will cover issues that pertain to today’s media/radio. He will also be critiquing the student’s air-checks from their respective college stations.

Reach out to the professor at jpaul@kupl.com.

Here's another "on the job" story: I grew up in a small town in North Dakota; best known for being the home of the "World's Largest Buffalo" (statue), as well as being the hometown of Peggy Lee, Louis L'Amoure and Shadoe Stevens. As to the latter, whein I decided I wanted to be a "D-J", his family had just sold the local "community builder" station, KEYJ, to it's longtime manager, Bob Richardson.

A word about Bob: from the day it went on the air in 1954, until the day in 1979 when he sold it to a couple of slimy “pros from Dover” from Minneapolis, the voice, face, brain and barking, drill-sergeant-like hypothalamus of KEYJ was Bob Richardson.

Bob might not have been the last of his breed, but they certainly went out of warranty after he left the business. He had all the audible trappings of a radio guy - the kind of voice you could hear at a gas station and instantly recognize. He was a solid Republican and a member in good standing of the local Methodist Church, and unlike most media people today, he made damn sure the station was up-front about the station's political (and religious) stance. Every night at sign-off, instead of the standard National Anthem, KEYJ played Mario Lanza singing “The Lord’s Prayer’”

He was however, a good judge of radio talent in the raw. After I had appeared on a high-school-produced "Radio Guild", show broadcast over his station, he had encouraged me to consider a career in broadcasting. With the encouragement of my high school speech counselor, I approached Bob during the summer before my Junior year, and asked him for a job. After hemming and hawing for awhile, and giving me some valuable advice on the economic realities of having employees, he allowed as how I "might be useful", provided I could get my Third-Class ticket.

When I took the test a few months later, I passed, while a fellow who had working for almost a year under a "provisional" license failed -- long story short (too late, I know) I got his job!

Since then, I've had a lot of gigs, including being the token white guy at a soul station, but nothing still compares to the instruction into the craft of broadcasting I received from Bob. I'm pretty sure that no graduate of any broadcast school anywhere got a more intense initiation to the basics of broadcasting than any of us high-schoolers that Bob took under his wing. We learned it the old fashioned way - the same way paratroops learn to jump out of planes. Bob Richardson was crusty enough to make Lou Grant seem like Richard Simmons; I seriously doubt that any of KEYJ's many alumni will ever forget the telephone calls from Bob (which could come at any time, from the sign-on at 5:55AM through sign-off at midnight), correcting pronunciations, berating for choices in music, or sometimes just yelling.

But the instruction was always valuable: "Say it, don't read it". "You're not a disc jockey - you're a reporter who plays records!" "Don't bury your lead." "Get your facts straight - and correct pronunciation is one of those facts." "Nobody’s ever gonna remember the Beatles." (Yeah, he was opinionated, and he wasn't always right).

To call Bob contentious would be to call Gomer Pyle "confused", but you know, he passed away a few years ago, and I do sometimes find myself missing those late-hight calls.

Centralia Community College. KCED

Heya Ron!

Here's the latest school/station tabulation:

17 = On The Job Training
9 = Portland Community College-KPCC (Keith Allen)
9 = Mt. Hood Community College (Jeff Young)
8 = Benson High School-KBPS (Kevin Flink)
7 = Ron Bailie School of Broadcast (2 Portland, San Francisco, 3 Seattle, Spokane)
6 = Mt. Hood Community College-KMH (Ralph Rogers)
4 = Broadcast Professionals (Keith Allen & Co.)
3 = Mt. Hood Community College (John Rice)
3 = Lane Community College-KLCC (Dennis Celarie)
3 = Centralia College-KCED (Wade Fisher)
2 = National Broadcasting School (Rusty Kimball)
2 = Oregon Institute of Technology-KTEC (John Hyde)
2 = Seattle Public Schools-KNHC (Larry Adams)
1 = Lane Community College-KLCC (Jeff Young)[note: this 1 listing is on the tabulation since both "Lane" & "Jeff" are already on the tabulation.]

As a 16 year old fan of Stoner and all the other great jocks at both KISN and KGW I dreamed of being on the radio. Out of the blue, I was offered a chance to work on-air at KOHI. My mentor was Dale Diamond. He was a tremendous teacher and was very passionate about radio. He worked incessantly, but always had time to help out a rookie talent. Two of my best buddies joined me at the station and we had a fabulous time. Dale was a gem.

After graduating from college (no radio classes in my four years) and doing a few other things, I connected with John Rice. He was really great and put me into position to get work very quickly. I took a class or two to allow me to get onto the campus station to redevelop my chops. He set me up with great internships and I was soon working on the air. A few years later I came back to teach a class at MHCC. John was a real quality person and I cherish all that he and Dale taught me. Those early days were really great and filled with some fine folks and a host of radio characters.