My life is already like the Willie Nelson song ‘On the Road Again’. Twelve hours straight from Roanoke,Va.(We still owned a home there and I never moved my family to Charleston. Hell, there was no time!) The only thing that kept me going was hearing promotional announcements between songs for ‘THE MOUTH OF THE SOUTH–COMING MONDAY MORNING!!’, when I got close enough to hear the station. My first thought was that they had hired someone else! Who is this ‘MOUTH OF THE SOUTH’? I later found out, it was me! Whew! I finally arrive in Orlando, collapse onto the bed face first, trying to grab some shut-eye, when the phone rings. It’s my new General Manager-M.F. Kershner. Nice name, huh? Wants me to drop by the station, sign some papers and go on the air the next morning! What? I’m bone tired, I smell like my old high school gym clothes, and I gotta go on the air the next day, plus I miss my family! Damnit! I’m glad I went though. Professional all the way, and I knew I had met a kindred spirit in M.F. All he wanted to do was win! WBJW was fifth in the ratings when I went there. Number one in less than a year! Was it all due to me? Nope and nope again. As it was with WROV, it was the TEAM that got it done! We all wanted to win so badly, we hung around the station just in case one of the other jocks needed us for something, and even attended remotes for support! Oh God! I can hear my high school coach now. ‘THERE IS NO I IN TEAM, BOY!’ And the guy was right. It was at WBJW too that I met the most elusive Program Director I’ve ever known, Tom West. In the four years I was there, I think I saw him three times! He’d call me on the phone in the studio and yell at me for something he thought I’d done, and that was it! Think about this for a moment. A boss yo unever saw! And when he finally did drop by the station, it was a quick pat on the back and then he was in the wind again! Tom was a legend in Orlando radio and he’s gone now. Rest easy, Tom, your management style is certainly missed. You want the gun story don’t you? This guy keeps calling me on the request line accusing me of banging his wife. Was the word banging too strong? How about having a ‘spirited physical relationship’ with? What a nut job! He won’t stop calling. Shows up at the radio station one day, packing a piece, promising to blow a hole in me that he can walk through. M.F. attracts his attention long enough so that I can hit 911, the cops come, take him away, and I am excused long enough to clean out my pants!
Station promotion. “Come out and let your kids play in the snow!” That’s me on the right with my ‘porno mustache’..