Adventures in Radio: The Creepy Steve Story
A heart wrenching look inside radio, from innocent beginnings, to my heartless demise.
This book includes sections of parody where there is an assumption that comments may be paraphrased or not actual statements made by the person.
Published by Off On A Tangent Press
For information, please contact:
adventuresinradio AT stevegarfield DOT com
Printed in the United States of America
This book is for my father whose family was so poor, they had to use spaghetti for shoelaces; for my mother who always said that I could do radio as a hobby; and for my wife, Carol, who encourages me by ignoring what I do.
They're saying things that I can hardly believe.
Elvis Costello
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx
If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
Misfortune of famous people makes good radio.
Kevin Karlson
The Creepy Steve Story
- How my love for radio led me to talk my way into the studio of a morning radio show in Boston.
Behind The Scenes
- My heart wrenching experiences with the Eagle Morning Crew in Boston.
Humor in the News
- Jokes good enough for morning radio but not quite good enough for late night TV.
Thanks to The Eagle Morning Crew: Kevin Karlson, Pete McKenzie, Lori Duchesne, Jeremy Leahy, and Stan the Joke Man.
Thanks also to The Asleep At The Wheel Morning Show: Neal Robert, Henry Santoro, Angie C., Greg Wymer, Big Jim and daBaker.
Thanks also go to Scott Hankins for helping me with the editing.
The Creepy Steve Story
How my love for radio led me to talk my way into the studio of a morning show in Boston.
Beginnings - Kid Stuff
My interest in Radio started when I was a child. I remember going to the mall with my mother. There was a DJ doing a remote broadcast. As my mom shopped, I hung around and watched the man with the microphone. It made an impression on me.
I used to make tapes of songs and comedy bits with my first tape recorder. I'd spend hours with the record player and tape recorder.
It would sound something like this:
I'd say, "So Dick Nixon how do you feel?"
Then I played The Beatles, "I'm a loser."
I thought it was great.
The First Milli Vanilli
The kids in our neighborhood had a band. They made believe they played the instruments and I would run the record player at the appropriate time. Our lead singer looked just like Mick Jagger. We were the first Milli Vanilli.
It never occurred to us to try to learn to play real instruments.
Salem State - WMWM, Learning about radio
During the summer between high school and college I went over to WMWM, the radio station at Salem State College. During the summer most of the college students went home. That gave me the opportunity to get an air shift.
Finding the station was probably the hardest part. I parked my car and headed to the Student Union building. Not many people were around; I asked someone where the station was. They gave me directions to the basement. After a long walk down the hall, I came to the door of the station. It was wallpapered with stickers from tons of bands. Music was playing behind the door.
I entered the station and saw the General Manager's office. I poked my head in and introduced myself to the kid sitting in the office. I told him I wanted to have a radio show. He had me fill out an application.
He said that in order to get a show I had to pass a test and train with current DJ's first. If I wanted I could start now. So I was introduced to the on-air DJ and began my training.
The station's console had big black knobs that controlled the sound for the microphone, two turntables, and two cart machines. The cart machines played tapes that are the size of 8-Track tapes.
The transmitter was a huge, floor to ceiling mass of steel, that had buttons and dials all over the place. It was intimidating. The operation of it was made easier by a cheat sheet that was taped to the front. All you had to do was make sure the transmitter level stayed between a certain range. If it went to low you'd push a button to raise it, and if it went to high, you'd push a button to lower it.
After I completed my training and passed the test, I got a show. I was so excited. I loved cueing up records and segueing them together. As one song was playing, I'd listen to the beginning of the next song, to get ready to time it right, to get both records to blend in together. I could sit in the studio for hours practicing. Usually, if a DJ didn't come in after me, I would just stay and do another two hour show.
One local musician I liked to play a lot was Cindy Bullens. Her debut album, Desire Wire, was out at the time and I played it a lot.
Little did I know at the time, that I'd meet her, one-day in that same studio.
UMass Amherst - No Room For You!
In college, I went to UMass Amherst. The college radio station was WMUA. It was very hard to get a slot at this station. If you did, you got to do a show Monday through Friday. That's why it was so hard to get one. They had the same five people doing all the shows!
Smith College - I Didn't Get Any Dates
Out in Amherst, they have the Five College Program, which means that as a student at one college, you could take classes at any of the others. That allowed me to get a radio show at Smith College. That station broadcast to the dorms and 5 blocks around the college.
At that point I didn't care if anyone heard me; I just wanted to have the fun of playing records on the radio. I got a shift and was happy to find out that a cute girl had the show just prior to mine. Wow. A Smith College girl dating a UMass guy. Well, only in my dreams.
I didn't get any dates out of the job.
Amherst College - WAMH, The Pioneer Valley's Best Sound
After a semester at Smith, I got a radio show at WAMH, Amherst College. I remember going into the station and being impressed. It was really nice compared to Smith College and Salem State.
I had to take the 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM show because no one wanted to get up that early, but I didn't care. I was going to be on the radio and more people would be able to hear it this time.
I called the show, The Friday Breakdown. I played new music. This show was a blast. I remember one sunny day telling the listeners to aim their speakers out the window and to get a chair and sit outside and listen to the show. Shortly thereafter I got a call from someone telling me that they were doing it. That was so cool.
At WAMH I met Jeff Berlin. He had the show just before mine and was a great help to me. I used to go into the station early just to watch him work.
Another time I went into the station and found a note on the board telling me that the transmitter was down and to wait for the engineer. While waiting, I put in a new album that just came in from Squeeze. After a while, people started calling to tell me that they loved the music I was playing. I kept telling them that the station was off the air until I had one of the callers hold his phone up to the radio.
I was broadcasting and didn't even know it!
Elvis Costello - Best Concert Ever
New Wave was just hitting the US at this time. I was playing all the new music. I especially liked Elvis Costello's 'My Aim Is True' album.
His first concert tour of America included a stop at UMass!
The show was scheduled for the Student Union Ballroom. It wasn't the biggest venue on campus. We lined up in the hallway outside the main doors to get in.
The concert was supposed to start at 8:00 PM. It got to be 8:00 and the doors were still not open. Then it became 8:30 and then 8:45. We were finally let into the ballroom. Chairs were all set up facing the stage.
We all took our seats. All of a sudden Elvis Costello came out with his band and launched into all the songs off the 'My Aim Is True' album. The atmosphere was electric.
After about 30 minutes, Costello started yelling at us. He was asking us to get up and dance. Unfortunately, the way the chairs were set up, there was no room for anyone to get up.
He played for another 15 minutes and then yelled something else about 'you Americans' and then proceeded to smash his guitar on the floor. We were shocked. Next, he took his guitar and smashed it into the drum kit and stormed off the stage. The drummer followed suit and kicked over the drums and the band walked off.
There was a moment of stunned silence, then a roar, then cheering and screaming for an encore. People lit lighters and were yelling 'Elvis, Elvis' for about 15 minutes.
He never came back.
Best concert ever.
WLYN - Lynn - All the news, taped from the night before
Back home after college I still wanted to be on the radio. I went to WLYN, the radio station in Lynn, Massachusetts. The only opening they had was for a newscaster on the AM station. I took it even though I had a full time job.
The station manager explained the news gathering process to me. I was to buy a copy of the two local papers and cut out stories of interest. I could expense the cost of the papers! He told me to read the stories and make it end up at two minutes long. I could practice as much as I wanted, because I was going to tape the stories for the next morning's show. That was a good thing because I had never done news before.
Evenings, after work, I would go to the station, put the next morning's newscast together and tape it.
When I woke up the next morning, I'd turn on the radio and hear myself reading the news. Not the most current news, but I was on the air!
I remember one of my newscasts. A World Airways Jet landed at Logan Airport and ran off the runway in to Boston Harbor. I read that story while doing a Walter Cronkite impression:
Local Lynn Couple Cheats Death In World Airways Crash...
At that time, over on WLYN-FM, nighttime jock Rich Anzalone was doing something unique in Boston radio, he was playing whatever he felt like. It was cool. It was like listening to college radio on a commercial station. I hoped to get a job as a DJ on the FM side. I helped do some production for the FM station and met Albert O and Bradley Jay. They later went on to WBCN in Boston.
I worked my way up to be the weekend alternate DJ. But, the station was sold to Phoenix Broadcasting, and all the contacts I had built up were gone.
At the same time I started doing a lot of traveling and could not commit to a set number of hours each week. So I postponed this sideline until I had more time later.
Stand Up Comedy Workshop - The Next Bobcat is Born
After I stopped working at the radio station, I took a course, taught by Rick Jenkins, at the Boston Center for Adult Education - Stand-Up Comedy Workshop.
I got the idea, to try comedy, from going to the Comedy Connection in Boston one night. There was a full slate of comics scheduled.
In the middle of the show, while the host was on stage, what looked like a homeless man walked in the front door of the club and onto the stage. He got a hold of the microphone and started screaming into it.
The audience sat there in stunned silence. This guy's hair was a mess and he was incoherent. He started saying all kinds of crazy nonsense stuff. Then he'd scream again. It was incredible, amazing and mind blowing. I think he said his name was Bobcat and left the stage and walked out the front door of the club. No one knew what had just happened. There certainly was a lot of energy put into it!
I figured if this guy could get laughs by doing that, I might get a laugh too. I took the comedy class. Our final class was on stage at the Comedy Connection.
I performed 15 minutes and didn't scream once.
Cablevision - Steve's Show Live
During this time I took classes at the local cable TV station, Cablevision. I ran studio camera for live shows, and ended up with my own show - STEVE'S SHOW! One day I went up to one of the local access producers and told him that I had an idea for doing a show all by myself. I said that I wanted to put a camera up in the control room so I could be the director and talent at the same time.
He agreed to help me try it. We lugged one of the huge studio cameras up to the second floor where the control room was and set it up. We also brought in lights and microphones. After we hooked everything up, we tested the lighting and sound. It all worked. Since we were all set up, the producer asked me if I wanted to go live on the air to see what would happen. I said sure.
We went live and I said hello. I started talking about the show and what I wanted to do with it in the coming weeks.
I asked people to call in if they had any ideas. After we turned the cameras off, we got some calls. Wow! People had actually watched me on TV.
After that, I broadcast live on Friday nights for the whole summer. It was kind of like a radio show on TV. I took calls from callers and ran tapes I had shot and edited the previous week. I was working on the show almost every night after work. I was an exciting time. I learned all about shooting and editing video.
One day I was out in my backyard and the little kid next door was up in his room, he saw me out the window and yelled, "Hi Steve from the TV!"
I waved back and said Hi. My first fan!
The Monitor Channel -The Best Job Ever!
It was like having CNN in your own backyard. My next job was at Monitor Television, the cable TV portion of the Christian Science Publishing Society.
I remember my interview with Pat Hafford, who was to become my boss. He asked me, what I thought was the best interview question, "Tell me about Steve's Show." Oh boy, could I ever tell him about that!
I was hired for broadcast support. Monitor Television broadcast shows 24 hours a day form their broadcast center in Boston. They needed someone with both broadcast and computer experience. This turned into one of the best jobs I've ever had.
I was there to work with the shows and reporters. We had Digital computers with wire stories coming in from all the major services.
This was before everyone had an Internet connection on his or her desk. I enjoyed reading news off the wires as it was happening. The next day's newspaper started to read like old news.
I analyzed the needs of the TV staff and customized news wire feeds to make it easy for them to find information. Reporters wrote their stories on the computer and then read them off the teleprompter during the live show broadcast. I was there to help them for this whole procedure.
In addition to the computer, I had a TV on my desk. A TV on my desk! But it was always tuned into The Monitor Channel. If I ever saw an anchor start reading the papers on his or her desk, that meant the teleprompter wasn't working. I had to run over to the anchor desk and see why.
For World Monitor, the nightly newscast, I was in the control room every night, to ensure everything was running smoothly and to fix any problem that might arise during the show.
One time the teleprompter went down right before the commercials. During the commercials I went over to the computer to take a look. As I started looking into it, one of the producers came over screaming, "Can you get this fixed in three minutes!" I calmly looked over and answered, "Yes I can." I then turned to the computer to see what the heck was going on. I fixed it. The show went on.
I sure did learn a lot about world events. I loved this job, my hours were 11:30 AM to 7:30 PM. In the winter I had time to go cross-country skiing before work!
Unfortunately, the channel was shut down in 1992 because they couldn't support the expense of the channel. Too few subscribers, too rapid expansion.
Channel 2 Auction - In Front of the Camera
Next I decided that I wanted to get an on air position, during the annual TV auction, at the local public television station. I called in to the auction and told them that I wanted to volunteer. They said I could pick any day to come in and take bids over the phone. I said that I didn't want to do that job, I wanted to work on the studio floor and be on camera. They told me that only Channel 2 employees got to do that, but that I could talk to Phil Collyer the auction manger.
I told Phil what I was interested in. He asked it I had any TV experience and I told him about Cablevision. He told me that they needed someone to commit to work Monday through Friday from 12:00 - 5:00. If I would commit to coming in every day I could have the position.
No problem for me.
That year I went into the auction every day. I ended up working on the Multiples table. This is where we auction off things to more than one highest bidder. Like Macaroni and Cheese to the three highest bidders.
We got scripts to read on air when the camera came to us. After a while I was able to ad-lib introductions and manage my table to include items that had a theme.
I remember one year I said:
I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate this year's Harvard Graduates. I'd also like to welcome President and Mrs. Clinton to Boston.
You might be interested in our next items; we have an Atlas of Boston Streets to help you get around, and a Pair of Pink Flamingoes, that would look really nice on the White House Lawn.
That was the start of my continuing commitment to the yearly Channel 2 auction, which I still volunteer at every year.
Eagle 93.7 - Auditioning for the Morning Show
I had a chance to audition for the WEGQ morning show in Boston. There was a contest where you had to fax in why you wanted to be on the air. I was one of the finalists in their competition to find a new morning DJ.
These competitions are just a promotional gimmick for the station. They already know whom they are going to hire as the new DJ, but like to get listeners involved in the process.
I didn't care. All I wanted was a chance to be on the radio.
I was on the air on a Thursday morning and got to read the news, introduce songs, do the traffic and just talk with the crew. Lori Duchesne, the news and traffic reporter was there and was very supportive.
We got a lot of calls from people that liked my audition. I got a copy on tape. It was a blast!
Kevin Karlson and Pete McKenzie came in on Friday and got the job. Of course!
Working with the Morning Crew - Creepy Steve Arrives
Months later I decided to try and get on the morning show. Lori Duchesne, the news and traffic reporter, was off on her honeymoon. I figured they needed some help on the show with Lori gone. Pete McKenzie, the sports guy, was also on vacation.
I went to the Web Site and printed out pictures of the Morning Crew so I would know them when I saw them. I left my house at 3:30 AM. When I was leaving my wife said, see you back here soon.
I got to the Eagle building at 4:00 AM. As I was standing in the lobby, someone came in. I asked, "Do you work for the Eagle?" He said, "Yes". I said, "I'm here to fill in for Lori on the Morning Show." He said, "So am I".
It was Boston Comedian Vinnie Favarito. I asked him to bring my resume upstairs. He took it with him. After a while, the called down to security and had me go upstairs and wait in the lobby. I waited in the lobby for an hour.
Stan, the producer, came out and got me and brought me into the studio. I had my audition tape and gave it to Stan.
In the air studio I saw Kevin Karlson the DJ, Jeremy Leahy an intern, and Vinnie Favarito.
They had me step up to the mike.
On the air we talked about my audition tape and how much guts it took me to come in and try to get on the show.
They said it was really creepy for me to be in the lobby with pictures of the Morning Crew, waiting for them to come in.
Oh yeah, they made a huge deal about me stalking them with photos and waiting around in the lobby at 4:30 in the morning. Everyone had a big laugh about it.
After the show, Kevin Karlson brought me into the Eagle production room.
He asked me if I really wanted to work on the morning show. I said yes.
Kevin told me that not many people would do what I did to get on the radio. He said that it showed I really had a desire to work in radio.
Kevin said, "I think we should call you Creepy Steve!"
Welcome to the Eagle Morning Crew, Creepy Steve!"
I told him I didn't care what they called me, as long as I could work with them.
Behind The Scenes
Behind The Scenes at WEGQ - Eagle 93.7 FM
These are expanded versions of a Behind the Scenes Web Log I kept during the time I spent working with the Eagle Morning Crew on 93.7 FM in Boston.
It's heart wrenching for me because it all ended too soon.
Enjoy reliving my experiences with the Eagle Morning Crew in Boston.
My First Big Day at The Eagle
I was already working a 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM job in marketing at a computer distributor, but starting the job at the Eagle was something I really wanted to do.
The night before my first day I went to bed at 8:00 PM to make sure I could wake up at 3:30 AM.
I put together a cooler filled with juices and stopped off at Dunkin Donuts on my way into the station. I bought a dozen assorted donuts and muffins.
When I got into the station, and brought in the donuts, Kevin, Pete, Lori, Jeremy and Stan were happy. They thought it was a great way to start my job.
Unfortunately they wanted the same thing every day! I told them that I might do it again someday. I was lucky that the assortment included chocolate glazed, that's Kevin's favorite!
Stan took me aside and said he'd show me the ropes. He was the producer. He told me the first rule of radio is:
Don't take anything personally that is said on air.
That advice served me well, especially when Kevin started to say that I had bad breath.
My time at the Eagle was a lot of fun.
Stan showed me how to go through all the local papers for news items that Kevin might be interested in talking about. It took awhile for me to figure out what that meant, but over time I figured it out. If a typical person found him or herself in an unusual situation that would be a good story. Anything on failed child stars was always good.
***
Spookyworld 8/3/97
The Eagle 93.7 Morning crew was scheduled to make an appearance at Spookyworld. They were going to stage the World's Biggest Seance. Spookyworld is a big haunted house theme park that gets set up in the Fall.
They needed someone to run the seance.
The conversation in the studio went something like this:
Kevin: "Stan, find us someone to run the seance".
Stan: "OK, Kevin".
Kevin: "Wait! Creepy, you should do the seance. Will you do it"?
Creepy: "I have to check my schedule".
Creepy: "I'll do it".
Preparing for the seance took a lot of time. First I had to go to a book store and figure out what a sŽance was.
I found the seance books and started studying. I also found my fathers old magic wand. He used to perform magic magic for kids.
The night of the seance arrived. I was prepared with the incantations I was to perform, but was not prepared for the Eagle promotions department.
They had a 59 cent makeup kit that they wanted me to use to cover my face. I figured, why not. So I went to find a bathroom with a mirror. All they had were portable toilets!
I asked someone where I could put my make up on and was directed to a secret doorway. I entered the doorway and found a make up area staffed with professional makeup artists. So I ditched the 59 cent make up kit and got in line with the Spookyworld employees.
Next thing you know, I'm sitting with Mike. He's a professional make up artist from New York. He just got through making a bloated corpse for a horror movie in New York.
He was happy to make me up. So I told him he should make me look creepy.
He did an excellent job.
I walked back out onto the midway and was so scary that little kids were running away from me!
I went over to Pete McKenzie and he said, "Creepy, you did a great job with that makeup kit!" I said, "Thanks."
Next came the seance. It was great! We had a crowd of 70 - 100 people in a circle joining in with glow sticks provided by the Eagle.
I brought along some Kosher salt and sprinkled it onto the ground in a big circle. Then I had everyone gather around. I said some incantations and then called on the dead superstars of Rock and Roll to come visit us.
I think they might have been busy doing other things at the time.
After the seance we took a ride on the Haunted Hayride and walked through the haunted house. Kevin was scared on the hayride and Lori got scared in the haunted house.
I was scared to death a number of times. Mostly by the Spookyworld employees who hid in the corners and grabbed you from behind.
***
Boston Comedy Arts Open at the Comedy Connection 8/8/97
Kevin and the morning crew gave me a hard time while I was telling some jokes on the air.
They'd have me tell a joke and then play cricket sound effects after I was done. Next we'd have callers call in to give me feedback. They said I shoud find another career.
After the show Lori told me that HBO was going to be in town for the Boston Comedy Arts Open at the Comedy Connection.
The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival was holding auditions for the first 100 comics to arrive at the Comedy Connection before 11AM that afternoon. You got two minutes to perform your jokes.
The winner would go to the annual Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo., March 4-7, 1998 after competing in regional callbacks in Chicago, New York or Los Angeles.
I decided to go to the audition and tell my jokes. It was going to be a tough audience made up of 100 comics, but I had something to prove, both to myself and to the Morning Crew.
I was number 53. Some of these people had flown in from California, Canada and New York to audition. One comedian had been doing this for 10 years. They asked me how long I had been doing stand up. I told them, "I just thought I'd try it today."
I went on stage and had a great time! I only had 2 minutes. I was the only comic out of 100 that went up there and read my jokes off a sheet of paper. It was a blast. I did get laughs out of the crowd. After the show I asked a few of the comics how I did.
They said I was funny, but could loose the papers next time.
***
Boo Bash 10/31/97
The station didn't spend that much money promoting the Morning Show, but this Halloween they hosted a Boo Bash Costume Party at Trophies at the Sheraton Hotel in Needham.
It was probably the best Halloween party I've ever been to.
I went with my wife, she was dressed up as a witch and I went as the Pope. When we got to the hotel, there were some women getting out of cars and heading into the hotel. They had some awesome costumes! Clown, Jester, etc.
We walked into the hotel and made our way into Trophies. The Jester kept going. I followed her for a while. She ended up at a private party for Mount Ida College. Too bad.
Back in Trophies I started looking for the Morning Crew.
First person to catch my eye was Lori. Wow! She was a devil woman in a red dress. Nice! Sitting with her was Jeremy. He was Richard Simmons, dressed up in a wig and tank top and gym shorts. Those would come in handy later when he got everyone on the dance floor doing aerobic exercises and dancing.
Homeless Jeff was there dressed up as a Monk.
As I looked up from the table I saw Louise Woodward, The Nanny. It was Kevin dressed up with a long wig, hairpiece, skirt, and stockings. He was holding a baby doll and smoking a cigar. What a sight!
Later, Pete came in dressed as Colonel Sanders. White suit, mustache and goatee, white face, hair and a chicken bucket. Perfect!
Mark Rosenthal from Channel 5 showed us as Mick Jagger, leather pants and all. That man can dance and play air guitar.
Sexiest costume had a good number of contestants including a Marv Albert with microphone and woman's underwear, no pants!, a leopard lady, Xena, and the winner - A Cheerleader who did a split on the dance floor to which Kevin said, " I wish I was the floor".
There was the Marv Albert Bite Off and a toss the Baby contest.
Final contest was best costume of the night for a trip to Aruba. The crowd decided the winner - A guy sitting on a toilet. It was a great getup - looked like he was sitting on the toilet with the tank behind him. He read the newspaper all night.
***
11/18/97
"If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably Stan." Kevin Karlson
A Parody
We did a lot of parody songs for the show. When the Patriots went to the Super Bowl we made a song.
The Patriots Parody Song took a while to put together, but I think it came out great! Stan played the guitar and I read the lyrics. After trying to record it a couple of times with Stan playing along as I read, I asked Stan to record his guitar playing so I could add my voiceover again and again until I got it right.
After the 5th time reading it, I got it done.
Part of it went like this:
1996: Patriots Coach Bill Parcells takes the team to the Super Bowl and asks them to deliver.
1997: Patriots Coach Pete Carroll watches the Super Bowl on TV and asks Dominos to deliver.
Homeless Jeff
Kevin thought it was humorous to have this guy we called Homeless Jeff come in and get on the microphone. He strolls in off the street and wants to sing a song to Lori, why not. By the way, he ruined the film from the Halloween Boo Bash Party by opening the camera before rewinding the film.
Stan-O-Gram
Stan was very creative. He did this segment where he'd make up a song based on three topics.
This day he was preparing for the Stan-O-Gram with the topics: Mickey Mouse, Mosh Pit and Finneran. Stan asked me, "Who is Finneran?" I say, "He's in government".
Sound Effects
Top 10 Dangerous Toys list comes out. Lori needs sound effects for Duck Quack, Electric Shock, Punch and Eye Poke. I found all the effects except for the Duck Quack. Stan ends up performing the Duck Quack.
Stan: "Quack, Quack".
***
11/20/97
"Misfortune of famous people makes good radio." Kevin Karlson
Gary Glitter was in trouble for having child pornography on his computer. Police found out about it after he brought his computer in for service and the computer store reported him. Gary does the song used at sports stadiums, it goes - DA DA DA da da, da da, da da. We added new lyrics and played it throughout the day. Going to jail da da, da da, da da, Going to jail da da, da da, da da...
Next was the story of the woman who had seven babies. I did the "POP" sound and the bit was POP! Waaah! POP! Waaah! POP! Waaah! POP! Waaah! POP! Waaah! POP! Waaah! POP! Waaah! ...
Freddie Stone, The Excitable Boy, came in to perform some parody songs. Kevin was thrilled. Not because Freddie came in, but because he brought a dozen Dunkin Donuts! Freddie played songs throughout the morning. He was great.
I'd thought I had seen the biggest smile on Kevin's face when the donuts arrived, but his smile got bigger when Jay, owner of Burger King in Copley Square, came in with a carton of food. Jay brought in Egg Sandwiches, French Toast, Juice, Coffee and toys! Everyone loved the food and was having so much fun eating that we almost forgot we had a show going on.
Kevin, "I think it would be great to own a Burger King."
Jay, "I think it would be great to be a DJ."
It was National Smoke-Out day. We gave away a lot of 'quit smoking kits'. Good luck to everyone trying to quit. The American Cancer Society has a lot of information. A caller told me he quit when a friend told him, "All the intelligent people I know have quit."
We adopted Tim to help him quit. We called him throughout the morning to show our support. Stan was supposed to call him during the day, but didn't.
Tim resumed smoking at 3:30 PM.
***
11/24/97
"You try to be nice to someone and look what happens." Kevin Karlson
Sunny from the WWF came in for an interview. She was on the show before and had made a call to the studio after her past visit to the show telling Kevin and Pete that they had a low rated show and that she could have been a doctor if she wanted to.
Sunny came back, but didn't know Kevin had a tape of the call.
Sunny wasn't too happy. Kevin asked her if she would accept an apology. She wouldn't.
She told us that she was smarter than all of us combined and could have been a doctor if she wanted to. She chose WWF.
Sunny threw open the studio door and burst out into the hall.
Sunny did not brighten our morning.
***
11/26/97
"BIG MAC! Why didn't I think of that?" Kevin Karlson
Kevin interviewed Young MC. He wrote the biggest hip-hop single of the decade, Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" and the follow-up "Funky Cold Medina," establishing a reputation for witty rhymes even before he'd started his solo career. His first record yielded the party classic "Bust A Move" and earned him a Grammy.
It was a great interview. Young MC even said that he sounds like an accountant when he isn't rhyming.
Kevin wanted to have a 'Rapper Name' and asked if Young MC liked 'Mac Daddy' or 'Daddy Mac'.
Young MC said 'Big Mac' sounded good.
Kevin liked it too, for his name and for lunch!
***
12/01/97
"Ernie Sings and Arthur Sleeps?" Kevin Karlson
All the local papers were reporting on toy shortages, Sing and Snore Ernie was the hottest toy of the year. We started talking about it, but Kevin called the toy, Sleep and Snore Ernie! Made sense to me.
Kevin wished he had purchased a ton of these so he could buy low and sell high.
He was too late. Calls started coming in, reports from listeners on where you could get a Sing and Snore Ernie. Maybe it's not too late to get some.
Next we talked about the cartoon character Arthur. A listener had to call in to tell Kevin that Arthur is an Aardvark!
It's tough keeping all these toys straight. Maybe a gift certificate would be best!
Ê
***
12/12/97
"I knew they'd win!" Kevin Karlson
Eagle 93.7 Night at the Celtics - 12/12/97
My wife and I got to go along with the ticket winning listeners to a Celtics game. Our seats weren't the best. They were in the next to last row of the balcony. All the players on the floor looked like little insects.
We had a great time at the game though! The last quarter was exciting with the Celtics coming from behind to beat the Washington Wizards 97-88!
The listeners that won the family four packs of tickets helped us rock the Fleet Center. They use a noise meter during the game to see how loud the crowd can get and we hit the top! It was loud and the Celtics responded.
Michael Holley from the Boston Globe reported that Rick Pitino said it was one of the "best college crowds I've heard." He said that the college description was intentional since most NBA arenas don't generate that kind of noise.
The worst call of the night came when Pitino put McCarty and DeClercq into the game with the Celtics behind 82-73.
The bad call did not come from Pitino; it came from one of our listeners who shouted:
"This is the worst substitution that I have ever seen, what is Pitino doing!"
Turns out Pitino made a great move because McCarty scored 6 points in a 10-0 run that put the Celtics ahead 83-82.
The listener soon forgot what he had said minutes earlier and was leading the Eagle Crew with high fives all around.
***
12/16/97
"Sorry Homeless, Lori's in Florida." Kevin Karlson
Here's a song Kevin wrote up for Homeless Jeff to sing to Lori:
Homeless Jeff Love Song
Oh Lori, Oh Lori
When are you coming home?
My heart is breaking
Oh Lori, My nights are filled with pain,
My mind is all around you.
Please come home so I can Hold you again.
Come Home for the Holidays
Come Home for the Holidays
Come Home for the Holidays
Come Home for the Holidays
I yearn for you.
***
01/05/98
"We don't need any stars on this show, we'll do it ourselves." Kevin Karlson
Kenny Kramer was all set to be in the show for an interview. He's the basis for the Kramer character on Seinfeld. Jeremy got him on the line and put him on hold. Guests get to listen to the show while they are on hold.
It seems that we had him on hold for too long, 10 minutes, so he hung up.
Kenny called back and yelled at Jeremy for keeping him on hold so long. The he asked if we wanted to reschedule. This prompted Kevin to say we don't need any stars on the show anymore. "We'll do it ourselves!"
***
01/14/98
"It's not your show! Go to the back of the room!" Kevin Karlson
Kevin got all upset on-air because I gave an audition tape to the Eagle program director. He said I'm going behind his back.
He'll take any little thing and make it into a radio bit.
All I wanted was to get my own show on the Eagle. Kevin always liked to yell, "It's not your show! Go to the back of the room!"
Kevin took my tape and aired it during the morning show and confronted me with it. It wasn't problem for me, it's just more air time. I thought it sounded great. I hoped the program director was listening.
***
01/16/98
"What makes you a critic!" Kevin Karlson
Last night I went to the Boston Music Awards. It was a great show. Paula Cole was the big winner with four awards including Act of the Year, Outstanding Female Vocalist, Outstanding Song/Songwriter - "I Don't Want To Wait", and Single of the Year - "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?". Aerosmith won Outstanding Rock Band. They were in Philadelphia. A guy named Chuck got up on stage and accepted for them. He was a riot. He said, "You know that song Love in an Elevator? I was there! I introduced Aerosmith to Run DMC. See this Aerosmith book, I'm not in chapter one". Then he proceeded to rip out chapter one of the book and throw it on the floor. He was great.
Rubyhorse won for Outstanding New Local Rock Band. They came here from Ireland 12 months a go. They performed live. I liked them. Sounded a little like U2 and The Beatles. Keep an eye on them.
Kevin wants to know what makes me a critic.
***
01/23/98
"I lost my place in the script." Kevin Karlson
We talked a lot about the relationships between men and women and women and women this week.
Doc on the Love Boat, Bernie Kopell, had lots of relationships with the guest stars on the Love Boat. On the show only, he said.
Kylie Ireland, came into the studio for an interview. She talked about her relationships with the leading men in her movies, all 200 of them. She brought along photos and magazines. The guys liked the pictures. Lori didn't.
Monica Lewinsky was the big topic on Friday. I read that the President, allegedly, gave her Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. A book of suggestive poems. I went out onto the web and got a copy of the book. Pete took it and made a call to the show in the voice of Bill Clinton.
Halfway through the call, there was silence. Kevin said, "Was I supposed to ask you something?" Pete, as Bill Clinton said, "Yeah, the book." Kevin said,"I lost my place in the script." Pete then read some passages.
That was the great thing about the show. Even the mistakes were funny.
***
01/29/98
"Kevin can't talk." Mrs. Kevin Karlson
Local comedian Vinnie Favorito came in for his last appearance on the show before going to California. Kevin was at home, sick. Vinnie called Kevin at home to say goodbye. Kevin's wife answered and said, "Kevin can't come to the phone to talk". I called Kevin after the show and got him on the phone. He barely had any voice at all! Vinnie Favorito was on his way to Hollywood to become a big star.
Pete, Lori and Jeremy went down to Seaworld on Thursday and Friday. I had to produce the show with Fuat running the board. I was a lot of fun. Getting up at 2:30 AM and in the studio at 3:00 AM was different.
It was fun throwing in the sound effects of car crashes, piano music and ocean sounds.
***
02/05/98
"Do you want to go to Nagano?" Kevin Karlson
Biggest news of the week is the Olympics. I've been doing Olympic updates for Pete during sports. At the end of Wednesday's show, Kevin asked me if I would go to Nagano and report for the Eagle. It took me two seconds to say yes.
Kevin smiled.
I wasn't sure why he was smiling. Then I thought about it, there was no way that the Eagle was going to send me to Japan.
He told me that we'd make it sound like I was reporting from Nagano, but that we'd just do it from the studio.
I was going to learn a lot about the Theatre of the Mind.
***
02/23/98
"Can you put some orange juice in my Sake?" Kevin Karlson
I had a great time reporting on the Nagano Olympics.
I spent a lot of time each day getting reports together by searching the Internet.
Creepy Steve Please
Prior to one report, Kevin called a hotel in Nagano, with the tape running, and asked for me:
Sound of foreign dial tone
Operator: Nagano Hotel
Kevin: Creepy Steve Please
Operator: Cleepy Steve?
Kevin: Creepy Steve
Sound of phone ringing
Next he called me in the production studio and put me on hold.
Then he played the prerecorded phone call to Japan and when the phone stopped ringing he picked up my line.
Sounded just like I was in Japan.
Get me an Olympic Athlete!
For another report, Kevin called an Olympic venue in Nagano, with the tape running, and asked for an Olympic athlete. He did the interview.
Next he got me on the phone from the production room and I did my regular report. Then Kevin asked me if I could get an Olympic athlete on the phone for him. I told him to hang on a minute and I put the phone down.
Kevin went to a commercial. When he came back from commercial, he asked me if I had and athlete. I said I did, and told him I was passing the phone over to him. Kevin dropped my line and then played his prerecorded interview.
This stuff sounded just like I was really there! Friends of mine stopped calling me at home, thinking I was in Japan.
Some of my reporting highlights: Riding the Shinkansen Bullet train, Skiing in Hakuba, Watching the women's cross country skiing, Going to the restaurant and having the waiter go into the fish tank to get the fish he was going to serve me for dinner, pointing to the plastic food in the restaurant window to the waitress to show her what I wanted, Tokyo Disneyland, Japanese television with the US movie stars doing the commercials, Gold Medal ceremony in Nagano Square where Nikki Stone of Westborough got the medal, Finding the key to happiness in Zenkoji temple, going to Nozawa Onsen for the spas, slurping my noodles to show enjoyment.
I had a great experience.
Were you in Nagano on business or vacation?
When the station manager saw me in the station on Monday, after the Olympics were over, he called me into his office. "So tell me, were you in Nagano on business or vacation", he asked.
"I don't know how to answer that", I replied.
Then I told him what we had done. He said it was a great job!
Sake
I brought Sake into the studio. It's a rice wine that we all tasted. Kevin liked his mixed with Orange Juice.
This is Creepy Steve reporting from the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan EXCLUSIVELY for Eagle 93.7.
***
02/26/98
"Playing all the Grammy losers." Kevin Karlson
Classic rock artists didn't fair too well in the Grammys. So Kevin played a song from Sting, then said:
"We're Eagle 93.7, playing all the Grammy losers. Just like kids, we love them anyway. Now, here's Fleetwood Mac on Eagle 93.7".
***
03/02/98
"Creepy, You're doing the Sports today." Kevin Karlson
When I got into the station this day, Kevin told me Pete McKenzie was sick and not coming in. I would do the sports. I felt bad for Pete, but only for a second.
Preparing for the sports was a great experience. I got all my stories together and Kevin said I would do the first sports report and Jeremy would do the second. Whoever did better would do the third report.
As I was doing the first report, Kevin pressed a buzzer.
BUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZ! Kevin, "Do you know who was announcing on that tape you just played?" I didn't know. He told me thet professional reporters have to say who has announcing each soundbite.
That's how the report went. It was great. Lots of buzzers from Kevin.
Jeremy did a good job too. Kevin flipped a coin for the third report. Jeremy won the toss, but lost in the end because he had to read the report with Sargent Slaughter and George the Animal Steel breathing down his neck. Really. They were right in the studio.
George the Animal Steel was a very gentle person. Very well spoken, but when the microphone went on, he was 'The Animal.'
***
03/03/98
"Lori, Lori, Lori." Kevin Karlson
Lori Duchesne got a theme song today. It's a catchy tune. Lori, Lori, Lori Lori...
***
03/04/98
"Creepy, You're interviewing Patrick Stewart." Kevin Karlson
When I walked into the studio at 4:30 AM Kevin told me that Patrick Stewart would be in the studio today and that I was going to interview him.
This was exciting. Patrick Stewart was doing an interview for another station in the building and Kevin wanted me to see if we could grab him on his way out to do an interview with us.
This was going to be great. I prepared my questions, the best of which was, "In Star Trek: First Contact Alfre Woodard's character compares you to Captain Ahab in your quest to destroy the Borg, now you're playing Captain Ahab in a USA Network movie. As captain of this new crew, how do they compare to the crew of the enterprise?"
The time for the interview came, but Patrick Stewart was nowhere to be found, he left the building early.
***
03/06/98
"Creepy, Get in a box." Kevin Karlson
This morning I hid in a box by the mailroom to see who was stealing our newspapers.
It was a big box. Kevin gave me a portable phone. We cut a slit in the box so I could see the pile of newspapers in the lobby.
As people came up to the newspapers, I reported their actions over the air.
Then when someone grabbed our paper and brought it into the restroom, Jeremy followed him in with another cell phone and reported the theft.
We caught three people.
Ah, morning radio at it's best.
***
03/16/98
"Creepy, Jeremy does an impression of you." Kevin Karlson
I came back from vacation to find out that Jeremy has developed an impression of my laugh. I think I do it better. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, HA!
***
03/17/98
"Creepy, Go outside and ask for a kiss." Kevin Karlson
This was the day of our Saint Patrick's Day Live remote broadcast from Houlihan's this morning.
First Kevin had me stick my head in a bucket of water to see if I could 'bob' for potatoes. I stuck my head in there to try to get a potato. I couldn't get one. Kevin said I had to shove my head in there really deep. So I shoved my head in there and got totally soaked. The splashing water sound came across great over the air.
Next he had me go outside and ask people, "Kiss me I'm Irish".
Coming back from a commercial break I started telling Kevin about the people standing outside. He wanted to know, "who told you that you could speak?" Typical Kevin.
***
"Creepy Steve?" Curley Neal
The Harlem Globetrotters came to town and Curley Neal came in for an interview.
I met him and told him that my name was Creepy Steve. He got a kick out of it.
He's Curley, I'm Creepy!
***
03/20/98
"There's a new Hooters in town!" Kevin Karlson
The Hooters girls came in on National Meat-Out Day. They came in right after Kevin told the guy from PETA that we were giving away meat to a lucky listener. The Hooters girls promoted Hooters chicken fingers.
I asked the girls for a deck of Hooters playing cards for my nephew. They said, "Sure, your nephew, ah, huh."
***
03/27/98
"Creepy, you're going to wrestle listeners!" Kevin Karlson
The WWF was in town for WrestleMania XIV. Kevin thought it would be a good idea for me to go out and wrestle some listeners for WWF prizes. First I went over to Dunkin Donuts for two dozen donuts, making sure I had some chocolate ones for Kevin. After I dropped some of the donuts off for Kevin, I left the building and found around 50 people there waiting for me. I gave away some WWF stuff and donuts, then ran over to Copley Square. Soon, people were driving up and running out of their cars. I started off thumb wrestling, but Kevin got bored with that very quickly.
Kevin said, "I want to hear your body hit the ground." So, the next guy to show up was Al. We went over to the grassy area and after I removed my jacked Al threw me to the ground and started hitting me. I was screaming, "Stop, that's enough!"
He got a signed Stone Cold Steve Austin T-shirt. I got grass stains.
***
04/20/98
"Creepy, you're going to run the show!" Kevin Karlson
The day of the Marathon I was in the studio to produce the show. At 5:20 Kevin asked me to tell the board operator, the one who plays all the songs and commercials, to do something. I told Kevin that no one was there yet. He then told me, "Creepy, since you are the only one there, you are going to run the show. Can you do it?". I said, "Yes". Then the door opened and TJ, the board operator, walked in. Too bad. Almost had a chance to run the show!
Next we brought up the microphones for Kevin and Pete in Hopkington, but their voices couldn't be heard. Another break, maybe I could do the 'Creepy Steve Show'? Kevin called on the phone and told us to just play music until they got their microphones working. They got them working at 6:00 and went on the air. Too bad.
John O'Hurley, who plays J. Peterman on the Seinfeld show was a guest. I spoke with him before we went on the air and he told me how much fun it was to shoot the last episode of Seinfeld. I enjoyed meeting him.
***
04/22/98
"Jeremy, Tickle me." Kevin Karlson
Pillsbury was running a contest to see who has the funniest giggle. Kevin called the 800 # and then told Jeremy to tickle him so he could giggle. When the phone beeped, Jeremy tickled Kevin and he laughed and laughed. We all laughed into the phone. Kevin laughing out of control is a funny sight!
***
05/01/98
"Creepy, It's your show from 5:30 to 6:00." Kevin Karlson
The breakdown I had been waiting for finally happened. Kevin and Pete were out at Jordan's Furniture in Natick/Framingham with Lori and Jeremy, for a remote live broadcast. It was 5:30 and the remote communication wasn't working! Kevin called me on the phone and said, "Since we can't get it running, it's the Creepy Steve show from 5:30 to 6:00, go for it".
I was sorry that the communication wasn't working, but only for a minute. I did two breaks.
***
05/04/98
"I love the conflict between Creepy and Jeremy." Kevin Karlson
Kevin loves when Jeremy and I have conflicts in the studio. We must have spent a half hour discussing Jeremy interrupting my conversations with both Kevin and Pete. We also talked about Kevin saying Good Morning to me every day. Kevin, says good morning to me, because I'm not getting paid. If I ever get paid, he'll probably greet me with a grunt.
This day I had an idea to make a bit about the Globe printing sports stories in Spanish the day after Pedro Martinez pitches. I read the story in Spanish and Pete translated into English. It sounded great. That bit got a round of applause!
***
05/08/98
"Creepy, What's in the envelope?" Kevin Karlson
I brought in an envelope that contained a bug that I had to have a doctor take out of my ear! I knew Kevin would love this story. Wednesday night I felt a bug go into my ear. I had to go to the doctor on Thursday morning to have it removed. I asked the Doctor if I could keep the bug because I knew it would make good radio. Working on this show has truly warped my mind.
The misfortune of others makes great radio.
***
05/13/98
"Creepy, You should be good at Jeopardy?" Kevin Karlson
Jeopardy was coming to town for tryouts, so we had an on air trivia contest to see who would go to the tryouts from the Morning Show.
I knew the most trivial stuff.
After that, everyone quizzed me to get me prepared.
***
05/15/98
"How did Creepy do?" Kevin Karlson
The results are in from the Jeopardy tryouts. I missed the finals by one question.
It was a lot of fun. The people from the Jeopardy show were great.
I entered a huge ballroom in one of Boston's major hotels. People were there from all over New England to try out. They'd submitted postcards and registered online to try to get on the show.
One good thing about being on the radio is that it gets you into things like this. I sat down with all the other hopefuls. We were given answer sheets and had to answer questions as the came up on screens at the front of the room.
After we answered all the questions the answer sheets were collected.
I didn't make the cut, but they let me stay with the eleven finalists to compete using the actual Jeopardy buzzers.
When I got up there to answer questions from the stand-in Alex Trebeck, I didn't get many right. Not my categories.
I need to study European History, Geography, Astronomy and Chemistry.
Pop Culture and TV I'm good at!
***
05/18/98
"Let's have a Bit-Off!" Kevin Karlson
Kevin turned Jeremy and my creative efforts into a competition. We each did a comedy bit for the show and Kevin had the listeners vote to see which bit was best.
After we counted up the votes, It was decided that no one should win.
A sampling of the calls, "Neither of them was any good". "Creepy should get a job in another department".
***
05/27/98
"The ratings are up!" Kevin Karlson
When I came in this morning, Kevin told me that the ratings were up. This was a good thing.
Kevin looked at me and said, "Creepy, you are the reason our ratings have increased."
***
06/19/98
"You're running the board!" Kevin Karlson
This was an exciting week. Kevin was off on Thursday and both Kevin and Pete were out on Friday. This gave me the opportunity to 'run the board' for the whole show. It went great.
Running the board
Kevin usually runs the board during the show. This means playing all the music and commercials and bringing up and down the studio microphones at the right time. As the show is being broadcast lots of things are going on in the studio. The board operator has to remain calm and keep the show moving.
Playing Songs
We have a music log that shows the time of the song, intro time and how it ends. When you put the CD in the CD player, the display shows how long the song is.
After you hit play, the display counts down from the length of the song to zero. This way you can watch the display to see how much time is left on the song. It's also a good idea to listen to the beginning of the song to make sure it doesn't skip. When you listen to the beginning of the song you can also see if it fades in or starts strong. This way you can figure out when you want to start it based on how the last thing you played ends.
Commercials
When we have commercial breaks, we play one commercial after another. You need to watch for the outcue of the commercial along with the total time of the commercial to know when to start the next one. Each commercial has a label on it showing the outcue, ex: see us today! and the total time ex: :60.
When you listen to radio, you shouldn't hear any silence between the songs or commercials.
Dana Hersey was filling in for the guys on Thursday and Friday. He has a great personality to go along with his great voice. I enjoyed meeting him.
***
06/25/98
"It's a tie!" Kevin Karlson
Yesterday we had a lot of fun with Mark Rosenthal. It was great having him in the studio with his sandals. Kevin and Pete were racing to the West Coast and Mark was hosting the show for the morning. I ran the board again.
This morning Kevin and Pete broadcast live from San Diego, again I pushed all the buttons at the appropriate times in the studio in Boston. I thought that Jeremy's Kennedy call was a riot.
The race ended up in a tie when Pete got on the same flight as Kevin for the final flight to San Diego. It wasn't planned, it just happened.
***
07/20/98
"How many Jay Michaels are there?" Kevin Karlson
Kevin, Pete and Lori came back from a week's vacation today.
Last week I had fun working with Jay Michaels. Kevin said all the DJ's in New Hampshire are called Jay Michaels.
I did the second impression of Barry Scott at 5:50, Jeremy did the first.
***
07/30/98
"Creepy Creeped Up on Me!" Kevin Karlson
I spent the afternoon with Kevin and Pete at Canobie Lake Park.
I expected to go up for an hour and leave, but I stayed for 6 hours. I had a blast riding all the rides with Kevin and Pete.
On the roller coaster, I rode in a car with Kevin. He is so fat that the bar comes down on his stomach to hold him into the car, but on my side I still has 2 feet of room between the bar and me. When we hit the final drop I came right out of my seat and went flying.
I also went on the new Boston Tea Party ride with Kevin. I was so much fun I went a second time with Pete. You get soaked by 10,000 gallons of water. At the end of the ride Kevin and I exchanged high fives!
***
08/04/98
"Who looked good?" Jay Michaels
I did a report, on my trip up to Rockport Mass, to watch the filming of Love Letters.
My brush with greatness was keeping and eye on Tom Everett Scott's Coke while he went to shoot a scene.
I was standing by the water, when Tom Everett Scott came over to me and asked me if I could watch his Coke while he filmed his scene. No problem. Another brush with greatness to add to my life story!
I went up there looking for a bit part or crew job, but it's pretty boring standing around all day waiting for the shots to be set up and then filming the same scene over and over.
Tom Everett Scott is a nice looking kid.
***
08/06/98
"It's Creepy on Traffic" Lori Duchesne
I reported the traffic from Wilson Square in Peabody this morning.
I thought the whole report went over the air, but when I heard the tape, I saw that they cut off the whole end of my report.
That's because I got a police officer, who was doing a detail, to give a report. I was bummed that my part of the report didn't get on the air.
Traffic backs up between 7:30 and 8:00. Try Lowell Street as an alternate route.
***
08/12/98
"Don't call other radio stations!" Kevin Karlson
Kevin got mad again. He heard I called Mix 98.5 yesterday to answer a question. He gets so upset when I talk to other radio stations.
Kevin says, "Don't call other shows! You are helping their programming. We are in competition with them. Do you know that if our ratings go up to a certain point Pete and I get $10,000 each?"
Kevin says to Jeremy, "Will you write up a letter for Creepy's file that says he called Mix 98.5? Send it to the Program Director."
I said to Jeremy, "Can I have a copy of that letter too, for my resume. I can use it for prove I did some on-air work on Mix 98.5!"
***
08/19/98
"Was the Chat a success?" Kevin Karlson
Kevin's happy now. We had our first online chat after the show.
It was a success. We got one listener to chat with us.
***
08/26/98
"Drink the water!" Kevin Karlson
The morning started off in a typical manner. Kevin started saying how I couldn't do a Walter Cronkite impression. I gave a sample on the air and I thought it sounded great, so Kevin says I had four minutes to produce a Walter Cronkite bit. He was saying this because a guy who does voices over at Kiss 108 got fired and he says I should try out for his job.
So after four minutes went by I did the Cronkite impression. I think it went OK.
Next Kevin says, on the air, that I need to take the Eagle van and a paper cup over to Boston Public Garden because the pigeons are dying from drinking the pond water.
I went outside our broadcast building with a cup of water and called him on the cell phone.
He explained that he wanted me to drink the water from the pond to see how it tasted because the ducks that lived there were dying!
I heard someone call in to tell Kevin not to have me drink out of the pond because I could get very sick from the bacteria in there.
Next I called Kevin back and he still wants me to drink out of the pond. He says I'll do it on the next break.
I drank it when he told me to on the air. I spit it out. Kevin was yelling at me to Drink the water, Drink the water, Don't spit it out!. It was great.
I think it was a good day. Lot's of air time. That's what I like. Friday, Kevin, Pete and Jeremy go to NYC to broadcast live. I'll be back in the studio with Lori to do the "Steve Show" if there are any problems with the remote connection!
***
08/27/98
"Get me Lee Trevino!" Kevin Karlson
This day I went out to the BankBoston Golf Classic. I went looking for an interview for the morning show. I got a program when I arrived to see what golfers were going to be there. First on the list was Lee Trevino. I knew Pete would love to get him on the line for an interview.
I saw he was going off the first tee at 8:15, so I got there early and staked out the area. I had my walkman on, to listen to the radio show, and cell phone.
I called into the station and got Kevin on the line. He put me on the air. I reported where I was. I told him I was going to try to get Lee Trevino on the line for him. Kevin says, "Don't call in here and bother us unless you have Lee Trevino on the phone". He hung up. I then heard him say, "I bet Creepy is out there wearing an Eagle 93.7 shirt and bothering all the golfers".
How did he know I had an eagle shirt on?
After we were off air, Kevin tells me to go get Lee Trevino and get him on the phone. I told Kevin that Lee was about to tee off and that I couldn't go up on the tee box and interrupt him in mid swing. Kevin said that he didn't care what I had to do, "just go get me Lee Trevino," he said.
I didn't get Lee.
***
08/28/98
"Live from NEW YORK!" Kevin Karlson
I had to go in early to produce the show because Kevin and Pete were broadcasting live from Comedy Central in New York. Jeremy was with them.
Since they were in New York I had to read through the Boston Herald and Boston Globe to find any stories that they might want to talk about and send them down. I also had to prepare for the show. Kevin told me before he left that if the connection to New York isn't made, it's going to be the Creepy Steve Show.
I was ready, but everything worked out thanks to the super work of our engineer Blair. Too bad. Ha, Ha. I live for those moments where any technical difficulty on a remote broadcast might lead to The Creepy Steve Show.
Lori reminded me that since it's a remote broadcast and Kevin and Pete can't see us, we shouldn't talk unless they talk to us.
Just before we went on the air, Lori stepped out for a minute. Kevin and Pete come on the air and Kevin says, "Lori, how does everything sound?" Well Lori is not there so I say, "Hey Kevin, Creepy Steve here. Everything sounds good". In the meantime Lori comes back, and hadn't heard Kevin ask the question. Next Kevin says, "Creepy why are you on the mike. I only want you to talk when we talk to you." Lori says, "I told him not to talk unless you asked him a question."
Kevin says, "All Creepy Steve wants is his own show. He was probably ready to do the show if we didn't come on the air". He then went on to do the show LIVE from New York!
Some day I'll get my own show.
***
09/14/98
"Just keep writing the lyrics!" Kevin Karlson
Here are the lyrics to the song I wrote this weekend, and Kevin played this morning.
STARR REPORT READER
Sung to the tune Paperback Writer by (Lennon/McCartney)
STARR REPORT READER
Dear Sir or Madam, HAVE you read HIS CASE?
It took HIM years to write, NOW IT'S EVERYPLACE.
Based on a SCANDAL by a man named BILL
SOON HE'LL need a job, so I want to be a STARR REPORT READER,
STARR REPORT READER.
It's the dirty story of a dirty man
And his clinging wife doesn't understand.
His WIFE IS STANDING RI-IGHT BY HIS SIDE,
It's a steady job but she wants to be a STARR REPORT READER,
STARR REPORT READER.
STARR REPORT READER
It's FOUR HUNDRED pages, give or take a few,
THEY'LL be PRINTING more in a week or two.
HE can make it longer if you like the style,
HE can change it round and I want to be a STARR REPORT READER,
STARR REPORT READER.
If you really like it you can have the rights,
It could make a million for you overnight.
If you must IGNORE it, you can CLOSE YOUR MIND
But I need TO KNOW and I want to be a STARR REPORT READER,
STARR REPORT READER.
STARR REPORT READER
STARR REPORT READER - STARR REPORT READER
STARR REPORT READER - STARR REPORT READER
***
10/02/98
"Let's Have a Playoff Home Run Derby!" Kevin Karlson
I went down to Fenway Park this morning to give away some Red Sox tickets. The Red Sox are in the playoffs and people will do anything to get tickets!
I brought a bat, ball and tee (like they use in T-Ball). I grabbed 5 people who stood in line overnight and 5 listeners who came down to meet me outside the park.
After getting Dan Rea and Bob Lobel, from Channel 4, on the air for interviews from Fenway, I started the contest. The first contestant hit the Fenway Park wall and the ball bounced off a police car. The officer then came over to me and told me that the competition was now over, because it was a danger to the public. I could see his point, we were hitting the ball into traffic and at the people in line. We moved to a parking lot.
When we got to the parking lot, a fan was holding our ball hostage. He said we could only have the ball back, if I let him into the contest.
After asking him for the ball back, three times, he threw it into the parking lot and went away. Probably because I had 10 contestants standing behind me who wanted to win the pair of tickets to the playoff game. Some of them were big guys!
Good thing that guy who was holding the ball threw it because there was no way I was going to take it away from him!
We hit our first ball and then on the throw back, it hit a car. The police came back and said we couldn't do the competition there either. So we moved to the far end of the parking lot and had the contest. It was exciting. We had one clear winner who was psyched!
***
10/07/98
"OK, get out there to the Pink Line!" Kevin Karlson
This morning we found out that someone painted the Berkley/Boylston T Stop PINK!
I told Kevin that I'd get down there to check it out. When I got there, TV reporter Gary Armstrong was there and I got him on the phone with Kevin for an interview it was great! And Pink!
Kevin was so psyched that I was able to get Gary Armstrong on the phone. I was happy too, but not that happy because it meant I got less airtime.
***
10/16/98
"Pour water on the record!" Kevin Karlson
Tommy Chong came by to talk with us!
You know Tommy Chong from Cheech and Chong? He came by this morning. Prior to his visit, Kevin says to me, "Go get my Cheech and Chong record and tape some songs". Kevin has a pile of records in the studio that I had never looked at. What a collection! Great records! I found a Cheech and Chong greatest hits record and went into our production studio to put a couple of tracks on tape.
We don't have a turntable in the air studio, so you need to put whatever you want to play on air on a tape to CD. I started playing Earache My Eye, but it had a lot of scratches in it. Not good enough quality for airplay. I told Kevin, and he said, "pour some water on the record as it plays and it will float the needle over the record".
I got some water and put it on the track. It worked! I taped Earache My Eye and Basketball Jones. They came out great.
When Tommy Chong came in I hung out with him in the "green room". He is a cool dude. I introduced myself, "I'm Creepy Steve." Tommy was amused. That character he plays in movies on TV, it's not a character, It's him!
Lots of people came by to talk with him. They all asked him if he wanted to smoke dope outside. Good thing he didn't say yes because none of the people who asked had smoked dope since they were in high school. Tommy Chong is a really nice guy.
***
10/30/98
"I'll answer the phone at 6:00 AM!" Kevin Karlson
Someone found the tombstone!
The phones started lighting up at 5:30 AM.
It looked like we were going to have a winner at 6:00 AM. People were calling to tell us they THOUGHT they had found the tombstone. We told all the listeners to call back at 6:00 AM.
When Kevin started taking the calls, it was funny. People thought they found the tombstone because it had EAGLES on it, or it had PUMPKINS on it. One listener called saying the tombstone said, "Mr. Roberts" on it. Kevin kept telling them that they would know it when they saw it.
Well, the tombstone was found, and it had - KARLSON AND MCKENZIE RIP on it. Pretty straight forward. Maybe Kevin and Pete will keep the tombstone and be buried next to each other.
I thought the best line of the morning was Kevin's when he said, "people should go out for Halloween as the Frozen Jack Dawes from Titanic".
***
10/31/98
"Welcome to the best costume party in New England!" Kevin Karlson
Annual Boo Bash
The annual Boo Bash took place at the Circuits Nightclub at the Westin Hotel in Waltham.
This year it was invitation only. This keeps away the professional costume makers that go from party to party trying to win all the costume contests.
We had a great group of people at the party.
At the front door the Eagle Street Crew was checking everyone for an invitation. I had dressed up as a doctor. I made up a name tag that said, "Dr. Creepy Steve, Eagle Morning Crew". The girl at the door asked, "are you on the list"? She then looked at my badge and said, "Oh, you on the morning show. OK, go in".
Once I got in there, I saw Kevin, dressed up as Linda Trip, Pete as Bill Clinton, Lori as Monica and Jeremy as Kevin Starr. They all did a great job.
The listeners did a great job too with their costumes. It was difficult choosing the best, but 10 costumes stood out for the best costumes of the night.
Boo Bash Top Ten Costumes
Bong and Bag of Pot
Man being carried by monster
Chest of Drawers and Night Stand
Austin Powers with great teeth
Drew Carey and Mimi
Microwave Oven
Cheerleader with mustache
Devil with a blue dress
Caveman and woman
Snowman
$1,000 Winner
The Bong and Bag of Pot and the Man being carried by monster, split the prize because they were both excellent. The winners were chosen by the crowd.
Fortune
The music for the night was provided by the best cover band in the United States, Fortune. They also do their own songs, but for the Eagle they play the greatest hits of the 70's and 80's.
When it comes to Journey, Fortune is the best. They played, "Don't Stop Believing". This is our favorite. I recently printed out the lyrics for Kevin prior to his interview last week with Journey. Kevin can't remember the lyrics to any songs. I'm trying to get him to pick a song and memorize the lyrics. He should have memorized these. His big fear is being called up on stage to sing along to a song and not know the words.
Well at the Boo Bash it happened. The lead singer of Fortune, Bob Vose, points over to Kevin and says, "you sing the words". I looked over and Kevin was nowhere to be found. Too embarrassed I expect.
***
11/11/98
"Meters are free in Boston Today!" Lori Duchesne
I wish I knew meters were free before I parked in the garage.
It's been busy since Halloween.
Flying Over The Mass Pike
We said that we flew Jeremy over the Mass Pike on a beach chair that had balloons attached to it.
Jeremy had to get enough balloons tied to a beach chair to make it float in the air with a dummy sitting in the chair. It's not as easy as it sounds. He had to get a lot of balloons to make the chair fly. He just got the chair flying in time for the last break.
I did a report from outside our building that we taped ahead of time.
Me: "Oh my god. He's flying! Jeremy is flying up in the air!"
Kevin: "Calm down Creepy."
A Cup of Water
This morning Kevin asked Jeremy for a cup of water. Kevin can't leave the studio, so he asked Jeremy to get the water. Of course Jeremy tells me, "Kevin wants you to get him some water". I don't care if I have to get water or hot chocolate, it doesn't matter to me. It was funny though when Kevin brought it up on the air. He loves it when we are in competition.
Air Awards
The Air Awards ceremony at the Marriott Long Wharf was great. I got to meet a lot of nice people. I saw Jimmy Tingle. He's working on running for President!
Dana Hersey and Tom Bergeron were great hosts. I can't print any of what they said here though. It will be a great day when I win one of those awards. It will happen.
***
11/13/98
"What you talkin' bout Willis?" Kevin Karlson
Emannuel Lewis and Mark "Skippy" Price were on the show this day. Emannuel Lewis was Webster on TV. He is still as short as he was when he was on the TV show, 4' 1". He has a great sense of humor. He'd have to, dealing with Kevin and Pete. He seemed to really get a kick out of talking with Pete's "Michael Jackson" on the phone.
***
11/18/98
"This is going to be a wild interview, Eddie doesn't have a shirt on!" Kevin Karlson
Eddie Money came into the studio this morning and hung out with us for a couple hours. It was a lot of fun. He is a great guy.
Jeremy had to go pick Eddie up, so I produced the show while he was gone. Jeremy came back, and brought Eddie into the studio. Eddie opened his jacket to show us that he didn't have a shirt on. Eddie asks, "Do you guys have a shirt around here?" We gave him a morning show T-Shirt, which he put right on. He told us that all his clothes were on his tour bus, which hadn't arrived in Boston yet. His band took the bus and Eddie flew into town.
We were sitting in the green room, and Eddie had both hot tea and a glass of cold water. He heard the replay of Kevin's call to the used computer store where he tried to sell his Atari game. Eddie liked the call. He thinks Kevin and Pete are funny. So do I! While we were waiting to go into the air studio, I was taking calls from people who wanted to talk with Eddie. I had four calls on hold and a fifth came in. The woman on the phone asked, "Can I ask Eddie a question". I told her to hold on and then passed the phone over to Eddie. She was surprised. Eddie had a nice chat with her!
In the studio Eddie sat in Lori's chair, and Lori shared the microphone with Pete. Eddie was really fun to listen to both on and off the air. He was just the same on the air as he was when the microphone was off. Eddie was one of the nicest guests we've had on the show.
***
11/26/98
"Kevin and Pete aren't here!" Lori Duchesne
It's the Creepy Steve Show! NOT.
Well, the day I had been waiting for happened. Both Kevin and Pete didn't show up this morning. Kevin said on the air yesterday that he had won the basketball competition against Pete. The winner got the day off. Pete contested the decision and he took the day off too.
I can't really describe the situation prior to going on the air at 5:30 AM without Kevin around, but let's just say the studio was electric! Lori is the senior air talent so she put the first couple of breaks together. Jeremy is the senior producer, so he coordinated the timing of the breaks and commercials. Lori asked me if I wanted to do the sports since Pete was gone. I would have loved to do the sports, but I didn't have a chance to answer because Jeremy said, "No, Lori, you do the sports with the news. I want to keep it simple." Obviously, Jeremy doesn't want me to get any air time. I wrote some sports reports for Lori and she presented them within the news.
You might have heard me on the air briefly while Lori was taking calls about how to prepare her turkey for Thanksgiving. I said, "My wife cooked our turkey in the microwave last year." Lori asked, "How did it turn out?" I answered, "Great, except we had to eat at 7:30 in the morning." That's the kind of humor you are missing out on when I don't get on air.
The only way I'll get more air time is if Jeremy goes out some morning with Kevin and Pete, and all the communications fail. Then I'll be left in the studio to do The Creepy Steve Show.
***
12/11/98
"I've been sweating since the show started!" Kevin Karlson
We had more guests this than we've ever had in one day!
Brandon Cruz from Coutship of Eddie's Father was first. Brandon came into the studio with a leather jacket, earing, and black cap. Not the same way we remember him from the TV show. Eddie is now a punk rocker. He was interesting. He's now in a punk rock band. The funniest thing was when Kevin played Brandon's remake of the theme song from the TV show. Starts off slow, then goes wild! Eddie is a punk!
Jon Provost, who played Timmy on Lassie was next. I always learn something from one of Kevin's interviews. Kevin found out that Lassie DID NOT RESPOND to any of Timmy's commands on the show. All the commands came from the dog trainer! Timmy says, "Lassie, go get the ball". Lassie barks, "Woof, Woof" (translated, that means "Screw you Timmy!")
Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker called in next. The biggest response was for the new Nintendo video games that Kevin gave away after the interview. We got at least one hundred calls after that interview!
Jordana Brewster was on next. She's in the new movie, The Faculty, where all the teachers are taken over by aliens! A big interest to Pete was the fact that her mother was a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and that Jordana is a babe!
The Munchkins from the Wizard of Oz came in next. Four of them came into the studio. They are all in their late 70's early 80's. Kevin asked for all the dirt on the production of the movie and the Munchkins had a great time on the air. They needed help getting up onto the chairs in the studio!
Christopher Knight, Peter Brady from the Brady Bunch TV show came in next. This is when all the cameras came out and all the women at the station wanted to get their picture taken with him. He was great. Kevin wanted to know about all the sex going on during the filming of the show, but he was just a little kid at the time and just had fun playing hide and seek on the lot. If you want to check out a web site you can go to the Unofficial Brady Bunch Home Page. We took a picture of him with the Morning Show Crew.
***
12/21/98
"Can you get the pig farmer on the phone?" Kevin Karlson
Jeremy was on the road today, so I produced the show. It was a lot of fun. I got a couple of great guests on the phone.
Baby Jesus was stolen from a nativity scene in New Hampshire. We spoke with the police chief from Meredith, New Hampshire this morning. He told us that the people have not been caught yet who stole baby Jesus from a nativity scene and left a can of Spam in it's place. A second Jesus was also taken and a can of kidney beans was left in it's place.
The Pig Farmer plays music to his pigs, and his new neighbors don't like it. Paul Thompson Jr. plays country music all day to benefit his pigs. We had fun talking to him! If you want to check out the pig farmer, he has a web site you can check out at www.pigfarmer.com.
***
01/04/99
"I don't know what I'm doing!" Kevin Karlson
Jeremy and Kevin had a big fight about running the board in the studio.
Kevin is so funny when he says he doesn't know what he's doing. A song ran out and there was silence for a while. That's DEAD AIR! Radio people hate that.
It happened because while the music was playing Kevin was talking with me and Pete, Jeremy and Lori and lost track of the time. Sometimes it's as much fun off the air as it is on the air. Everyone is exactly the same when the microphones are turned off. What you hear on the air is the same kind of stuff that goes on all morning long.
***
01/13/99
"Do you want to box Jeremy?" Kevin Karlson
Kevin's in the studio talking about Friday's boxing match between him and Pete. All of a sudden I hear him ask Jeremy if he'll box me! Jeremy says yes and then they call me into the studio.
After discussing it, I agree to box Jeremy.
This should be a riot. Maybe I can knock some sense into him.
***
01/15/99
"I love these donuts!" Kevin Karlson
It was awesome.
I never expected to be in a boxing ring with gloves and headgear, waiting for the bell to ring. It was just like every other sporting activity I've ever done. No instruction, just get out there and do it. Now, kids get coached to death. It's good that they get instruction, but sometimes I feel it's too organized.
The owner of the Sports Club said to me, prior to the match, "You don't know what you're doing, do you?" I told him I didn't. He was worried that we'd all kill each other.
Jeremy and I got headgear and gloves. Prior to the bell I go over to Jeremy and say, "We're not going to kill each other, right? We're just going to hit to score points." Jeremy says, "Yes, of course."
Well, the bell rings and Jeremy comes out of his corner like a windmill punching me as hard as he can. Bang, Bang, Bang! I'm wondering what the heck is going on. I start punching him back.
By the third round after some great coaching from my corner, I let Jeremy wear himself out and I just started to punch the crap out of him. It was kind of fun. The crowd said the funniest part was when Jeremy's headgear got twisted and he couldn't see. Kevin couldn't stop laughing!
Kevin and Pete calling the boxing match between Jeremy 'Sissy Boy' Leahy and Creepy 'Crawler' Steve!
At the end of the match, the referee said it was pretty much a tie, but he had to choose a winner, so he picked Jeremy. I think he liked Jeremy better.
Next up was the heavyweight match between Kevin and Pete. They both took their shirts off and were dressed in shorts. The crowd roared laughing when Kevin's shorts fell half-way down his butt!
Kevin and Pete's match was pretty even until Pete clocked Kevin in the chin, throwing Kevin's head back. It was so funny. It looked like a slow motion cartoon. Kevin's head snapped back and he had to take two steps back. It was better on the outside of the ring watching them fight, than being inside!
Again the referee had to call a winner, so he points to Pete and says, "Kevin Karlson is the winner!" So Kevin says, "Olympic rules, whoever you say wins, I win! I win!" But then Kevin says, Congratulations Pete, you win!"
The listeners who came were really nice. It was the biggest snow and ice storm of the year, but they made it to the gym anyway. Lots of them brought doughnuts for Kevin. Kevin found a nice sugar coated creamy one and totally enjoyed eating it. A listener looked over to me and said looks like Kevin really likes doughnuts. No kidding.
***
01/26/99
"He's a master at the controls!" Kevin Karlson
In Jeremy's absence I produced the show for the past three days.
This day was the best, when I was running the board from 9 - 10 AM. Playing all the songs, commercials etc.
The Program Director (big cheese) came in and was wondering who was running the board. He saw it was me and said it was an excellent job. He'd been listening in his office.
That was awesome, I didn't know he was listening! I felt great inside knowing that I had just had had an audition for an on-air shift.
I' was psyched.
***
02/12/99
"I wish we had some fish in here!" Kevin Karlson
Comedian Tony V. was on the show today for a couple of breaks.
He wanted to know why his wife said they needed to get new pillows. He slept OK on them, they still held up his head.
***
03/03/99
"We're featuring you today!" Kevin Karlson
When I got into the studio at 4:30 AM, Kevin said, "We're featuring you in a bit today." "You are going to play the part of a man who got his tongue bitten off."
I said, "Great, let me know when." Kevin knew I could do this part because of the times I've talked without my tongue in the past.
Next, Kevin asked me to write up some interview questions that he could ask the man without a tongue.
This was great. I was going to write and star in the bit. This is going to look good on my resume.
Many people have asked me, "How did you ever pull off the man without a tongue stunt?"
It was easy, I just held my tongue and talked.
***
03/24/99
"Sloboban Micosowatch?" Kevin Karlson
Unfortunately NATO had to take action today.
Kevin had trouble pronouncing many things today, including Slobodan Milosovic.
I got to do the voice of Raj Mahajivan at the end of the bit! Raj is the accent that I perfected while working with some people from India.
Kevin would choose another word other than perfected!
***
04/01/99
"You Dropped a Bomb on Me" Kevin Karlson
ENTERCOM's WEGQ (EAGLE 93.7)/BOSTON began stunting at midnight April 1st with continuous loops of PRINCE/1999 and a promo saying "It may be April Fools Day, but we're building a new radio station." Station Mgr. BRUCE MITTMAN announced a format flip set for today at 3pm.
And the new format is on the air "STAR 93.7, THE RHYTHM OF BOSTON". The station will feature "Rhythmic Oldies from the mid 70s into the 80s and 90s and some currents."
First song, The Gap Band, You Dropped a Bomb on Me
Kevin, Pete, Lori, Jeremy and I were brought into station manager Bruce Mittman's office. He told us that the station was changing formats and we had done our last show.
Kevin and Pete had seen this before. I hadn't and was surprised that we weren't given one more show to say goodbye to all our listeners.
That's the way it goes in radio.
Goodbye Eagle.
***
WMWM Salem State College Radio
After the Eagle Morning Show ended, I did a College Radio Show back at Salem State College on 91.7 FM on Monday Nights from 6 to 9 PM. Right back where I started. It was a local music show. The most fun was finding new music and interviewing local bands.
One day I got an email from Cindy Bullens. She said she found her name on my WMWM web site. I told her how I used to play her music years ago and was interested in interviewing her some time. She ended up coming in to Salem to stay with her sister, and came on my show for an interview. When she came in I played a cut off her old Desire Wire album and we talked all about her career and new album. It went really well and we've kept in touch since.
Here are some of the other guests I had on the show:
Chris Ballew From The Presidents of the United States of America and the Giraffes
Savannah
DON WHITE, who wrote the funniest song about the North Shore ever written, "I'm from Lynn, What can I say, People from Lynn just act this way"
Jay Wightman and B-Side
Y Not U
The Buckners
The Fly Seville
The Swallows
Paul Pampinella
Five O'Clock Shadow
Karen Harris from the local band Karen Harris and Edith
Imogen Heap
Ben Consoli from the local band Thi Anonymous Richard
Dan Kopko from the local band Watts
Paul Ketter from the local band 3 Ball
Paula Kelley from the local band Boy Wonder
Garret Salvuk from the local band Heavy Metal Horns
Sherry Cothran of the Evinrudes
Louie Spagnola from the local band Fortune
Paul Buell from the local band Machinery Hall
J. Walker, Rick Shaw and Ron Belanger from the local band KrebStar
Fab from the local band Honey and the Bees
Sean T. Drinkwater from the local band Lifestyle.
101.7 WFNX
During this time I made some new friends over at 101.7 FNX. I walked up to Morning Show DJ Neal Robert at the Air Awards in Boston. It's an awards show for radio. I told him I was a big fan and wanted to work with him on the morning show. He asked for a resume. I handed him one.
I followed that exchange up with an email and he invited me in. I ended up helping them with writing and a web site for the morning show, Asleep @ The Wheel.
One of the best days there was when the whole morning show didn't come in and the interns ran the show. I got to do the news. People who heard it liked it.
While at WFNX I tried to get an on air shift, but my audition tapes usually just remained in a stack with all the others that the station received. I stopped working there when a new morning show was brought in and started broadcasting out of Rhode Island.
WZBC Boston College Radio
Now I'm filling in over at Boston College, 90.3 FM in Newton, Mass. I'm having a blast doing it.
My Weblog
About the Author
Steve has performed standup at the Comedy Connection, The Comedy Studio and the HBO Comedy Talent Search.
He is a contributor to The Karlson and McKenzie Morning Show and has written for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Steve writes daily for Off On A Tangent
Steve is now a Boston based Video Producer and Editor.