A Peek Behind The Curtains...

I enjoy talking radio. I've been working in the business off and on for about 30 years or so.

Whenever I'm invited to speak at schools to talk about what it's like to be in radio, I jump at the chance. I really enjoy giving people a "behind the scenes" look at what goes on.

 With that in mind, I thought I'd take a minute to give you an idea as to what happens here every morning.

4:45am - Arrive at station. I try to get here earlier, but some mornings that bed is just too darn comfy.

4:47am - Get my show organized. We use a computer system called NexGen that runs all of the commercials, jingles and music. I put them in the order that I want everything to run.

4:50am - Download the birthday messages from my voice mail. When people call in and leave messages for the voice mail, I download them and mix them for playback at 6:40, 7:40, and 9:20. 

4:55am - Anita Goodan comes into the studio to prepare for her first newscast of the morning.

5:00am - Here we go!

5:05am - My official show open, it features a montage of short clips that lead into the theme I use every morning, the Robert Goulet version of "You've Got A Friend In Me". I then jump in to kick things off and talk about whats going to happen on the show!

5:15am - My first time to chat before the commercials. I usually just re cap the weather, or if there's a relevant local event going on, I'll mention it here. It's normally just a "Good Morning" kind of break to get the day started.

5:30am - Anita's news break, after which we talk to Heather Zehr from AccuWeather about our forecast. AccuWeather is a national service, and I'm glad we get a chance to talk to her. 

5:45am - The first of our recurring morning feature called "The Forgotten 45".  These are songs that you don't hear on the radio anymore, but they are still good songs to hear. We run the feature at :45 past the hour to tie in with what singles used to be called...45's! The first one is "Living In America" by James Brown!!

5:50am - Nathan Welter stops by with the first of 2 morning sports reports. 

6:00am - News with Anita. I check my email for any new birthday voice mail messages.

6:10am - Getting ready to run a contest. We run a variety of different contests in the morning. TV theme trivia, Movie quote trivia, etc.. This morning it's the "Time Capsule" It's a pre produced feature where the caller has to listen to clues and guess the month and year that is being described. 

6:20am - Downloading more birthday voice mail messages.

6:30am - Anita's headlines. During these breaks at the bottom of the hour, after the news and weather, I attempt to come up with something interesting to talk about. The topics can run the gamut, from local events to interesting surveys or unusual stories. This particular morning I play "Fact or Fiction" with Anita and a caller!

6:40am - Birthdays. The voice mail is all edited up and ready to go!

6:45am - The second "Forgotten 45" of the morning. "Make a Move On Me" - Olivia Newton John.

6:50am - The second sports update with Nathan Welter.

7:00am - News with Anita. I do my best to make sure these newscasts run as close as possible to the top and bottom of each hour.

7:20am - The Beatle Break . Back to back Beatles tunes for a change of pace to the normal music we play. When I first started this feature, people were wondering why I picked the Beatles instead of say Elvis or John Mellencamp. I picked them because even to this day, they are influencing the way bands sound. To me, the Beatles are timeless. Meanwhile, I edit more birthday voice mail.

7:30am - Anita's headlines. After the weather we talk about a program at the Starke County Public Library.

7:40am - Birthdays. New messages that were called in during the last hour are included.

7:45am - Another Forgotten 45. "Song On The Radio" - Al Stewart

7:50am - Weather and local events. As a small radio station, one of our goals is to be a local as possible by talking about events that happen in Starke, Marshall, and Pulaski counties.

8:00am - Anita's News.

8:10am - Another go 'round with the Time Capsule.

8:30am - Anita's headlines. After the weather we talk about some light entertainment news that lead into the "E.T. Radio Minute".

8:45am - The final Forgotten 45 of the morning. "Gimme Some Lovin'" The Blues Brothers.

8:50am - Weather and more local stuff.

9:00am - Anita's News

9:10am - The final Birthday segment of the morning. 

9:20am - The final Time Capsule contest.

9:25am - A long music sweep to lead into Jerry Curtis at 10:00am.

9:45am - I sign off the show. I make sure to thank everyone who was on the show, including special guests if there are any.

After the show I take a few minutes and wind down. If there are any commercials to record and produce, I knock those out as well.

If you have any questions about what I do here in the mornings, you can email me: tom@wkvi.com I also can speak at your school or your non-profit group as well, free of charge.

As Charles Osgood says: "I'll see you on the radio."