Tag Archives: first job

Newport Tales – Part XIV

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I wrote about my job as an overnight studio engineer in Part XIII. Living the life of an overnighter — a brutal existence — is today’s topic.

There is a certain antisocial nature to working overnights in radio. Most, if not all of the gig, is worked alone. To an extent, a person starts getting used to that. At home during the day, one sleeps while the world awakes and goes about its activities. In my experience, it’s not a healthy existence. Social contact is important, but it is so limited for an overnighter. As a colleague of mine once said, overnights is a single man’s game. I actually knew of people whose marriages suffered because of the spouse’s graveyard job.

There’s also the complete disruption of circadian rhythms that takes place, which has been linked to obesity, diabetes and depression. I certainly had some struggles with the latter: I worked in a small town where I didn’t know anyone other than my co-workers, and there were few opportunities to meet new people. Gray, dark, rainy and windy were the seasons, and when there was sunshine I slept through it. No fun!

I employed various strategies to improve how I felt. I purchased a full spectrum light bulb that mimicked the sun. Unfortunately it was expensive and a poor substitute for natural light. I tried staying up a little while after getting home in the morning and also attempted going to bed as soon as possible after arriving home — getting to sleep before it got too light outside. Ultimately, the latter worked better. Finally, I reversed my meals, having dinner food when I got home from work in the morning and breakfast food at night. That didn’t work at all! Cheerios before bed in the morning was a lot better than pot roast prior to a daylong snooze.

A problem overnighters face during those day sleeps is the rest of the world working. The biggest irritations I had were apartment inspectors coming in during the day to check appliances and fire detection equipment and maintenance workers sawing through drywall in the common hallway to work on plumbing — noise that could wake the dead. Never mind the sign on my door reading, “Day sleeper. Please don’t disturb.”

I worked the overnight job from March 1995 until early 1996. There was one week in August where temperatures got into the 90s during an extraordinary Oregon Coast heat wave. The average temperature that time of year is 58 degrees, with the high average being 65. It made sleeping in a stuffy apartment difficult, and the high humidity didn’t help. One thing I did enjoy, though, was going to the beach after work. I liked standing in tide pools because they were so warm. That’s unheard of on the coast.

The truth is that I never really adjusted to graveyard. I tried lots of trickery, but my body knew what was going on. I just slipped into an existence of perpetual jet lag and was alone most of the time. My friend and colleague, Cindy, implored me to get involved in the community when I wasn’t sleeping. I loved lighthouses, and became a member of the Oregon Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society. The problem was that I was the youngest member by at least a decade or more.

The best thing that happened to me was getting promoted to production director, which came about in a sad way that I’ll detail in a later post. The promotion with improved hours certainly changed my disposition and kickstarted my upward career trajectory at KSND.

More to come in Part XV…

Newport Tales – Part IX

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March 23, 1995, was a cloudy Thursday. I woke up that morning with great anticipation, but there was a lot of waiting around before we signed on. Friends and family of the owners were arriving from out of town, and a priest was coming to bless our building. Most folks were traveling from Portland — about 130 miles to the northeast and more than a two-hour drive away.

Prior to the big day, Keith and Jack produced an 18-minute sign-on piece to run out of the studio. When that ended they would push the button launching the Schafer automation system, and we’d be off and running. I was scheduled to work my first shift from 9:00 pm to 5:00 am that night.

With loads of time and nothing to do, I wandered down to the station to see what was going on. Flowers and balloons were delivered, and the lobby looked festive. Otherwise, it was fairly quiet with a palpable excitement bubbling under the surface. I took some pictures and headed back home.

My apartment was really close to the beach so I went down there for an afternoon walk, thinking about what was happening. It had been a long journey for me with multiple false starts. I was elated to be on wonderful team and with a start-up operation, which is so rare in the broadcasting business. I knew I was in the right place.

That afternoon I participated in the blessing of the radio station, helping wave incense in all the rooms that were blessed by the Rev. Charles H. Osborn of the Anglican Parish of St. Mark in Portland. This was where Keith and I met in 1993. When the blessing finished, everyone found a seat in the lobby while Jack and Keith entered the studio to begin the sign-on ceremony.

It was an emotional broadcast for them. The first song played was Dance With Me by Orleans — inviting our new listeners to join us on this new radio adventure. Keith spoke of his love for music and the people who influenced him growing up, including his music teachers, which led to In My Life by the Beatles. Keith also explained why the music would sound so much better on KSND than it did on other stations. From there, the broadcast went into Listen to the Music by the Doobie Brothers.

Jack took over at that point. He read a little from Jonathan Livingston Seagull. That led directly into Be by Neil Diamond — the recording artist who wrote the soundtrack for the movie our staff had watched the previous night. There were a few closing remarks, and then it was the moment everyone was waiting for…the revealing of the format. We came screaming out of the sign-on broadcast at 5:30 pm with Gloria Estefan’s Turn the Beat Around. Adult contemporary it was! Licensed to Lincoln City with studios in Newport and transmitting facilities atop Otter Crest, KSND was broadcasting with 6,000 watts of effective radiated power. Game on!

Jack and Keith exited the studio to applause. There was cake and then most people scattered to have dinner. Keith and his family went out for a private celebration. I went to dinner with Norma, one of Keith’s friends from college. Jack stayed at the station as full-time operations got underway. I returned from dinner just in time to start my first shift. Our listening market was Lincoln County, which encompassed the communities of Newport, Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Gleneden Beach, Seal Rock, Waldport, Yachats, Toledo and Siletz — about 50,000 people. A small market station with a large market presentation.

We launched with a window sticker campaign in partnership with the Subway restaurants in Newport and Lincoln City, as well as a TV commercial run on local cable. We were a bomb in the birdcage that was the Central Oregon Coast. Good things were to come.

A few pictures:

More to come in Part X…

Newport Tales – Part I

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Last weekend my wife and I took a quick trip to Newport, Oregon. It’s a small city on the central coast. It’s also where I landed my first full-time job after college. I rolled into town Thanksgiving weekend in 1994 with hopes and ambitions and left in the spring of 2000 battered, disgruntled, and ready for a change of scenery.

Now every time I visit, I experience an emotional tug. This past weekend, it was a little stronger than usual. To understand why, it’s necessary to start from the very beginning…

Growing up, I loved the coast and wondered what it would be like to live there. It was always hard for me to leave and return home after a visit during summer vacation. Decades later, getting my first full-time radio gig in Newport meant I wouldn’t have to leave. I’d be a local rather than a tourist. A dream come true.

I was the first employee for a company called Elite Broadcasting. It was comprised of three owners: one silent partner who bankrolled most of the operation and a couple of guys, Jack and Keith, who had worked together years before and dreamed of having their own radio station. Both put up a good deal of their own money and were actively involved in the day-to-day management of the new station.

I came to know Keith over the previous year and traveled to Newport on occasion to see how progress was going on construction. As with any new operation there were quite a few false starts before things were up and running. I had eight or nine different start dates over that year before anything was finalized. I arrived in town about a week after the office furniture was delivered.

We were scheduled to go on the air in March of 1995. Over the course of the next three months we would have to build out the studio, install the transmitter and microwave units, erect the tower, hang the antenna, hire a few more people, load all the music, and complete myriad other tasks.

It was during this time that I got to be good friends with Keith. He became like an older brother and was eager to take me under his wing. There was only about a 10-year age difference between us, we were both alumni of the University of Portland, and our parents knew each other. That was a decent foundation to build on, both personally and professionally. It meant I was included in a lot of the ground floor activities that were going on.

More to come in Part II…