Why Radio is Personal To Me

Are you one of those people who wonder if advertising on the radio would work for your business?

I’ve got something for you to watch, or at least listen to for 5 minutes in a moment.

Last year I turned 59 and listening to the radio has been part of my life since I was a kid.  I remember having a clock radio and being responsible for setting my alarm so I would be up in the morning when I was in grade school.  Listening for school delays and praying for school closings that never came was my first experience.  WOWO radio in Fort Wayne with Bob Sievers was my station.

Later, as I entered my teen years, it was my source of music.  My Music, not my parents music. I still listened to WOWO after school and when I was supposed to be doing my homework and felt like I knew Young Chris Roberts and Ron Gregory who did the afternoon and night shows on WOWO.   I also discovered the MAGIC MEE and Top 40 Radio with WMEE.  The first FM station that was mine and not my parents was ROCK 95, an automated station that played music off reel to reel tapes.

Many of today’s youth and young adults have other ways of getting that same news information and entertainment.  Social Media and the entire web have created a generation or two that have choices of where to get those things that I relied on my transistor radio for.

However, I used the word choices just now very deliberately.  Because radio listening has not declined, and results for radio advertisers continue to be outstanding when it’s done properly.

What you are about to see and hear is a 5 minute video produced by the Radio Advertising Bureau.  They are passionate about radio and rightfully biased, just like I am.

Now let me share with you a bit about my personal story.

Those radio stations I mentioned, WOWO, WMEE, and ROCK 95… the local Fort Wayne stations I listened to as a kid, I’ve worked for them as a grown-up.

WMEE moved from being the MAGIC MEE on 1380 am to 97.3 WMEE and I was on the air at WMEE in the early 1980’s.

ROCK 95 became a soft rock radio station and I worked for them on the air in the 1990’s.

And now, I work in the same building I used to work in during the 80’s… the building that WMEE is in is also the home of 5 other stations including WOWO radio, the station I’ve worked for since 2013.  WOWO transitioned from being a music station to a news/talk station a couple decades ago.

Since you’ve read this far, I’ll share with you a couple more cool things.  Recently I connected on Facebook with Shotgun Lenny Harrison whom I remember listening to on the MAGIC MEE in the late 70’s.  We were trading stories and reminiscing about our days on the air. Lenny worked with Steve Shine, another WMEE d-j who is now our main fill-in morning show host on WOWO. I’ve also connected to other former coworkers from WMEE and other stations on Facebook and face to face too. 

One more item is the very same Ron Gregory who inspired me to want to work on the radio when I listened to him on WOWO as a teenager… Ron and I have been friends for about a dozen years now.  A couple times a year we will sit and talk over a meal or a beverage.  Small World.