I WAS A TEENAGE 'BEAUTIFUL MUSIC' DJ

[40fan]

It was August 1977. I was a 17-year-old who was doing a paper route and looking forward to starting my Liberal Arts studies at the community college. One day I got called to a house I did not normally deliver to. The lady wanted to start getting the paper because her husband, who usually got the paper at the office, was recovering from surgery. He was the manager of a local AM/FM station. So I had the opportunity to talk to him about my interest in radio.

A couple weeks later, after he returned to work and I started school, his Program Director calls me and, before I know it, I'm hired. I was operating the FM station; BEAUTIFUL 107, from a back corner studio with NO MICROPHONE. The job; just play the records and the commercial breaks and bring up Mutual News on the hour...and MAKE DARN SURE the dead-air light did not come on.

The records...there had to be over a thousand LPs in the studio closet. Mantovani, The Boston Pops Orchestra, Henry Mancini, Peter Nero, Michel Legrand, Percy Faith, Andre Kostelanetz, Ferranti & Teicher, Lawrence Welk and, probably the most prolific of them all, The 101 Strings Orchestra. Many records had stickers placed over cuts that were not to be played or had unplayable scratches. I was to keep the mix varied; strings/piano/other. The only vocals were an occasional backing chorus.

Now, as a listener of AT40 for five years at this point, a small percentage of this music was familiar to me. The most recent hit I was able to play was "Nadia's Theme" and there were about five other versions besides the DeVorzon/Bodkin record. I tried to talk the PD into adding "Star Wars" but no luck! The next real hit that we added was Frank Mills' "Music Box Dancer" and, by that time, we were getting ready to abandon the records in favor of a tape service. Automation was around the corner.

There is more to this story. Anyone care to hear it?

[mrjukebox]

That's pretty remarkable-I was a communications major in college-My ultimate dream was to work in radio-Alas,it never materialized-Just out of curiousity,where was this station located?

[at40petebattistini]

40fan,
Falling into a radio gig that way was pretty cool. I would enjoy reading more of your radio experience. And I'll bet a few 'voiceless' radio enthusiasts who rarely if ever log on to this site would too.

You didn't mention whether the job was full or part time, and what shift(s) you worked. And I'd guess having access to beautiful music instrumentals made it convenient to keep the music rolling right up to Mutual News time.

[40fan]

As far as the location, let me just say for now it was in a small city in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. The shift, mainly 3-9pm weekdays and an occasional swing shift.

I should relate that what prompted this memory was hearing Bert Kaempfert's "Wonderland By Night" as an extra on AT40 - The 80s; without a doubt a staple of the format back then. Kaempfert was another artist with a number of albums in our library. I recall a cover of Three Dog Night's "Shambala" that our AM station used as a Saturday night show opener.

I did actually have a few favorites; Henry Mancini's "Theme From Silver Streak", the very pretty "Homecoming" by Hagood Hardy (one of those records that had the misfortune of topping out at #41 on the Hot 100) and anything off the album "The Hollyridge Strings Play The Beatles"

The only time I recall we did any special programming was in May '78; the P.D. asked me to flip through the album jackets and find any and all songs by Irving Berlin. I did and so we paid tribute to Berlin on his 90th Birthday with one of his songs (with a recorded intro) out of every break.

I'd earlier mentioned the record library...that didn't include the Christmas stash which had to be at least 300 more albums. Some of that music I still hear on stations that do the switch to "all holiday".

More to come.

[mrjukebox]

Thanks for the information-It seems that "beautiful music" stations have gone the way of the dinosaur & pay phones.