When I started working at KBOA (summer of 1972), Studio A (more commonly known as the “on-air studio” or “the control room”) was always manned. I believe Mr. Rudy was signing on in those days and later shifts were manned by Jeff Wheeler, Charlie Isabell, Charlie Austin, Ted Guffy and Keith Parker. And we were simulcasting the FM during the day with a part-timer running the Cardinal games at night. No automation. No computers. A real, live person cued up the records and played recorded commercials (or read them live). Not very cost effective but a lot of fun for those of us privileged to be “on the radio.”
Between 1984 (when I left KBOA) and around 2000, I traveled all over the midwest visiting radio stations affiliated with our networks. Most in small or very small towns. For many of those 16 years, there were still radio stations with live announcers throughout the day.
Are there any still doing this? I’m not talking about “breaking in” a couple of times an hour to do the weather… I’m looking for one station that still has live announers, sitting in a studio, running the show from sign-on to sign-off. Yes, I understand this makes no sense from a business standpoint. And I can’t give you any good reason why some station owner would be doing this. I’m just asking some of my radio pals to email me if they know of such a relic.
If I can find one, I’ll call them up and see if someone will talk with me about their station and what it’s like to work there (I’ll post the interview here). Better yet, I’ll take my camcorder and get in the car and go visit the station. I’ll record the entire day. We can make a project out of this, like tagging and monitoring Bengal Tigers or some other endangered species.
