Thursday, September 06, 2007

13 things about my radio career



1. I got my first radio job when I was 19 years old.

2. The station was KWFC in Springfield, Missouri. I worked there for about three years.

3. I got married while working at KWFC, and insisted on using my married name on the air, even though my program director, Larry Alford, wanted me to keep using my maiden name. Come to think of it, "Cindy Garrett" is easier to say than "Cindy Swanson."

4. My news director at KWFC, Floyd Gilzow, was one of the best newsmen I've ever known. My on-the-job training under his tutelage has been invaluable to me.

5. One of the Greene County elected officials I interviewed on a daily basis while at KWFC was County Clerk Roy Blunt, who is now a congressman.

6. I worked at KWFC with Malcom and Carol Feistel, who later became missionaries to Taiwan. Sadly, Malcom passed away over a year ago. Carol has a wonderful blog called And I Shall Yet Praise Him..

7. I was out of radio from June 1979 to March of 1981, when I went to work for the station I still work for, 101QFL.

8. My first news director here at 101QFL was Wes Bleed, who is now news director at WGN Radio in Chicago.

9. I was 24 when I started working at 101QFL. My oldest child, Jonathan, was one year old. He is now 27. You do the math.

10. One of my favorite news colleagues ever is Joel Griffith, who was the news director at 101QFL for five years. I still miss him, but fortunately he isn't too far away, as he is now with the Slavic Gospel Association. His excellent blog is called The Seventh Sola.

11. I was in a Winnebago County Courtroom on April 27, 1982, covering one of his murder trials, when convicted killer Ray Lee Stewart escaped while being escorted to the courtroom. (He was on the loose for two hours before being captured.)

Me with Mike Schlote, circa 2003

12. If you've been wondering about my former colleague,the beloved Mike "The SchloMan" Schlote--I got an e-mail from him recently:

"I’m the Director of Programming and Music along with host of 'Mike at the Mic in the Morning at KZZQ-Des Moines... we can be heard on the web at KZZQ.com. We are also listed on Windows Media Player’s radio station list)...I will be letting TheSchloMan.com go away in about a month. It won’t be long and I’ll be launching a different site designed around Voice Work called VoiceHangar.com. I REALLY look forward to that."


Certainly working with "The SchloMan" was one of the great joys of my radio career.

13. I reminisce about my radio career, all the changes that have taken place in the industry, and some of the wonderful people I've worked with, in this anniversary post.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun!



10 comments:

Solameanie said...

Thanks for the kind words.

Funny, I was just thinking about how long it's been since I worked at CCN. 14 years. Wow.

Makes me feel like yelling out..."Auntie Em, Auntie Em, the hourglass is almost empty!"

Unknown said...

great list..Love learning about your job and I also enjoyed the quote below

Marshamlow said...

Happy TT. I enjoyed getting to know you a little better.

Bethanne said...

It was really nice to read your post. What a great history! Thanks for visiting my blog and have a great week.
Morgan, romance writer and T13er

Norma said...

What a fascinating career you've had! Thanks for sharing.

BTW--I'd visit more often, but I have a terrible time loading your page.

Thanks for visiting my TT tips for fathers.

Rodney Olsen said...

Great to read more about a fellow broadcaster. :)

Anonymous said...

Interesting list.

Denise Patrick said...

Wow, you've been at this for a while. And, I did the math and you and I are the same age - OLD!! (Luckily we don't look it! *grin*)

Thanks for visiting my TT!

Doug said...

Cindy, I did the math, too. Funny, you turned out to be young in my book! Ha! Loved reading about your fascinating career. You are the woman!!

Katy McKenna, who can't figure out how to switch blogger identities so it doesn't look like my husband is posting this......

Donna-Jean Breckenridge said...

Your maiden name story reminded me. When I was first out of Bible college, I worked for my pastor-dad (still do, come to think of it ), and he had a daily radio program. I did the research/writing for it in discussion with him, and I recorded some of the programs.

I soon got married - and switched to my married name.

One woman wrote my Dad a letter. "I just want to tell you how impressed I am that you and your wife got divorced, yet you're still on the radio together!" Good grief. Maybe we should have explained :-)

Thanks for the memory, and for your blog, as always.

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