I was very lucky.  I had a friend that worked at a restaurant call me when he needed someone to read a commercial for a radio advertisement.  He knew I wanted to get into radio my whole life.  I was already in a career, hadn't gone to Brown Institute nor had any radio experience.  Chad sent me the ad copy and I rehearsed it many many times.  I went to the ABC Studio's close to the University of Minnesota campus in May of 2002 and asked for a guy named David Tuttle.  David was the production manager for all stations.  He was well known on the KQRS morning show as "Tuttle", the guy that laughed in the back ground.  I followed him into one of the 7 KQRS studio rooms and recorded my commercial.  I nailed the 60 second spot on my first read.  It was a rush.  The studios looked just like you see in the movies. 

I made a well thought out pitch to Tuttle right after I finished.  I told him that I was thinking about going to Brown and was willing to volunteer my time in exchange for learning opportunities.  He quickly took my under his arm and showed me everything he learned at Brown.  So it began.  I started to come in after work day after day.  I recorded so many commercials and learned how to run the board so quickly that he let me come in on my own, without him to go to work on commercials.  It was all unpaid, but it was the time of my life.  I was able to hang out with every local radio personality that you could name.  It was literally a dream come true. 

After a few month, there was a opening for a DJ on the new Drive 105 modern rock station. Tuttle wanted me to have it. I put together a demo and Tuttle perfected it before handing it to the program manager.  I began doing weekend nights.  It was very hard work at first but sooo cool.  After just a few months of giving up my weekends, I asked for some "compensation".  I learned quickly that radio stations don't pay their radio talent.  I soon had my first daughter.  She had some health problems and I had to leave my gig.  They never let me back in.  My opportunity was gone. I would not have been able to support a family at 28 on a DJ's wage, so I had to let the dream go. 

Lately, I was able to dabble in radio for a brief stint at 1080 KYMN radio before starting my job at the Newspaper.  Once you're on air, it's always in your blood. 

Following are various on-air radio samples of myself:

Try-out demo for Drive 105 (note: the songs are cut out so you just hear me.  Sounds like I say things over and over a lot)

Ragstock Commercial 93X (last part of the commercial)

Tom Thumb Commercial 92.5 KQRS

UPS Commercial Drive 105

Redbull Commercial 93X (last half)

Sprint PSC Commercial 92.5 KQRS (last half)

Voice Stream (Commercial with Jamie Lee Courtis) 92.5 KQRS (last half)

Northfield News Spot on KYMN 1080 AM

On Air, Minnesota's Alternative Drive 105. October 2002

I was a frequent BWCA camper from 1988 to 1995 when I officially "retired" myself from taking these trips. I finally have scanned as many photos as I could find from these years, having neatly posted them into Flickr and created a nice landing point to view them all. I encourage anyone who has been to this beautiful country to have a look and comment about your own experiences.

Click here or the photo collage to be magically transported to the photo collection.

Oh, I retired because I am a huge wimp and now prefer to experience my nature in a cabin and motorized boats.