Wow. F-in’ WOW! My former program director, Tom Calococci, the man who made me his first hire for Hot 97.7 in Boston, is now an actor! He was just in The Finder, a TV show on Fox, and will soon be in a movie called The Appearing. He left his position as operations manager of Beasley Broadcasting (no relation—sigh), drove cross-country from Miami, and relocated to Los Angeles to devote himself full-time to becoming an actor. I have NO DOUBT he is going to be successful because he has jumped in with both feet into the deep end.
The universe has a way of rewarding people who burn bridges behind them, who have no Plan B, who decide “no” is not an option. I know, because that’s how I jumped into my radio career.
In 1999, I was 6 years into a career as a Graphic Design Assistant for Hale and Dorr LLP, a major law firm in Boston. But a restlessness was growing, because I knew this wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So I quit. But not really. See, my boss and boss’ boss didn’t want me to leave, and I didn’t really have anywhere to go, but I knew I needed to move on. So I gave my notice on January 15th, but didn’t leave until April 16th… I was kinda doing a “working at-will” thing.
I had been on-air at WRBB, Northeastern’s radio station, for a couple of years at that point… just having fun, nothing serious. In February 1999, I found out that Steve Gousby had been named program director of WILD-AM. T. Clark had taken over the morning show hosting duties a while before. And the Thunderstorm was wide open!
The Thunderstorm was a 2 hour mix show that WILD-AM ran during the summer months when the station’s sign off time extended to 8pm (WILD-AM is a “daytimer” station, so they could only broadcast from sun-up to sundown). One of my dreams had been to do a mix show on a commercial radio station. Since Gousby was PD, he wouldn’t have the time to spin on the Thunderstorm anymore, and T. was on in the mornings, so he wouldn’t have the time either. So I sent in my cover letter, resume, air check and a sample mix. Steve took a listen, and told me I needed more energy in my vocal delivery. I went back to WRBB, worked on amping up the energy level, came back to Steve, and he said we’ll try you out for a few weeks.
That’s all I needed to hear! I quickly set a final departure date with Hale and Dorr, and on April 5th, 1999, I did my first show for WILD-AM. I kinda glossed over the fact that Gousby said we will try you out. I KNEW once I was in the building, I was staying. Because I had no other choice. I had no job. This was my dream. And if I didn’t get into radio at that point, I would have never be able to do it. So I took my severance, cashed in my 401K, took a part-time job as director of the New England Disc Jockey Association, started spinning in clubs like Jovan’s, the Charlie Horse and Pollyesthers, and at the highly advanced age (for radio) of 32, I started my commercial radio career.
(And I’m extremely proud to say, rising from part-time on-air personality to program director, running my own radio station, in less than 6 years)
Now, I understand that the path I took is not for everyone. Kids, relationships, financial security, etc. all play a huge role in what kind of risks you can take. But dreams are free. Do not be afraid to dream! Dream about how your life would look like if you could be doing exactly what you want. Dream about how it would feel to love what you do for a living and make great money at it. Then dream about what steps you can take, today, right now, to move yourself closer to your dream. I truly believe if you commit yourself 100% to moving towards your dreams, even within the confines of your current reality, you will get there much faster than you think.
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