I guess I have been a radio "geek" since the tender age of 5 years old. I remember begging my parents to get me a radio of my own. As a youngster I remember tuning in all those magic AM stations I could receive from across the country at night. Being originally from the Chicagoland area I grew up listening to the two 50KW flame throwers WLS and WCFL.
Not long after high school I joined the Navy and got my first actual "break" in broadcasting with American Forces Radio.
When I left the Navy, I landed my first gig in real radio and never looked back.
With several radio stations behind me and a lot of experience I am so happy to contimue being be part of radio, and my favorite part of that is you, the listener.
The show I produce today is an evolution from a program that started back in the early 2000's at a small station in Round Lake Heights, IL. The station was a new build-out community LPFM ran by all volunteers. The station president contacted me to bring my experience to their brodcast lineup. After a few conversations with their board of directors I began what was known as "All The Hits!"
The concept was a program that paid respect to Top-40 radio of the 60's, 70's and 80's. Playing music that was on the charts in those decades and playing jingles from the stations that played the music of the time to bring the listeners back to the days when Top-40 radio was truly in its prime. Today's radio is very structured and often bland. All The Hits is an exciting departure to when radio was fun to listen to and fun to produce.
After a few years on the Round Lake Heights station, it was time to move on to other outlets. The studio at that time had a web-cam installed and its programming was streaming on Justin.TV. When it became time to move on, we continued for a short time broadcasting from my home studio via Justin.TV. Until recently archvies of live shows were hosted through their new website Twitch.TV. Sadly it appears the archives were removed.
In November 2013, College of Lake County in Grayslake, IL did a complete remodel of their studio. They removed the out of date equipment that was once in use, built a new format and restored their student-run radio station. As an allumni of CLC, I was proud to provide a weekly installment of All The Hits! to their Saturday lineup. Its been several years and All the Hits still broadcasts from that station to this day.
Two radio stations that were spun off from volunteers of the Round Lake Heights station were 99.9 WYML in Prairie Grove, IL. and 105.1 WLCB in Slades Corners, Wi. Being part of their family back in the day, I was honored to be invited to bring All the Hits to both stations around 2016.
Being part of multiple Facebook groups, the conversation occasionally goes toward "Hey I have this show and want to share it with other stations" I decided to mention All The Hits one day and to my pleasant surprise, began to get private messages from station managers looking to add this show to their line up. The shows format blends well with mom and pop radio or stations that feature a classic rock/pop format. Before I knew it, I was invited to bring All the hits to multiple stations in the United States and even some stations in Canada and South America.