With National Radio Day on August 20th and Radio Commercials Day on the 28th, we thought we'd celebrate both by gathering a few radio stories from our colleagues here at WideOrbit. Radio holds a special place in our hearts, and we appreciate its unique ability to entertain, inform, connect, and support our communities. We're also extremely proud of the small part we play in helping the stations we've known for years, sometimes decades, deliver the programming their listeners love.
What follows are some of our favorite radio stories and memories, including a few memorable radio commercials. We hope you enjoy.
We started young James Estepp
SVP, Software Engineering
Two of my sisters and I were in my father's bedroom not approved of but he had our only radio. I heard Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis.
Rob Sidney
Sales Coordinator, WO Automation for Radio
The radio was always on in my household. It's the first place I heard Downtown by Petula Clark and Up, Up and Away by The 5th Dimension - songs that still resonate with me today. I remember tuning to the station of record' in Baltimore, WBAL (a WideOrbit Customer), first thing on a snowy morning to find out if we'd be going to school. And listening to rocker WLPL (now WERQ, also a WideOrbit Customer) in high school and realizing that radio was my life's calling.
Maria Antonucci
Early Adopter Specialist
Listening to WHCN in Hartford with my sister and she won an Eric Clapton 45 of Layla . We thought it was the coolest thing ever.
Derek Fike
Technical Support Engineer
When I was about eight years old, Ebony and Ivory used to play regularly right when I was going to bed. I would fall asleep listening to it.
Sara Burns
Provisioning Manager
When I was in the third grade, we'd listen to the radio every morning while getting ready for school, and every morning I would call in and request Tina Turner's What's Love Got To Do With It . I would never hear it before I had to leave for school. On the very last day of school, the morning DJ said, Dedicated to the little girl who calls in every morning to request this song, and they finally played it for me, wishing me a good summer break. (I don't know why an 8-year-old would love this song so much, but I did and still do!)
William Dub Irvin
VP, WO Automation for Radio
I was in the home where I grew up in Bluefield WV. I was about eight years old, and my parents introduced me to radio. It was around 1977 when acts like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac were huge. I was listening to the radio stations where I would work about a decade later - the stations where my 33-year radio career began. Today these stations all use WO Automation for Radio! I still experience joy every time I hear that music - it reminds me of that very happy time. My parents still live in the same house, and I still think of that happy era and radio's place in it every time I visit.
Rick Daniels
Client Services Specialist, Implementation
My earliest memory was listening to Beeg and the Breakfast Bunch on WSTO in 1988. I was eight years old. It inspired my 25-year career in radio before I came to WideOrbit.
Francis Johnson
Director of Operations, Implementation
I was eight years old listening to story time daily at 5 pm. The story centered around a villain named Dr. Bobo. This was in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
Patricia Rodriguez
Lifecycle Marketing Specialist, Marketing
I was four, listening to Bay Area's 96.5 in my dad's 92 Nissan Pathfinder. Every Saturday morning, we would get donuts at our local shop, and he always listened to KOIT, Light rock, less talk.
Making old-school playlists (AKA: mixtapes) Michelle King
Sales Renewal Specialist, WO Automation for Radio
As a pre-teen in the 80s, I remember capturing my favorite songs by recording the radio on cassette tapes. Then listening back to the music and DJs over and over and over again (until the tape was eaten by the cassette player).
Derek Fike
Technical Support Engineer
Like most kids in the 80s, we sat by the radio waiting to record our favorite songs. We would call into the station with our requests. I cannot count the number of times I called KUBE 93.3 in Seattle to ask for Parents Just Don't Understand by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.
Laura Adams
Product Support Specialist
In junior high, and even high school, I used to make mixtapes of my favorite tunes on the radio and play them on my boom box while roller skating around our neighborhood or in my car. Everyone listened to the same two or three stations with local DJs in town, so if you didn't listen, you weren't in the know . After leaving home and heading to college, I ended up finding new stations, new formats, and new styles of music as well. I think the last mixtape I ever made from the radio was for a Spring Break trip to Florida.
Listening in the car Patricia Rodriguez
Lifecycle Marketing Specialist, Marketing
I always listen to the Radio when I'm in a car or driving. Sometimes I plug in my iPhone to stream some tunes, but for the most part I like to enjoy the radio hosts and music.
Nisie Pimanmas
Manager, Integrations
With my parents in the car, listening to a local AC station when I was in elementary school. That same station took dedications in the evening (still does!) so my BFF and I would call in and make dedications to each other in HS. It was a thrill to hear our names on the radio!
Duncan Gilmore
Marketing Coordinator, Marketing
I remember listening to the radio in the car with my dad a lot when I was little. In addition to classic rock, on weekends we would always listen to the NPR radio shows Car Talk, which I didn't always get but I thought was funny, and Prairie Home Companion which I didn't always get and didn't think was fun
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