Alternative Famous Firsts
Mike Mewborn
Executive Producer / Host
B-Side Trax
WINK AM-FM / TV Ft. Myers, FL. On the FM side, we played 97 Rock, a mainstream TM rock format out of Dallas. Meanwhile, over on the AM side, 'Mr Rock & Roll' was playing "The Music of Your Life" ~ Rosemary Clooney, Glenn Miller Les & Larry Elgart ~ Whaaaat? I survived & lived to rock another day! I love those old songs now ...
Chicago Transit Authority at The Hollywood Sportatorium in Miami. I still have the ticket stub!!
My first actual record was the 45 of “Indiana Wants Me” by R Dean Taylor. My 1st album cost a whoppin' $1.49 in the cutout rack. It was Cactus debut LP Cactus. Made famous because Eddie Van Halen modeled the intro to “Let Me Swim” as “Eruption” leading into “Runnin' With The Devil” from that 1st record.
Carmine Appice. I pulled him into the studio after a Nugent show in Ft. Myers at the former Lee County Arena. What an amazing career & a fun guy to boot. I'll never forget him burping into the studio mic!!
At WINK, the job was 2-sided: The AM side was live-assist. There were 2 reel-to-reels with the music on them that ran automatically. 4 times an hour on the quarter hour, there was a programmed stop where you went live & played the spots that you had manually pulled on cart. The FM side was a huge computer hosting 4 reel-to-reels with the music on them. There were 120 slots for the carts that ran the liners, buffers, sweepers & spots that were programmed on a computer in the production studio. My job was to keep the reels refilled, once an hour go into the production room & record either news or weather along with the top-of-the-hour ID. I HAD ONE JOB!! Working overnights, for some reason, I had the hardest time staying awake between 3:30-4:30 in the morning. I woke up more than once to the dreaded sound of the dead air siren ( sorry Ben Sensing ! ). Once in a great while I even managed to have dead air over on the AM side, usually while I was firefighting over on the FM side (sorry again Ben). Did I mention? I love RADIO!!
KLEIN (formerly Kevin Klein)
Host: Klein.Ally.Show
KROQ/Los Angeles
After an internship at the legendary WHFS, I landed a cushy gig as an overnight board op for a smooth jazz station in Washington DC. Jealous?
Live On July 15th 1994 and Adam Sandler the same year.
2 Live Crew As Nasty As They Want To Be and G N R Appetite for Destruction.
I think I sat down with Seether when I was starting out at KROCK in Syracuse. The following week I got a phone call from Bono. I couldn’t believe it. Then his people realized he called the wrong “KROCK” in New York.
A listener sent me pizza during one of my night shifts at WXRK in NYC. I was so hungry that I went to lobby and forgot my key card. Just me in an elevator with a pizza and a Strokes song ending quickly. About 8 minutes and 4 slices later I got back in. Total dead air 6:32.
Christen Limon
Music Coordinator/On Air Personality
KYSR (ALT 98.7)/Los Angeles
Phone-Op for Mornings With Carson Daly
N*SYNC at the Gibson Amphitheatre (Britney Spears opened for them!)
No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom
Rita Ora
I wasn't able to take my usual pre-shift nap before my weekly overnight board op shift from 12a-6a. Audio Vault was the system used at the time, I didn't clear and reload the carts and ended up falling asleep for 1 minute and 48 seconds. I spent the rest of my weekend in agony waiting for Monday because I knew I would have to explain. Every once in a while, I dream about that night, it always ends in me waking up in a panic.
