Alternative Famous Firsts
Scott Rizzuto
Morning Show Host
KPNT (105.7 The Point)/St. Louis
Promo Intern at WXRK / K-Rock, New York City.
First real concert was April 7, 1995. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
I got a couple tapes from Columbia House for a penny. Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood Def Leppard - Hysteria
Was asked to interview the actor Ryan Phillippe because nobody else was available to do it. I was nervous as all hell and it was terrible. At the end, I was relieved to get it out of the way.
When we were still doing the carts and CD thing, thought I had plenty of time for a bathroom break (I believe it was a long Tool song playing). From a bathroom stall I heard the silence alarm going off. When I returned to the studio, the hotline was ringing and there was an angry program director on the other end.
Izzy (@izzthisthingon on Instagram)
Morning Show Host
KDKB (ALT AZ 93.3)/Phoenix
I worked afternoons on my college radio station, WPGU/Champaign. It wasn't a university-funded radio station, and it was run entirely by students. It was like a crash course in radio. I loved every minute of it, so I decided to change my original career path of Psychology, and continue on in radio!
My sister took me to see The Academy Is... at House of Blues in Chicago when I was 16! I remember being in awe of how packed that place was, and everyone singing along was electric. Definitely a memorable show.
Slipknot - IOWA. My parents didn't want me listening to it, so they kept taking it away from me, and I'd have to buy another one. I also got to interview Corey Taylor later in my career, so that was a really cool full-circle moment!
Brent Smith from Shinedown. Always a super nice and friendly guy, making that interview a breeze. I remember being insanely nervous, but he helped keep me calm!
I was working Nights at a Top 40 station in Springfield, IL--my first radio job out of college. I was too busy chatting with my buddy who did nights on the Country station next door to realize I forgot to take the log out of Manual. There was dead air for at least 3 minutes. Luckily, my boss never listened to my show since he did mornings, so I never got in trouble.
Jason Keller
Afternoon Drive & Production/Imaging Director
WEQX/Manchester, Vermont
Weekend Overnights at 106.7 WIZN in Burlington, Vermont.
It was 1982, I was nine years old, my sister was eleven, and our parents, and uncle, took us to see the legendary Lou Rawls perform at Resorts International Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. Arsenio Hall, years before his talk show, did a great comedy set to open the night. Not exactly a kid favorite, I recall my sister and I being somewhat confused with the concert choice.
First vinyl as a kid: John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John, “You’re The One That I Want” from the Grease soundtrack. First CD as a teenager: Metallica “The Black Album.”
Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty. His genuine ability to be conversational really stood out to me.
I inadvertently turned off a sports talk station in a building I was working in. The studio was empty, they were running a syndicated show, and I thought I’d work on a production project. I carelessly hit a few buttons on the board and cut the feed of the show (for a few minutes). Our front desk person, Rebecca, quickly came down the hall to tell me listeners were calling and complaining about dead air on the sports station. I improvised an answer, took no responsibility for the issue, and reassured her that I could fix the problem. She left the studio, I simply hit one button to get the station back on, and I never did production in there again.
