Rock Famous Firsts
Mike Z
On Air
96.7 KCAL-FM
Street team at Y-107 (Los Angeles, CA).
Phil Collins at Irvine Meadows, 1991.
It was probably Michael Jackon's Thriller. But my favorite record purchase was the year I got good grades and my mom offered to buy me anything I wanted. I selected Megadeth's So Far, So Good, So What. The look on her face when she saw the cover was priceless. I will never forget it.
I think it was the band Finch in 2002. It was in studio at KCXX-FM (Riverside/San Bernardino, CA) and I got nothing but one word answers from them. I blamed them at first but later realized it was my fault for not asking better questions and being more concerned about asking my next question than listening to their answers.
If you are old enough to remember having to take tower readings and log them... While working an overnight at KRAB-FM (Bakersfield, CA) I somehow managed to turn off the signal while attempting to take the tower readings. My PD and engineer were not at all happy with me.
Leslie Tucker
APD / On-Air Host
KQRA Q102.1 / KKLH 104.7 The Cave
On-Air Host for KQRA
Pantera, 1995
There's a strong possibility it was Wilson Phillips, but I tell everyone it was Metallica's Black Album.
Unofficially, it was Peter Steele of Type O Negative. The guy I was dating at the time was supposed to do it but he chickened out so I did it for him. But my first official interview as a radio host was LaJon Witherspoon of Sevendust.
I think my first dead air experience was sometime during my first few months on-air. I lost my train of thought mid-sentence and I completely froze; I didn't know what to say or do. I'm not even sure how I recovered from that! I must have figured it out because 7 years later, here I am!
Jen Kajzer
General Manager
WSOU 89.5FM, Seton Hall's Pirate Radio
Music Choice.
Whitesnake with Great White at Meadowlands Arena, New Jersey, 1987.
Def Leppard Hysteria and KISS Crazy Nights, both in the same purchase.
Queensrÿche
While working at WSOU as a student in the late 1990s, I forgot to put the pots in program and they were in audition. I must have played three or four songs at the time and a listener called to say there was dead air. My heart dropped into my stomach. I still have the recurring 'dead air' dreams.
