I was a college DJ at WSPN, the Skidmore College radio station in Saratoga Springs, NY. The station had always been closed during the summer but in 1981, Steve Rosenbaum, the ambitious student general Manager, decided to keep the station open. He did this by allowing people from the town to do shows. I auditioned and I really bombed. But they did offer me a show on Saturday mornings from 3 am-6 am. Somehow my parents allowed that and the upshot was, I had A LOT of time to practice.
My show was followed by the Polka Daddy show, and on a few occasions, I had to fill in for Polka Daddy as Polka Derick. As you may know, Polka songs are usually less than 2 minutes long, and since I did not know the material (what can I say?), and it was all vinyl, it was grueling. After a summer of that, I got a much better time slot, I absolutely loved it and did it for about 3 years.
After high school, I went to a trade school for radio and television. I continued my show there. Below are some of my playlists from 1985. I’d still listen to any of this quite happily.