When I trace the roots of my career, my interest in audio, and my love for the way sound is used to tell stories, there is one place that was the catalyst for everything that came after - my high school radio station, WLTL.
The summer before my freshman year at Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, IL, my mother insisted I take a summer school class so that could get used to how different the experience would be from grade school. Looking through the catalog of classes, I saw a radio production course and thought "Oh hey, that looks easy! Certainly better than taking algebra!" Little did I know how much that "easy" decision would shape my life.
I ended up spending the next four years taking part in almost every aspect of the station - from DJ to remote broadcasting to engineering to managing. The one place where I really found my calling was in the production of radio dramas. While the teachers and administrators treated the radio station like a professional endeavor, they gave us a lot of latitude to play and create and explore.
Inspired by the classic radio dramas from the early days of radio, I started recording and editing my own versions of radio programs, tv shows, and movies. I did the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy from the original radio scripts, an version of the British TV show Fawlty Towers, and my own adaptations of two movies - the 1966 Batman movie and The Breakfast Club. We also did live broadcasts of A Christmas Carol every winter.
The WLTL Production Room circa 1990
It was a tremendous amount of work as I recorded, edited, and mixed all of these programs on a 2 track reel-to-reel machine. First, I would bring in all my friends on a Saturday and record the script on one track of the tape. Then I would spends countless other weekends editing and mixing that voice and using albums, cassettes, and cart machines to add music and sound effects onto the other track. Eventually, I would finish and be able to play back what was essentially a mono program on the radio.
It was an incredibly fun and gratifying experience which led me down the path to a career in sound for movies, television. and video games.
This past weekend, I went back home to WLTL to be a part of it's 50th anniversary celebration. In January of 1968, WLTL first started broadcasting as a small, 10 watt station out of a room on the third floor of Lyons Township High School. Today, it is 180 watts, has an amazing set of programs and equipment, and boasts an incredible set of alumni, of which I am proud to be a member.
As part of the festivities, the station inducted a number of alumni into its Hall of Fame. I was surprised and incredibly honored to find that I was to be inducted along with a number of other well deserving alumni, all of whom have careers in media and broadcasting.
I am so very grateful for everything that WLTL gave me. To be recognized by them like this means the world to me.
I now have it at work to always help remind me where I came from, where I've been, and how fortunate I truly am to be able to have this career and this life.
originally published on LinkedIn 04/23/2018