Throughout the Lombardi era, Chicago radio stations WCFL and WLS battled to win the hearts and minds of impressionable young listeners like me. The popularity of DJs like John "Records" Landecker and "Super Jock" Larry Lujack rivaled that of TV and Movie stars. AM and short-wave broadcasts during my formative years shaped my worldview. Life was good for a young man of the world, living in the Second City.
When we moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Radio saved my life. Never really fitting in, I acted out. My lo-fidelity life of crime was short-lived, however, thanks to those 50,000-watt blowtorches from Chicago. After sunset, they could be heard through the speaker of my transistor radio, the static yielding to Led Zeppelin, The Doors, and Pink Floyd as night fell.
Newscasts and traffic reports made me homesick. So did the ads for Mr. Norm's Grand-Spaulding Dodge, Dominick's Grocery Stores, and the US 30 Drag Strip. And funny stuff like the Fish Report with a Beat and/or the greatest crime-fighter the world has ever known, Chickenman!
He's everywhere! He's everywhere!
Selling radio advertising made me a marketing mercenary, able to go anywhere to sell anything to anyone, anytime. Radio ad sales success led quickly to an advertising agency gig. We also produced and sold comedy bits to DJs and radio stations.
Mastering radio ad sales gave me the confidence to go into business for myself. My previous broadcasting shenanigans are recounted in The Life and Times of Grizzled Adman.
You can take the boy outta radio, but you can't take radio outta the boy. Broadcast professionals needing help with sales, promotions, and sales training are encouraged to call.
Continued success until then!
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WROG
Radioactive Merchandise
Designed by a punk from Chicago
Inspired by Top-40 Radio back in the Lombardi Era