Love and Radio

You always here that when your young you do many stupid things, some you can forget and other will stay with you for life. My life as a store owner, club DJ, and radio disc Jockey was quickly becoming a whirlwind of a adventure and I was not sure how I would handle all the excitement. Right before I left the record store in Lincoln Mall I met a women who was 10 years older than me that was a regular customer in my record store her name was Toni. Toni worked in JC Penny and at times would spend her lunch break in my store looking through music. Quickly we became friends and soon after we started to date and even though we were 10 years apart in age we found common ground in our music and our love for the outdoors. She was the first women I had ever dated who had her own place and even though she did not drive she always found a way to meet me where ever I was. I can remember her cooking some wonderful dinners and spending time talking with my father and she also had a love for grape kool aid such as I did. When my career at WJPC started to take off I found myself curious about all the freaky women who began to call me on the air and even though I had strong feelings for Toni I just felt that maybe the grass was greener on the other side ( NOT)In the months fallowing I found myself blowing off the dinners she had fixed just for me and our VCR movie dates because I wanted to stay out late and kick it. One afternoon Toni and I went to the store to get a few things for dinner and I can remember leaving my wallet in my car Toni told me to continue shopping and she would go get my wallet from the car. I soon realized that 15 minutes had went by and she had not returned so I went out to see what was keeping her and there she was sitting on my car looking at a picture of me and some HOOCHIE wrapped up all over me. It was a picture that I had taken at the club the night before and I had left it in my glove compartment. Toni did not say much she just cried and walked away. I knew I was wrong and even with her being about 3 miles from her home she turned her back on me and walked home. I live with that vision everyday of my life I can see her walking through the parking lot her heart broken and her feelings betrayed. Turns out the women I took the picture with was complete loser and the lesson I had to learn broke the heart of a wonderful women. I saw her about three years later and I told her how wrong I was and that I hope who ever she dates she is as good to him as she was to me. I have not seen her in years and if by some reason she reads this I hope she understands that I was young and STUPID and I hope she is happy. in 1994 i met a women who had me in awe as soon as I saw her she was just like I like them light, bright and sexy. I met her at a reggae party at Union Hall on the south side she was about six feet tall about 175lb with a body of a Goddess and the site of her just made me crazy she was a fan of Luke and loved to dance very sexy with that said the sad thing about our relationship was the fact she was from the projects and she never thought I took her serious because I lived in the suburbs. I can remember the first time she came out to the suburbs it was almost a culture shock and she just felt we came from two different worlds she walked into my parents home and my father almost passed out as she wore some very tall boots with a white leather outfit. She was the first person I told of my job with WGCI and we had dinner at a small restaurant on the north side I always loved her but for some reason we could not see our way to true love. We even took a road trip to Nashville TN when I bought my new truck and I still remember us eating in the waffle house. Today she lives in Florida with her husband and family and last I herd she was doing fine but for as short as our relationship was I will always remember how she taught me that some of the most wonderful,loving, and loyal people in the world maybe where you least expect them and to always keep a open mind. 1994 quickly became 1995 and the end of WJPC 950 AM………….

WBMX MIX FROM LAST FRIDAY
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ggexf7

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER 12AM

To say my life is BUSY is a understatement with my own record store, Club Ultimate, and the radio I was determined to become successful in the music industry. As I said my reason for getting into radio was for three things 1 To get FREE stuff 2 To Party all the time and 3 To meet RICK JAMES. Working from 12am to 6am on WJPC became a adventure and I quickly learned that meeting women off of the request line was a NO NO! Let me just say this about women I learned that they will tell you what they think you should know and that’s it. One night a women called me about 2am and told me how much she enjoyed my voice and how I sound like I would be fun to hang out with and at 22 i really wanted to find out what she was on. I asked her what her name was and she said call me “WET”…..uh oh. Next I asked her about herself and she said that she was 5,5 135, hazel eyes,light skinned, nice legs, and shoulder length hair. WELL DAMM its VANESSA WILLIAMS wow that’s my type everything I like in a women when can we meet. Wet told me that when I got off Thursday night to meet her at her house for breakfast and a full body massage and at 22 i was like HELLLLLL YEA. Thursday came and so did 6am and as the sun was coming up my Escort Gt was headed for Dolton IL. I found the house, my hormones were racing  I knew it was going to be on and suddenly the door opened…

DAMMMMMMMMMMMMM there she was  5,5 135, hazel eyes,light skinned, nice legs, and shoulder length hair BUT one of those eyes was a lazy eye and that skin was VERY bad she was missing two front teeth and asleep on the couch behind her was 1   2     3   4    5    6    kids oh yea two were her sisters who was a sleep in the other room but you have to admit SHE DID NOT LIE TO ME SHE JUST TOLD ME WHAT SHE THOUGHT I NEEDED TO KNOW. With her breath smelling of weed she asked me would I like a bath and she could not wait to see what I was about. NOW remember there was no my space or face book back then and there wasn’t even camera phones so I had to take her word. What was I going to do there was noooooooo WAY I was going to take a bath with this women…think……….think…………..THINK……AHHH……BEEP BEEP BEEP….BEEP BEEP BEEP…my pager was going off ” sorry baby I have to go back to the station I cant stay” with that said Ms WET quickly became a phone friend and I never saw her in person again ( i know that’s mean but DAMM I was 22) but I just thought dam one bad experience I can try again and that next try came by a women who’s name was THICK AND JUICY. TROUBLE!!!! I figured this time we I would not meet her at her home but at the Club on Friday night. I wont tell you the shit this women talked on a nightly bases but I just knew I was about to meet Angel Kelly but one Friday my friends and I were at Club Ultimate and a women in a dark green dress and black stockings walked up into the DJ booth and said hey DJ ” Am I Thick enough for you” DAMMMMMMM the truth was her breath told me before I herd her words and being the Star Wars fan I am I though it was somebody from Jabba The Huts Palace.OK again she was nice but she was not who she said she was from a physical stand point. All I could think if women were this bold on this little AM station what in the world is it like if I worked on a BIG FM station. And what is a real STALKER at 22 I did not have a clue but by 32 I had my court orders. 

OK I AM BACK ON IT!!! PLEASE PASS THE WORD.

After weeks of working a non stop schedule I decided as much as I loved the record store I had to let it go and chase my ultimate goal and that was to be on the radio. I said goodbye to Record Town and hello to the nightlife and I quickly found myself as the host of Exotic Tuesday’s and I was the DJ for Thursday,Friday and Saturday night. Club Ultimate on Tuesday night was a experience. We basically split the club into two parts with women on one side and men on the other and brought in some of the hottest female and male exotic entertainment from around Chicago. Most of the time if you did not get there by 11pm you could not get into the club. I can remember rapper’s, ball players, and singers in the club on a regular on that night from Luke to Arron Hall everybody knew that Tuesday night was out of control. I give the dancers credit back then because they really put on a good show and it did not have to be nasty or tasteless for you to enjoy it and for the most part everybody behaved themselves and the night went very smooth. Most of the time when I got off from the club at 2am I would go back to WJPC and record music for my weekend show it was there that a DJ named El Tranzel showed me how to edit calls and run a show with precision. In the weeks to come we became really good friends and he started he started to hang out with me at the club. One night when I was spinning at the club and I was just getting stupid on the box El Tranzel told the security guards ‘ He don’t get busy he gets DIZZY ‘ soooooooo soon after that the security guards started calling me DIZZY but often times the music was so loud you would here them yell out HEY DIZZ!! and that is how I became the DIZZ! Soon I was offered a shot to do overnight radio on WJPC from 12am to 6am on Wednesday and Thursday along with my Saturday midday show. A month later I was asked about doing a dance hall show on from 2pm to 6pm on Sunday afternoons and even though my Dance Hall knowledge was limited I decided to take the show and I found myself hanging out on the North side and different Dance Hall music stores (BELL JAM) to gain the knowledge I needed to give Chicago and good Sunday afternoon show. To this day I cant remember her name but I met a stunning Jamaican women when I was out record shopping that put me up on so much to this day I owe her for opening my ears to so many good artist. She lived in Harvey and we hung out for a quick minute before I just lost contact with her. So now I was on the air hosting to overnight shows and Saturday midday show a Sunday Dance Hall show and I was mixing live on air Friday night along with Dj ing four nights a week at club Ultimate. WHEWWWWW but I was not done I was asked how I felt about going in as a 50% partner in a Record Store. I loved my time at the record store but I just found myself to busy to be there 50 hours a week BUT to own a record store might not be so bad so I got my money together and invested in what would become THE RAP HOUSE 1709 E 87TH street in Chicago. It was great it was time House music and Rap music were exploding and with the store so close to CVS High School the store was always full of kids looking for hot music and because I worked on WJPC I had artist like BOSS,MC BREED,MC EIHT, and Salt and Peppa to come hang out at the store. I wish I had the energy today that I had back then because I don’t even know how I kept up that pace and by the weeks it only got more stressful. At 22 years old a business owner and a on air DJ had its perks but it also had its drama and it was the drama that caused me to lose a wonderful women and friend just because I was not ready and at the same time it introduced me to some of the wildest women and freaks I had ever met…..YEA I’M GOING TO TELL.

Welcome to Radio

Well it was 1993 and life as a DJ was going well I was still working at the Record Store and I was DJ ing three nights a week at Club Ultimate and little did I know I was about to find myself on the radio. I was approached by Jay Allen who at the time was the opening DJ for me at Club Ultimate and he informed me that he was about to become the Program Director of Chicago’s First 24 all HIP HOP radio station WJPC 950. This was the same station that gave the world Tom Joyner and others and it was also the station that I grew up listing too. Mr Johnson of Ebony/Jet decided to take a chance on Hip Hop and put his trust in the hands of a bunch of hungry go getter’s. Pink House, El Tranzel, Diane, Kool B, J Squeeze, Vinny Freshmix, and First lady made up the jock line up and I was asked if I would like to mix. PLEASEEEE it was radio so you know I had to be down even though I was a house music specialist I could not pass up such a offer to go after my ultimate goal. My job at WJPC 950am started out as a on air mixer doing 2 mixes a week at $25 a mix. Not much but it was a dream. As WJPC grew I found myself at the station alllll the time and I can remember Jay Allen calling the station to check on things and I was always there and he got to wondering do I ever go home and with that said I started to learn all about radio. How to edit music how to read commercials, how to take out bad words from songs and even how to run the coffee machine. I wasn’t to long after that I found myself doing commercials spots and after spending time just hanging out with El Tranzel I was offered a on air shift on Saturday.I was like  KOBE, or La Bron James I had the talent BUT i was so hyper and I just needed to get radio basics down. Co workers like El Tranzel, Pink House,and Ramonski Love all showed me how to be a better On Air personality because at 22 it was about free stuff,women,and when can I meet Rick James. The first thing I did on my Saturday was to have a RAP BATTLE at noon and it was kind of my answer to Herb Kent battle of the bands I loved his show so much I thought it would be cool to do it with Hip Hop and it made for great radio. I think Gheto Boyz vs NWA is a battle I remember the most. Then I got a call from Jay Allen and he told me that a Chicago Promoter named Delli Dell was coming onto my show with two kids from Atlanta that had a hot demo tape. I spent a hour with these kids and there music was outstanding and we became friends soon after that who would have guest those two kids would put Atlanta on the map as OUTKAST. My first Interview. After about three months I found myself getting real busy and I could no longer hold down the record store like I wanted too even though I loved being around the music so I had to make a decision something was going to have to go. RECORD STORE, CLUB,RADIO it was getting to be to much………………TO BE CONTINUED.

TODAYS 6PM MIX 3/6/09

NOW THAT WE FOUND MIX     COPY AND PASTE

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ec8gfx

STAY THE COURSE……..

So it was June 1988 and I was finally done with Rich East High School and I was glad. Not that I  did not like Rich East but it was just most of my friends went to other schools including the only women I ever dated while I was in High School Colette Taylor, she went to Bloom. With that said I was a C student and with me giving up sports for music I basically gave up all the scholarships I had been offered and I could not get into school for radio because of my test scores. I was in Lincoln Mall in Matteson Illinois one afternoon and saw there was new record store opening up and they were looking for help. I filled out a application and about two days later a man by the name of John Swanson called me for a interview and I was hired the same day. I thought if I want to be a DJ it only makes since I work around music because working at Red Lobster or Pizza Hut was not going to get me closer to my goal. Record Town opened up and music was at a all time high. Bobby Brown was king and MC Hammer was the man and every kid wanted to see New Kids On The Block. John Swanson was my manager and he was a crazy Guns and Roses, Metallica metal head while I was a Chicago House dj who had a ear for hot rap ( NWA,PETE ROCK,EPMD,ECT). We had such a good relationship cause he taught me heavy metal and I taught him rap and to this day I have so many heavy metal groups in my music selection you would not believe it. After about a year John was transferred and I became manager at age 20 and that’s when I started playing and selling my own mixtapes out of my store. Tuesday was new release day and a young Def Jam representative named Chilly Q (whpk) was putting up posters for a new Slick Rick Cd when I gave him a copy of my latest mixtape. That weekend he called me and told me about a new club opening up called THE ULTIMATE located in Harvey and told me to come check it out and meet the owner who was looking for a hot DJ. I was introduced to the four African Armenian owners and it was Belige Falkner who gave me a chance to try out on Friday night. I showed up in my cross colors (haha) and about 4 creates of records that Friday and met the DJ who was spinning before I was to go on. His name was Jay Allen and I just remember him telling me he just played the song I was playing and nobody would dance and NOW the floor was packed and how did I do that. I did not know what to say I just said I just do my thing. At the end of the night I was hired and I would be playing Thursday through Saturday. So now I was running a record store and I was the top DJ in one of the hottest clubs in Chicago. I still have over 3000 picture’s from my days there. Now that I was in the club I knew it was time to make moves I found myself acting a fool. I was buying breakfast for 20 to 25 people after the club closed at Denny’s I was getting four to five hotel rooms across the street where I would take the after party. Drugs and Liquor was basically free and available whenever I wanted it, but good thing for me was my high was my music and sexy women so I did not fall victim to any substance abuse. I then became the host of exotic Tuesday where I would bring out on the stage there or four exotic dancers and when I say Tuesday was crazy I mean it was NUTS. I was in heaven. Ball players and artist like Arron Hall, SWV, R Kelly were always in the house. I was 21/22 and things were really starting to happen for me and I soon killed my Break-dance DJ name Vicious V and became DJ “V”. It was simple but everybody called me “V” anyway. As things snowballed I got a call one day about a radio job and you will never guess who it was…………TO BE CONTINUED

FRIDAY 2/27/09  1030 DISCO MIX   http://www.sendspace.com/file/gq2yy9

COPY AND PASTE!

1988!!!! WBMX TRIBUTE MIX INCLUDED PLEASE LEAVE YOUR FEEDBACK!

 

LeRoy and Karen Blackful those are my parents. My father was probably the closet thing I had to a best friend and wherever you seen him you would see me. My father grew up in Chicago Heights Ill and went to Bloom High School while he was there he was a outstanding football player and wrestler. My father went on to Eastern Ill University where he was introduced to my mother. As the son of a blue chip athlete I grew up around coaches and sport trainers and it was pretty much determined that I was to be this big time sports star. I started wrestling for Rich Township Wrestling at the age of Nine and was drinking protein shakes by the time I was twelve. My father by this time was coaching wrestling and football at Harlan High School and I would travel with his teams in the summer during the summer league. I found myself in states like Nebraska, Dakota, Kanas and Iowa and with the sport of wrestling pretty much dominated by the white man I really got a interesting  look at America. I can remember my father taking his wrestling team to Nebraska and trust me none of those kids would have ever went to Nebraska on there own. My biggest lesson I remember from those trips were that in Chicago we are used to seeing black people weather rich or poor in the hood or the suburbs you can go anywhere and see a face that looks like yours but in the states I visited  the only black people those people saw were the ones on the talk shows UGHHH I used to get those looks when we all went out to eat at Sizzler as if they wanted to yell out “hey homeboy”or “whats up cuz”but the good thing was after they saw how disciplined we were and that we were serious and no threat to them or there community they were some of the nicest people I ever met. My father was a great coach he touched so many lives and his wrestling teams won city championships year after year and if you were a member of Coach Black’s team then you were a winner. So by the time I was sixteen I had two state championships for freestyle wrestling , placed second in the IKWF and had gone to the Jr Olympics, Prairie State Games,and The AAU Nationals but I was getting tired. I was starting to make a name for myself as a DJ and I wanted to date girls I was sick of working out. It was sophomore year during the summer and while working out I tore my knee up and it took me 4 months to get it back to normal but during that time off I realized that I was tired of sports and that being a DJ was my true passion. So with scholarships on the table from Howard, University of Miami, and Hawaii and had to look at my father and tell him I QUIT I am a DJ and I am good! HAHA trust me I told him that with my eyes closed waiting for him to knock my teeth out but he sat back and said “Son if that’s what you want to do then go for it and go all the way because I don’t want you coming back to me a year from now wanting to go to school because it wont be there” with that said I said dad trust me I am a really good DJ. My father was transferred from Harlan to Orr High School on the West side of Chicago and I continued to travel with my father but now I was seeking music knowledge and buying records. I was the DJ for my Prom and the sock hops and everybody’s house party. I still had my radio with me and I gave out mixtapes to everybody I could, before I knew it the year was 1988 and High School was over and thank God. I did not like Rich East at all most of my friends went to Rich Central or Bloom. So lets go to Broadcasting school where do I sign up. UH OH PROBLEM!!! Mr Blackful your test scores are pitiful and you have no money sorry kid maybe you should go to the ARMY. OHH NO What am I going to tell my dad, how can i get on the radio without a degree, hell I am not a dummy but screw that A.C.T. test what does that have to do with me talking or mixing on the radio……..TO BE CONTINUED!!

AWWW SHUCKS FARLEY WBMX TRIBUTE MIX  2/20/09  click and paste

http://www.sendspace.com/file/82wzei

1985 INCLUDES MIX 2/13/09

Well I could not have picked a better time to become a DJ. In 1985 with House music becoming the signature sound of Chicago and everybody wanting to throw there own party business was good, then along came the whole Break-dance craze. New York electro records starting making there way into the mix. Songs Like Hip Hop Be Bop by Man Parrish, Pop Goes My Love by Freeze and I want It To Be Real by John Rocca became major songs on radio stations like WBMX. Then came Din Daa Daa and White Horse and the culture of house music was getting another sound along with Disco and Garage sound . I admit for a hot minute I used to Break-dance and I was Ok but the night I and my cousin Reggie Fleming, Sherrod McClendon, and JO JO went to Glenwood Roller Rink for the big Break-dance battle showed me that I need to stick with the mix. We were popping and locking and I was spinning on my head and we knew we had won the battle until a group of dudes from Chicago came out onto the floor in full parachute gear and kicked our ass like we were Electro Rock from the movie Breakin. I quickly gave up my head bands and spike wrist bands and took it back to what I do best mix. In my neighborhood there were some really good Djs that had it going on. DJ Pierre aka Scratching Pierre, Rock-in Reggie who was off the hook back then and Jam Master Jay who is still mixing to this day. I would go here them play all over the south suburbs at places like Glenwood Roller Rink, Star Flier Rink, The Oval Rink, The Comfort Inn, and Celabration Station and they never disappointed. Before I wanted to be on the radio I wanted to be those guys and I became a student of there craft. As house music grew Djs like Farley Funkin Keith and Steve SILK Hurley used to come out and Dj with them but those guys always held there own and  always made me proud cause they were just as good. It seem like over night Djs popped up all over the place brothers like Hula Mahone aka HOT HANDS , Glen aka Dr Jack and Marc Traino all started to make noise but in Park Forest/Beacon Hill Chicago Heights I was getting party after party and Vicious V was becoming household on plugers in the south suburbs. As a freshmen at Rich East High School I started doing mix tapes for everybody in the school and to this day many friends of mine from High School still have those tapes (Derrick Bell). Even though I hated Rich East it did have one thing that I liked it had a Radio Station WRHS and that started my love for the microphone. I used to host a show with my classmate Eddie Baking Berkhimer and we basically tried to copy WBMX it was low budget but it was very fun maybe one day I will post one of my shows from High School I still own a few. I knew right then and there I wanted to Dj for the rest of my life BUT my parents had other plans…………..TO BE CONTINUED!!

1030 MIX 2/13/09  MELODIES MIX  http://www.sendspace.com/file/hkvnjz

CLICK OR COPY AND PASTE    ENJOY!!!!!!

1984

 

It was 1984 I had spent a summer buying records and recording mixes from the Hot Mix 5 off of WBMX 102.7 FM. Like most of us the Saturday Night Live Ain’t No Jive Chicago Dance Party was must listen radio. Even when I had things to do I had to make sure I was recording the mix so I could hear it later.Host Armando Rivera always respected the mix, he never let people give shout outs or talked about some nonsense over my favorite songs the most he ever said was ‘B M X”. Of course I was a huge fan of Farley FUNK IN Keith  and later when he became the Jack Master. I still have hundreds of mixes from 1984, 1985,1986. My father used to coach at Harlan High School in Chicago and I started going with him to work when I did not have to go to school and it was there that I was introduced to WKKC 89.3. It was a whole new culture of house music and I had to find a way to get more. Growning up in the south suburbs I could not get WKKC on my radio until I learned if I ran a wire from my radio around the copper pipes in my bathroom I could here it. Dj s like Walter GET DOWN Brown, Bobby Q Bobby, Loyd Jackmaster, Pink House and others all were major influences in my career. Bobby Q Bobby had a show on Sunday afternoon that really open my eyes to more of the Chicago House culture. Bobby would always talk about the clubs and parties that went on the night before and always played music you always herd in the mix but never as a full song it was a history lesson every week. I also found out about the record stores I needed to be shopping at like IMPORTS ECT, LOOP RECORDS, GRAMOPHONE, METRO MUSIC ON 103RD,ECT. My hunt for music now was a bike ride to Chicago Heights to catch the 352 Halsted bus that would drop me on  95th street from there I caught the train downtown to go shop. It was a all day thing but I had records Dj’s in my neighborhood wish they had. Now it was time to throw a party so I talked my parents into letting me rent the rec center gym for a 8th grade house party. I invited everybody in the school and I can remember starting my set off with White Horse by Laid Back and it was ON! Friends of mine Tyrone T BONE Harper, Jimmy KEMO Loyd also helped me out through the night. I maybe had 30 records but we had a ball and that was the start of my DJ carrier. Now it was time to show my skills against other DJs around my way…………..TO BE CONTINUED.

VICIOUS V NEEDS SOME MUSIC!

 

It was 1983 I was in the 7th grade at Forest Trail Jr High in Par Forest Ill, and I just got my first set of turntables from a garage sale but I still needed a mixer. I asked for my birthday present to be a brand new DJ mixer. That year I got my first DJ mixer it was a realistic mixer from Radio Shack, it didn’t even have a cross fader just four knobs that went up and down but it was all I needed. I put the whole system together through a old Zenith stereo tuner. Now i need some records and not the 45 s my parents had I needed MY music and i needed the long versions. My first bit of luck was my neighbor Allen Wheeler who was DJ for a small station called WMPP located in East Chicago Heights. He was a Blues man but he always got records from Motown and Sugar Hill records so he used to give me those records cause he did not play that music anyway. Rick James, Tina Marie, and the Sugar Hill Gang were some of the first 12 records I owned. I can remember then going to the record stores (remember record stores) Record Bar, Jr Music World, and Musicland were the first stores I went to looking for records to mix. One Saturday afternoon I was at Lincoln Mall in Matteson and I was in a store called Record Bar, I wanted to buy my first 12 inch record so I asked the guy who was working that day what i needed and he handed me Rockit by Herbie Hancock, High Noon by Two Sisters and Confusion by New Order I bought them all ( 3 for 12.99) I still have all three of these records at my home. That was the start to a record collection that to this day is over 100,000. For the next few months I was in Record Bar every Saturday. I bought songs like Hip Hop Bee Bop by Man Parrish. Play That Beat by G.L.O.B.E, IOU and Pop Goes My Love by Freeze. As I built my music collection it was time for me to throw a party and show my friends what I have been doing locked in my room on Saturday and Sunday’s.My father bought me a BIG RADIO it was the type of radio LL Cool J used to talk about duel cassette two antennas and a leather belt to hold it on my shoulder. I was now making my own mixtapes and I wanted everybody to hear my work so I quickly became the kid with the BIG RADIO. I had a box of Tone master cassettes and about 30 batteries and I ready to make a name for myself but what name would that be hmmmmmmmm “I GOT IT” VICIOUS V alright  remember its the 80s   Its now 1984 I am in the 8th grade and its time for my first party……To be Continued

WHY RADIO

Why Radio?

I remember as a child growing up in Park Forest Ill  my father would come home from his job in the evening and he would basically take over the only 19 inch color television we had in our home. Unless I wanted to watch what he wanted my only option was to go to my room and find something to do but the good thing about that was the family stereo was in my room. It was there that I discovered the voices of Tom Joyner, Herb Kent, Larry LuJack, and others. I would sit on the floor and listen to there stories of  club nights, concerts or all the people they had a chance to meet and I told myself I want to do that job. I want to party and meet stars and stay up past 12am  (At 10 that was a big deal) I asked my parents for a tape recorder for my birthday so I could make my own radio shows. I used to record songs off the radio and talk in between them as I was on the air. My pretend radio station at the time was WKYXZ don’t ask that just what my 10 year old brain came up with. I also tried to interview any and everybody I could including the Postman, UPS driver, and Milk Man. I once placed my tape recorder under my sisters bed after she had got in trouble and my father came in her room a gave her a five star whipping and I got the whole thing on tape. I used it as a comedy bit for my little made up radio station and needless to say the kids around the way thought it was funny. My sister still wont let me forget that ( maybe because I still have the tape) Stations like WJPC ,WLS ,WMET,WMAQ and WBMX were all station that i grew up listing to. So bottom line was I wanted to stay up late and hang out with Rick James. HaHa. When I entered the 7th grade I got my first set of turntables from a garage sale and from there it got interesting. To Be Continued……….