Ed Clay 1981 clayputty@sbcglobal.net
What I learned at WJEF enabled me to launch a fun career in radio.
At the time we used a big Gates board with giant buttons and had patch cords
to plug in. Nothing cooler then "slip cueing" a record. I took all
the shifts no one wanted, lunch time, early morning, study hall, before ball
games. In my Jr. year I got on part-time at WAZY Z-96 and soon was dubbed the
Puttyman, by summer break I was working at WAZY and WZWZ Z-93 in Kokomo. All
together about 30 hours a weekend. Finish a shift at one station drive off
in my Pontiac or Yamaha RD200 to get to the other station in an hour. I was
Ed Steele in Kokomo, imagine being sleep deprived and trying to keep straight
Z-93/Z-96 Ed Clay/Ed Steele, well I have an aircheck with me mixing it all
up. At the time hot rotation for the top 10 was about an hour so I heard several
songs that summer a bazillion times. I have flashbacks whenever I hear any
ELO from the Xanadu soundtrack or the Stones Emotional Rescue.
Later I worked in Hannibal Mo and Quincy IL, I made Program Director and Production
Director and Operations Manager. Ended up moving back to Lafayette did afternoons
at WASK FM Country now WKOA and soon decided to see if my management and relationship
skills would work in other areas. I still did radio, "The Original Sunday
Night Oldies Show" first on WKHY for 5 years and then at WASK for another
5 years and just had a blast, free form call in request show.
Well for the past 14 years I have been working in Non-Profit Management in
volunteer health agencies.
In my role now I still have opportunity to work with radio and tv stations
for promotions. I see how the business has changed so much. Radio has become
a big business that is more about dollars and not as much as good product and
people. The technology now is incredible. It could take hours to do a promo
with reel to reel, patch cords, razor blades and a grease pencil sound effect
albums etc compared to minutes now with digital equipment.
I have a little studio in my basement where I mix CDs and have the kids jock
shows so you can see you can never really shake this radio bug.
I was blessed to have had the opportunity to learn and grow at WJEF. The opportunity
and experience helped me to achieve a life dream. I hope the station experience
is still a dream maker.