It was the fall of 1965.  I was driving.  I was 18.  Why wasn’t I in Radio??   One night while doing homework, something urged me to write a letter.  It was to “Mike Melody” at WSAY.  I explained who I was, what I knew and why I wanted to be in radio.  My friend from WBBF, John Plumeri, had gotten a board operator’s job at WHEC and after several visits to him there, I knew I wanted to do the radio thing.  What I got in return from that letter was a notice that I had an audition at WSAY.  I WAS FLYING!!   I went to the offices on East Avenue downtown and was met by John Sebaste, who revealed his dual identity.  He was also Mike Melody!! (At least during that point in time.)  He led me to the basement of the building and sat me down, handed me a 5 page script full of some of the toughest names I’d ever seen.  Names from the news (of 1962).  Names of classical composers.  Musical terms like segue, fuge, staccato.  Well I KNEW those words.  In my basement radio career I was reading the “news” everyday out of the newspaper.   When I heard one of those foriegn names on the radio or TV I connected them with the (incorrect) way I was reading them and forever knew how to say “Kruschev”.   John said “don’t call us, we’ll call you”.  A few months later I visited him at the station and told him I was interested in working there.  He said it again.  “Don’t call us….”.  I was almost dejected until I learned that the MANAGER of  “The Angry Young Men” was also “Mac McGuire” at WSAY.  Hank Nicholson had a dual life as well.  I figured I had an “in” with the station now - since I had delivered their album to the station and they actually PLAYED some of the songs.   Hank DID get me the job-but not by recommending me at first.  Hank’s predecessor was Ferdinand J. Smith III.  Ferdie lived near us and was well known in the neighborhood.  He was a very cool cat, and his father was very wealthy thanks to his General Tire business.  Ferd came over to the house right after he had left WSAY — he didn’t come there to see me.  I don’t remember what made that visit happen, but he had been hired by WACK in Newark.  A station where he could use his real name!  I was once again in the shadows of a budding media superstar.  (Ferd IS a Superstar.  He composes music for HBO, has a very successful advertising agency and had a great career as a jock in Rochester.)  Hank worked there for about a year, and then something happened that made him re-think his radio career. This video tells the story.

Hank was stuck at the station for 3 days. The water came from a well. It was raunchy. In 1966, French Road was “The Sticks”-and it was nowhere to be stuck in a blizzard. At least for him. When one of the band members told me he had given notice, I was on their doorstep in a flash. Another audition. I aced it, and was hired on the spot. I would start the next Sunday.