Tonight is my 20 Year High School Reunion!
Thought I would share my class update:
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Email: feedback @ 80sAirwaves.com
Occupation: Director of Information Technologies (yes, still a computer geek after all these years)
Occupation: Founder of 80s Airwaves - an online radio station (yes, still a music geek as well)
Marital Status: Yes, finally tricked someone into marrying me eight years ago. And she hasn’t left me yet, which is good…
Kids: No, we’ve had some health obstacles there (see below) - but we do have one very spoiled Cairn Terrier named Joe.
What I’ve been doing for the last 20 years:
< CUE MUSIC: Instrumental Version of Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds >
< VOICE OVER: Anthony Michael Hall - See end of Breakfast Club for Ref. >
Dear Mr. Vernon,
Pretty much right out of high school Dave Young, Ray Westman and myself found a good company with a great product and have been involved with Verlo as part of our careers almost non-stop since. Around the late 80’s I was also a club DJ at both Hob Nob in Crystal Lake and City Slickers in Lake Geneva. Shortly thereafter I weaseled my way into 92.7 WCBR (The Bear) - a small eclectic radio station in Arlington Heights IL, where after a few early morning shifts on the weekend, they gave me my own on-air slot from 9PM-Midnight weekdays. I got to meet some really great musicians at the very early stages of their careers including Tori Amos, Sarah McLaughlan, Live, Matthew Sweet and a few more. That lasted about 18 months before I quit in 1992 and started a short-lived radio station tip sheet/fax, called “Radio’s Dead”. We lived in Lake Geneva for seven years before moving to our current home between Whitewater and Lake Geneva. Right before we moved in March of 2001, I was diagnosed with cancer - which I have since survived, although Lance Armstrong and I have a lot in common now. On May 1, 2004, my wife and I launched an online radio station called 80s Airwaves. Our ratings mostly seem to go up month after month and at this point we are getting about 500 listeners a day. We play a wide variety of music from the late 70’s through the 80’s mixed with dialog bits from 80s movies, retro commercials, news events and comedy too. Sadly, my preference for bad sneakers, hawaiian shirts, convertibles and the need to be by the water has not changed much in 20 years.
Maybe when I grow up…
Memories of WHS: Reviewing my yearbook last night, in a desperate attempt to remember people today that I will not have seen in 20 years, my association with many faces and many events is almost always music related:
I remember parties at Sherbaum’s house and his addiction to the Psychedelic Furs.
Hanging out with “Lewie” and his strange obsession with Duran Duran.
Heather Guy gave me a whole new appreciation for punk music - not just Billy Idol.
Getting my cassette tape collection stolen from my car.
Taking an entire day off from school because I was CERTAIN that WLS was going to call out my Fantastic Plastic card number.
I remember hearing Grandmaster Flash for the first time in Graphic Arts - thanks to Cully B.
My failed attempt at a beach party during senior year.
Can’t forget Patty and her fondness for Pete Townshend - lucky bastard.
All that metal music forced upon me on the bus ride from Wonder Lake to Woodstock - Damn you Ozzy Osbourne!
Completely zoning out watching MTV for hours on end - at the Termanas home.
Spending a day in LG and buying my first UB40 and Violent Femmes albums - that was a GREAT record store.
Trying to explain to Jim T. why R.E.M. was a very cool band, in 1983.
Hearing U2 for the first time in home ec. thanks to Scott Jackson.
Betsy S.’s addiction to Purple Rain.
Jim B recording all of VH’s 1984 from the Loop the night before it was released in stores.
My first written music review for the LeProCon (school newspaper); the debut album from the Stray Cats.
Dancing an entire day away with Nancy Walters at the Easter Seals 24 hour Dance-A-Thon - Was this pre-WHS?
Making countless mix tapes for so many people - guess I was destined to have my own radio station.
Trying to figure out a way to buy Hi-Infidelity without being seen by anyone - eventually just giving up.
Getting my cassette tape collection stolen from my car, again.
And those endless miles just cruising all over Mc Henry County, going to Chicago or blasting up to Lake Geneva, listening to all of the above and so much more.
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Wish me luck!
-pjc
PS: URLs for some BitTorrents of Hal’s rare recordings, as heard here on last night’s Friday Night Fantasy Concert program:
Play Dead (Peel session 1983)
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=50874
Eek-a-mouse, May 15th 1983
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=50877