Spinning the hits in high school as a first job

I babysat a few times the summer of my 15th year. The children were okay, but I wasn’t that great at being a babysitter. “You’re hungry? Oh, I guess I have to feed you.” “Why are you crying? That’s not helping your situation. Let’s talk about this like rational human beings and come to an agreement.” Did I mention that I’m the baby of my family and didn’t grow up learning how to care for tiny humans?
My first real job was working at KVPI. Jim Soileau hired me two months before my 16th birthday. For my audition, he gave me several news stories to read while he recorded me. When I was finished, he played back the cart (at that time we used carts that resembled 8-tracks), and he was impressed that I caught a mistake in the copy and didn’t let the mistake trip me up. I was finally a radio disc jockey.
I absolutely loved my job, and radio loved me. Years later, my grandmother, Ella Knighten, passed away. At her funeral visitation, Mr. Jim told my mom when he hired me, Maw Maw Ella called KVPI and asked him to meet her in the parking lot in five minutes. She gave him a rum cake she had made to thank him for hiring her granddaughter. That’s so Ella!
Danny Poullard was the first one to train me. The first time he put me on board, he told me to cue up a song and announce it. The song was “Rockin’ Robin” by Bobby Day. As soon as I turned off the mic, Danny said, “I just played that song a few minutes ago.” I shrugged and said, “Oh well. The people who like it get to hear it again.” Danny laughed, and he became my best friend at the station.
Those first years were filled with requests, playing records and CDs, reading news, producing commercials and promos, and so much more. I had a request show on Friday and Saturday nights. Those nights I really felt like a DJ. I played the soundtrack to house parties and high school reunions.
The best request night of the year was when hunting season started. All the ladies got together after their husbands went hunting, and they drank wine and called in requests and had house parties. The first song I’d play was “Ladies Night” by Kool and the Gang.
I went on to spend 18 years in broadcasting, 15 of which were in radio. My experience at KVPI helped me to get jobs with other radio stations and even a TV station in California. No matter where I found myself living, I’ve always had love for my hometown radio station.