Java Joel
88.9 WNYO Oswego NY, SUNY Oswego, 1992: Attempted to study broadcasting at SUNY Oswego. Scored a few shifts at the college station while there. Debuting in the highly coveted Tuesday morning 4 'til 6am daypart. Eventually getting an upgrade to my own all early 80s pop/new wave/dance/hip-hop show, "The Rubix Cube." The name wasn't nearly as bad as my grades. I flunked out after three semesters.
99 Hits FM, WSNN Potsdam NY, 1994: Cobbled together a demo from the Oswego tapes and scored a part-time gig at my hometown full service AC type station. Farm reports, obituaries and the "community calendar." Rotary pots, cart machines, index cards, reel-to-reels and vinyl. I will say ... College and full service small market mom & pop stations are two of my favorite formats.
MIX 96, Canton NY, 1995: Went "across the street" to the much glossier sounding "Mix 96." My PD was the great Rick Pendleton/RJ Jordan. Learned a lot here. We were a great sounding Hot AC. Tight music, AMAZING microphone processing, solid imaging and promotions. All from the t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-top of the owner's garage! I hosted middays which included the (what else?) the "All-Request Lunch Hour!" We did fairs, festivals, field days, ice cream socials and BBQs too. At one point, they put me in a demolition derby with some toothless hillbillies. They all wanted to kill me.
KISS 102, Utica NY, 1995: Spent 3 months at Kiss 102 in Rome NY. Their studios were on the aptly named "Muck Rd.". Had a chance to be heard in an Arbitron rated market, with... y'know... people n' stuff! Plus, I got to be the flamethrowin' CHR night jock I wanted to be. But, I sucked. Too soon. I slunked back to Canton to do another year at Mix 96 where I'd eventually program and do mornings. Here's a rare photo of me with then KISS PD, Shannon Steele (Kelly Rafuse) and Sara & Karen from Bananarama.
Hot 1079, Syracuse NY, 1999. Spent a year traveling 3 hours one-way to do weekend part-time at Hot 1079 in Syracuse, while simultaneously doing mornings at Mix 96/Canton. Ended up paying off. PD Ed Lacomb offered me nights after Kane went to WFLZ, but had just accepted a job with Mediabase. Passed on that but eventually, scored middays and then afternoons. JJ Rice continued to take the station in a very rhythmic-leaning direction. Here's me and Shaggy from the PXY Summer Jam '99. I loved Syracuse and really enjoyed working and living there.
98PXY, Rochester NY, 1999. Next up it was nights at PXY in Rochester. This pic is from the PXY Jingle Jam (or was it Holiday Jam?). Anyway, that's me with Len. Remember Len? "Steal My Sunshine." Catchy tune, but those guys (a brother and sister duo) were cocky jerks. Smash Mouth was also on the bill, so maybe assholery was in the air!
103.5 Kiss FM, Chicago, 2003. Chicago seems like a dream. And it was! Great station, great city, great people. My PD Rod Phillips just let us go. We had fun on the air. That's me with my fellow "Rubber Room" co-horts, J Dogg, Joey T. and Silly Jilly. Made a lot of great friends during my time there. A great radio city. Maybe the greatest.
96-5 Kiss FM, Cleveland 2006. Back when I was living with my parents while programming Mix 96, I was a huge fan of Howard Stern's "Private Parts." Little did I know I'd one day be hired by Howard's PD at WNBC...Kevin Metheny! Here I am photobombing Kevin and Weird Al Yankovic. This was when Al came in to co-host my night show while "White N' Nerdy" was out.
96-5 Kiss FM, Cleveland 2019. Throwback to last June. You know... when we used to do events and stuff. Crazy, right??? 2019: The good ol' days! This is from our inaugural "Kiss The Summer Hello Show". Featuring at least part of the Kiss FM team, Ashley Z, Allen Colon, Elvis Duran & Krystle.
