I fell ass-backwards into something here and I didn’t realize until my son went away to college what it was.
My oldest, Peyton, is enjoying his first year at St. John’s. New friends, classes, parties, independence and life experiences. That’s what college is supposed to be, right?
I think most first-year students evaluate their future and their major at least a few times. When Peyton hit my wife Tricia and I up with this scenario, I wasn’t surprised….hell, I changed majors 3 times my freshman year. I did surprise us all when I advised him to “be part of something”. TBH – I just wanted him to think about some long-term goals and to get a job in 3 years that he’d LOVE and stick with and not be someone that changes jobs and moves every year. I’m sure that works for some people, but it sounds exhausting to me.
About 16 years ago, I was offered a chance to come to St. Cloud and do the morning show here and program KCLD. Didn’t realize it at the time, but when I said “HELL YES”, I was becoming part of something pretty legendary.
This station has had the same name and format for over 45 years – and that is VERY rare in radio. Some extremely talented people have spent time entertaining here at KCLD. Now, some have moved on to other radio gigs and some have moved on to another journey in life. Regardless, they…we…have all been part of “something”. Ratings go up…ratings go down. Hit songs dominate the airwaves then vanish. It’s all part of the gig…BUT, no matter what, we’ve all been part of “something”. Hard to define what that “something” really is, but those of us that take pride in being part of it know how it feels and it’s a legit feel good.
We have a older building downtown St. Cloud. Down the hall about 35 ft. from the KCLD studio, is a boiler room. Long before I got here, DJ’s would sign the wall after their last shift on KCLD. Some were off to other radio jobs, some were focused on having a normal life and growing up 🙂 I’m not sure when I’ll sign the wall, but when I do, I’ll know that during this part of my life I was able to make people laugh and hopefully entertain for a bit….and be part of SOMEHTING pretty special.
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