Origins

While unsuccessfully attempting to avoid small town speed traps on the back roads of Texas, Ron was listening to oldies music on his way home after attending his high school reunion.  It had been decades since graduation and most of his fellow graduates had shown up from all over the United States, even from as far as Australia.

Ron noticed the various radio stations he listened to during the long drive across Texas just happened to be playing a lot of the songs from his high school years.  In his nostalgic mood, he thought it would be fun, as a follow-up to the reunion, to put a few “school days” songs together, share some common memories and events in a radio show style and send it out to his former fellow classmates.

Ron didn’t know a thing about radio.  He sought out the local oldies deejay and shared the idea. The deejay, who thought it was a cute project, needed someone to give up Friday nights to run the station board for the local high school football games.  He told Ron that if he would do the football games he would teach him how to run the board and could use the station’s production room facilities late at night when the music broadcast was generated by computer.

With a little help from the station staff, Ron learned the board, how to use the recording software, edit tracks, mix jingles and insert commercials.  Ron patched in some of the radio station’s jingles and musical call signs, blended the music, recalled some memories, told some stories, and shared the events of his senior year at Cal Farley’s Boys’ Ranch High School.  It evolved into a two hour show.

Before he sent the final product out to his classmates, he played it for the station manager who gave a careful critique, made suggestions, giving advice and then to Ron’s surprise… offered him his own weekly show!