Phil Collins, Elton John, and Gloria Estefan dominated Adult Contemporary radio back in the 1980s and '90s, yet have disappeared from modern radio. Seemingly, the only time you ever hear them is at the grocery store or your local CVS. This blog remembers the music, the stories and the quirky characters from my days working in Adult Contemporary radio.
Friday, December 25, 2015
Gloria Estefan - "Christmas Through Your Eyes"
Being the newbie at the radio station, I had the dubious task of working on all the holidays. The first Christmas that I worked was in 1996 when my shift started at the pleasant 4am hour and lasted until 10am. When I arrived that Christmas morning, the DJ who was on before me told me that we were running two hours early. That meant that we were already playing music from the 6am when it was still 4am. Today, you would typically pick up the phone and call your Program Director or Music Director and they would add some more music for you. Since it was Christmas morning in 1996 and the Music Director was on vacation, I just chose my own music and prayed that the song wasn't in Spanish. Most Christmas songs are short, so it was a struggle to find two hours worth of music to get us back "on time". I played many Christmas songs that I had never heard of and probably shouldn't have played (because they were just plain bad ). With my best efforts, that cold Christmas morning in 1996 saw a Christmas miracle happen on the 15th floor of the John Hancock Building: I managed to get us back "on time".