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.
Some popular '90s phenomenons that I somehow avoided:
AOL Chat Rooms
Overalls and flannel shirts
Melrose Place, Seinfeld & Friends
Hootie & the Blowfish, Nirvana & the Grunge movement
I hopped on the Seinfeld wagon in the 2000s but never really embraced anything else on this list especially Friends. Someone once described the show as a bunch of wimpy dudes who managed to date hot girls in an over-sized New York apartment. No arguments here.
My first foray into AOL chat rooms happened in 2000 when I sat using my mom's house computer one late Saturday night. While checking email, a pop-up box exploded onto the extra-large monitor that said "You live in Schererville???". Against any advice I would offer someone today, I responded with a resounding "Yes!" followed by a couple questions about how she knew this information and also who the heck she was. Some young girl who claimed to live in Schererville was on the other end of this message. At this point, I was actually living in Chicago, but my AOL account still listed me as living in Schererville, Indiana. After some more introductions, she asked what I did for a living. Instead of telling her about my full-time job (selling classified ads to dog breeders for a national magazine), I revealed my part-time gig: radio DJ at Windy 100 in Chicago.
Her response: "Cool. Do you play 'N-SYNC????"
"Indeed, I do," I said knowing that the only song we played was "This I Promise You" (which was written by former Adult Contemporary darling Richard Marx). She was pretty excited to hear this and promised to listen (I worked midnight until 5am, so I doubt she ever did).
From what I remember, I again heard from that same girl months later when I was back at my mom's house using her AOL. The second time her message was nothing more than "HEY!" so I certainly hope she finally found something else to do.