Ryan’s Resume – Jobs I Had Before Entering the World of Radio

This September will mark my 17th year working in radio, all of them spent with the same group of stations here in Evansville. But there were other jobs along the way that I had to slave through before finally getting the opportunity to enter my career of choice.

This idea came to me while listening to the morning show of our sister-station when they shared a list of jobs popular musicians had before making their living writing songs. While I'm no where near making the kind of money they do now, I thought it would be fun to share with you the work I did before stepping behind a microphone.

Detasseling Corn

I'll be flat-out honest with you, detasseling corn is one of the worst jobs to do. You get up before the sun, ride out to a corn field in the middle of nowhere on a bus, then hop on a special tractor with two arms of buckets to stand in and ride up and down what feels like endless rows of corn pulling the tops ("tassels") off. This is all done in the blazing Southwestern Indiana sun wearing long sleeves, jeans, and gloves to prevent the razor-sharp leaves of the corn plants from giving you the equivalent of hundreds of small paper cuts. All for $4.75 per hour (this was the late '80's / early '90's).

Paperboy

If you can make money as a paperboy, please tell me how, because I couldn't figure it out. My route was within the Mission Viejo apartment complex where we were living at the time, at a time when the Evansville Courier-Press had a morning (Courier) and afternoon (Press) edition. I delivered the afternoon edition after school each day, and the Sunday morning edition, which meant getting up at 3:30 - 4:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings. The problem was getting people to pay each month. More often than not, they didn't which meant I had to go to their apartment to get their whopping $8.00 they were paying for the subscription. They wouldn't answer the door, or conveniently not home when I came a-knockin'. What they didn't know was that the paper wanted their money each month, they didn't care where it came from. That meant I was stuck covering the cost which really eats into your profit margin.

Fast Food

I think everyone should work in the fast food industry at least once in their life. It will help you truly appreciate whatever career you choose to have after the fact. For nearly a year ('92 through '93), I worked at the Long John Silver's off the Lloyd Expressway on the west side (pictured above). I cooked, I cleaned, I prepped the food that would eventually be cooked, I worked the register. Whatever needed to be done. All for $4.25 per hour (minimum wage at the time). I can tell you there are few jobs crazier than a Friday night at a seafood restaurant during Lent when the line is out the door for hours.

Delivery Guy / Warehouse Worker

Before finally getting into radio, this was the longest job I held in my youth (four years). The company I worked for was called Builders Specialties and Hardware and was run by my Mom's cousin and her husband. It's no longer in business, but sat at the top of Locust Creek Drive near the intersection of St. Joe and Mill on Evansville's north side. It's purpose was providing door and window frames, along with the doors themselves plus all the hinges, handles, etc. that went with it to commercial construction companies. Yet another job where I did whatever was needed. Some days I worked in the welding shop grinding down the joint welds, applying and sanding putty, and spray painting the joint with grey paint to match the rest of the frame. Most of the time I was on the road delivering the finished frames along with pallets of wood and metal doors to construction sites around the Evansville area in a flat bed truck with no air conditioning and an old radio whose dial was broken. I'd also make frequent trips to Vincennes, Washington, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, Carbondale, Illinois, and all points in between. Keep in mind, this was the mid-to-late '90's before GPS could tell you exactly where to go. Back then, my warehouse manager and I would lay an unfolded map across the hood of the truck before I left and try to figure out the vicinity of where I needed to go. Once I got there, it was on me to find the exact location based on the address. I quickly learned there's no better way to learn the layout of a city than getting lost in it.

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For the past 17 years, I've spent my days sitting in a studio for a few hours a day talking into a microphone. In those 17 years, the popularity of the internet has changed the radio industry drastically. As recently as five years ago, I wasn't writing regular blog posts like this one. I'd come in, cut whatever commercials I was assigned that day, and jump on the air for four, five, six hours. In that time, my responsibilities have increased behind the scenes which comes with its own fair share of headaches, but when compared to the rest of my resume, there's nothing else I'd rather do.