My Daddy Said I Could Go To Work at the A & P or I Could Apply At the Radio Station-- WARB had a part-time opening that he assumed was for a janitorial job. I went in to apply and the manager handed me a booklet and said, "Here, memorize this and go to the Federal Building in New Orleans and take the test. If you pass it, you're hired." I didn't know why I had to study a book for a Radio Operator's License in order to sweep the floor, but I did as instructed. He grumbled a little when I came back. "Hell, I didn't think you'd pass it. I promised the job to Maurice but he failed the test so I guess you're hired. Come in Sunday morning and learn the board." Thus began my one-of-a-kind career.
http://reynoldswriter.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-i-was-run-out-of-covington.html
When I was owned by four women... When four women bought a radio station in Gainesville, Georgia, in the late 1970’s, the local newspaper ran a story about how unusual this was. There was a lot of gossip about whether women would do such a thing on their own--especially these women, only one of whom had much radio experience. Sure, other women owned radio stations inherited from a husband or father. But women going into the radio business for themselves? From scratch? In Gainesville? In the 1970’s? This was unheard of! Surely, according to the coffee-shop chatter, there was a man behind them. Yes, there was. Me
http://reynoldswriter.blogspot.com/2008/06/country-love.html
The best station EVER... Even after I become General Manager, I continue my old job of programming the music for Magic 106. Unlike other stations, we play no slow songs. We play only the fastest, funnest dance tunes, the hot hits. No oldies! No soft stuff! We grab the listener, pick her up, squeeze her, shake her, never let her go. (Figuratively, of course.) Roger, the owner, hates it. He calls me into his office and berates me for playing “Oh, Sheila" (by Ready For The World) and says he never wants to hear anything like that on his station again. The next morning his wife and daughter sing “Oh, Sheila” at the breakfast table and he comes to work and apologizes to me and never interferes with music selection again.
http://reynoldswriter.blogspot.com/2008/04/magic.html
Dream Charts... I sit at the kitchen table with a .410 shotgun, loaded and cocked. When the enormous rat I’m waiting for scurries out from behind the washing machine I blast him. I used to be an anchorman on TV. I’ve interviewed presidents and Nobel Laureates and movie stars and astronauts. I’ve programmed radio stations. I’ve been in politics. I’ve had stories published. I’ve won writing awards and sales awards. Yet here I am living in such a dump that I’m having to shoot rats in my kitchen with a shotgun. And after fifteen years of working my ass off, my net worth is less than 12 cents.
http://reynoldswriter.blogspot.com/2008/04/dream-charts.html
Jimmy Carter and me in Jacksonville... The Channel 4 staff was scattered about the newsroom, some of us typing our stories--3 pages thick/2 sheets of carbon paper in between-- on electric typewriters with oversized keys; (we were state of the art !) Other reporters were in the editing room, splicing 16 mm newsfilm with razor blades and glue. Bruce put his hand over the receiver and said, “Jimmy Carter is coming by in a few minutes for an interview. Who can do it?” Someone asked, "Who's Jimmy Carter?" Our police reporter said, “I’ve got film of a wreck to edit. Let Randy do it. " News Director Bill Grove said, "It'll be good experience for Randy, even if we never use it."
http://reynoldswriter.blogspot.com/2008/04/goal-setting-break-it-down-into-small.html
Rosalyn Carter and me in Toccoa... When the dam burst and sent a 120-mile-per-hour wall of water through Toccoa Falls Bible College I was 31 miles away sleeping through a rainstorm at my home in the tiny community of Lula, Georgia, and Rosalyn Carter was 564 miles away at the White House. We arrived at the devastated college simultaneously, soon after the bodies of 39 victims had been removed.
http://reynoldswriter.blogspot.com/2008/05/persistence.html
