I’m a military brat who started working in radio about a month before my 20th
birthday. I worked for the Belgian affiliate of the Armed Forces Network Europe, mostly doing mundane chores, like erasing tape cartridges. I got a Saturday morning radio show and was still a teenager, when I opened a hot mic for the first time, broadcasting to parts of Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands.
During that time, I assigned myself the duty of conducting backstage interviews with all of the top Pop and Rock stars of the day. Looking back, I guess I was “too dumb to be scared,” as the saying goes, because I stood toe to toe with imposing figures like Frank Zappa, legends like BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and scary looking characters from Motley Crue and Iron Maiden to Judas Priest and KISS. I also had the fun job of picking up old school R&B groups and driving them to the radio station, where I’d interview them in studio, then drive them to the gig in my Dad’s old Dodge Dart, the most out-of-place car you could possibly drive in Belgium. The Chi-Lites, The Manhattans, and The Dells were a few examples. So, yeah, I was literally a kid with the keys to a government radio station. I’d get there on a Saturday morning, open up the station and put myself on the air. That would never happen these days, would it ? Wow.
It’s a cool story, too long to tell, but I started broadcasting in the States in 1985, at the ABC affiliate in Grand Junction, Colorado. The job was weathercaster and host of the Big Money Movie. Highest paid on-air job in the station. Two hundred bucks a week, I think.
I came up through the ranks of small market TV, moving on to Yakima, WA, Longview, TX and Richmond, VA, all the while combining the unlikely dual duties of weathercasting and film critic/entertainment reporting.
In 1991, I came to Washington DC to become NewsChannel 8’s first evening weathercaster. My show, The Entertainment Forecast was on the air from 1993 until this past May, and I earned 4 Emmy nominations as a tape editor, show producer, and reporter/host. I was fortunate to take home two Emmy wins out of those four nods.
Meanwhile, I’ve been an on-air weathercaster in all 4 time zones across the country.
I love my community of Arlington, VA, and I have worked extensively as a volunteer, first for the Arlington Food Assistance Center, then for Arlington Street People Assistance Network, and I continue to work as an assistant, one-on-one, with a visually impaired gentleman who went from being homeless to being quite independent, living in a cozy apartment, thanks to the fine work of the folks at A-SPAN. If you’re inclined to make a donation, it’s a great place that will use your contribution wisely.
I have two daughters, of whom I am very proud. I have a cat, Roger, who came from the Arlington Animal Welfare League (another great organization), and I love to run and bike along the many great trails in the Arlington and DC area.
