Shannon Gave Me My Start in Radio

This is Shannon and his wife Codie Carpenter. Shannon gave me my start in radio.

I was putting up posters (for one of my live shows) in The Dalles in spring of ’92 and went into the Q104 studio and asked for the program director. I told Shannon that I’d always wanted to host a Blues radio show. He looked at me and said he’d give me 2hrs on Fri night 8-10 and I would sell my own advertising and split what comes in with the station.

I said, no problem as I’m pretty good at sales. I had tons of records, but no CD’s so my niece from Atlanta sent me a CD player (she was in big time radio in Atlanta) and I started getting ahold of the blues record people, Alligator, Blind Pig, Delmark, Bullseye etc…to get stocked up.

Then came my 1st show May 4th 1992. I was soooo scared (be careful what you wish for!!) I could poop my pants!!! My niece says give it a year and you won’t even think about it, and she was right.

It’s been 24yrs (with 3 off for good behavior) and I love my job. I went from 2hrs to 3 then 4. 4 sponsors to 14, I never thought I’d last this long. The folks at KMSW have been good to me, I get complaints once in a while, but nothing like the Bush years!! A big thank you to all my sponsors over the years and especially to the listeners, we all need each other. Peace all, SQ