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About Joe Salzone My journey into the world of electronic media began quite accidentally. It was in my junior year of high school in the year 2000. An announcement on the loudspeaker one morning caught my ear: “A new radio station is looking for young talent.” I don’t know if that was the actual quote. It seems to fit the story, though. I called the station manager. One quick meeting and a couple signatures, and I was a radio disc jockey. My first actual taste of being on the air came in November of the aforementioned year. I had been contacted in the afternoon about filling in that evening. My partner, I found out later, was the boss’ daughter. I don’t remember her name. The pronoun “she” will have to suffice. I prepared, as much as a teenager with zero experience with a microphone can prepare. I knew what I wanted to say. I practiced it over and over, almost to the point of annoying my parents. They probably were annoyed, but said nary a word about it. I arrived to the studio about an hour before airtime. I was given a quick explanation about which buttons to press, when to speak and how often to say my name. Aside from that, she and I were left alone. Then the moment came, when I got to speak on the air. Only I didn’t; I froze. It took me several songs to finally break free from vocal paralysis. After that rather large hurdle, everything was fine. I didn’t last very long there. A curt letter in the mail said that I was fired. “Your services were appreciated, but are no longer needed.” It was the usual banal note you get when their boss is too much of a wuss to say you’re fired. It ticked me off, but I don’t hold grudges. I only saw him once after that. Nothing memorable about the encounter, except that he was unemployed at the time. Sweet. In 2001, I began as an intern at WGBB – Long Island’s heritage station, and one of the oldest in the entire country. At that time, the station had become a shell of its former self. It remains a distant reminder of what it once was. I stayed at WGBB until January 2006. In my time there, I did just about everything: made coffee, did some production work, drank coffee, made some more coffee, wrote and anchored news, hosted shows, bought coffee. During my time at WGBB, my Sunday evening radio show was recorded for public access television. It was, to say the least, a maddening experience. Thanks for the help, Andy. After five years at WGBB, it was clearly time for a change. I was offered a job anchoring news in the morning on WNYG. The station, it should be noted, has a Christian format. I am, it should also be noted, not a Christian. Following a couple of rocky weeks worrying about offending people, I became much more comfortable—in time, even confident in my ability as a news writer and anchor. It took me longer to accept the fact that waking up at 4:00am was my reality. While at WNYG, I accepted a part-time position with Sirius Satellite Radio. That position, the weekend overnight shift, quickly grew into filling in on holidays and relieving people during their vacation. Within two months, a new channel was launched – Indie Talk – and I was asked to participate in it. I gave the proposal little thought before accepting. It meant my two years at WNYG would end. At present time, I’m on Indie Talk every weekday. It’s channel 110, for you awesome people with Sirius Radio. And that, my pal, concludes this poorly-written, probably slightly-incorrect biography. Posted 21st Feb, 2008 |
Weekday afternoons on Indie Talk, SIRIUS channel 110.
Quoth the press release: Indie Talk is "groundbreaking radio where you can 'speak for yourself.'"
In other words, Indie Talk doesn't embrace any particular ideology.
You need a Sirius radio. What a dumb question.
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