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So poor I had to live on a Subway . . . sandwich

Man shall not live by bread alone. He needs condiments and, preferably, plenty of veggies, cheese and turkey, if you’re into that sort of thing. Besides dragging me through the inquisition regarding my love life, Jennifer laughed and laughed about my daily diet during a rather dicey period of radio work in the early 90s just prior to our meeting in Ventura.

Being a poor disc jockey, I was living in the upstairs engineering room of a small radio station group in Thousand Oaks, California while doing a live morning show on KMDY, then voice tracking the afternoon show on KNJO. With barely enough money to buy one Subway sandwich a day, I was forced to sleep on the floor of this filthy little storage room filled with dust, old record albums and used studio equipment.

Bathing in the janitor’s sink was the highlight of the day. Promotional events that took me to various night clubs and other venues may have provided some entertainment and a few extra dollars, but there’s no way you’re going to be able meet someone and date when all you have to offer is an air mattress in a storage room on top of a strip mall.

Ah, those were the days. Ironically, having just moved to Oregon a couple months back, I’m still sleeping on an air mattress. Hmm . . .

Jennifer has had an epiphany about the show name Big Shooz™ and we may have to change it. Today’s show has me playing “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and Jennifer assures me that my winning check is in the mail. Thankfully, I paid attention during the Watergate scandal.

She keeps trying to set me up with Di of the show Trim™. I guess that’s better than her trying to set me up with Cal.

We reminisced a bit, as usual, about our time in Santa Barbara doing morning radio. One of our local media counterparts was Lance Orozco who was the KEYT 3 weatherman before moving to KCAL 9 in Los Angeles. Now he’s the news director for KCLU in Thousand Oaks.

If Jennifer digs up the old TV commercial we did with Lance down at Disneyland for the Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom attraction’s grand opening, years ago, then I’ll load it onto the site for you to watch. Disneyland remote broadcasts were always a blast. Who wouldn’t like having the whole park to yourself, late at night, when you could run from ride to ride and never stand in line?

I was ruined, during my radio career, when advertisers would woo the on-air talent by plying them with goodies like free movie tickets, limo rides and free food; all legal, but spoiling nonetheless. Likewise, when it comes to amusement parks, I refuse to pay scandalous prices to have the privilege of waiting in line for an hour to ride something that lasts only a couple minutes. That is not very amusing.

I demand a greater return on my investment, which may be why I don’t enjoy strip clubs or lap dances, either.

The Kat