click here for "Rock Jocks" video clip

It was January 3rd, 1968 when Pat went "ON THE AIR" for the very first time. It was right after the Christmas break, half-way through his Senior year at Southfield High School in Michigan just north of Detroit. During the first half of the school year he'd be peering through the glass to the studio of the school's brand new 10-Watt Radio Station, always saying to himself, "I can do that!" After inquiring how he could get involved, the teacher/station manager had Pat make a tape, which led to Pat having to obtain his 3rd-class FCC license (required by the government to be a broadcaster), which led to a show right after school. Pat was 16.

Pat had always collected records (well, since he was around 6), his first being "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis. Around the time Pat turned 9, his cousin went into the Marines, and gave Pat his collection of some 1,500 "45's", which was quite a boost to his collection. Pat had always "played DJ" at home, but having the school start up WSHJ was just an incredible break for Pat, as it was his way to break-in to radio.

One of the coolest things that the radio station had done was somehow book The Who to play the High School's gymnasium. The big Detroit venues hadn't been able to get them, but The Who had been told this radio station was really going to "push the show" so they took the gig (not realizing it's 10 watts of power gave it about a five mile reach!) Pat remembers going to the show, and for his $3, got to see local bands The Unrelated Segments, followed by The Amboy Dukes, with headliners The Who, who did their full show, destroying their instruments and all. What a show! Here's a cool news story about it from the December 8, 1967 edition of Go Magazine. The article was written by former Detroit disc jockey and at the time leader of his own group Terry Knight and The Pack. Terry would later go on to produce acts like Grand Funk Railroad and many more.

Below is the article guest columnist Terry Knight wrote for Go Magazine on December 8, 1967.

Earlier in the day the school photographer had taken a picture of Keith Moon's drum kit that had been assembled in the afternoon. The photo wound up in the yearbook. Some 10 years later Pat brought in that yearbook (we're at WPLJ now) to show Pete & Keith who Pat knew were coming in. They seemed to remember the gig, and as you can see in the photo below, they both autographed it for Pat. (About two weeks later, Keith was gone forever).

So now comes June and Pat graduates. No more radio gig. What was he going to do? As it happened, Pat was dating a girl whose father happened to know the general manager of Detroit's classical station (not exactly Pat's kind of music, but it looked like an "in"), so an appointment was set up. With suit and tie, Pat walked in to the station ready for his interview. The GM's secretary asked Pat if he had a 1st-class FCC license (required by the government to be able to fix ANY technical equipment problem that might arise). When Pat said no, she informed Pat that all their announcers had to have that piece of paper, and there was no point in going any further. Pat never even got to meet the guy!

As he was driving home though, Pat passed radio station WWWW, known as W4, which was a "beautiful music" station (as they were called then). Since he was dressed for a radio station interview, Pat made a quick left & just walked right in. He asked if the station needed any announcers, and this secretary had Pat take a seat as she called the Program Director, who came down, gave Pat a tour of the station which was "automated", meaning weather forecasts, news headlines, station ID's and such were all pre-recorded, then played by a wall of reel-to-reel machines. Anyway, this PD gave Pat some copy and was told to "make a tape". Pat borrowed a friend's recorder, delivered the tape the next day, and was "ON THE AIR" that weekend. 12MIDNIGHT to 8AM, $2.50 an hour. Cool!

During the nine months or so Pat was there he'd spend the first few hours and the last few hours of his shift really pre-recording. The four hours in the middle Pat just kept making audition tapes and sending them to CKLW, the 50,000-Watt Powerhouse Station just across the Detroit River in Windsor, which played Top40 hits, reaching 4 Provinces and 28 States. Pat kept making the tapes and calling, and they always seemed to say "nothing now", but they never said "no", or "don't ever call here again", so Pat kept at it. One day, Pat got a call from the new Program Director there, who'd found one of Pat's tapes, and said "Come on over, let's talk". Pat got the gig; he had just turned 18.

There are no tapes of Pat on W4, and no pictures, as he was just really an "announcer" there, but it was sure a lucky thing Pat took that "quick left" when he did. When CKLW hired him, grateful as he was to WWWW, he "quickly left"!

This concludes our WSHJ broadcast day here on PatStJohn.net so now, please move on to your next location. Do not stay hear any longer, as you may be tempted to listen to an aircheck of Pat from back then. Don't do it, don't click here. Really, Pat'll appreciate it if you just kindly move on. Thank you.