You spelled Laser wrong!

Back to the History of Radio Randy, but I wanted to share this picture of our recent visit to Richmond for Carter's Baptism. Vicky is about half way thru Chemo-Therapy and hanging in there. It's tough and grueling and it is no fun to feel bad most of the time, but we're looking down the road to it being over and hoping for the best.

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After getting settle in to life in Charlotte and all the activity at WROQ, things seemed to be shaping up. I felt like a had a pretty good group of people and we were moving along nicely. Then management decided to make a change at the General Manager position. Richard Hinshaw, a long time Q employee and devout rock n roller was let go and they brought in a new guy.

His name was Doug Berle. And yes he was related to Uncle Milty. Yup a real life nephew of Milton Berle. Mr. Berle was in his sixties I would guess and didn't have the slightest idea how to manage a Rock n Roll station. Let alone how to deal with the wide range of personalities we had in building.

He seemed most interested in getting the keys to the company car assigned to the GM and finding good places to have lunch. He certainly wore nice clothes and was very urbane, but at every meeting with him I could feel his disdain for what the station was doing and what we were all about. He immediately began a campaign to get ride of a couple of key people on my staff, including John Kilgo, who did nights and was involved in the promotion department. John was a native of Charlotte and comes from a long line of broadcasters, including his dad Jimmy. Jimmy Kilgo had been the PD of WAYS which was in the same building we were in years ago. His Uncle John had been involved in TV sports for years and hosted the Dean Smith TV show.

John was one of my most valued staff members and remains one of my best friends to this day, so needless to say I fought Berle and won that battle.

I don't want to be too unkind to Doug, but clearly this was a mismatch. We were a street fighting station. We all loved the Rock n Roll heritage of the "Q" and he was most concerned about getting our jocks to wear blazers while doing personal appearances. Blazers? Are you kidding me?

This struggle for control of the "Q" went on for a couple of years. At one point we acquired a new station vehicle and sent it off to get a custom paint job with logos and slogans. At the time CD's were just
beginning to become popular and we were touting the fact that we were the first station in Charlotte to play our music on CD's. We had come up with the slogan: Lazer Rock. We of course added that to the
side of the new Van.

When it came back from the paint shop, we were all in parking lot admiring the paint job, when Doug came out to check it out.

You misspelled Laser he blurted out. Well, Doug, I explained we thought it was  cooler with a Z rather than the S.

Cooler? I think it makes us look stupid he bellowed.

I finally managed to convince him that we should leave it and not get a new paint job. He also gave in
on the "blazers" as well, but for the better part of the next two years I battled Doug to prevent him from
turning the station into a wimpy easy listening radio station.

He actually became sort of detached and just stayed in his office most of the time. He never came
to station events, but always claimed to have "driven by" and "seen the crowd" at big Q events.

Despite Mr. Berle I had assembled a really good team during the time period. We brought in Ray Mariner to team with Dwayne Ward in the morning, with Veteran Newsman Frank Lasseter. Jeff Baker had come on board as production director and he did 9 to noon on the air. Blaine Kellis followed, doing noon to four pm. I did 4 to 7 and John Kilgo handled 7 to midnight and Kent Layton did the overnight shift.

As a group we became close and endured a lot, but had a lot of fun as well. Some of my best memories and best friends came out of the "Q" experience.

Next time some other highlights from the "Q" years.

The Worst phone call ever!

It's been a while since I've updated the story. If you have been following along you know that we had taken the story into the mid 80's and our adventures at 95Q in Charlotte.

I'm going to jump into the future for this next episode and I think it will be evident, as to why I haven't updated lately.

Summer 2011.
We arrived back in Greensboro in mid July after our family beach vacation. We had spend the week in a beachfront home in Kure beach. We had a wonderful time with Dan and Erin and Sean, plus the unborn Carter, plus Jenn. We had already decided to book the same house for next July.

Vicky had been struggling with asthma the past year and once back from the beach her symptom's fired up and she ended up on steroids on and off for a couple of months. She would just finish each course of steroids and feel better for a couple of weeks and then another attack. Finally in October her attack was severe enough for her Dr. to write her our of work for a few weeks.

She rested up at home and did improve somewhat. During that time she decided to get some doctor's appointments out of the way. She also thought she might as well get a mammogram.

A few days after that procedure the imaging center called and wanted her to come back in for some more imaging. They determined there was an area of concern and wanted to do a biopsy. While a bit scary, we've have been thru this before. Vicky has had a number of "area's of concern since she was in her early 30's. She has even had a couple of previous "lumpectomies". Each previous time
the test proved benign.

On November 4th our world changed forever. We were expecting Biopsy results and of course we were nervous, but tried to remain optimistic. I had gone to work that morning to catch up, but about 11:30 I started thinking I had best go home, in case Vicky got bad news on the phone.

When I arrived home she had not gotten any calls yet and we settled in for a wait. A few minutes later Jenn showed up, I think because she had the same feeling. In my heart I knew it was going
to be bad, I just had a terrible feeling.

About 15 minutes later our Radiologist called and confirmed, that Vicky did indeed have breast cancer. I grabbed another phone and listened as Vicky quietly sobbed and Jenn looked on in
disbelief. We spoke with the doctor for about 20 minutes as she began to lay out what the next step would be. She was very supportive and seemed confident that the ultimate outcome would be good.

When we hung up, Jenn embrace her mom and they cried together. I tried to say something encouraging, but all I could get out was "I sure it's gonna be OK".

We sat in silence for a few minutes and then I decided it was time to call Erin in Richmond. I went to the bedroom to call because I didn't think I could have that conversation in front of Vicky without losing it. When Erin picked up I simply said "she has breast cancer". Erin said, we're on our way, I love you.

After I hung up I went to pieces....Jenn came into the bedroom and hugged me. I didn't want Vicky
to see me like that, so I waited for a while before going back out.

At that point we were thinking it would be a lumpectomy and some radiation. But of course things got much more complicated along the way. Upon further examination and more testing and imaging they found more cancer in the left side, which meant a mastectomy. Then following genetic testing
it was determined that Vicky carries a gene mutation that makes cancer more likely, quite dramatically more likely in fact.

On a subsequent trip to the oncologist she suggested a bi lateral or double mastectomy. At that point we were a bit unprepared for that option and Vicky was really shaken.

It soon became clear that the double mastectomy had to be done. Followed by Chemo therapy. The surgery was scheduled for December 15th.

Vicky's mom and dad arrived the night before surgery and were there all day on the 15th. Surgery was longer than we expected due to the removal of lymph nodes on the left side, but she came thru it fine, despite
concerns about possible complications with asthma.

Vicky came home two days later, Dan Erin and Kids arrived and in one of the most touching things I've very seen, Sean wanted to hang out with Vicky in our master bedroom and watch movies. He knew she was fragile, but insisted that he sit on the bed with her and hold her hand while they watched movies. What a sensitive and bright 3 and a half year old. It was the best medicine Vicky could have received.

Christmas around our house is always an event. We all love the season and have many traditions we follow each year. Vicky had made sure that all the preparations were all made prior to her surgery. We had done all the shopping, put up all the decorations and made plans for the family to visit.

My mom and dad arrived as usual the day before Christmas Eve. Dan and Erin and the kids arrived as well and we proceeded with most of our normal Christmas traditions including our home made gift exchange. We had a wonderful, albeit, subdued Christmas.

Vicky's co workers certainly played a big part in our Holiday season. They organized and sent food to the house every day from the day Vicky came home from surgery to the end of the year. They sent a catered meal to us for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Honestly it was overwhelming and with each delivery
Vicky became very emotional. She just couldn't understand what we all know to be true: Everyone loves her.

As she continued to rebab from the surgery we began to discuss the implications of the Gene mutation she carries and ultimately decided to remove the Lymph nodes on the right side as well. That Surgery was on January 21st and just involved an overnight stay.

These nodes tested negative, which we took as good news. Plus a recent PET full body scan had come up
negative, regarding the potential for the spread of cancer cells. So with our Oncologists blessing we pronounced her Cancer Free. Now the Chemo-therapy remains to "clean up" as our Oncologist put it.

I don't want to minimize the short term discomfort Vicky is going to be in with Chemo and her loss of some use of her arms, due to the Lymph node surgery, but we can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.

It has been a journey of discovery for me. Here is what I've learned:
My wife is extremely tough and determined.
Our kids will do anything for her.
Our extended family is very supportive.
Her and my co workers went well above and beyond to support us.
and finally, that while I was scared to death that I might face a future without her, I now know that my best friend and wife will be by my side for the rest of my life.

Ok, next time back to the History of Radiorandy with another exciting chapter of our Charlotte adventure.