Spotman Returns To KJFX

Spotman

WILKS BROADCAST GROUP Classic Rock KJFX (THE FOX)/FRESNO welcomed back PATRICK O'SHAUGHNESSY (a.k.a. "SPOTMAN") to the air three years after he was beaten by a group of teens and left for dead in the station parking lot, the local ABC-TV affiliate website reported. Recovering from brain injuries that deprived him of his ability to speak, his first night back on the air was last FRIDAY.

"I learned how to do everything all over again," O'SHAUGHNESSY told the reporter. "I had lots of therapists. People teaching me how to talk again, walk again. I had someone teaching me how to use a knife again. It's surprising how much information comes through your hand when you're shaving or combing your hair. If you've lost all of your automatic, those things become very difficult with your other hand."

How did SPOTMAN revive his vocal abilities? "I memorized songs by SPARKS," he said. "They're an old '80s band that still put out material. By memorizing songs I was putting it in a form I understood so it was good for my brain to memorize something and good for my mouth to try and say it ... "I practiced and practiced and practiced," he said. "I practiced on my way to work; I practiced standing here in between going on the air, hundreds, if not thousands of hours."

Helping him out was PD ANDREA CARTER. "I knew he'd be back, I knew he could do it and it's because of the person he is," she said. "He's tenacious and stubborn and I knew this guy was going do it, he was going get back on the air."

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