-
10 Questions with ... Beaver
August 15, 2005
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
NAME:BeaverPOSITION:Deminski & Doyle Show ProducerSTATION:WKRK (Live 97.1)MARKET:DetroitCOMPANY:Infinity BroadcastingBORN:'74 in North JerseyRAISED:New Jersey
BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Did a lot of stuff with my college station. First commercial radio experience was with WTTM-AM and the Trenton Thunder (AA baseball team). Did a little bit of everything there, set up live broadcasts, anchored news, hosted a sports talk show. After I graduated college I worked at New Jersey 101.5 radio. I think I did everything there but sell a commercial... screened calls for talk shows, continuity coordinator, promotions director, had some air shifts on the weekends, I think I was APD for a while too, but I'm not sure. When the boss was out of town, I always ended up on the memos as the "contact person" in case the station crashed and burned!
1) How did you get into radio? Why?
When I started college I saw a sign that said, "Be A Star On TSR!" The college station's calls were WTSR. I fell for it, took the flyer, and the next thing I knew I was doing news at the top of the hour.
I have always been involved in sports, and thought sports broadcasting would be a cool career. The furthest I got was broadcasting Division III Women's College Basketball.
2) What are you passionate about?
Organizing things. The perfect job for me would be titled, "WANTED: ORGANIZER GUY". Then I could be in a beer commerical, "Here's to you Mr. Organizer Guy!"
3) You've accompanied Jeff and Bill from New Jersey to Detroit. What are the best and worst things about working with these guys (and Rudy the phone screener, too)?
I've known Jeff & Bill for about nine years now. One of the best things is how supportive they are of me. It's tough to get people on your side in this business, but these guys seem they would always step up to the plate for me. Also, they're just really damn good at what they do. It's so easy in talk radio to take the easy angle to a topic, but they're always coming up with creative ways to do things.
One of the coolest things about Rudy are some of the bizarre stories he comes up with. I guess that's what you get when you're a phone screener by day and a rock-n-roller by night (he's the lead singer of a band).
4) What do you see yourself doing in ten years? Twenty?
This is radio, so would "unemployed" be a bad answer?
In twenty years... hoping my wife was successful enough to support our family over the past twenty years!.
5) Who gave you the name "Beaver"? Why? There was recently a discussion of changing the name now that you're married- would you like to get rid of the name?
There's a road out here in Troy, MI called Big Beaver Road. When I first moved here, I was supposed to rent a beaver costume, go out to Big Beaver Road, and find out how the road got its name. I couldn't find a beaver costume so I ended up in a chipmunk suit. Well, Jeff & Bill were making fun of me for being out there dressed up like the wrong animal (as if that was the lone reason I should have felt like an idiot). Doyle starts calling me Beaver. Over the next few weeks I'm protesting, saying, "There's no way in hell I'm going to be called Beaver!" The listeners picked up on it, and I couldn't stop the momentum. Here I am, over five years later, still being called Beaver.
They asked me if I wanted to change it recently, but you can't just change your name (unless you're Puff Daddy, um P. Diddy, oh, I mean, just Diddy). What was I supposed to do... just show up to work one day and declare, "No, my name is Turtle!"?
6) You're a Jersey guy now living in Detroit, but unlike some people, you remain loyal to your sports teams from back East (specifically, the Yankees). Can you see yourself ever, even a little bit, becoming a hometown loyalist for the Tigers or Wings?
I love how passionate the sports fans are here in Detroit for their teams. Even when their teams aren't winning, they still are very supportive. However, I don't see myself changing my routing interests. There's teams I root against (damn Red Sox and Eagles) and there's teams I feel neutral about. That's where the Detroit teams fall. Since I was old enough to know what a "sport" was, I've been rooting for the Yankees, Giants, Nets (yes, me and my Dad were two of the 10 fans to show up to the games in the mid 80's), and the Devils, once they moved from Colorado (I was at the first Devils game ever, you know).
7) If you hadn't gone into this business, what do you think you'd be doing for a living right now?
I think I should have been an accountant. I'm really good with numbers and budgets and boring crap like that.
8) What do you do for fun?
I decided this summer I want to be a golfer. Although I'm not sure how long I can keep shooting 30 over and still call it "fun".
9) Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ______________.
...CHOCOLATE.
10) What's the best advice you ever got? The worst?
What good is advice if you can't remember it?!
-
-