Raised by Radio

When I was a kid in the 1970s, my radio had exactly one setting: WABC 77 AM.

It was the first thing I turned on in the morning and the last thing I shut off at night. Somewhere between getting ready for school and falling asleep, that station became more than background noise — it became the soundtrack of my life.

Before playlists, before streaming, before algorithms decided what we should hear next, there was just a radio… and for me, that radio lived on 77 AM.

Tuesday Nights Mattered

Tuesday evenings were sacred in my house. That’s when WABC counted down the Top 14 songs of the week, and I listened like my life depended on it. I didn’t just hear the countdown — I tracked it. I knew what moved up, what fell, and what felt criminally underrated.

I kept mental notes. I argued with the radio. I celebrated when “my song” climbed the chart and took it personally when it didn’t.

Looking back now, it’s funny — before I knew what chart analysts or program directors even were, I was already doing the job from my bedroom.

The DJs Were the Stars

The music was incredible, but the DJs? They were everything.

Cousin Brucie. Dan Ingram. Ron Lundy.

They weren’t just voices — they were personalities. They knew how to talk between the songs, how to make a record feel like an event, how to make you feel like you were part of something bigger than yourself. They sounded confident, cool, and completely at home behind the microphone.

I didn’t just listen to them — I studied them. And somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking about what song I liked best and started imagining what it would be like to be on the other side of the mic.

Always On

WABC was constant. It didn’t care if it was a good day or a bad one — it was always there. It kept time before I wore a watch. It told me what mattered before I knew how to decide that for myself.

If the radio was on, WABC was on.

And if the radio was off? It didn’t stay that way for long.

More Than a Station

I didn’t know it then, but WABC wasn’t just playing the hits — it was shaping who I would become. It taught me how music connects people, how voices carry trust, and how a simple signal can feel like a companion.

Long before playlists, there was 77 AM.
And long before I knew it, radio had already raised me.