Where Have You Gone, Don Geronimo?
So I did indeed have a nice long layoff from here in the month of April, so I missed the chance to talk about what was (for me) the biggest event of the month. On April 11, I had to say goodbye to an old friend. Well, we’ve never actually met, but it felt like he was my friend. He made me laugh, he inspired me, he entertained me and taught me things about radio, about how to be funny, about life. Don Geronimo retired from radio.
“The Don and Mike Show” is the reason I got into radio. I had been interested in the medium before, I had been attracted to how much fun the people on the radio were having, how they could channel information to you and make it entertaining. I enjoyed listening first to Bill Baker, then Rush Limbaugh (before I wised up and became more moderate, but I’ve always respected him as an entertainer), then Imus. And so it was that one afternoon in February, 1994, during my Winter Break from high school, I was visiting my grandparents in Belmont, and I found the Rochester station that broadcasted Imus, WHTK, “Hot Talk 1280.” I was tuning the radio there so I could listen to Imus the next morning, but then I listened to the show that was on the station at that moment, and was blown away by how much fun they were having, how funny and fast-paced and crazy they were. I immediately became a fan of Don and Mike.
Although I’m sure they never intended it, 1280AM in Rochester managed to come in, static-laden but good enough, in my house in Camillus. Don and Mike were on vacation, so it was a “best of” episode, and I listened for a little while but I made sure I’d be listening when they came back from vacation the following Monday. When they did, I grabbed my old microcassette recorder, the facilitator of quite a lot of juvenile mayhem during my days growing up, and I taped part of the show. I played it back over and over again. I loved it so much, I started taping on a regular basis. I’d dub them onto regular cassettes (with my old microphone stereo setup… not knowing a thing about levels, they were horribly overmodulated) and listen to them on the way to school, on the way to road football and basketball games when I wrote for the Advocate. I loved how they were just living their lives on the radio, especially Don. He talked about the trials and tribulations of being both a radio guy and a suburban middle-class husband and dad. They made fun of everything and everyone and sometimes they would get a little too cruel for my taste, but I always came back. Before Don and Mike, I was going to be a sportswriter, live life on the beat of a beloved sports team. But soon… I wanted to be on the radio.
So I decided to do that as a full-time professional after college. Yeah, there was politics and scumbags and it was work as well as fun, but there was nothing better than being in that studio, running the board, making it sound good, and talking to the people. Then, 9-11 happened. They were in New York City that day, as they had just started on WNEW, and they were on all day as things unfolded. I was too wrapped up in the events of the day to listen that day, but the next day and for the rest of that week, I listened. People called and vented their hatred at the evil forces that committed these acts, expressed their sorrow for the dead, and had their chance to release. So did I. That was my release, that and the trip to Susquehanna that weekend.
Well… then I was out of radio. The dream was over. I came back here to Syracuse. One day while scanning the radio websites, I found out that Don’s wife had been killed in a car accident. I was stunned. She was so much a part of that show and of course, Don’s life. Don came back (too early, as he repeatedly admitted), and life went back to normal. Soon WJFK (their flagship station in Washington) finally started streaming the show live, and I started listening on a semi-regular basis again. It was just as good as ever. I loved the quick comic wit of Don, which combined with modern technology to create a situation where there was a perfect audio clip to play for every situation. I wished I had a soundboard in life so I could throw in the occasional Larry King or Chris Hanson soundbyte whenever I needed it.
Then came the day when Don announced he would be retiring. I had a feeling he hadn’t been the same since Frieda died, and indeed he felt that the show carried too many memories of her for him to continue, and he wanted to start a new life. I told my radio friends (whom I had willingly put Don and Mike up against their Howard Stern and Opie and Anthony all the time), and they understood my sadness over it. I started listening to the show everyday. It was “appointment listening” again, just like in the old days; I didn’t want to miss a single minute. When Don and Mike went on their March vacation, I had this feeling that Don wasn’t going to come back, and I was right. After a week of extra “best of” shows, there was an announcement that all this week, they would play retrospective shows, followed by Don’s final show on Friday. Thanks to podcasting, which had allowed me to catch at least parts of shows the previous couple months, I downloaded every minute of every show this past week. I heard stuff I’d never heard before, and I heard stuff that I remembered hearing when it happened, including the second half of a show that I had taped the first half of (before lack of tape and signal strength caused me to stop) way back in that summer of 1994.
I thought Don's last show was a fitting end. He had the chance to say goodbye to everyone on the show, say some thank yous to everyone who influenced and helped him. He also thanked the listeners, and we thanked him as well. 14 years is a pretty long commitment to make to anything, even if it’s just a radio show, even if it wasn’t much of a commitment at times. But this was my raison d’être… Michael Sorce (Don’s real name) left an impression on people all the way from average everyday people to his closest co-workers and friends to people like me who heard him and wished to do what he could do. In 14 years, I went from shy high schooler through college, into the world of radio and now to where I am today… still a lover of radio (and gainfully employed part-time in the business once again) and now a studier of the medium.
I wish him well. I also wish luck to Mike O'Meara and Rob and Buzz and the rest of the gang with their new show, and I still will listen to them whenever I can. They're still having fun on the air, still doing a good show, and that's great to hear.
“The Don and Mike Show” is the reason I got into radio. I had been interested in the medium before, I had been attracted to how much fun the people on the radio were having, how they could channel information to you and make it entertaining. I enjoyed listening first to Bill Baker, then Rush Limbaugh (before I wised up and became more moderate, but I’ve always respected him as an entertainer), then Imus. And so it was that one afternoon in February, 1994, during my Winter Break from high school, I was visiting my grandparents in Belmont, and I found the Rochester station that broadcasted Imus, WHTK, “Hot Talk 1280.” I was tuning the radio there so I could listen to Imus the next morning, but then I listened to the show that was on the station at that moment, and was blown away by how much fun they were having, how funny and fast-paced and crazy they were. I immediately became a fan of Don and Mike.
Although I’m sure they never intended it, 1280AM in Rochester managed to come in, static-laden but good enough, in my house in Camillus. Don and Mike were on vacation, so it was a “best of” episode, and I listened for a little while but I made sure I’d be listening when they came back from vacation the following Monday. When they did, I grabbed my old microcassette recorder, the facilitator of quite a lot of juvenile mayhem during my days growing up, and I taped part of the show. I played it back over and over again. I loved it so much, I started taping on a regular basis. I’d dub them onto regular cassettes (with my old microphone stereo setup… not knowing a thing about levels, they were horribly overmodulated) and listen to them on the way to school, on the way to road football and basketball games when I wrote for the Advocate. I loved how they were just living their lives on the radio, especially Don. He talked about the trials and tribulations of being both a radio guy and a suburban middle-class husband and dad. They made fun of everything and everyone and sometimes they would get a little too cruel for my taste, but I always came back. Before Don and Mike, I was going to be a sportswriter, live life on the beat of a beloved sports team. But soon… I wanted to be on the radio.
So I decided to do that as a full-time professional after college. Yeah, there was politics and scumbags and it was work as well as fun, but there was nothing better than being in that studio, running the board, making it sound good, and talking to the people. Then, 9-11 happened. They were in New York City that day, as they had just started on WNEW, and they were on all day as things unfolded. I was too wrapped up in the events of the day to listen that day, but the next day and for the rest of that week, I listened. People called and vented their hatred at the evil forces that committed these acts, expressed their sorrow for the dead, and had their chance to release. So did I. That was my release, that and the trip to Susquehanna that weekend.
Well… then I was out of radio. The dream was over. I came back here to Syracuse. One day while scanning the radio websites, I found out that Don’s wife had been killed in a car accident. I was stunned. She was so much a part of that show and of course, Don’s life. Don came back (too early, as he repeatedly admitted), and life went back to normal. Soon WJFK (their flagship station in Washington) finally started streaming the show live, and I started listening on a semi-regular basis again. It was just as good as ever. I loved the quick comic wit of Don, which combined with modern technology to create a situation where there was a perfect audio clip to play for every situation. I wished I had a soundboard in life so I could throw in the occasional Larry King or Chris Hanson soundbyte whenever I needed it.
Then came the day when Don announced he would be retiring. I had a feeling he hadn’t been the same since Frieda died, and indeed he felt that the show carried too many memories of her for him to continue, and he wanted to start a new life. I told my radio friends (whom I had willingly put Don and Mike up against their Howard Stern and Opie and Anthony all the time), and they understood my sadness over it. I started listening to the show everyday. It was “appointment listening” again, just like in the old days; I didn’t want to miss a single minute. When Don and Mike went on their March vacation, I had this feeling that Don wasn’t going to come back, and I was right. After a week of extra “best of” shows, there was an announcement that all this week, they would play retrospective shows, followed by Don’s final show on Friday. Thanks to podcasting, which had allowed me to catch at least parts of shows the previous couple months, I downloaded every minute of every show this past week. I heard stuff I’d never heard before, and I heard stuff that I remembered hearing when it happened, including the second half of a show that I had taped the first half of (before lack of tape and signal strength caused me to stop) way back in that summer of 1994.
I thought Don's last show was a fitting end. He had the chance to say goodbye to everyone on the show, say some thank yous to everyone who influenced and helped him. He also thanked the listeners, and we thanked him as well. 14 years is a pretty long commitment to make to anything, even if it’s just a radio show, even if it wasn’t much of a commitment at times. But this was my raison d’être… Michael Sorce (Don’s real name) left an impression on people all the way from average everyday people to his closest co-workers and friends to people like me who heard him and wished to do what he could do. In 14 years, I went from shy high schooler through college, into the world of radio and now to where I am today… still a lover of radio (and gainfully employed part-time in the business once again) and now a studier of the medium.
I wish him well. I also wish luck to Mike O'Meara and Rob and Buzz and the rest of the gang with their new show, and I still will listen to them whenever I can. They're still having fun on the air, still doing a good show, and that's great to hear.
Labels: Don Geronimo, radio
posted by Dave | 10:45 AM
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