No, it’s not my age, so shut up! On March 13, 2015 (queue ominous Friday the 13th music), I will participate in something I never thought would happen: the 75th episode of Papa Lory’s Classic Rock Extravaganza on 91.7 FM, KEOL.

Let’s travel back in time to a place where AM radio ruled the airwaves and FM radio was the baby brother that always got left out of the fun things. I grew up near Portland, Ore. Our local radio station didn’t play much of the popular “hit” music, so I turned to stations like KGW and KISN to get my growing music fix from around 1970 on.

Many younger people don’t realize that AM radio was not always blowhards like Rush Limbaugh or Lars Larson spouting their conservative views upon the population. AM radio was the place for musical artists to have their songs heard. Oh, but there were often stipulations: no one dare have a song much longer than 3 minutes; oh, and you couldn’t have questionable lyrics or profanities; and early on in the rock era, you needed to grease some palms with a bit of cash to get played. But all that was what built the AM radio empire.

When I got my first guitar for Christmas in 1969, I started listening to more and more music on the radio, teaching myself the chords so I could play and sing along. Eventually, I ended up with my uncle’s stereo (since he was out to sea in the Navy) and it had the usual components for the early ‘70’s: AM/FM tuner, turntable, and not one, but TWO cassette player/recorders!

I think I made my first cassette “radio program” in the summer of 1971. It consisted of about 15 minutes of songs I recorded off of the radio intermingled with my interpretation of what a DJ should sound like. A couple of friends and I did this and shared the tapes with each other. Sometimes we would interview each other, pretending that we were with some band or another. It was fun for me, and it was around that time that I really wanted to be a DJ when I got older.

Fast forward to 2012 and my completion of what I wanted to do at BMCC before heading to the La Grande campus of EOU. I had registered for my classes already at Eastern, but the one class I wanted the most, FM I Broadcasting, was not listed when I first registered. My heart sunk. I know that EOU had a radio station and I knew I wanted to take that class and try my hand at being a DJ, but the class was not being offered.

Then, just on a whim, I checked again and it was listed. I clicked the buttons needed to register and it was done! I was going to be a DJ! After more than 40 years of dreaming, I was going to be on air on a radio station. It didn’t matter to me that it wasn’t in a big market or that there might not be very many listeners. What mattered is that after all this time; 40+ years; one of my childhood dreams was going to come true.

Now I am looking at my 75th show with the Classic Rock Extravaganza. Sure, I’ve done more shows that that since I started at EOU. I’ve been on The Show Show multiple times; I’ve run the Classic Country show Saturday mornings for a couple of terms; we’ve done the New Music Review a dozen or so times; Courtney and I did EO You for a couple of terms (we really need to bring that one back!); and I’ve been on here and there for live events or Mountaineer Days and the like.

But 75 shows? For a guy who never thought he would see the inside of a radio station, let alone be on the air at one, this is an exciting anniversary for me. It’s all thanks to KEOL and in particular, Rocky Gothard, who was station manager when I took the class, and Kid Yoshida, who was my mentor and taught me the board and how to transition from one media to another. And of course, all the cool people who make KEOL what it is: a family. Now I figure I’ll hit show No. 100 sometime during fall term this year. After that, who knows what will happen? But as long as I’m able KEOL is on the air, I hope to be a part of it in some capacity.