“It Was 20 Year’s Ago Today…”

It’s fun to start this week’s blog post out by quoting a song lyric from the epic Beatles album “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”…what better way to ease into the idea that I started co-hosting The KUIC Morning Show 20 years ago on November 1st. It was a Monday morning; I didn’t sleep the night before (partly because it was Halloween and my 6 year old daughter Nicole wanted her share of candy) because I was so pumped up about getting on the air and doing a show. The first song we played that morning was The Proclaimers “1,000 Miles,” and who knew my on-air career at KUIC would stretch out that long! If I average it out over 20 years (subtracting 4 weeks a year of vacation and days off), that’s almost 7,000 shows! Now before you say to yourself “this looks like a lot of grandstanding, John Young,” I’m well aware that there are THOUSANDS of people who work in the radio business that pass 20 years easily; we have several KUIC employees who’ve been with the station for 25, 30, even 36 years. The reason this radio anniversary is so important to me is that I’ve been able to talk to The Morning Audience consistently for two decades. I’ve met parents who started listening to me when they themselves were in grade school. I’ve been able to have a morning radio conversation with multiple generations of the same family. These are privileges I don’t take lightly, and I want to thank every person, family, colleague and business that’s supported my shows since late 1999. My own family has come of age during this adventurous stretch of time, with my little kids all turning into young adults, and my ultra-supportive spouse Meg and I celebrating 25 years together. My KUIC Hometown Morning Show longevity made so much possible for me and my family, and I’ll always be grateful. Thank You!

John Young