WCBS 880 on the Sony ICF-7600D a few hours before the closure

people can breathe a little easier call click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done you're listening to WCBS 880 [Applause] [Music] magazine we know a lot of you out there follow every word we say very closely so we have responsibility to get it right but there's probably no one who follows WCBS 880 more closely than this guy in fact last October when I got the name of a Yankees anoun her wrong during a piece I did on Don Larson's perfect game the right answer went up on Twitter was uh went up on Twitter about 5 minutes later uh May kopa welcome to the program Keith Overman thanks for having me an I'm sorry it's under these circumstances you're a native New Yorker you've been on the air everywhere I can't believe this is only your second time live on WCBS 880 I was turned down for a job in 1980 I did not get a job as a sports caster the DriveTime Sports casting job that went to Bill schwitzer and uh it turned out to have been for very good and complimentary reason but but uh I I've just gotten over the idea that I was not hired by WCBS which of course like everybody else from the Bronx and Wester which are my hauns I grew up listening to and uh this is to me this this last week and a half has been like they said they're going to take the Brooklyn Bridge down it it makes no sense and it can benefit nobody in the city and I don't care if there are all alternate roots to take can you share some of your memories of this station I I think I was just thinking about this as I was writing my my podcast that every idea I have about what news sounds like or should sound like from uh news noises and music to pacing to how many sound bites to how often you should repeat a number if you're saying it on on on the air everything I know about doing news maybe the visuals come from other sources but but the audio that's from listening to WC s particularly in high school I just figured out I've been listening for 50 years and so I've heard everybody and I I I had tremendous experiences with people over the years who have worked there and who I've met in in ligher contexts and my memory of it is uh there was an authenticity and a a professionalism at all times that really made me wonder particularly when I was a kid whether or not I should be taking notes on on how to do it and and everybody involved in it from the people that I listen to as a kid I have tapes and then one of the first moments of authenticity in my career when I worked for UPI radio in 1979 was the first time that WCBS ran one of my pieces and it was Bill F doing the overnight Sports cast as part of the overnight news shift and he said je Alman has more and I went I exist it's like validation the first time you hear yourself on the station that you grew up listening to [Music] you have a very particular connection to one of WCBS 880's former news directors can you tell us that story yeah this is this is to me still a startling event and it occurred in April of 1979 as I was getting out of Cornell I was trying to get a job and I thought okay I I'm not going to limit myself to small markets I am going to try the big city stations and see if any of them say yes because I thought well look it's not my job to say I'm not good enough to work at WCBS it's Lou Adler's job and I've been listening to Lou since as I said I was in high school and so I sent him a tape and I sent a tape to every news director in in this city and in Boston and Philadelphia Washington and the only one who wrote back was Lou Adler and I got the letter after a tortuous 8h hour drive back to itha New York in a snowstorm after my friend George's father had taken the snow tires off the car and we barely made it back to itha and they sit in the middle of the night was this letter with the WCBS classic return address and Lou Adler's name at the top and I thought this is wonderful he sent me a form letter rejecting my tape it it it was it was that that idea was just just enough for me that I was going to frame the form letter then I opened the letter and I can still feel how cold it was I remember everything about that moment and the next couple of days because it was not a rejection letter it was a letter in which Lou Adler encouraged me to pursue broadcasting and invite Ed me to come in and meet him at Black Rock uh and he he did in fact give me that last little impetus to get my career started and the letter sits on my wall framed near the front door so that in the event of an emergency I can get it out it is one of my most prized possessions and what happened when you came to visit him at Black Rock what I remember of it is because I did I did have the appropriate outof body experiences um he said I have no doubt that you you going to succeed in this business and he introduced me to Ed Engles who of course was the the legendary sports caster and later became a very good friend of mine who I would see all the time and we always joked about this he took me on a tour of The Newsroom he took me on a tour he he introduced me to Ed and Ed said oh you're the guy from Cornell so alluded you hire him am I out of a job and I mean it was they could not have been more supportive and more helpful to me and more encouraging and again the idea of being validated by professionals and also in even then I thought this is how I should treat people who are trying to to to get into this business Keith Overman host of the extremely popular podcast countdown with Keith Overman available wherever you get your podcasts I'm so glad you were able to join us I'm so glad you asked thank you WCBS 880 magazine