WTTW-TV, Chicago, Illinois
At Chicago's premiere PBS station, it's my responsibility to coordinate and train the 35 on-set volunteers who are on hand to answer phones and take pledges during the live pledge drives four times a year. Look closely and in the background you'll see me answer questions and helping volunteers. 
WCKG-AM, Elmhurst/Chicago, Illinois:
I hosted a weekly radio talk show called Study Hall Radio that focuses on high school news, issues, sports and more. The cool part of this was that while I served as the show's host, the meat and bones of the program was actually be put together each week by high school radio students. We had a good run from April 2015 until June 2016, but like all good things it had to eventually end. 
KRQQ-FM, Tucson, Arizona:
I packed up and moved across the country to the desert, and it was great! I worked for a Top 40 station that went by (and still goes by) “93.7 KRQ.” It was consistently at the top of the ratings books in Tucson for all categories and demographics, plus it was one of the best jobs I ever had. Every night, you would find me at a restaurant, bar, nightclub, sporting event or some other fun location in town interacting with listeners and promoting the station. 
WLTL-FM, LaGrange, Illinois:
I worked here in high school all four years. Without this place, I have no career in radio and media. Thanks WLTL! 
KCRR-FM, Waterloo, Iowa:
THE Classic Rock Station…was a huge step-up from KWAY, but was a step-down in shifts. I worked weekends. And on top of that, overnights. Had lots of fun though and drank lots of Mountain Dew (probably explains my obscene amount of cavities). I also got my first alias here– Chris Schaffer! Which after a few months, I dropped “Chris” and started just going by “Schaffer” on air. 
WKQX-FM, Chicago: Chicago’s Alternative,
Q101 wanted to run a Fantasy Football contest. I consulted them on it, and in fact talked them out of doing it because it would have not been done well (even though it meant less business for the company I was with at the time). Guess I would never make it in sales, huh? 
KTRS-AM, St. Louis
Between my boss at the time and myself, we were weekly Fantasy Football Analysts (not real football analysts) on The Big 550, which was pretty sweet. |
WMVP-AM, Chicago Illinois:
The flagship of ESPN Radio was my last station before I got out of the world of full-time professional radio and entered into working for non-profits organizations in fundraising and public relations. At ESPN 1000 I was lucky enough to work with several talented people, including Spike and Harry, plus the guys at the Chicago White Sox Radio Network (back before the team won a World Series). I also got to hang out with several Sox players, go to many games and works many long long hours, but it was a blast! 
KWAR-FM, Waverly, Iowa:
My college radio station, located at Wartburg College. When I was there it broadcast at 89.1, but now they moved up the dial to 89.9 and have lots more power because of it. We produced some damn good radio here (and started to show up in ratings books, which scared the commercial stations in town). 
KFMW-FM, Waterloo, Iowa:
This station was “The Home of Rock and Roll.” It also happened to be the home of the first place I was ever fired from (which totally wasn’t my fault). This station was awesome however, if for no other reason than it has 77,000 watts of power and covers all of Eastern Iowa, plus parts of Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Oh, and here, I was known as Chris Taylor (a tribute to Charlie Sheen’s character in Platoon). 
KWAY-FM/AM, Waverly, Iowa:
My first professional station, and only three weeks into college. It was a light rock station on the FM and classic country on the AM. I started out on weekends, then was promoted to evening host, working Mondays-Fridays from 7-Midnight. I did it for a while but it was too much with the whole “learning” thing. Special Treat: Here is an air check from November 27, 1999. Try not to laugh too hard :) We sounded good on the air here by the way, which if you saw the place you would have never guessed it. I used to have to kick Butters (the station cat) off the control board to do on-air breaks. He liked to lay there because it was warm. 
WSCR-AM, Chicago, Illinois
At my last job before teaching, I worked for a start-up sports marketing company. Part of what we did was run Fantasy Football and Baseball leagues, and we put together a couple of Fantasy games for the listeners of 670 The Score. 
KCNZ-AM, Waterloo, Iowa
My buddy hosted a sports talk show on this Eastern Iowa sports station, and I recorded and produced all of the voiceovers and on-air promos for them. |
