Metro Spirit - 09.28.17
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
V28|NO39<br />
radio Silence<br />
Kris Fisher<br />
Harley Drew will be stepping away from the mic this Friday for the last time. To<br />
even type it out feels weird. Harley has been a fixture on Augusta radio for 58 years.<br />
How many people can you recall staying in the same line of work for 58 years? Not<br />
many, I’m sure. In radio, it’s almost completely unheard of.<br />
Radio has got to be one of the strangest occupations when it comes to people<br />
leaving jobs. We don’t get to leave when we want. It’s almost always in a sudden,<br />
unceremonious manner. No goodbyes, no well-wishes, just “hey, we gotta let you go,”<br />
and you head straight for the door, do not pass go, do not collect $200. It’s the ugly<br />
side of the business. We all joke about it. But the sad reality is that it’s a constant black<br />
cloud over each of our heads. Maybe that’s why radio is always listed in the top 10<br />
most stressful careers.<br />
The way it usually works is: You’ll have your morning chit-chat with a friend in the<br />
building, maybe catch up about each other’s weekend over a cup of coffee, maybe<br />
discuss an upcoming promotion, then five minutes later an email pops up saying<br />
that person no longer works with the company. Maybe it’s a budget cut, maybe it’s a<br />
business decision or maybe it’s because of bad performance. I’ll never forget laughing<br />
with Jordan Zeh over the fact that radio is probably the only occupation where you<br />
can get fired because you suck: “Hi, no one likes to hear your voice.” “What? In the<br />
building?” “No, in the city. We gotta let you go.” Some say that you’re not really a radio<br />
vet unless you’ve been fired at least three times. I’ve been fired four, yet I keep coming<br />
back. What is that saying about doing the same thing over and over and expecting<br />
different results? It really is an unstable career, but we can’t seem to stay away. A sane<br />
person would probably find something more secure and lucrative. But that proves to<br />
be more difficult than it sounds. Radio gets in your blood. The longer you stay in the<br />
game, the more you feel like you’d be lost without it.<br />
Still, there are some that manage to get away on their own terms and stay away.<br />
95 Rock’s Matt Stone left years ago, before the station was pulled off the air. He is<br />
still at the job for which he left — recording videos about the fun things to do around<br />
Jacksonville, Fla., for the Jacksonville Times-Union. The Joe Show left HD983 last<br />
year to move closer to his girlfriend and took a social media director job in Orlando.<br />
Those are really the only two full-time radio personalities that I can think of that left<br />
by their own choice and stayed out. And, now, there’s Harley Drew.<br />
Matt and Joe weren’t in radio nearly as long as Harley Drew. Over 58 years of<br />
broadcasting, he is woven deeply into the fabric of Augusta’s radio history. Ever since<br />
I was old enough to realize what I was hearing, I’ve heard Harley Drew on the radio.<br />
Back then it was “Handsome” Harley Drew. Those were the days that I would sit and<br />
listen in amazement because the voice I was listening to was all over the entire city<br />
at the same time. Perhaps this gave me my first little taste of the radio bug. My older<br />
brother and I would sit and pretend we were talking in-between songs using cassettes<br />
and a radio. But Harley was on the air long before that. So long that he actually worked<br />
with my dad’s dad, Don “Shep” Shepherd, back when my dad was a teenager.<br />
There’s not many people that give me that kind of awestruck feeling, the same<br />
feeling as if you were to meet a big celebrity. The first time was when I got to work with<br />
Dickie Shannon when I first began my career. Also, Richard Rogers, Laurie Ott and Bob<br />
Smith when I briefly worked for WRDW/News 12. Then, of course, there was Harley<br />
Drew. Truth be told, I interviewed for a promotions job with Harley long before I made<br />
my Augusta radio debut. It was probably 2003ish. I completely blew the interview<br />
because I was so nervous. It was Harley Friggin’ Drew! I had looked up to this guy since<br />
I was a child.<br />
To say he’s respected would be an understatement. He’s got piles and piles of<br />
awards and accolades. It’s a radio career most people can only dream of. I feel lucky<br />
to have worked with him. I wish him the best in his retirement. If anyone’s earned it, he<br />
most definitely has.<br />
KRIS FISHER is the midday host and program director for HD98.3 and an Augusta radio staple. He<br />
is a husband, father of three and lover of all things adventurous, as well as activities most people<br />
would have outgrown years ago. djkfish.com.<br />
28SEPTEMBER2017