About this site On The Air with George Olsen First day on the job as a professional broadcaster . . It's the early 80's, and I open the door one Sunday morning before 0600 at the Greenville AM station that was desperate enough for bodies to hire me. First thing I notice is our program director, asleep on the floor, because the job paid so poorly he couldn't afford to heat his apartment. I left that evening at 2030, a 14 hour air-shift.
Broadcasting has weird hours and little money.
I stuck with it anyway. Perhaps that explains all the educational reforms in the years since. After dropping out at East Carolina University, I went on to the University of South Carolina and got a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism, though the cynic in me always thought a B.S. would have been more appropriate. I loved every minute of it, and if they'd have paid me minimum wage, I'd still be there. Sadly, they didn't pay me anything, so after I graduated, it was on to the world of commercial radio.