Gary has well over a half a century of radio experience. We are fortunate to have him as a contributor to the Modesto Radio Museum. Gary is the museum’s “Microphone Man.” He says that for some reason as a kid he became nuts over microphones and other sound equipment. If it’s microphones you want to know about just type Microphone Man in the Modesto Radio Museum search bar and you’re off and running.
We could go on writing about Gary’s broadcasting experience but why do
that when he can tell about himself.
We are fortunate to have an aircheck of one of Gary’s shows courtesy of Gary. In 1961 Gary worked at KFIV (K-5) in Modesto, CA. as G. Martin Avey. He was 22 years old. Gary says of the aircheck, “It’s the only one I have from K5. It was recorded on one of the Magnecorder (Maggie) PT-6 reel to reel machines. We had 5 of those machines in the control room. We had no cartridge machines and all local spots (commercials) were recorded on little 3 inch reels and played on the Maggies. It Really kept the jocks busy. Mel Freedman, K5’s engineer was installing the first cart machines on the day I left to join the Navy!”
The voice on most of the local spots you’ll hear was that of Gene D’Accardo who went on to work as the News Director at KNBR in San Francisco. Another note of interest, the voice you will hear in the Burgermeister Beer commercial is Jim Lange who was working at KSFO in San Francisco at the time. Jim Lange later went on to become the host of the popular game show, The Dating Game.
One more treat. In Gary’s own voice, he explains how he came to love microphones, and turned that love into a life-long hobby:
