Dan Sheedy
I started at WNDR radio in 1969 and I instantly knew I had found a home among similarly insane people. Many may remember Dave Laird who was program director back then. He hired me, "trained" me for about 15 minutes on my first day (at 5 am on a Sunday), then left me to my own devices at the controls. Catastrophe. I sweated out that first awful shift, thinking I would be fired instantly. Little did I know, the total audience at that time on a Sunday morning consisted of about 6 people battling hangovers who could not have cared less. I don't think that "audience" included my new boss.
After a year or so at WNDR, much to my amazement, I was hired by a brand new television station in Utica, WUTR. I packed up my VW and moved to Utica. I don't know what made me think I could be a tv news reporter. Perhaps just the fact that I didn't know what I didn't know gave me enough confidence to try. After one year on the job, I experienced what seems to be inevitable in broadcasting; I got fired. That's a long story in itself but that was more than 50 years ago so you could say it's old news. Film at 11.
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