Two Old Friends Back In My Life

What a strange coincidence. I spent the last two days with two old friends, both with pivotal influences on my professional career.

Yesterday’s story started in Fall River, MA sometime during the late summer of 1969. I got a job on-the-air as a disk jockey at WSAR in Fall River, MA. I was everything you’d expect in a 19 year old disk jockey in Fall River… and less.

My first day there another disk jockey, known then as Skippy Ross, was assigned to teach me the ‘board.’

Back then a radio board was a mass of round volume controls called “pots.” In a first class station each pot would control sound levels from a single device like a turntable, microphone or cart deck. It didn’t work that way at WSAR!

We had some sort of tiny crippled board where one pot controlled three or four inputs. The disk jockey was forced to throw switches to enable the inputs while reading copy or talking over a song. In other words you had to operate the board without looking.

As far as I know no airchecks from my time on WSAR exist. For this I am grateful.

Skippy and I became friends and remained friends as I changed stations and he changed names. He became Bob Lacey in Charlotte, NC in the early 70s.

Bob’s still in Charlotte. He and his wife were celebrating with a trip to Boston. He’d gotten better than amazing seats to see the Red Sox at Fenway. When his wife Mary decided there were other things she’d rather do, Bob asked me to the game.

That’s where I was yesterday… and it was an incredible afternoon, right down to Kevin Youkilis last play for the Sox.

Where Bob and I have been friends since my first moment in radio, Farrell Meisel and I have been friends from my first moment in TV! It was he and Vicky Gregorian who plucked me from obscurity to freeze my butt off in Buffalo, NY hosting PM Magazine/Buffalo.

I’ve known both Farrell and Vicky over thirty years.

Farrell’s in Connecticut covering for his sister who keeps an eye on their mother.

Where Bob’s stayed put, Farrell has worked around the world. He’s lived here in the states, plus Russia, Singapore, Poland, Afghanistan and a few others I’ve forgotten. He’s about to undergo a new adventure in another exotic land later this summer.

Farrell came by for a tour of the TV station and Hartford Courant plus a trip to West Hartford for dinner.

Even when I haven’t seen Bob or Farrell for a while it’s easy to pick up where we left off. We share the same sensibilities. We understand what makes each other tick.

It was great seeing both of them… though Farrell, you should consider coming with Red Sox tickets next time. Just sayin’.

2 thoughts on “Two Old Friends Back In My Life”

  1. It’s nice you’ve kept in touch. There’s an old saying …if you’ve had one good friend in life then you’ve had a good life. I had a friend I met in 1962. We’ve kept in touch up until last year when he stopped contacting me. I’ve tried to get in touch but, no response. I have no idea what caused this and it now bothers me. So, enjoy your friends as long as you can.

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