Music has always been front and center for me. It’s beyond therapeutic. I have fond childhood memories of listening to music on a small transistor radio pressed against my ear. What a musical feast: Beatles, Hollies, Herman’s Hermits, Stones, the Who, and assorted bubble-gum, too!

Musically, I came of age in the early and mid-70’s, informed more by crunching groovy rock of Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Led Zep, Grand Funk, and The James Gang than by the hippie days (which I was a bit too young for).

To make up for those “missing years,” I went on a deep dive of reading, record collecting, and research about the Brit Invasion as well as the UK underground scenes. I was utterly enchanted by British psychedelia of all varieties. On the home front, I collected albums from studios like Stax, Chess, Ardent, Hi, and Motown. I also loved the garage rock era. And yes, I make no regrets about my fondness for disco, funk and soul as well as punk/new wave/ska.

I launched Radio Base Camp as a hobby in 2005 on a digital platform called live365.com. Radio Base Camp arrived on WPKN in November 2007 when I began to volunteer at the station and serve as a board member. I spent two years doing a weekly overnight shift before moving to a Friday afternoon slot. For the past few years, my show has been part of the Tuesday morning drive time.

I am grateful to be involved with WPKN, which is such a great community listener-supported station. It has been an honor to be the general manager of WPKN (since 2013). The position calls for an odd assortment of skill sets that somehow I have acquired from earlier careers in banking, magazine sales and trade publication/ association management. I started and sold “golfrange” magazine and the Golf Range Association of America (GRAA).

I lived in New York City for almost twenty years, catching loads of live acts and spending hobby money on vinyl LPs, cassettes, and then CDs. My musical ears over the years have been influenced by other iconic radio stations like WPKN- primarily WFMU in NYC, KCRW in Santa Monica, KEXP in Seattle. Great music press like the (old days) NME and CMJ, MOJO, Shindig, UNCUT, The Quietus still play a role.

I used to DJ in Washington D.C. while in college during the punk/new wave/ska era. I had loads of fun doing it, doing a weekly gig every Wednesday night at The Pub we called “The Frenzy.” I also worked at The Bayou and saw some great bands there: U2, Stiff Little Fingers, and others. I have fond memories of early 9:30 Club gigs there as well (Urban Verbs, Psychedelic Furs, Bad Brains). I also was a frequent attendee at many great NYC clubs over the years including CBGB, The Pyramid Club, Arlene Grocery, Max’s, Danceteria, Irving Plaza, SOB’s…and let’s not forget Maxwell’s in Hoboken.