ShareThisFour DJ Superstars and How They Made It Big
Most well-known radio personalities and DJs began their broadcast careers at AM and FM stations in small, local markets. Here's how four struggled to the top:
Howard Stern
Stern got a taste for radio broadcasting as a child when he visited his father's Manhattan recording studio. While finishing his communications degree at Boston University, Stern volunteered at the college's FM station. His first paying DJ gig was with WRNW on Long Island. For years, Stern chased broadcasting jobs up and down the Atlantic seaboard before finally developing his "shock jock" persona.
Vin Scully
Scully began broadcasting baseball games for Fordham University's small radio station while studying journalism at the school. After graduation, he was hired as a temporary announcer at WTOP AM in Washington, but it was a short-lived job. To make ends meet, Scully worked in the New York garment district, ran a milk route, and worked in hotels until he was finally hired as an assistant by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950.
Casey Kasem
Kasem struggled in his early career, broadcasting for Armed Forces Radio during the Korean War. Afterwards he took a succession of DJ jobs in Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. In 1962 he hit on the idea of the top-hit countdowns and performer profiles that became the trademark of his distinctive radio show.
Rush Limbaugh
Limbaugh took his first local radio job while in high school in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. After failing as a DJ in Pittsburgh and Kansas City during the 1970s, he worked as a sports broadcaster, but he was fired for making controversial remarks during baseball games. It wasn't until 1983 that Limbaugh was hired as a radio personality for a Sacramento AM station.
