Gallery: It’s National DJ Day And This Is How Catherine Accidentally Became One
Happy National DJ Day! What would our childhoods have been like without hearing our favorite DJ’s playing our favorite music. I can recall calling into the local radio station in Shelby and talking to my favorite local DJ, Andy Foster, asking him to play my favorite song. Then listening for him to play it and he always would. Ironically, many many years later, Andy became my very first boss in radio.
Radio and the TV that I have done was not my first career choice. All my life I wanted to be a nurse. My Mom was a pediatric nurse and my sister was a neonatal intensive care nurse. I loved taking care of people so that was my pursuit. I was in health occupations in High school and it was there that I realized, thanks to my teacher Mrs. Cindy Borders, that I had somewhat of a gift for speaking. She called on me to enter speaking contests on health occupations and it turns out I excelled at it.
Here is the short version of how I ended up in broadcasting. I was going to school for nursing at Western Carolina University but wasn’t quite cutting it in the maths and sciences. I was failing miserably. Nursing was not going to happen.
The resident advisor on my hall, Annette, invited me to come to the local radio station and the general manager put me on the air reading news. It was like breathing. I was a “natural” he said. I made the call to my parents that I was changing my major from nursing to Radio/TV/Film expecting some backlash. But their response was sure honey, do what makes you happy. That was a long time ago. I will let the pictures take over from here. Hope you enjoy this little trip down DJ memory lane. Of course, now we prefer to be called “radio personalities” some even say “media influencers”. Here are a few pics from the people, places, and things I have seen and done over the years.
