BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -- It’s July of 1972. A newly minted UD Communication Arts graduate nervously makes his way up the stairs in Kennedy Union to the 2nd floor and into the offices of WVUD, “The Radio Station.” Despite the fact that his only sales experience has been attempting to sell china, crystal and silver to engaged women in Pittsburgh, ‘VUD GM George Biersack has hired him as the station’s first full time advertising salesperson. He introduces himself to the Program Director (to whom he will be reporting), who doesn’t seem to have any clue that the account rep was to be starting that day.
That sales guy was me
The PD was Chris Cage, who passed away this week after a valiant battle with lymphoma
I’ve written a number of pieces about WVUD and the folks who worked there in the past. Here are links to two of them:
This is my original column on FM 100 from 9 years ago:
http://www.flyersports.com/cgi/coran...AkAkAEWpqVMrJp
The following is the piece I did on the 50th birthday reunion of UD acquiring WVUD that took place last year:
http://www.udpride.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25596
The glue that binds the entire WVUD narrative together was and is Chris Cage. To say that Chris was instrumental in launching dozens of UD grads into broadcasting, advertising and record industry careers is an understatement.
Here is how Buzz Knight phrased it in his memorial to Cage on
Radio Ink Magazine’s website:
http://www.radioink.com/article.asp?...307&spid=24698
After my inauspicious intro to Chris, we formed a fast friendship that continued on as he left WVUD for the East Coast, came back to the Midwest as a station owner and then finally in his role as owner of Indiana Research in Ft. Wayne. I had a chance to visit with him at the station he owned in Celina. Chris was passionate about UD Football and so we would meet up if I was in town for the Red and Blue scrimmage and he was there to see a football game. That’s how I met his wife Amy and their daughter Lauren, who is also a UD grad. And he and Amy were regular attendees at the infrequent WVUD reunions that Dan Covey would organize.
Chris was without a doubt the smartest radio guy I ever encountered. As Buzz detailed, Cage could be brutally direct sometimes, but he was always passionate, well informed and had an infectious sense of humor. Chris literally lived and breathed radio.
Over the years, I got more than a few emails about WVUD and Chris. Here are a couple of them:
I came across your piece about VUD on UD Pride and it brought back many memories. I began my radio career in Celina, OH and Chris Cage was a major influence. After his stint at WBNS in Columbus, he bought the radio station where I was working in 1980 - WKKI. Many great memories there. I think I learned more about radio in the 2 years working with Chris than I have in all the years since.
Nice to read about the impact he had on WVUD.
I am currently the Director of Sales for a cluster of Clear Channel stations in the Victor Valley, north of San Bernardino.
Steve Sipe
This one is from fellow class of 1972 grad Kevin Meagher:
To this day I explain what sounds like a Boston accent to those who ask (I was born and raised in Brooklyn NY) by telling the story of Cage sending me to Dr. Wolff to get rid of the nasty accent (as one more stall on why I could not have a decent shift). "This is OHIO" he'd shout. "And you sound so f*cking BROOKLYN". Try as Dr. Wolff did, complete with mirrors and various drills, we never solved "the problem". Brooklyn, with work, apparently sounds like Boston.
I got the email from Covey alerting me to Chris’ passing while I was sitting in an auto dealership. I got into my car to head home and the first song to fire up on the radio was this one and I’m convinced Chris was running the board:
Don’t hang on
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won’t another minute buy
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind
Indeed we are, Chris…indeed we are.
That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at:
swampy@udpride.com
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