The Roddy Freeman Collection

Roddy Freeman, 2006

Around the eighth grade, Roddy Freeman was seduced by the magic of Top 40 radio, specifically WCAO in Baltimore during the early sixties. He writes:

"That led to a fascination with all aspects of radio, including programming, music, signals and transmitter sites. I became hooked on the top 40 stations that boomed into Baltimore at night, including WABC, WLS, WKBW, CKLW and later, WCFL. I read everything about radio that I could get my hands on, including Broadcasting, Billboard, Record World and the Bob Hamilton Radio Report. And I loved listening on family vacations to out-of-town stations, such as WMCA in New York, which I always felt was one of the best top-40 stations ever.

My only brush with a radio career was in my college days, when I worked on-air at two college stations, WBJC-FM/Baltimore while at the Community College of Baltimore and WMUC, the campus station at the University of Maryland. I also handled a weekend air shift at a commercial station, WNAV in Annapolis, during that time.

My real career has been in the media planning and buying area at advertising agencies, which I have found to be an excellent vantage point for watching the radio business. My First full-time job was at W.B. Doner & Company in Baltimore. I have also worked at Ted Bates/New York, Cunningham & Walsh/New York, NW Ayer/New York and McCann-Erickson/Atlanta. Since 1996, I have operated my own consultancy here in Atlanta, Media Innovation."

The Repository thanks Roddy Freeman for sharing!