Looking For a Radio Gig When Digital Meant Relating to a Finger or Toe

I used to be in radio broadcasting, and there were many occasions where I directly contacted a company without prior knowledge of whether they were hiring. Since I made these contacts about 20 years ago, I had to rely on 'snail' mail and land line telephones. And since there was no internet, I had to use resources at the public library to find out the telephone numbers to out-of-town radio stations.

My unsolicited search would begin with a cold call to a radio station where I'd ask the receptionist the name of person responsible for hiring air talent. Then, I'd send a cassette recording of an aircheck and a resume in a padded envelope to that station calling attention to the name I obtained from the previous phone call. If I knew I little more about the company or the market, I'd include a cover letter.

This approach failed about 99 percent of the time. But that 1 percent of the time it was successful more than made up for the rejections. I landed some decent radio jobs in Columbia, MO, and Lafayette, IN, using this method.