I grew up with WDAO

Ever since I was growing up as a misunderstood 1960s Catholic school kid

When the Port Jefferson public school bus kids bullied me wishing I could have ran and hid,

My biggest freind was music..which ministered to my aching soul

Back when Gene "By Golly" Barry, Steve Kirk (and later Kim Faris)

Played the hits on "High Flying" 1410 WING...dont 'ya know.

My dad was a struggling small farmer and my mom was a school cook

They both hated black people (believing all the racial stereotypes they heard) when they arrogantly look

I discovered WDAO (then at 107.7 FM) in Dayton and I later bought my first FM transistor radio

Located on Cincinnati St. off I-75 playing everything from James Brown to "Good Morning Gospel" with Jim Johnson don't 'ya know.

In 1985 WDAO moved to 1210 on the AM dial after its founder Bud Crowl passed away.

The FM would eventually become WMMX "Mix 1077' (owned by iHeart Media) where it remains to this day.

Dayton radio inspired me to be a broadcaster back when I was a 1970s teen

I eventually became a radio personality

After I graduated from Lehman Catholic in 1973

Sadly, I was incredibly naive and was lacking street smarts

And I was later exploited by control freak station "big fish in a small market radio pond."

(pretty much!)

I was saddened after a 13 year struggle and I finally threw in the towel, wishing I could have had a magic wand.

Yet WDAO later upgraded to a 102.3 FM siumulcast with a live audiostream to this day

WDAO, is now located in the Wright-Dunbar Historic District

"The Real Rhythm of the City" and "The Soul of Dayton" lives on today.

In short...you don't have to be black to have the blues

WDAO still makes my day.

Thank you Michael Ecton and Pamela Byrd... as I put back on my bluesy boogie shoes.

JML 4/08/23

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WDAO

https://www.wdaoradio.com