Jim’s Blog: A Little Radio Secret

In 1983, I applied for a job at a new radio station in Madison called Magic 98. I didn’t get the gig—not until 2008, anyway—but one guy who joined up that year was Pat O’Neill. Since then, he’s become a Madison radio institution, as you know. What you may not know is that as Magic’s program director, he’s built one of the best stations of its kind in the country, often imitated, never duplicated.

Here’s a little secret about the radio biz: doing good radio is not all that hard, if you have the talent and commitment. What is hard, even if you have the talent and commitment, is consistency. At Pat’s direction, Magic does what you expect, and is what you want it to be, day-to-day and year-to-year. If a baseball player displays that type of consistency across his entire career, he ends up in the Hall of Fame. In radio terms—as a programmer, a DJ, and captain of the ship—Pat is surely that. I’m fortunate to have been in his lineup. Or on his boat. Or wherever we’ve been these last 10 years.
Thank you sir, best of luck, and may all good things come your way.
Read more of Jim Bartlett’s blogs here.