My Bio
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whenever I meet a new person online, and he or she asks me questions about myself, I
find it quite efficient to just tell them where my web site is, and let them graze! One lady
told me, "On your website you talk about yourself, yet, I still don't know much about you".
Hmmmm. That sounds like an oxymoron at first glance, but, ya know, she may have a
point there. So, that's the purpose of this page. To tell you about my background; Although
it's difficult to imagine anybody besides the FBI or the IRS that would be interested in
reading this, as a public service I thereby present my biog. And besides, it's my webpage. I
can do what I want!!
Before I was Born
Before I go into my "I was born at a very early age" bit, let me tell you a little bit about my
heritage. My father grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, and was an accountant most of his
life. My mother grew up on a farm in Nebraska. My mother's father was a rancher, and, at
one time, was the manager of Buffalo Bill's ranch in North Platte Nebraska. My grandfather
died when I was 3 months old, so, I never had a chance to talk to him in depth about that!
My parents met each other in about 1941 for the first time in back of a truck! They were at
a church youth group in Northwest Denver, and they were going to a picnic in the
mountains. (I'm still a member of that very church today) They got married on 4/11/43.
They were both married only to each other for 42 years until death, and they were very
much in love. In this age of dysfunctional families, I was extremely lucky to be part of a
very functional one. I never heard my parents argue. They stuck to agreements.
I Drop In
I was the first of 3 children, and I popped out on Columbus day, 10/12/46 at St. Josephs
hospital in Denver. (my mother made the great discovery this time) I went to parochial
school in Northwest Denver, and went to North High School. (class of '64) My grades in
school were never very impressive. I was shy, and if I had any semblance of intelligence, I
did a very good job of keeping it a secret! Occasionally, in science class or something the
teacher would ask if anybody knew how a phone (or something technical) worked.
Suddenly, I would get up (with my thick glasses on) and explain how "the carbon granuals
would transfer the soundwaves into electrical impulses based upon the variations of how
close the granuals were". Jaws would drop around the room, not so much because of this
"encyclopia" that just came to life, but the fact that I could talk! And with this ungodly deep
voice to boot! Even my sense of humor occasionally manifested itself. Today I'm known for
my oddball videos on AFHV, but, even in those days....at the age of 12 I submitted a
cartoon that I had drawn to the Denver Post, and won a bicycle over 28,000 entrants.
A Professional Student In College
I went to Southern Colo. State College in Pueblo from 1964 to 1969, and majored in
Electronics Technology. Back in those days Electronics meant replacing a lot of tubes in
radios! And taking apart big black and white TV sets. I also took many courses in data
processing. (we're talkin' IBM 1620 and 360 back then) I was a staff photographer for the
newspaper and annual at the college, and I had over 800 pictures published, a record for
one person there that had not been equaled before or since! Yes, many of my years there
I reeked of developer and stop bath, which now that I think about it, may account for my
lack of a social life during those years!
My First Jobs at College
I decided that it was more fun to play with electronic things rather than repair them, and I
was fascinated with being a radio announcer. Showbiz! I could go on the air, and perhaps
from the many fan letters I would get, I could maybe find a girlfriend. Or something like
that! In 1967, I got my first job in radio at KCSJ in Pueblo. I had the "First Class
Radiotelephone License", which opened some doors in getting a radio job in those days,
since by law that license was needed to make certain transmitter readings. I did some
part-time news reading there, and did a daily 5 minute college news show. One day before
the dj threw it to me for the news, he accidentally hit a sound effect of a dog barking
instead of the standard news jingle. My reading the entire newscast gasping with laughter
didn't amuse the management! I then got a job at KVMN-FM, which was an easy listening
station, playing records and reading the news. I was employed there for, oh, 3 or 4 days. It
seems I need more help in smoothing out my "breath control". No, it had nothing to do with
taking Certs, but my taking too many breaths in each sentence as I read the news. I then
got a job at KKAM in Pueblo. I was there for 3 years, being a disk jockey, a newsman, and
doing a lot of audio production. That's where I got most of my early experience in radio. It
was a typical WKRP type of station! Even the receptionist was a brunette version of
"Jennifer". I could tell you a lot of stories, such as one night when I was alone at the station
doing my show, and I had forgotten to lock the back door! A drunk guy with a cowboy hat
came in, said that he was "Hank Williams Jr.", (he wasn't) and wanted me to play "Cold
Cold Heart" and put on a commercial spot telling everybody on the air what a great guy he
was. (he apparently wanted to impress a girlfriend that he was on the radio, or something)
I called the boss on the phone, and for 4 bucks, the boss told me to put the spot on!! I
guess any revenue at all is better than none!!
I Dodged the Bullets
When I was in college, the Vietnam war was raging on and on. Seeing many of my friends
get drafted and come back in body bags didn't give me much hope for my future. The best
I could hope for was to stay in college as a "professional student" and hope that the war
would end. But, after getting an A.A.S. degree and a B.S. degree, it was time to go home
to Denver. I had the "Student" deferment on my draft card, but now, I had to take a
physical to get reclassified. Did you know that I have a "Twisted Dorsal Scoliosis"? Yep,
that got me a draft card that said "4F" on it. "Unsuitable for Military Service". Let's just say,
that's comparable to getting a pardon from the governor! Suddenly the rest of my life lie
before me!
A Free Man, On To Fame!
It was summer 1969. I'm back in my family's house in Northwest Denver, contemplating my
future. I didn't even try getting a job for 6 months, because I wanted to "find myself". Yea, I
found myself alright. I found myself broke! Then, I got a job at KDKO. My original position
was doing a morning show that was trying out a format that appealed to the big companies
in Denver, "Forward Metro Time". I would spend the day getting interviews and news from
the companies, and then do a show that would feature the interviews. It was an ideal
arrangement for me, and I enjoyed the challenge! I did that for about 3 weeks, when the
ratings came in. You guessed it, I was talking to myself for 3 weeks. The basic format of
the station was "Soul Music" that appealed to the black community, so, I suddenly had a
new postion there. "All night Soul DJ!" Midnight to 6am I was spinning the platters, doing
the jive, fingerpoppin' kneeslappin' and footappin', rockin' ana rollin', in general, screaming
my brains out, and talking to the strange people that stay up all night on the phone. I had
always wondered what it would be like to be an all night dj, and, I found out more than I
wanted to know! I graduated from there to a basic day job, doing news and audio
production at KDKO. I was there for 9 years, and, my biggest accomplishment was putting
together some comedy radio spots for an auto dealer that ran for a few years on 6 radio
stations in town. In 1978 I worked at KDEN all news radio for a few years. I got a lot of
"reading" practice, you might say. From 1980 to 1985, I worked part-time as a newsman at
KLZ radio. KLZ is the oldest station in Colorado, so, there were some historical aspects to
it. I did a lot of on-the-street style of news gathering. Cruising around in the KLZ news car
looking cool and broadcasting live on the air from the car everytime I ran into a news story
was a lot of fun! And, I got to meet a lot of famous politicians in the state! In 1985, I got a
job with Bob Larson Ministries. Bob does a daily, live, nationwide radio talk show, and,
now a weekly TV show on TBN. He's written scores of books that you can find in any
bookstore across the nation. Bob is sort of a "Christian Donahue", or "Religious Shock
Jock". I did mainly audio production for Bob's show. A dozen years later, I'm still associated
with the company, but, just on a part-time on-call basis.
It's Showbiz!
Here's a few extra curricular things that I've done along the way. Back in the Early 70's I
met a beautiful French blond in a square dance group that I went to. Since she looked like
a compilation of Marilyn Monroe, Mae West, and Dolly Parton rolled into one, I took an
instant interest in her, and asked her what she did. "I'm a professional singer". Anything
that has to do with showbiz gets me interested, so, wow, I had to find out more. She and
her sisters traveled around with a band, and did a lot of local conventions and parties, and
had put out some records. The show they gave was sort of a Las Vegas style show, which
is a great concept, but, turned out to be expensive in the long run for a city such as
Denver. Anyway, I saw one of their big shows. That was the only time that I just "saw" one.
After that, I was hired as their sound man, and, yep, the standup comedian for the group! I
would wear a white suit, someone would give me a Las Vegas style introduction, and a
spotlight would be thrown my way. And I would let loose with my act, which consisted of
sound effects and impressions. Hey, it was like running away with the circus!! I did this for
3 years, and it was great experience in learning how to handle an audience. I also did
voice-overs for a companion company, using my own basement audio studio, and there's a
number of movies and slide shows floating around with my dulcet tones on them.
Every year, the educational TV station here in town, Channel 6, has a 10 day auction to
raise funds for the station. And, being the TV ham that I am, I've always volunteered to
come down for about 4 days of the auction, and do my on-camera thing. Would you
believe that I've done it for 35 years now? My on-air style gets looser every year, as I try
and see what I can get away with! People occasionally recognize me from that exposure.
In the early 80's, I had my own cable TV news show. In the early 90's, I took a leap of faith,
and took the IQ test to see if I could join Mensa. By golly, I made the score, became a
member, and in 1995 I was the chapter president over 600 local members. For the last few
decades, I've done a lot of public speaking.
My big deal that happened in 1994, and I jabber about it to anybody who will listen, I was
on "America's Funniest Home Videos" as a 10 grand winner! Yep, they flew me to
Hollywood, Bob Saget interviewed me on the air, the whole bit. Channel 9 news had some
newscasts devoted to me. The program flew me back about 3 months later for their 100
grand show. I had a one in seven chance of getting that one. Nope, the audience went for
a dog video that time. I've been quite active since that time concerning AFHV. I've had 5
different clips of mine on the program.
In 1998, I wrote a local book, "Whatever Happened to Fred'n'Fae?" Any baby boomer
who grew up in Denver knows what that's about -- a kids show was on from 1952 until
1967 on early Denver TV -- the book was listed for two weeks in the Denver Post as a
local best seller.
After the millenium, I met DeAnna Lee, a local talent agent. We've both been on national
TV, and we both have made each other a lot of money -- I have a number of DeAnna
stories that I'm posting on this website!
In 2008, I went into semi-retirement, giving me time to do things like put this webpage
together -- I'm doing a LOT of archiving of tapes and records and such, I have a collection
that's gotten entirely out of hand!
After all of these years, I'm still a single man!
I'm only getting started here, watch this space for more mountains that I'm going to climb in
the future!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whenever I meet a new person online, and he or she asks me questions about myself, I
find it quite efficient to just tell them where my web site is, and let them graze! One lady
told me, "On your website you talk about yourself, yet, I still don't know much about you".
Hmmmm. That sounds like an oxymoron at first glance, but, ya know, she may have a
point there. So, that's the purpose of this page. To tell you about my background; Although
it's difficult to imagine anybody besides the FBI or the IRS that would be interested in
reading this, as a public service I thereby present my biog. And besides, it's my webpage. I
can do what I want!!
Before I was Born
Before I go into my "I was born at a very early age" bit, let me tell you a little bit about my
heritage. My father grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, and was an accountant most of his
life. My mother grew up on a farm in Nebraska. My mother's father was a rancher, and, at
one time, was the manager of Buffalo Bill's ranch in North Platte Nebraska. My grandfather
died when I was 3 months old, so, I never had a chance to talk to him in depth about that!
My parents met each other in about 1941 for the first time in back of a truck! They were at
a church youth group in Northwest Denver, and they were going to a picnic in the
mountains. (I'm still a member of that very church today) They got married on 4/11/43.
They were both married only to each other for 42 years until death, and they were very
much in love. In this age of dysfunctional families, I was extremely lucky to be part of a
very functional one. I never heard my parents argue. They stuck to agreements.
I Drop In
I was the first of 3 children, and I popped out on Columbus day, 10/12/46 at St. Josephs
hospital in Denver. (my mother made the great discovery this time) I went to parochial
school in Northwest Denver, and went to North High School. (class of '64) My grades in
school were never very impressive. I was shy, and if I had any semblance of intelligence, I
did a very good job of keeping it a secret! Occasionally, in science class or something the
teacher would ask if anybody knew how a phone (or something technical) worked.
Suddenly, I would get up (with my thick glasses on) and explain how "the carbon granuals
would transfer the soundwaves into electrical impulses based upon the variations of how
close the granuals were". Jaws would drop around the room, not so much because of this
"encyclopia" that just came to life, but the fact that I could talk! And with this ungodly deep
voice to boot! Even my sense of humor occasionally manifested itself. Today I'm known for
my oddball videos on AFHV, but, even in those days....at the age of 12 I submitted a
cartoon that I had drawn to the Denver Post, and won a bicycle over 28,000 entrants.
A Professional Student In College
I went to Southern Colo. State College in Pueblo from 1964 to 1969, and majored in
Electronics Technology. Back in those days Electronics meant replacing a lot of tubes in
radios! And taking apart big black and white TV sets. I also took many courses in data
processing. (we're talkin' IBM 1620 and 360 back then) I was a staff photographer for the
newspaper and annual at the college, and I had over 800 pictures published, a record for
one person there that had not been equaled before or since! Yes, many of my years there
I reeked of developer and stop bath, which now that I think about it, may account for my
lack of a social life during those years!
My First Jobs at College
I decided that it was more fun to play with electronic things rather than repair them, and I
was fascinated with being a radio announcer. Showbiz! I could go on the air, and perhaps
from the many fan letters I would get, I could maybe find a girlfriend. Or something like
that! In 1967, I got my first job in radio at KCSJ in Pueblo. I had the "First Class
Radiotelephone License", which opened some doors in getting a radio job in those days,
since by law that license was needed to make certain transmitter readings. I did some
part-time news reading there, and did a daily 5 minute college news show. One day before
the dj threw it to me for the news, he accidentally hit a sound effect of a dog barking
instead of the standard news jingle. My reading the entire newscast gasping with laughter
didn't amuse the management! I then got a job at KVMN-FM, which was an easy listening
station, playing records and reading the news. I was employed there for, oh, 3 or 4 days. It
seems I need more help in smoothing out my "breath control". No, it had nothing to do with
taking Certs, but my taking too many breaths in each sentence as I read the news. I then
got a job at KKAM in Pueblo. I was there for 3 years, being a disk jockey, a newsman, and
doing a lot of audio production. That's where I got most of my early experience in radio. It
was a typical WKRP type of station! Even the receptionist was a brunette version of
"Jennifer". I could tell you a lot of stories, such as one night when I was alone at the station
doing my show, and I had forgotten to lock the back door! A drunk guy with a cowboy hat
came in, said that he was "Hank Williams Jr.", (he wasn't) and wanted me to play "Cold
Cold Heart" and put on a commercial spot telling everybody on the air what a great guy he
was. (he apparently wanted to impress a girlfriend that he was on the radio, or something)
I called the boss on the phone, and for 4 bucks, the boss told me to put the spot on!! I
guess any revenue at all is better than none!!
I Dodged the Bullets
When I was in college, the Vietnam war was raging on and on. Seeing many of my friends
get drafted and come back in body bags didn't give me much hope for my future. The best
I could hope for was to stay in college as a "professional student" and hope that the war
would end. But, after getting an A.A.S. degree and a B.S. degree, it was time to go home
to Denver. I had the "Student" deferment on my draft card, but now, I had to take a
physical to get reclassified. Did you know that I have a "Twisted Dorsal Scoliosis"? Yep,
that got me a draft card that said "4F" on it. "Unsuitable for Military Service". Let's just say,
that's comparable to getting a pardon from the governor! Suddenly the rest of my life lie
before me!
A Free Man, On To Fame!
It was summer 1969. I'm back in my family's house in Northwest Denver, contemplating my
future. I didn't even try getting a job for 6 months, because I wanted to "find myself". Yea, I
found myself alright. I found myself broke! Then, I got a job at KDKO. My original position
was doing a morning show that was trying out a format that appealed to the big companies
in Denver, "Forward Metro Time". I would spend the day getting interviews and news from
the companies, and then do a show that would feature the interviews. It was an ideal
arrangement for me, and I enjoyed the challenge! I did that for about 3 weeks, when the
ratings came in. You guessed it, I was talking to myself for 3 weeks. The basic format of
the station was "Soul Music" that appealed to the black community, so, I suddenly had a
new postion there. "All night Soul DJ!" Midnight to 6am I was spinning the platters, doing
the jive, fingerpoppin' kneeslappin' and footappin', rockin' ana rollin', in general, screaming
my brains out, and talking to the strange people that stay up all night on the phone. I had
always wondered what it would be like to be an all night dj, and, I found out more than I
wanted to know! I graduated from there to a basic day job, doing news and audio
production at KDKO. I was there for 9 years, and, my biggest accomplishment was putting
together some comedy radio spots for an auto dealer that ran for a few years on 6 radio
stations in town. In 1978 I worked at KDEN all news radio for a few years. I got a lot of
"reading" practice, you might say. From 1980 to 1985, I worked part-time as a newsman at
KLZ radio. KLZ is the oldest station in Colorado, so, there were some historical aspects to
it. I did a lot of on-the-street style of news gathering. Cruising around in the KLZ news car
looking cool and broadcasting live on the air from the car everytime I ran into a news story
was a lot of fun! And, I got to meet a lot of famous politicians in the state! In 1985, I got a
job with Bob Larson Ministries. Bob does a daily, live, nationwide radio talk show, and,
now a weekly TV show on TBN. He's written scores of books that you can find in any
bookstore across the nation. Bob is sort of a "Christian Donahue", or "Religious Shock
Jock". I did mainly audio production for Bob's show. A dozen years later, I'm still associated
with the company, but, just on a part-time on-call basis.
It's Showbiz!
Here's a few extra curricular things that I've done along the way. Back in the Early 70's I
met a beautiful French blond in a square dance group that I went to. Since she looked like
a compilation of Marilyn Monroe, Mae West, and Dolly Parton rolled into one, I took an
instant interest in her, and asked her what she did. "I'm a professional singer". Anything
that has to do with showbiz gets me interested, so, wow, I had to find out more. She and
her sisters traveled around with a band, and did a lot of local conventions and parties, and
had put out some records. The show they gave was sort of a Las Vegas style show, which
is a great concept, but, turned out to be expensive in the long run for a city such as
Denver. Anyway, I saw one of their big shows. That was the only time that I just "saw" one.
After that, I was hired as their sound man, and, yep, the standup comedian for the group! I
would wear a white suit, someone would give me a Las Vegas style introduction, and a
spotlight would be thrown my way. And I would let loose with my act, which consisted of
sound effects and impressions. Hey, it was like running away with the circus!! I did this for
3 years, and it was great experience in learning how to handle an audience. I also did
voice-overs for a companion company, using my own basement audio studio, and there's a
number of movies and slide shows floating around with my dulcet tones on them.
Every year, the educational TV station here in town, Channel 6, has a 10 day auction to
raise funds for the station. And, being the TV ham that I am, I've always volunteered to
come down for about 4 days of the auction, and do my on-camera thing. Would you
believe that I've done it for 35 years now? My on-air style gets looser every year, as I try
and see what I can get away with! People occasionally recognize me from that exposure.
In the early 80's, I had my own cable TV news show. In the early 90's, I took a leap of faith,
and took the IQ test to see if I could join Mensa. By golly, I made the score, became a
member, and in 1995 I was the chapter president over 600 local members. For the last few
decades, I've done a lot of public speaking.
My big deal that happened in 1994, and I jabber about it to anybody who will listen, I was
on "America's Funniest Home Videos" as a 10 grand winner! Yep, they flew me to
Hollywood, Bob Saget interviewed me on the air, the whole bit. Channel 9 news had some
newscasts devoted to me. The program flew me back about 3 months later for their 100
grand show. I had a one in seven chance of getting that one. Nope, the audience went for
a dog video that time. I've been quite active since that time concerning AFHV. I've had 5
different clips of mine on the program.
In 1998, I wrote a local book, "Whatever Happened to Fred'n'Fae?" Any baby boomer
who grew up in Denver knows what that's about -- a kids show was on from 1952 until
1967 on early Denver TV -- the book was listed for two weeks in the Denver Post as a
local best seller.
After the millenium, I met DeAnna Lee, a local talent agent. We've both been on national
TV, and we both have made each other a lot of money -- I have a number of DeAnna
stories that I'm posting on this website!
In 2008, I went into semi-retirement, giving me time to do things like put this webpage
together -- I'm doing a LOT of archiving of tapes and records and such, I have a collection
that's gotten entirely out of hand!
After all of these years, I'm still a single man!
I'm only getting started here, watch this space for more mountains that I'm going to climb in
the future!
