Song #265: "Is It Love?"--Mr. Mister (1986)

In late 1985, the group Mr. Mister entered the incredibly crowded category of mid-1980's bands with their "Welcome To The Real World" release. The first single to radio, Broken Wings, continues to be a mainstay on classic hits radio today, and I played it many times in recurrent rotation on WUPE in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1986 as my radio career got underway.

Today's song, the third single from the album, peaked in the top ten in June of 1986, the beginning of a summer where I did an about face.

When I left for college on September 1, 1985, I never dreamed that I would opt to stay in the Berkshires by May of '86 rather than come home for the summer. By May, I had two regular weekend airshifts on the stations, a third on the way, and had spent several weeks that spring anchoring and reporting news while we were in between news directors.

I was gaining incredible experience. Why would I go home and sit out for three months, let someone else get the hours, and lose out on the opportunities?  When my great boss, Dave Malachino, carved up three hours weekdays from 11am to 2pm on WUHN, our Big Band sister AM where I began my career, for me for the summer, it was a no-brainer.

I lived on the college campus, part of the summer in a dorm room, the other part, when the college hosted an event called "Elderhostel", I moved my stuff into the academic building to the college radio station, WCWL-FM, and slept on the floor in the office by the transmitter.

That's really, really wanting to be in radio. Today's song reminds me of those days where I learned from some great professionals, and got experience I could never get in today's world of voice tracking.