Covering Rural Nevada along because nobody wants to go with you, part 2

            When Jack Slothhower hired me at KSRN in December, 1981 on the strength of my voice, it seemed as if I had won the lottery.  It was inside, I loved the music, and I got to work with some of the most professional radio people in the business.

 It didn’t hurt that KSRN-FM 104.5 at the time was one of the most popular radio stations in the market. With its 50-thousand watts of radiated power, the only thing that stopped the signal was the curvature of the earth. Our signal reached south to Bishop, California, north to the Oregon border, and east to the hinterland of Central Nevada. It was a job made in heaven. But there was a catch.

Most of my salary was to be commission from what commercials I could sell. The old guys were making good money because they had most of the ad agency buys. I was the new kid of the block, which meant I would have to make “cold calls.” In other words, walk into a business and ask, “Would you like to advertise on KSRN?  

I worked my tail off, pouring through the phone book, making appointments, making pitches, and walking the streets, only to learn that most everyone I talked to weren’t interested.

 It was in the midst of a recession, and the first thing business owners would do is cut their advertising budgets. And in the event I did get a contract, many times the client would take up to three months to pay. The policy at KSRN at the time was no commission check until the client paid his bill. I dang near starved to death.

Exit KSRN-FM, enter Ed Pearce at KTVN-TV. That story next.