On Air Staff
Andy Parks
Dropping out of school at the age of 11 to support his poor ghetto family, Andy Parks pulled himself up by the boot straps to become one of Washington DC's least known broadcasters.
Okay, so maybe I'm lying about that.
Actually, I was in college majoring in accounting and data processing and absolutely hated it. I came home one day and proudly announced (to my parents) my intention to bail out of accounting and jump into radio. My father was ready to kill me. I remember his words to this day: "no one makes it in that business." Honestly, his words fueled the fire in me to persevere in a very tough profession.
Call it an "I told you so mentality" but it made me work hard and reach a goal of one day getting Fred Grandy coffee.
I enrolled in the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland and was taught the basics of broadcasting by people who had been or were currently in the biz. Thirty-four years later, I still have contacts with some of these people who served as an inspiration to a twenty year old searching for success.
I started as DJ at a small country music station where part of job of newscaster consisted of cleaning the studio and taking out the trash. All of this plus $2.25 an hour and I was in heaven. Then, on to become a hot rockin' flame throwing rock and roll jock, a job as an oldies station program director, followed by a traffic reporting stint in Baltimore which led to a job as airborne traffic reporter at WMAL. That ended in 1992 when I was asked to become part of the morning show.
The show has evolved into what has become The Grandy and Andy Morning Show.
Despite Fred's objections, I now make more than $2.25 an hour.
On a personal note, I have been married to Patty for 34 years, have two great kids (now grown of course) and a granddaughter I absolutely adore.
Hobbies have included: airplanes, race cars, stunt driving (true), target shooting and golf. Yeah, I know...I'm crazy.
The Grandy & Andy Morning Show can be heard from 5-9am weekdays on 630 WMAL. For information, podcasts, blogs, videos and more, just click HERE.
