Here’s a story.
In June of ‘91 I had an internship at a radio station called Hot 97 in St. Louis, MO. The overnight jock was a young guy named Rick Idol. He introduced himself to me on my first day and told me how he had started as an intern not long ago.
One day that summer he got to fill in filling the midday air shift. I remember him saying how his mother and her co-workers will all be listening.
For the next five years or so Rick was the night time d.j. and probably made countless promotional appearances for the station.
Did Rick have a real name? Yes. Todd Newton.
In January of ‘96 I remember an on-air ‘good luck to Rick’ day. He was off to Los Angeles. I don’t know if he had the gig already or maybe he soon got it but it wasn’t long before I was seeing him on the E! net.
Finally in 2003 I found out that a co-worker of mine was neighbors with Todd’s family and she knew him as a kid. Small world I thought. She told me she sees him on ‘Whammy!’.