John Barger
John Barger was a no nonsense guy. Barger was GM at Clear Channel San Antonio when I came onboard in 1981. I was at WOAI-FM in mid-days for 16 weeks when they decided to change format. Country was the call, and KAJA were the call letters. The staff was cleansed except for Ray Zoller & me. Barger yelled from his office down the hall for me. This was the way he summoned you. I stepped up and he announced I was gonna be the morning man. My first task was to drive to Austin right that moment and grab a box of counrty records at KASE. When I returned, I was to begin carting them. I had reported for work that day at 8am. I drove to Austin, got the records, returned and began recording them. It was about 6:30pm when I took off for home. I wasn’t there 20 minutes when the phone rang. It was Barger asking why I wasn’t still on the project. He ordered me back to the station. I returned and continued recording till past midnight. I should’ve anticipated that he’d want me there late, after all, he put in 100 hour weeks there. I respected Barger. I still do. He was simply: Blunt. One time he yelled for me. He said, "Run down to the Whataburger and get me some lunch." This clearly wasn’t in my job description, but he gave me a twenty - and off I went. I forget if he offered to buy me a burger. I think I’d remember if he did. John Barger simply wanted to be surrounded by people as dedicated as he. This experience taught me a lesson at an early age - you better give a shit - every minute of every day.
