Greg Budell

"A true story from the Greg files" MORNING GLORY

2020 marks my 5th decade in the radio business.

For most of these years, I’ve been a morning radio host. The question I’m asked most frequently is “what time do you have to get up for that job?”.

My reply is “2:22AM”. People understandably react with horror to that number. I wouldn’t trade my schedule for anything!

someone’s out-of-control behavior they knew a competitor would pick him up and pay more in a heartbeat!

When my party spiraled out of control, I chose rehab because I couldn’t take it anymore- not my employers. When I finally made the long overdue trip to rehab, I was scared you-knowwhatless. I thought being in a chemically altered state led to the creative, abstract humor that became my radio brand.

It wasn’t always that way. There was a time when I could party until 3 or 4AM on a weeknight, and still get by on an hour’s sleep to make a 6-10AM show. That was then. When 10AM came along it was home for the day to recoup. Big money. 5-hour workday. What a life!

It took time and consequence to negotiate those hours into a state of manageability. It was amazing how much easier that schedule became when a trip to rehab ended the party.

I picked morning radio because that’s where the big money has always been.

The staff ruined that delusional thinking on the first day!

Greg grilling in the dark, 4:30 AM!

Morning people got the “star” treatment. Years ago, being a “bad boy” (partier) was part of the persona required for the job. Booze and drugs made it easy to be bad. Notoriety was good for ratings!

Believe it or not, being the “Peck’s bad boy” was good for job security in those days. If a radio station had enough of

“Look what you’ve accomplished working in a fog. Imagine how great you could be if you lifted the fog!”.

There was no arguing the point. Sure enough, my career really took off after 6 weeks of hard-core rehab.

Something else happened during that process. Instead of dreading the early wake up, I embraced it. I don’t have to wake up at 2:22. That time just works. I was so undisciplined

earlier in my life that my boss once issued a memo demanding a phone call if I was “as much as one second late” any morning.

I haven’t been late to work in 30 years! I wake up at 2:22 because I love that time of day.

It is SO wonderfully quiet, broken only by the heavy breathing created by the greatest invention in the last 50 years- the automatic coffee pot. It starts brewing at 2AM so if I’m up a few minutes early, no problem. People with regular hours may have time for a cup at home, or worse- snake through a Starbucks drive through for a Frappa Mocha Lattachino (or some other complicated beverage). Plain Folgers works fine for me. Its mountain grown!

Every day, I make breakfast for Newstalk 93.1 morning show partners Rich Thomas and Jay Scott. Rich and I usually exchange a text before 3AM to make sure neither one of us is dead (hey- you never know), and discuss menu options.

If it’s steak or sausage, I light up the grill on my patio- making me the only maniac in Montgomery grilling in his pajamas at that hour. I love it. My patio has lights, though vision is a little tricky before daylight. A high-power flashlight helps make sure nothing gets burned. I have yet to cremate an innocent piece of meat! Plus, there’s nothing like the feeling of accomplishment experienced when triumphantly holding up a perfectly grilled steak outside on a 25-degree morning dressed in my Florida Marlins pajamas. buddies whose company I genuinely love- and we get to tell you how awful the traffic is on your commute. At 9AM, you’re starting your workday and I, after all the rush hour wrecks are cleared, sail home for a snack and a nap!

I’m not a rich person (financially, anyway) but there’s one feature in our house that makes me feel that way- a garden tub. It’s surrounded by a wide tile rim, so after filling it with hot water to soak away the BOOMer aches and pains, I put my laptop up there and browse the world. This part of the morning is paradisiacal. It’s an especially daring method for an accidentprone person like me- assembling material for a morning show next to a tub full of water. Amazingly, I’ve avoided electrocution, or drowning my laptop.

After gathering material for the show and getting dressed it’s time for the “commute’, which at 5AM, is a breeze. What would normally be a 15-minute trip during business hours is half that. No one else is on the road so every light turns green (automatically triggered) and the drive is hassle free. While I appreciate the convenience, I am cautious. At the time I go to work, there are 2 types of drivers on the road- people on their way to a job or people who just pulled one. I try not to share an intersection with anybody.

The easiest part of the morning is the actual radio show. I get to hang with 50 years in radio. 15 years in the River Region. 35 years ago, this month someone loved me enough to pull me away from a coke-lined mirror and I haven’t seen or wanted a flake of that poison since.

It’s amazing how beautiful every morning is when the fog has been lifted.

If you have a comment on this column, email me at gregbudell@aol.com. It’s still fun to hear from new people!

Greg Budell lives in Montgomery with his wife, Roz, and dogs Hershey and Briscoe. He’s been in radio since 1970, and has marked 15 years in the River Region. He hosts the Newstalk 93.1FM Morning Show with Rich Thomas, Jay Scott & Emily Hayes, 6-9AM Monday-Friday. He returns weekday afternoons from 3-6PM for Happy Hour with sidekick Joey Clark. Greg can be reached at gregbudell@aol.com

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