Brokaw's gone; Rather's on the way out; Get ready for DJBSteele
This news item from Indianapolis only serves to prove that "time and the tides wait for no man."

Ben Steele, the 16 year-old son of my friends David and Lynne Steele, has been selected to be the DJ for his class at North Central High School from 6-9 PM on Saturdays on the 1000 watt radio station, WJEL, which serves Marion County and the surrounding area. He won the honor for "displaying responsibility" by manning the station alone on Saturdays during that time slot. Any of you who might be interested in catching his show can do so by clicking here for an audio stream of the show (during those hours, of course).

The call letters, WJEL, stand for the J. Everett Light Career Center, the vocational arm of North Central High School, and from the station's web site comes this bit of history:

WJEL went on the air on September 3, 1975. Prior to that date, Radio-TV students only pretended to be on the air while working in training studios. The station was first licensed as a 10-watt, Class D FM station, broadcasting in monaural.

By 1981, we raised our power to 125 watts and in 1986, WJEL began broadcasting in stereo. In the early years our students played albums and 45-RPM records from turntables. Later, we advanced to putting on music on tape cartridges.

From 1976 to the early 1980's, we broadcast various instructional programs on science, spelling and history, that were heard in the school district's elementary classrooms. From the beginning, WJEL has featured current music, news and North Central High School varsity sports.

In February of 1996, WJEL increased its power to 1,000 watts becoming the most powerful high school station in the Indianapolis area.

My congratulations to you, Ben. Who knows what these early working experiences might mean for your life? My friend, Al Dale, who grew up in Gainesville, GA, began his working career in a local radio station in his home town at about your age and later went on to become a news broadcaster for ABC News and traveled the world on many assignments before his retirement a few years ago. You've come a long way from the young boy I used to know (since about 1989, but more personally from the year I spent in your town in 1994) who loved playing with Legos and was a dyed-in-the-wool Pacers fan. I hope you enjoy the challenge and opportunity this assignment presents you. I'm confident you'll handle it well.

- posted by Perry @ 6:20 AM