Throw Back Thursday: Cori Finds Gems In Her 30-Year-Old Mix Tapes

For this Throwback Thursday, I'm bringing back a post I had a couple of years ago, after finding an old cassette player and some mixtapes I made. It seemed fitting this week, somehow, to take a trip down memory lane...

I pulled out my cassette player. Yes, I still have one. And cassette tapes, too. (I still have a working VCR and VHS tapes, as well. Don't judge me.) And as I started to review some of these mixtapes I had made when I was little, I was instantly taken back to 1990. I used to sit by our big old white land-line phone with the 3ft. curly cord, with my little cassette recorder, so I could call my favorite station (it was "Oldies or Magic" 95.7FM back then) and then tape my song when it came on the radio.

I did this almost every day when I'd get back home from school. It got to the point where I was pretty sure the DJs who were working were getting a bit annoyed with me, so I'd sometimes disguise my voice, change my name or the town I was calling from, just so they wouldn't know it was me.

Listening to those tapes I knew every word to the songs, every intonation to the DJ's voice when he'd introduce them, every glitch on the tape from where I had accidentally hit record instead of play and taped over a section of music.

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I did the math. These tapes are 30 years old. I was 10 when I made them. And now I work with some of the very people I used to call and bug (DJ Fred, I'm looking at you!) at the very station I loved listening to as a kid. There's really not a whole lot cooler in this world than realizing that.

While in retrospect, I was a total lame-o kid, and listening back to these calls makes me cringe at moments...it's also really heartwarming to think about.

My mom, God bless her, let me sit there and explore something I was really passionate about; music. Even if she knew I was potentially annoying other grown-ups. She saw the light listening to the radio brought to my eyes. And the DJs, were always so patient and always so gracious to put up with me and my constant requests.

It's pretty remarkable to be in this position and to get to thank those guys (some even in person...again, looking at you, Fred.) for putting up with me, for letting me geek out over music, and for many years later, giving me an opportunity to work in radio. I even found a recording of a liner DJ Fred had when he did mornings, the very slot JStew and I get to have fun in now, back in the day.