(upbeat music) - Will you consider this?

For years and years and years, you'd get up in the morning, be getting ready, get off to work and listen to the radio, and this guy's voice was there for a long time.

Randy Rundle, welcome.

- Hi, Chris.

Thanks so much for having me on your show.

I appreciate that.

- So, how many years did you do that?

- I was in radio for 52 years.

- 52.

- 52.

- But you're from LaSalle originally?

- Yeah, so I'm originally from LaSalle-Peru.

- And you started there.

- I did, when I was 15 years old, got my first job.

- Okay, weren't there laws against that?

(Randy laughs) Oh, back in the day.

If it was for 52 years, okay.

Nevermind.

- Well, you would think so, but no, no laws against that.

And interesting story, I've told it before, but when I was in high school, I think I was a sophomore at that time and I was in student government.

One of my jobs for the homecoming parade was to get local celebrities to judge the floats in the homecoming parade.

- Okay.

- So I thought, well, let's try a couple, you know, mayors and city officials, and, hey, why don't I try to talk to some of the local people from one of the radio stations?

So I did.

Called up the general manager of the station and I said, "I'm who I am, and this is what I'm trying to do."

And he said, "Well, sure, I'll help you out."

And he said, "By the way, would you like a job?"

- [Christine] Just out of the clear blue.

- Just like that.

- Did you have this voice back in those days?

- Apparently I did.

Well, you know, I'm a little older now, so it's a little different, and I'm, you know, got a little bit of stuffy- - And you have a cold right now.

- Stuffy head right now, so it's not the same as it usually is.

But yeah, I guess it was, I guess it just came from the factory that way.

- [Christine] Mm-hm.

(laughs) I love that.

- And literally, I had never been in a radio station in my life.

- [Christine] Okay.

- And I sputtered a little bit, and I... 'Cause I wasn't doing anything, just a high school kid, you know?

Working at the gas station is what I was doing.

- [Christine] All right, well.

- And the rest is history.

I was in the radio station the next day for Saw One, and then two days later, I happened to be doing second chair at a high school football game in the Chicago suburbs on the radio, which I had never, ever done in my entire life.

- Wow.

So, was that super intimidating, or?

I mean- - It was, it was all new.

In fact, interesting other, just a little sidebar there, I had to ask my mom if it was okay, because we wouldn't be coming back from the burbs until after midnight, and the next day was a school day, if she was okay with me going up there.

- And of course, she said yes.

- She said, "Okay."

- [Christine] What an opportunity.

- Yeah, and it was intimidating, and how I learned to do the stuff in the studio was they walked me into the studio.

They said, "This is this, this is that," and these are the days when they had the big turntables and we were playing the vinyl records and stuff like that, which vinyl is very hip.

It's hip again.

- It's coming back, yeah.

- And they closed the door and said, "Go ahead and do it."

- Crazy.

- And that's how I learned.

- I would've hit the wrong switches.

- [Randy] Well, I'm not saying that didn't happen.

- Okay.

You did your best.

- But it certainly did, yes.

So, kind of the old fashioned way, you know, like we would learn how to swim when they throw you in the water.

- Exactly.

Glub, glub, glub.

All right, so you were in LaSalle for how long?

And then you came here?

- Yeah, I was probably there for...

I came to Peoria the first time, I think it was 1984.

And, you know, I worked at one of the radio stations here for three years.

There was an ownership change, and they offered me a job in the Indianapolis market, where they owned a couple of stations.

And I said, "Sure."

So I spent about three and a half years there.

And then of course, as so often happens in the radio business- - Another buyout.

- There was another ownership change.

And so then I was kind of looking for another opportunity, had some chances in the West Coast.

I didn't like the weather out there in the Pacific Northwest, so I was offered a job to come back, and they provided some equity for me.

- [Christine] That's nice.

- And I've been back since 1990.

- That's, wow.

- Yeah.

- That's a lifetime.

Meantime, you had a wife and children who were going with you.

- Yes.

Yeah.

At that time, we had one daughter, our oldest child, and it was just one of those things, you know?

It was just, that's the way it happened, and the career was taking you there, so we did.

- So you did it.

- I did.

- So, you've had a lot of sidekicks over the years.

- Yes, I have.

- All right.

And we know a lot of 'em are still around.

- Yeah, they are.

- All right.

So, tell me about how that worked out.

- Well, you know, I was doing a one man thing.

I've always done mornings.

Except when I was in high school, I would do nights so I could go to school during the daytime.

And do you remember Mike Troop?

You know Mike Troop.

Mike was probably the first guy who kind of, we did a little duo there in the mornings.

He was kind of the news guy.

And Mike is- - He just retired.

- Yes.

From being a professor at Benedictine College, I think, in Atchison, Kansas, I think.

- Yes, I interviewed him a couple years ago, yeah.

- Mike's a great guy.

Great guy.

I've known him for many years.

And then we had Stephanie Aaron was probably the first female partner that I had in the mornings, when we tried to branch out and do a little bit of a different show, a little bit more of a conversational show.

And then Stacey Campbell, I believe, was my partner for like 14 years.

- [Christine] Yeah, it was a long run.

- Yeah, we had a great run with Stacey, and then she decided that she didn't wanna get up early anymore, get a real job, as they say.

- [Christine] And she's with OSF?

- Yeah, she works with OSF HealthCare.

- [Christine] And then Shelli.

- Well, and then there was Stephanie Blue also.

- [Christine] Oh, okay, I forgot about that.

- Stephanie Blue for a few years.

And then, yeah, Shelli Dankoff.

And that turned, that was a part-time thing.

Shelli was always our fill person when we needed some help.

And then one thing led to another, and I think that ended up to be, I believe, gosh, I think we were together four or five years, I think.

If not longer.

You know, one day leads into the next sometimes.

- It does, and getting up that early in the morning, it's hard to remember some things.

But the fact that you were pretty sharp all the time.

I mean, you got used to life being... What time did you get up in the morning?

- At four.

- All right.

- You know, my day started at four o'clock, because my other duties at the radio station at that time, and up till just before I retired, I was also operations manager for the whole group of radio stations.

And that kept me there, I was doing 12 hour days every day.

- Okay.

All right.

- And, you know.

- No naps.

- And things on the weekend.

No, no, no nap.

No nap.

- And then things on the weekend that you wouldn't- - Yeah, community events.

- And that's important.

- Yes, I think it is.

And that's one of the things that I think I'm, you know, most proud about, is our involvement with the community.

And as you well know, we see each other at these events, and I was always very happy to help get into the community and to support them with the tools that I had.

- Right, exactly.

Well, trying to get you to be on this show, so, well, "I'm available on these days and after this time," so I'm thinking he must be sleeping until at least 10 every morning.

But so what are you doing now to keep yourself busy?

- Well, and yeah, I know, it's just like, "Well, the guy's just sitting there on the couch, right?"

No, I am just never have been a couch sitter.

I've always been somebody where the wheels are always turning, and I try to keep busy.

But yeah, I've got my hands in several things.

I have a studio at home where I've been able to be fortunate enough to get some opportunities to do voiceover work for some of the... Actually, the television stations in this market.

I've done some on camera work also for another one of the stations, working, doing some of those things.

Oh, we did a local parade broadcast, the Festival of Lights, we did those live.

Things such as that.

- Well, you did the recordings for those too.

- Yes.

- Right, okay.

- Yeah, and, you know, my voice appears in the Winter Wonderland for the Festival of Lights that they do.

And I've been fortunate also to be able to do some commercial work, some narration, and things such as that, you know, to keep active, to keep busy, you know, to put in a couple bucks in the cookie jar, you know, those kind of things.

And I'm also working in the self-titled vehicle relocation business with a local automotive group.

- Yeah, tell me about that.

So, somebody buys a car, or somebody wants a car in another market, and then you get to drive it?

- Yeah, pretty much.

- Okay.

- Yeah, that's how it works.

And it's always great to be able to deliver a brand new car to the owner.

They're so happy with it.

And these days, a lot of the buying is online buying as well.

And then, you know, for example, we have buyers that come in from all over the country.

They fly in and we have to go pick them up, bring them in, and then help deliver their vehicles for them, or if your car needs an oil change, I work for an automotive group that sells a line that if you live in Rock Island and you bought a car from them, it's our job to go to them, give them a car to drive while their vehicle's in service, bring their car back for service, and then bring it back when it's all finished for them.

- So did you look that up, or did you offer your services, or how did that come about?

- You know what?

A good friend of mine, Bob Shirtz, who I've known for many years, was doing that, and he said, "You know, you know what?

Why don't you give this a try?

This is pretty good now that you're retired."

And so I just went in and talked to them, and they said, "Well, sure, you know, come on, start it.

Let's go ahead and go."

And I like it because I like dealing with people, and I like it because it is different- - Than anything you've done.

- From the majority of the work that I've done before.

- Right, right.

Very different.

- Yeah, very different.

- You didn't get to spend a whole lot of time in a car back in the day.

- No, I didn't.

- In the radio days.

- I didn't.

And now I spend sometimes hours a day in a car, which is fine, and I get to drive cars that I could never personally afford, which is always a good thing, too.

- Yeah, kind of fun.

- It's very cool, very cool.

- So, but you know how to drive standard shift too?

- Oh, yeah, sure, sure.

- Okay, well, that's good.

- Yeah, we do those things.

- All right.

- So that's been a lot of fun.

I also refinish antique furniture in my spare time as well.

- All right, so you keep some, or you're just doing it for other people, or?

- I've done a couple of things.

Mostly it's for my own volition.

I mean, great example.

I was up in LaSalle, visiting my mom, and my mom still lives up in LaSalle.

- [Christine] Okay.

And she is how young?

- And she is 88.

- Okay.

- Now.

And, you know, and we go to a lot of sales.

We go to a lot of, you know, like, estate sales, auctions, stuff like that.

And here on the curb was this beautiful, old red oak library table that had been abused a little bit, and the kids had been putting permanent marker and paint and things like that on it.

- Of course.

- And it said, "Free."

So then I wheeled around, and it was a curb find, basically.

So I took it apart, took it home, and I've refinished it, and it's turned out beautiful.

- Beautiful.

- Yes.

- That's so much fun, isn't it?

And sometimes you're on the hunt, but if you're not on the hunt and you find one of those things, it really is a lot of fun.

- Well, yeah, it is a lot of fun.

It's like, hey, this is very, very cool.

You know, so I'm doing some things, you know, to keep busy.

- Did you refinish antiques before that in your spare time when you were in radio, or this is just something new?

- I was always kind of into DIY things.

You know, some home improvement things and doing things, that I'd never really gotten into that business, the specific refinishing business, other than when I had to, you know, refinish a whole house full of crown molding or whatever.

(Christine laughs) Which is always- - That's always fun.

- A lot of time consuming work.

But I just decided, hey, why not?

I've got the time and I've always been interested in it, so kind of jumped into it and dipped my toe in, and it's been something that has worked out real well.

- So these are antique antiques, not mid-century?

- Well, this one that I'm talking about, the library table, is probably from around 1930, something along those lines, so it's pretty mid-century, a little bit.

But the rest of the stuff, yeah, I mean, some of the stuff I have is from before the turn of the late 1800s.

- Okay.

I'm gonna have to see those.

My house was built in 1890.

- Ah, yes.

- So, I have a lot of those things too.

My kids aren't very excited about those things, but you know, it is what it is.

- Hey, it's your place, right?

- It is, it is.

- It's your house.

It's your house.

- Okay, so, let's get back to driving cars.

What's been the most fun car that you've driven so far?

- I think one of the most fun cars that I've driven has been an Aston Martin.

That's one of my favorites.

- [Christine] Ah.

What year was it?

- It was a recent vehicle.

It was, I think around like a 2024.

- Okay.

- And then a Porsche, Porsche 911 Carrera.

That was a lot of fun to drive.

And I've just, there have been many, many opportunities that I've been given to drive vehicles, as I said, that are just a little bit above my economic stratus.

- Yeah, well, you know what?

And then you think about even if you could afford it, and then something goes wrong with the tire and you had to pay, you know, several hundred dollars for one tire, yeah.

- Yeah, well, I mean, that kind of comes with the territory.

- [Christine] (laughs) It kind of does.

- But it's been a lot of fun, all the way down to driving Mini Coopers and stuff like that, those are fun to drive.

- [Christine] All right.

- And you just never know.

And that's one of the things I do like about it, you just never know what you're gonna drive, where you're gonna be, you know, what you're gonna do.

- But, so mostly, do you stay within the state, or you said you are going a couple- - Pretty much, pretty much.

You know, I've been to Iowa, we've been to Missouri, you know, almost Arkansas, some of those areas in Indiana, and you know, a lot of times in the Chicago area.

- [Christine] Okay.

But nothing cross country yet?

- No, nothing.

Nothing yet.

- Okay.

- Nothing yet.

There have been some opportunities, but they just didn't fit into my schedule at the time.

- Okay, so all right, so that's your schedule, but then what's this other schedule?

So, you're doing a lot of stuff, you know, for the community, and you're doing commercials and things.

But so when you got back to me, it's like, "Okay, I can do it on these three days after 11 o'clock."

- [Randy] Right, right.

- So, what are you doing on those other days that you're not available?

- Well, those were some other appointments that I had.

I had some medical appointments and some other things that, you know, that kind of took my time.

- Medical appointments.

- Just personal stuff.

You know, yeah, just personal stuff.

- We don't care for the medical stuff anyway, yeah.

And then you got this cold now.

You have grandchildren living in town.

- Yes, I do.

- You have two of your three children live here.

- That's correct, yes.

- All right, and then a couple of grandchildren.

- Yeah, my daughter has three daughters, who the oldest of which is in college right now.

- Wow.

- And then they- - You started early.

- (laughs) Yes.

(coughs) Excuse me.

But yeah, I mean, they're here, and I do enjoy visiting them and going to... And the other two, one's in junior high, and one's in high school now.

- [Christine] All right.

- And I do enjoy going to their sporting events and their dance routines, and, you know, the typical stuff.

- [Christine] The grandparent stuff.

- Yeah, the grandparent stuff, yeah.

- And then you have another one due out of state.

- Yeah, my Minnesota kids, they have their first child that is supposed to make his arrival on April 8th, so we'll see.

- That's right.

- It's coming right up.

- See if this child has decided that April 8th is the day, or maybe he wants to meet everybody early.

- Perhaps, - Or maybe he wants to hold off, you just never know.

- Perhaps, a springtime gift in Minnesota.

And I'm not saying April is springtime in Minnesota, but, you know, maybe a little early.

- (laughs) Yeah, well, who knows.

So, no regrets about retiring.

- No, you know what?

I really thought that I was ready, I think.

I was ready.

You know, the industry has been changing a lot, as you're familiar with.

This medium, the radio medium, and generally mass media, has been changing a lot.

- Since we started 50 years ago, yeah.

- Oh, tremendously so.

- Yeah.

- And I just thought that it was time to put my energy into doing some things that I always kind of wanted to do, and just put myself out there and- - And look at all the- - See what would happen.

- Well, you had feelers out that you didn't even know you had out, just by virtue of what you were doing for a living.

- Yes, that's true.

That is very true.

And I wanna be a little more aggressive with doing some more voiceover and voice acting and stuff such as those types of things.

But most of it has just kind of fallen into place, you know, you're right, Just because of the contacts that I made and the people that I already know that are in the business right now.

- Right.

Now, you were really involved with Crittenden.

- Yes.

- And are you still?

- No, I have not been involved in Crittenden.

A lot of that involvement admittedly came because of the tie-in with the media.

- [Christine] Right.

- Because we would go ahead and marry the things together, if you will, and that is, you know, we have kind of a bully pulpit that we could use, you know, being the medium that we were at that time, the mass reach media, and my involvement and my willingness to get involved in doing a lot of those things.

So, I haven't done a lot of community work, but this is one of the things that I really hope to be able to put back on the front burner and get back involved in a lot of these things again.

- Well, now that they know that you're available and you wanna do it, and you have your own ways to get things done, yeah.

You got your own studio too, so it's all good.

- Sure, yeah, yeah, we do that, and I'm always willing to take a look at helping the community.

I mean, you know, we've done so many different events for so many different things.

You know, I was involved, served on a local elementary school board of education for 14 years also.

So, I mean, those are things that I'm very willing to do and get back into doing some of those things again.

- And you now have some time, and you'd be available.

- Yes.

- When you're not driving a car off somewhere.

- Well, that's true, you know?

And, you know, the car thing is pretty much as an on-demand thing.

It's like, "When you got time, do you have time to do this?"

"Okay, well, then, come on, let's do this."

And I've always envied people who were involved in organizations such as boards and things such as that.

I always, (coughs) excuse me.

I envied people who had a lot of time to do that.

- [Christine] Or seemed like they had a lot of time.

- Yeah, and I always thought that I could always do a better job if, you know, I wasn't doing a day job that was keeping me busy for 12 hours a day, you know?

- 12 hours a day and the hours that you were keeping.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I think community involvement is very, very important.

Very important.

- Well, yeah.

And you're still involved.

You still have your toe in the water.

So, out of all of the years that you did anything, what were some of the most fun memories that you have, or surprise moments that you had on the air with anybody you were interviewing, or any... (laughs) - Well, I think that, you know, I was just talking to somebody about this the other day, and they were saying...

I don't know about fun, but, you know, we were around and in the media for several enormous events locally and in this country.

I mean, everything from the OJ Simpson thing to the Challenger issues, to the Columbia thing, to the- - Twin Towers.

- The Washington... Yeah, the 9/11 thing for sure.

And that was...

It certainly wasn't fun.

- [Christine] No, not fun.

- But I did, now that I look back on that, it was a moment where... One of the few moments that everybody in this country came together for one purpose.

- Came together.

Exactly.

- And that is, of course, so contrary to where we are today.

- Absolutely.

- In this country.

Where we would go down and take the live truck in the days preceding or following that, and we would say, "Look, here's what we're gonna do, here's where we're gonna be, and at noon today, we're gonna come down and we're gonna...

If you wanna help us sing the national anthem on the street corner downtown, come on and show your unity and your support and help with, you know, some of the funds that we were, you know, trying to raise money for," and people would just come out of the office buildings downtown and just join us, just on the spur of the moment thing like that.

And that was, like, one of the things where we realized the power that we had when we were speaking to people.

And secondly, that it was just an amazing show of unity on the part of everyone.

- And really, and radio's different than television, you were influencers.

Radio, they are influencers.

- Yes, media is one of the original influencers.

There's no question about that.

And a lot of times, we don't realize what power that we do have.

- Yeah, exactly.

- You know, with the people that we are speaking with or people that are watching us or whatever the situation is.

- And that's kind of frightening.

- Well, it is, it is, it is.

And then, you know, we tried to get involved in another...

It was the Washington tornado of 2013.

- [Christine] Oh, yeah.

- Where, what an incredibly tragic event.

However, it also- - And it was on a Sunday.

- Yes, it was a Sunday.

- [Christine] And were you called in then, or?

- Well, first of all, I heard it out my back door because it just missed my home by about 3, 400 yards.

- Oh, wow.

- And then, yes, we immediately went in and we were...

I don't think I left the radio station for a couple of days at that point.

And it was also, it allowed us to help and to bring the community together.

We would go from place to place, you know, collecting donations that people would- - And let people know what needed to be done.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- And it was a tragic event, of course.

Unfortunately, you know, a few people did lose their lives, and hundreds of homes and everything like that were just damaged or destroyed.

It was a terrible thing.

But what we tried to do is, and the same thing that, you know, all the media did, was to try to present the facts, and here's what this is and here's what you can do now, but it was another way that we could actually meet face-to-face with people, thanking them for their support and coming out, you know?

- Well, and also talking to people to find out what their needs were.

- Yes.

- Or to find those original... Like, I remember one story where the woman found her grandmother's engagement ring or something in all of the rubble.

Just those miraculous kinds of things.

It's fun to be part of that.

- It is.

It really is.

And those are the things that really make, and you know this, you've experienced this, make it very rewarding to do sometimes the things that you do.

- You've been a part of it in some way.

- Yes.

- All right, so we have just a couple minutes left.

Your wife has not given you a big, long honey-do list, but what is your bucket list?

- My bucket list, our bucket list is actually to do some more traveling.

We have been tent campers for a few years.

- [Christine] Okay.

- And it's time to get the old people off the ground.

- [Christine] Because it's harder to get up now.

- It is a little bit harder to get up.

You would be amazed at how it's difficult sometimes to get up off an air mattress that's only about eight inches off the ground.

- Well, yeah, it shifts.

I do know how that works, yes.

- So, we went ahead and purchased- - A camper.

- Purchased a camper.

- [Christine] All right.

- In late last year, in the fall.

And that's kind of one of my projects right now, is to make sure to get that ready to go, and to go and take it to different places in the country that we have not seen before.

- That sounds like a really fun idea.

So, who will make the list for the travel?

Will your wife do that, or?

- My wife is a great list maker.

- [Christine] Okay.

- And I'm occasionally a decent list doer, let's put it that way.

- All right, okay.

But now is she your helper?

So she will... Is she your really good co-pilot- - Oh, no question.

- While you're driving?

- Oh, no question.

- And then she's got the map and you're ready to go.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

And of course, these days, all you need is a phone and GPS and you're good to go.

- Exactly.

- Until it gives you a wrong direction.

- Well then, sometimes it does take you through, like, it's like, "Where am I going?"

Well, thanks for sharing.

Randy, it's so good to see you.

- Great to see you too, Chris.

It's been a little while.

(upbeat music drowns out speakers) - You know what?

Maybe better, I don't know.

But all these grandkids, they're a lot of fun.

(upbeat music drowns out Christine) - I think so.

I'm not sure that the HOA in my son's neighborhood would enjoy that, to have this in the driveway, that's for sure.

- It's the way it goes.

(both laughing) Thanks so much for being with me, Randy.

- You're very welcome, and thanks again for having me.

- Oh, absolutely.

And I'm sure you enjoyed catching up with Randy.

So until next time, be well.

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