A kind lady told me that big stations couldn't risk hiring an inexperienced person. "Go out in the sticks and find a small station that'll give you a chance." she said. I thumbed home to Dixon, Illinois. While there were no radio -- announcing jobs in Dixon, my father said Montgomery Ward had opened a store and wanted a local athlete to manage its sports department. The job sounded just right for me. But I wasn't hired. My disappointment must have shown. "Everything happens for the best," Mom reminded me. Dad offered me the car to hunt job. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. The program director, a wonderful Scotsman named Peter Mac Arthur, told me that they had already hired an announcer.