WMOA is continuing its 75th Anniversary celebration with exclusive WMOA alumni interviews. Former WMOA News Director and On-Air talent Rich Galen was featured today. Galen, who attended Marietta College, spoke about his start in broadcasting.
"My first job was in Parkersburg at WTAP and most of it was doing my homework while monitoring Cincinnati Reds games in the summer and West Virginia football games in the fall and winter. Ernie [Hartong] worked at WMOA and I got a call to come in and talk to Ray Rosenbloom and Larry Steinel, because they were looking for a News Director. About which I knew nothing, but I pretended I did because Ernie and I were roommates and lived just a block away from the station. So, I could walk to work as opposed to thirty-minute trip down to Parkersburg."
Since his time at WMOA, Rich Galen has appeared as a guest on ABC, MSNBC, NBC, FOX, and on CNN's Larry King Live. Galen's career includes a tour of duty in Iraq at the request of the White House and as press secretary for former Vice President Dan Quayle, when the former Vice President was a Congressman and a U.S. Senator.
Since then, Galen has written an online political column at Mullings.com, which has reached as many as some 400,000 people per month.
Galen concluded the interview with a story about his official start in politics.
"I used to have lunch at what was called "The Bank Restaurant" back in the day with some of the town elders who let me sit with them everyday for lunch. One day it happened to be filing deadline day for the city council, and there was an opening for a Republican at large seat in the primary. The elder's kind of teased me into walking across the street. I didn't have five dollars which was the filing fee at the time. They threw five bucks on the table which was my first and last illegal campaign contribution. Anyway, I walked across the street to the board of elections, and I asked for the paper work I needed to sign up. They then asked are you a republican or democrat? I replied I have to be a republican because that's where the opening is."
WMOA's next guest will be Dick Sams Tuesday at 8:40 a.m. then John Richardson on Thursday and Dan Latham on Friday. Catch all the interviews on WMOA AM 1490 FM 101.3
