ADVENTURES IN THE RADIO TRADE

Mahoney fondly recalls his career as a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio technician in this memoir.

In 1988, the 23-year-old author realized it was time for him to get a real job, one that would support an adult lifestyle. Across the street from the Toronto apartment Mahoney shared with three other young men was the CBC Radio building. He walked in and told the receptionist he was looking for a job. When she asked him what kind of a job, he replied “something technical.” To this day he doesn’t know why he said that, but his response would define his career over the next three decades (his memoir focuses on the 20 years before he advanced to a managerial position). His first job was keeping track of all the signal frequencies connecting the CBC network that stretched across Canada: “The idea was to patch the audio down these lines one after another and work with other audio engineers across the country to measure the frequency response.” By the time he was encouraged to move into management, he was a recording engineer and producer, a job he loved. In dozens of amiable, frequently humorous vignettes, Mahoney describes the plethora of equipment that had to be set up, monitored, calibrated, and modified, all to produce the perfect sound for transmitting across four time zones. The decidedly upbeat, conversational tone of his prose will help nontechies past the stumbling blocks of text heavy with technological jargon and the minutiae of putting together a successful radio program (Mahoney includes a useful glossary of terminology). And although only a few of the numerous luminaries he has worked with will be familiar to non-Canadian readers, the stories are entertaining. They contain a wealth of information about the intricacies of creating sound effects that will enable listeners to mentally visualize action as Mahoney details the nuances involved in picking the right mic, the best buffer, the acoustically appropriate flooring for different footsteps, and a host of other elements.

An amusing and highly informative, albeit occasionally challenging, read, best for radio buffs.