Travis L Ayres

Early 1970. 2am, on board the USS Regulus: We were still at sea but almost home... not close enough that I could see the lights of San Francisco but close enough that my old portable radio could pick up the AM signal of one of the city's Top-Forty radio stations. Soon after we reached "The States" and our home port of Alameda, I would be making the transition from Petty Officer 3rd Class to civilian- without- a- job. As my Navy days had dwindled down I had struggled with the decision of what career path I would take. It seemed logical to me to try Commercial Art (as Graphic Art was called back then) since I had been drawing since the time I learned what a pencil was and I knew I had some talent. There was only one other job that interested me and that was being a radio disc jockey. Unlike a possible career in Art, I had no clue if I had any potential talent to be an on-air broadcaster. Also, I had no clue how one would get into radio. Then as I sat there on the deck of my ship, I heard an unfamiliar song on that Frisco station. It was rock. It was country. It was Mississippi River Delta blues. It was "Proud Mary" by a new band, Creedence Clearwater Revival. . And as simple as that, when that song ended I knew I wanted to make my living playing that kind of music on the radio. For the next 35 years, that's exactly what I did. Thanks, John Fogerty.

Travis L. Ayres