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To Sanctuary He Goes |
So when I went on to my twenties and decided to pursue my dream to get on the radio, I learned about Columbia College and found out that Stagg was teaching there. This made me more determined to get my ass over there so I can learn from this great talent. In 2003, I enrolled at Columbia and the second semester, I got to sit in and learn from Stagg.
I remember when I first was in the class he walked in and I didn’t know what to expect. He was very laid back and even said that his style of teaching was different than other people. In fact, if you wanted to sit down, learn about turning on a mic, running a board and format, you were in the wrong class if you were with Stagg.
With Stagg, you would learn how to do the work, but you would get a much deeper understanding of the business. Many students at Columbia didn’t get that. Some thought he just phoned it in, that was such bullshit. If you had a desire like I did, he would totally help you get better. He would tell you when you screwed up. He would be blatantly honest with you. He was a friend when you needed one. He was an inspiration to me, and I was so honored to learn from him.
I remember one time my friend Barry and I were in class with him. And we were doing a show and we started screwing around, and Stagg came running in the studio and gave us a tongue lashing because we were cursing at each other. The problem was Stagg couldn’t stop laughing when he was laying down the law to us. I also remember when sometimes in class, Stagg would start talking about conspiracy theories and politics. He said he wanted to give us an opinion to help open our minds about reality. Some students didn’t like that. They wanted to learn radio because they paid all this money. Once again, if they wanted a traditional class, they should have went somewhere else.
You see the one thing about Stagg, he didn’t like the fact many students came to Columbia with the pipe dream that they were going to half ass life in college and then become radio superstars. Stagg was adamant about teaching us the hard knocks of radio. The small pay, the screwed up hours, the assholes you deal with who are phony, blah, blah, blah. Many students didn’t want to hear that, but in radio, that’s the way it is. I have learned it is your attitude that elevates your altitude, and Stagg is one person I have to thank for that.
I stayed in touch with him for as much as I could. And I heard from my friend Brandy that he passed away and it filled my day with sadness. We have lost a great person in this life. And I hope all that knew Stagg knew that he was one of those original people that you don’t see everyday, and that he meant well in everything he did for as long as I knew him. I was honored to call him a mentor, and was ecstatic to call him a friend. I hope Allan Stagg has found a sanctuary of peace and joy, which he wished upon everyone, and he truly deserves.
JAE
