TULOY LAB BACK TO THE RADIO

1988 · NEWFOUNDLAND

A twelve-year-old in a yellow t-shirt, smiling in a 1988 radio station record library

My first paycheck came from breaking records. Literally.

The kid never left.

James at twelve, rappelling down a cliff above a lake
Argentia, Newfoundland. Age 12.
James at six, grinning in a floral armchair with a TRS-80 computer on the desk behind him
Charleston, SC. Age 6.

PLAY THE STORY

JamesCOME IN, TUNE THE RADIO
TULOY LAB TELEGRAPHARGENTIA, NEWFOUNDLAND · 1988
  1. THE STATION1988. Argentia, Newfoundland. A twelve-year-old gets his first real job, at the Armed Forces radio station on the naval base.
  2. THE RECORDSThe job? Breaking records. Casey Kasem countdowns. The Platters. All the old stock. The station was going digital, and the vinyl had to go.
  3. THE DISCSThen a field trip to St. John's, and a digital audio DJ center. CDs. Digital tape. Music with no needle at all.
  4. SIGNAL HILLSame trip. Signal Hill, where Marconi heard Morse code cross the Atlantic. Three dots. The letter S.
  5. THE BBSHe had been hooked since Charleston, around age six, next to a TRS-80. Now it was a modem and a BBS, and on Friday nights, his own heavy metal hour on the air. At twelve, it clicked. In his words, this whole communication thing in this digital era was going to be much larger than any of us could see at that time.
  6. COME INHis first paycheck came from breaking records. The kid who broke them never left. He just found bigger stations. This is Tuloy Lab. Come in. Let's learn something.
JamesJAMES FOUTS
FOUNDER, TULOY LAB