"I locked myself out of the radio station."

On this episode of This One Time in Kankakee, host Jake LaMore turns the microphone on himself to share a hilarious and humbling "rookie mistake" from his early days in broadcasting.

Travel back to Valentine’s Day 2015. Jake was only three months into his career as an on-air personality at Milner Media in Bourbonnais. What started as a simple food delivery order quickly turned into a high-stakes dilemma involving a locked glass door, a missing cell phone, and the cold reality of a winter afternoon on North Convent Street.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How a quick trip to the front door led to Jake being "trapped in a glass cage."
• The struggle of being "green" in the radio industry and trying to stay professional while panicked.
• A desperate, 90s-style rescue mission involving a physical phone book and the team at Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
• The 2015 struggle: What happens when you don't have a single colleague's phone number memorized?

Before he was the seasoned host you know today, Jake was just a kid in a vestibule wondering if he’d ever get back into the studio. Does he manage to get back in before his next shift? Who eventually comes to his rescue?

Listen to the full episode to hear the story of the lockout that Jake hasn't lived down for over a decade!

About the Podcast

This One Time in Kankakee is part of the WVLI Podcast Network. Hosted by Jake LaMore, the show explores the unique, funny, and sometimes miraculous stories that define the Kankakee area community.

Support for this episode comes from:

• Raven Spring Media: Capturing your brand’s unique story through expert video production and photography. Visit RavenSpringMedia.com.
• Kankakee Area YMCA: More than just a gym—it’s a movement. Join today at K3YMCA.org.

Have a story of your own? Whether it’s funny, sad, or miraculous, Jake wants to hear it! Email your story to jake@milnermediapartners.com and help us tell the story of Kankakee, one memory at a time.

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Want more from the WVLI Podcast Network? Listen to the WVLI News Update with Rob West every weekday morning! Get the days local news from the greater Kankakee County, IL area in 10 minutes or less. 

Subscribe now on your preferred podcast platform: https://wvlinewsupdate.buzzsprout.com

The Voices You Trust, Beyond The Dial.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

An episode of This One Time in Kankakee from the WVLI Podcast Network will start right after this. Support for this one time in Kankakee comes from Ravenspring Media, where method, media, and mindfulness create impact. From video production, photography, animation, and team building, Ravenspring Media creates compelling content that captures your brand's unique story in a strategic way. With over 20 years of visual storytelling experience, Ravenspring Media brings together creative expertise and a fresh perspective to every project they undertake. Begin your story today at Ravenspringmedia.com. Support for this one time in Kankiki comes from the Kankiki Area YMCA. The Kankiki Area YMCA is more than just a gym. It's a movement of thousands of people making positive changes in their lives and their community. The YMCA is Kankiki's premier provider of family health and wellness. Become a Y member today at their location on Kennedy Drive in Kankakee or at K3YMCA.org. For youth developments, for healthy living, for social responsibility, the Kankiki Area YMCA.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Let me in.

SPEAKER_03 1:49

This one time in Kankiki, I accidentally locked myself out of the radio station.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

We interrupt this program for some Lauron who just locked himself out of the radio station.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Welcome to this one time in Kankiki from the W VLI Podcast Network. I'm Jake Lamore. Normally, I'm just your host of this podcast, helping navigate the story. A role that I absolutely love doing, and I'm forever grateful that you support it. This time, however, I decided to share an embarrassing incident with you that goes back to my first year working at Milner Media in Bourbonet. Whether it was making silly movies on my parents' old video camera with friends, acting on stage in high school plays and musicals, or playing in a punk band and writing music, I was always up to something creative. By the time 2014 came along, I was 24. I was burnt out on trying to make a career out of playing in a punk band and decided to pursue a career in radio instead. I had always had an interest in radio since I was young. When I was in junior high, maybe sixth grade, I even submitted an English project one time where I made my own radio show on a cassette tape. I began attending broadcast school in July of 2014 and started an internship not too long after that at WVLI right on North Convent Street in Bourbonet for their morning show. It was hosted by Bob Malkowski at that time, with Ken Zire as the morning news anchor. Those two were just so iconic together and they knew exactly how to crack each other up every morning. Even when they were in like super grouchy moods off-mic, I learned a lot from them. By December 2014, I was lucky enough to get hired on WVLI sister station River Country, hosting middays during the week. At first I sounded awful, but the owners Mickey and Tim Milner believed I would get better with time. As I began to get more experience behind the mic, more opportunities to be on the air were presented to me. And that included hosting Saturday mornings on WVLI from 7 to noon. This is where today's story comes in. It was the winter of 2015. Valentine's Day to be exact. I had only been an on-air radio personality for three months at this point. So I was what they call green. It was right around noon. I just finished my live on-air shift on WVLI, and even though my shift was over, I was going to be sticking around the radio station for a while after that to do some other work I needed to get done. So I decided to order a sandwich from Jimmy John's and have it delivered to the station. There are security cameras that show the entrances to the front and back doors of the building. You can see these on monitors in the WVLI studio. So I see the delivery driver show up and I go downstairs to meet them at the front door. Now, if you've been to the radio station before, you might know this already. You have to go through two doors to get inside the lobby of the station. There's a little vestibule between the outside door and the inside door. The only way to get through that inside door is having someone press a button at the front desk to buzz you in, and it automatically unlocks the door. When that door closes, it automatically locks itself. If you're on the inside door, you can manually unlock it and let yourself out. However, not if you're inside the vestibule. There's no doorknob or anything like that to get yourself into the lobby. You have to be buzzed in. So I go downstairs to meet the delivery driver. I open that first door in the vestibule to open the outside door. I open the outside door, grab my sandwich, tip the driver, and close the door. I turned around to open that second door to get back inside the lobby, only to realize I completely forgot to prop the door open before I went outside to get my sandwich. That lobby door had closed behind me, and I successfully locked myself out of the radio station. Aw man, are you kidding me? The funny part was I could get in and out of that vestibule because I was able to unlock the latch on the outside door to leave the building. The inside door to get into the lobby didn't have a latch to turn, though. Oh, and I failed to mention this earlier. On Saturdays, there's usually only one person working a regular shift at the station. That person happened to be me. Sometimes there are others that come and go, but it's never at a consistent time. You never know exactly when someone is gonna show up on the weekend to track some of their weekend shows. I was all alone. So that's where my dilemma was. The thoughts in my head went a little something like this at that time. I check the belt loop on my pants to see if my keys are there. Nope. No keys there. Oh, that's no problem. I'll just use my phone to call or text one of my co-workers to let me back in. I check my pockets for my phone. Nothing there but lint and chapstick. Crap. Wait! The back door! I can still get in and out of that front door. So I just have to make sure I find something to prop it open so I can get back in the vestibule if I need to do so. I found a little stick or something, and I stuck it in the door frame and went to check the back door. Man, I hope I left it unlocked. Dang it! It was locked. I couldn't believe it. Me, the newbie, the kid at the station at the time, locked himself out with no way to contact anyone. It's winter time, I have no coat on either. Classic. The only part of the building I had access to was the vestibule. So I went back into the front door, let myself in there, and close the door. Now what? I was panicked, mad, embarrassed, and frustrated. I had been there for several hours already since early that morning. I wanted to finish up my work, go home, and take a nap. I could wait until one of my co-workers showed up, but who knew when that would be? It could be several hours, it could be ten minutes, it could even be a full day from now. Think, Jake, think! Alright, how about this? There's the Enterprise Rent a Car right across the street. Maybe they'll let me use their phone or computer to get a hold of someone. Yeah, but that's worth a shot. I open the front door, put that sticker, whatever it was, to keep the door cracked so I could get back inside the vestibule if I needed to, and made my way across the street. Luckily it was a beautiful February day. I remember the sun was out and that helped with the cold. I walk in the front door of Enterprise. I see two guys behind the counter. One of them is helping a customer. The other one seems to be free, so I approach him. Hey, I uh I work across the street at the radio station, and this is super embarrassing to tell you, but I locked myself out of the building and have no way of getting inside. Yeah, no, I don't have my keys on me. I locked them inside the radio station. Yeah, my phone and my car keys are in there too. Yeah, any way I can use your phone to make some calls? Great. Thanks so much. Then it dawned on me. This is 2015. At this point in time, no one memorizes phone numbers anymore, including myself. The only numbers I had memorized were my parents and grandparents, and that wouldn't be much help in this situation. I memorized those phone numbers when I was a kid, because I didn't have a cell phone to store those numbers in, so I had no other choice but to memorize them. So I don't have anyone's phone number memorized from the radio station. They're all saved on my phone. I've never thought to memorize them. So my brain goes back into 90s mode. Hey, do you have a phone book by chance?

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Oh, please have a phone book.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Shockingly, they had one. I rip it open. I start thumbing through the pages. Whose name do I look up first? I think I looked up my supervisor's name, who was Jim Brandt at the time. I looked for his name in the phone book, and I can't remember if I found it or not. But I do specifically remember finding and calling the station's general manager, Tim Milner. His phone number was in the book. I was relieved. Only for a moment, though. Because now I have to go through the hurdle of hoping he will answer. Again, it's 2015. By this time, most people had cell phones, many people got rid of their house phones, or if they even had one, they never answered it because it was mostly spam calls. So I called Tim's home phone. Please answer. Please pick up. Great. No answer. I think it went to his answering machine, but I don't remember. I made a few more phone calls to some other co-workers' numbers I found, but had no luck. Then another idea struck me. Hey guys, I can't seem to reach anyone on the phone. Can I log into my Facebook account on your computer? Thanks. I get onto one of their computers. This computer and the internet it had on it was as slow as dial up AOL. Great. This is reassuring. Luckily, I was friends with a few of my coworkers on my Facebook account. One of the people I messaged was named Jennifer. She was a sales rep for the station at the time. The message went exactly like this. Hey Jennifer, I'm locked out of the station. Anyway you can do me a huge favor and let me in? My phone is locked in there too. I'm on a computer across the street. I'll buy you food if you can help me out. I waited a little while for a response and didn't get one. I figured I shouldn't stay here at Enterprise for too long because what if someone came to the station while I was over here? They would have no idea that I was locked out. So I left back for the station, hoping someone would see one of my messages and come to the rescue. Hey, thanks for letting me use your phone and computer. Ha. Yeah. It's embarrassing. Have a great day, guys. I crossed the street and headed back to the station. I noticed one of my coworkers' cars was in the parking lot. A wave of excitement shoots down my spine. I'm saved! For the life of me, I can't remember which co-worker it was at the time, but I guess it doesn't matter for the sake of this story. I slip back into the front door into that little vestibule. I begin knocking on the inside door that lets you into the lobby. Hey! Let me in. No one came. I knocked and yelled louder.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Hey! Let me in! It's Jake! I'm trapped in between the front doors!

SPEAKER_03 14:25

Still nothing. I kept trying, but no luck. I think I even went back outside to try and get their attention. But again, nothing. They must have been recording their weekend shows with their headphones on, blaring with loud music, and couldn't hear me. Great. Guess I'll go back in my little cubby hole and wait. It felt like forever. I think in total, though, it was only about an hour or two. Finally, I spot Jen through that second glass door walking into the lobby. I never felt more excited, relieved, and truly embarrassed all at once. She opens the door and lets me into the lobby. I can't remember what she said to me or what I said to her after that. I'm sure it was something along the lines of You got my messages! Thank you so much for coming by and letting me out. I mean, in. I felt like an animal trapped in a glass cage. I'm sure she asked me how in the world did I lock myself out where my phone and my car keys were. Not long after that, I got back into the station and upstairs to finish my work for the day. I opened my Facebook to send a message to Jen to thank her. The thread went as follows. Jen, you totally saved the day. I can't thank you enough. I'm gonna get so much s for this on Monday. I believe I did end up posting about the humiliating story on Facebook. I did go back to look, but I can't seem to find the post. It's been over ten years. So Monday rolls around. I was expecting to get teased super hard by my coworkers. I was poked at a little bit, but I don't remember it being too bad. I did share the story on the air during my River Country Midday show. It made for a great radio story. It's made for a great podcast story as well. I've worked at Milner Media for about 11 years now and have never locked myself out of the radio station ever again. Hard lesson learned. Every time I see the front doors of the radio station, though, I'm reminded of that Valentine's Day in 2015. It could have been much worse though. At least I was able to keep warm inside the little vestibule. Oh, and I had my Jimmy John sandwich. I forgot about that. This one time in Kinkiki is produced by me, Jake Lamore, and the WVLI Podcast Network. Thanks for listening. Please follow and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, and don't forget to give us a rating and review. You could even share this episode with a friend if you enjoyed it. And if you have a story of your own to share, that was the main reason I wanted to share this story with you today, is to encourage you to come forward to share something similar. Could be sad, it can be funny, can be miraculous. Send me an email at Jake at Milner MediaPartners.com and finish this sentence for me. This one time in Kankakee.