Erik Hastings

Mr. Hastings has been involved in the radio industry since the age of fifteen. His first job was a part-time announcer position at KWKY in Des Moines, Iowa. After spending two years on the weekends, he decided it was time to move on. He was given a job as a part-time disc jockey at KIOA under the programming direction of Bill Shannon. Having never taken a broadcasting class, he later credits Bill as “the one who taught me how to be on the air”. He continued to work with Bill until he applied for and landed his next job as a part time jock on Q102, his childhood-favorite station. Jonathon Drake assigned him to the weekends and was happy to help Erik succeed. However, before leaving for college, Erik was unceremoniously fired. It was then he got some great advice from a local radio legend Steve Gibbons. He explained that there are two kinds of jocks out there, ones that HAVE been fired and ones who WILL be fired. 

While in College he hosted the first-ever daily morning show on the campus radio station called The Morning Show on a Rope. Erik enjoyed the “sing-alongs” as well as interviewing “the lunch lady” for the daily specials in the student commissary.

Upon his return to Des Moines, Iowa, Erik began doing the night show for the hot CHR radio station KCCQ.  At the request of management, he expanded his program from 7:00 p.m. to midnight. He (and his bosses) enjoyed his ratings success with “The Night Shift”. The show was an irreverent “party on the radio” that provided a great platform for Erik to serve as “the ringmaster” of carefully controlled chaos. He was later promoted to mornings by one of Erik’s mentors, Betty Baudler. He was also given the title of Program Director and later Operations Manager. He was then stolen away by Q102 (the station that previously fired him) for more money and the hope of even greater ratings success. After about a year on the air, his boss was fired and the new Program Director fired Erik for the second time.

He decided it was time to pack up and move to New York. With a thousand dollars, no job and two-month sublet, Erik took the plunge. He stayed away from the radio business for a year until, at the urging of a friend, he decided to get back into the radio game. He began to call production directors. He figured program directors got too many calls and, if he found the right production person, he might be able to get some good advice. He was right. He began talking with Gene Wooten, then the Production Director at the legendary WPLJ. Gene gave great advice and after a few months called Erik for an interview at their sister station WABC as a vacation-relief soundboard operator. Bill Crouse gave him the job and he was ready to work in the newstalk format. 

Because he missed being on the air, Erik decided to apply for a weekend air shift at WALK on Long Island. He got the gig and enjoyed being on the air again. However, his stay was short-lived because he didn’t own a car and it was very difficult to get to the radio station.

Greener pastures were coming into focus as he continued to work at WABC. He worked all shifts including Sean Hannity’s first night broadcast on WABC. Erik was also privileged enough to work for a number of years with the legendary Rush Limbaugh in production of his daily show. He was asked to take a full time job at WPLJ as the Production Director for Scott & Todd In The Morning where he learned the finer points of production under the direction of Hall of Famer Scott Shannon as well as Gene Wooten.

Erik also began to work with the WABC weekend show “Curtis & Kuby” on Saturday mornings. He was responsible for writing, voicing and producing prerecorded parodies for the show. In the spring of 2000, management decided to promote Curtis & Kuby to morning drive. Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby both insisted Erik come with them and serve as their Producer and continue to produce those wacky parodies. Erik was later promoted to Executive Producer under the expert direction of Phil Boyce. WABC has seen some of its highest morning drive ratings since their switch to the Talk format. Erik is eternally grateful to be part of such an outstanding team.

In the spring of 2003, Erik formed his own production company Scripted Improv Media Inc. In the spring of 2004 he successfully launched The Daily Service, a nationally syndicated parody service with JonesTM as the distributor. Erik employs a staff of writers, voiceover actors and producers who all are the driving force behind this service. Although he resigned his post at WABC to work full-time as the Executive producer for The Daily Service, Erik continues to provide parodies for Curtis & Kuby from the WABC studios.