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The opportunity presented itself to further my career
in broadcasting with a move to Lockport for better pay,
believe it or not. Finally a chance to actually use
my own name too. Although I had been known by the nickname
“Rick” since I was a child, I thought Rick
Reid sounded too phony. How was I to know that a major
league ball player would do quite well with that name?
I chose to use my J.R. initials. This was long before
the infamous Dallas character or the multi-million-dollar
basketball player came on the scene. The name worked
and I began my Lockport career on Father’s Day,
1964 at the ripe age of 19. A month later, my wife,
daughter and I moved to Lockport and I’ve been
here ever since.
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The beauty of any small town station is that it enables
you to have tremendous latitude in what you do on the
air. You are not strapped with the rating game. You don’t
have to worry too much about the numbers. You have the
opportunity to give the community WHAT THEY WANT! Plus
you are afforded the chance to work in virtually every
aspect of the station from news, to weather, sports, talk,
interviews, remotes, ect!. It was, and still is, fun radio.
When you talk to broadcast veterans about the most fun
they’ve had in their careers, they always tell you
about that small station early in their careers where
they had fun. I was hired to do an afternoon easy listening
program geared towards the housewives, and then came back
with the rock request and dedication show for the teens.
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Things turned sour for me in the summer of 1968. I arrived
home between shows only to find my young wife, who was
9 months pregnant, dead on the couch with a blood clot
in her lung. I lost my wife and unborn baby boy. The
event took its toll. I was raising my daughter, age
four, and began questioning the future. I was searching
for some stability in my life.
I had always had an interest and respect for law enforcement,
so I began working as an undercover narcotics agent
for both the Niagara and Erie County Sheriff’s
Departments as well as the Feds in the old D.E.A (Drug
Enforcement Administration). I thoroughly enjoyed the
challenge. I was seeing the tremendous drug problem
developing with our young people. I was concerned and
vowed to do all I could to help remedy the situation.
In April 1969, there was a significant drug bust in
the area. I played an integral part in the case. After
reviewing offers from the State, Federal, and County
levels to work full time in the field, I decided that
I was basically a home body. I was appointed to the
Niagara County Sheriff’s Department. During my
twenty-year career, I had the opportunity to work within
the communications, police-community relations and criminal
investigation divisions. I am still a certified State
Police instructor.
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