J.A. Bartlett

J.A. Bartlett wanted to be a radio DJ from age 11. He became one. For 16 years he worked at small-market stations in Iowa and Illinois for the customary small-market wage of 95 cents an hour and all the humble pie you can eat. Because vows of poverty are transferable, he decided in his mid-30s to quit the radio biz and pursue a teaching career. He’s now a freelance education writer and editor, and is back on the air in Madison, Wisconsin, where, thanks to inflation, he now makes $3 an hour. (And still gets the Humble Pie, because it’s a classic-rock station.) He blogs about music, radio, life, and everything else at The Hits Just Keep on Comin’.