How A Louisiana Job Helped Give George Carlin His Career

Obviously, because of the privacy settings on the video, it won't play here, but you can easily click the "Watch on Vimeo" button to watch the interview.

George Carlin - Shreveport Deejay from Bob Whitney on Vimeo.

When George Carlin was 17, he joined the Air Force. While in the Air Force, he got a job in Louisiana that helped to launch his career!

I wasn't aware, until over the weekend, that George Carlin had any real connection to Louisiana. As it turns out, without a job in radio that he spent years at in Shreveport, he may never have gone on to accomplish everything that he did.

In an interview with Carlin, he talks fondly of his time at a radio station in Shreveport, La. While he was in the Air Force, he was in an amateur play, while the owner of a radio station was in the play as well. He brought young George down to the station to read some copy. He was 17 years old when he got the job, and 18 when he got on the air.

Back in 1956, George Carlin was on at Radio KJOE, an AM radio station that, according to him, was the only Top 40 radio station in a very hot radio market. It was also the number one station in the market with eight other stations there. They pulled in a 50 share, which in radio is almost unheard of in this day and age.

He claims that being on that radio station for two and a half years is what gave him all of his confidence, which led to furthering his plan of becoming a comedian, and later, an actor.

Here's some audio of George Carlin on the air!