Photo By Staff Sgt. Adriana Barrientos | Denny Hostetter, a community engagement specialist from the 673d Air Base Wing Public...... read more read more
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Arriving to the station a couple hours before going on air for the night shift, he was fulfilling his short lived dream at the age of 20, miles away from home.
At 62 years old, the Spokane native, Denny Hostetter has tried his hand at a plethora of jobs throughout his storied career before landing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, as a Public Affairs community engagement specialist.
He never imagined he would land a government job working in the career field he enlisted in with the Air Force more than 30 years ago.
For Hostetter, the golden days were the moments he was on the air, delivering colorful commentary as a sportscaster on a radio station in the late 1970s. His interest for sports and passion in broadcasting drew the layout of his life for the next several years.
His first full time job after community college confirmed his desires to pursue other branches in the communications field. Eventually he found a seat as a student in Washington State University, earning his Bachelor’s in communication.
“I graduated in 1984 and did a summer internship at a radio station in Spokane, but soon after I realized I could not get the same kind of job I once had in 1974,” Hostetter recalled. “I had much more experience, my delivery was much better. I questioned why I couldn’t get a job.
Well, someone came along and invented the computer. People were able to program entire shows on the computer. So while you used to need a human being to sit down and be the disc jockey, now there was less need for human beings because you could pre-record entire shows,” he said.
The college graduate was dismayed. He went to school to pursue his passion, only to learn that the industry was beginning to change.
“In the summer of 1985, I was juggling three jobs- four nights at a fast food restaurant -one night at a local part time job and another part time job another night. That’s what you do when you’re 24- you have to juggle things.”
Hostetter remembered feeling frustrated, getting off graveyard shifts to continue job hunting during the day, getting minimal sleep, then back to the graveyard shifts. Rinse and repeat.
Throughout the jobs he balanced, he landed a full time job at a new independent TV station in Spokane.
“I was able to dump my three jobs, and worked Monday through Friday, nine to five. I was so excited, but unfortunately they let me go after a couple of months. I was 25, and I was crushed,” he said.
After that, Hostetter's unrewarding job hunt led him to consider the military.
“I enlisted in the Air Force in 1986, and my guaranteed job was actually not in broadcasting- it was in aircraft maintenance,” he said. “I wanted to get away from radio, I was tired of it.”
Hostetter went through basic military training as any other recruit would, and served three years at McChord Air Force Base, Washington. It allowed him to see and do things he’d never done in the past, despite growing up near his first assignment. It was a fresh start with a new job he’d never worked before.
“I spent my first three years in aircraft maintenance, and as they say there are blessings in disguise," said Hostetter. "Well, I was multitasking, trying to spike a volleyball when I tore my ACL in my left knee. While I was on limited duty from aircraft maintenance, there was an announcement from command stating the squadron needed someone to submit scores of their intramural football team to the Public Affairs office."
Little did he realize how his career path would change, but his communications degree and interest for sports opened the doors to journalism in the Air Force.
“I sort of became their designated sports writer,” Hostetter said. “It was beneficial for them because they didn’t have enough people to send out. It’s not something I had to do- I just started doing it and kept doing it.”
He continued to help out his installation's Public Affairs unit, while working for his local radio station, and thought to himself, “Oh, no, am I getting sucked into this again? I went into the Air Force to get away from the radio, and now I'm catching the bug again.”
After the Air Force reaffirmed his career goals, Denny cross trained into the career field. He spent the rest of his six-year enlistment working in broadcast television with some radio sportscasting around the world. He saw the end of his enlistment, and jumped back into sports casting on the air for a radio station.
“I remember his organization and preparation” said Dave Ettl, Hostetter’s former boss and morning show host. “Denny’s former military experience has sharpened his discipline, and he learned his lessons well.”
His time on the air was short lived once again, so he turned back to his military roots. After jumping from civilian and contracting jobs with the U.S. Army, he landed a government service job that brought him to JBER for the next chapter of his story.
“I like what I do now,” he said. “My goal is to come to work and do my job well enough so my teammates can go home a little earlier to their families.”
| Date Taken: | 06.07.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 06.07.2021 15:31 |
| Story ID: | 398322 |
| Location: | AK, US |
| Web Views: | 75 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Radio Station Host turns into Public Affairs Warrior, by SSgt Adriana Barrientos, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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