I also started in radio around 1969. I had a friend that worked at radio stations and got a job at the university radio station as soon as I started college. It was a jazz/NPR station and I just did engineering. After a few months I got a real, paying job engineering at a local radio station and held that job most of the way thru college. It was a tough job - put on a 4 hour easy listening tape and let it run. Repeat. Managed to get all of my homework done and read hundreds and hundreds of sci fi paperbacks.