For Tom Curley it all started at a 50,000 watt radio station in Fresno……no wait, that was Ted Baxter from the Mary Tyler Moore show, sorry.
Tom Curley has been in the “audio business” in one way or another for the last 40 years. He created a weekly hour comedy show called Fulton’s Follies at Hofstra University’s radio station in the early 70’s. He then got sidetracked from producing Radio Theater by going to work for the ABC Radio Network for three years, then moving to WCBS FM in New York for another 6 and then moving to the CBS Television Network for the next 35 years. In that time, he worked as an audio engineer on such shows as The CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes, The Early Show, The Joan Rivers Show and The NFL Today, among others. In 1991 he became one of the first network Director/ Technical Directors and Directed CBS News Up To The Minute for 10 years. He then created a virtual reality studio for CBS Marketwatch.com. He helped created and direct CBS Marketwatch Weekend for 8 years. In the late 1980′s, both bored and bemused at the insanity that went on at a major news network, he created a radio show that was a not-too-subtle jab at what it was like to work in the media. It was called A Half Hour Radio Show. It was syndicated on about 60 stations nationwide and developed quite a cult following. Nine episodes were produced and last year they were posted online for free at captclerk.podbean.com. What is most interesting about the shows is that they are still surprisingly relevant. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Tom also created one of the first full length parodies of Star Trek. It is also available on line at captclerk.podbean.com.
Tom retired in 2011 to devote more time to his first love, audio and audio theater. He recently appeared as a voice talent in Swordspoint, an award winning audio book available on audible.com.
No animals were harmed in the writing of this bio.
Tom and I worked on WVHC (now wvhu) at Hofstra U. all those years ago. I was a funny guy, and also found the humor in anything people did or said, but Tom could make radio… funny. I’m glad to see him back at his roots. I remember a moment after we had known each other for a couple of years and Tom came up to me and said ” I get it now, always go for the joke first! I still do and hope he does…and perhaps we can rub off on the world around us. It appears Tom certainly does.