BILL BEALE
"He’s got the beat"
By BOB ROZYCKI
HUDSON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL
Bill Beale (cue the raucous cheering) made his mark in high school with the Masque & Mime drama club. (Cue the sounds of disbelief.)
Literally.
He wrote his name on the wall backstage at Roy C. Ketcham High School. (Cue the rim shot, laughter and bell-ringing.)
And according to reliable sources, it’s still there. (Cue the guffaws and smart-aleck comments.)
He’s now making his mark as the hardest working man in showbiz. The only thing he doesn’t have is a cape as did the former hardest working man in showbiz, James Brown.
The radio personality works Monday through Friday mornings as co-host and associate producer of the “Chris Marino & The K104 Morning Show,” known for its controlled chaos that is replete with laughter, rude comments, rim shots, bell ringing, gong banging and a mysterious machine that inflicts pain upon any show member who utters the name of a celebrity deemed not to be named.
The show is heard on WSPK K104.7, which is broadcast from its Dutchess County studios all across the Hudson Valley region thanks to 50,000 watts of power.
When he’s not on the air, Beale is making people get up and dance at weddings, Super Sweet 16 parties and other events through his Surround Sound Premier Disc Jockey & Master of Ceremony Services, which he started some 18 years ago while in high school.
Because he’s working so much he sometimes has trouble telling time as during a recent gig on a Sunday morning when he was about to announce the top of the hour as midnight, but caught himself and said “mid … noon.”
When he’s not on the radio or keeping a celebration moving, Beale may be the hardest working man in his community – firefighter, EMT, fire investigator and town councilman.
Beale originally ran for councilman in 2005, facing an 18-year incumbent. After an unbelievable 93 days of court challenges and recounts, the race – the last to be certified in the state – was declared a tie. Since the Democrats had the majority on the town board, Beale’s opponent was reappointed to a one-year term. Beale says he never ended his campaign and attended all the board meetings, determined to make everyone aware that he was not going to call it quits and showing his intent to be in the race again. This time Beale was elected, winning by 139 votes. Since it was for the remainder of the two-year term, Beale didn’t get any rest from campaigning. After being sworn in on Jan. 2, 2007, he had to prepare for another campaign, this time for a full two-year term.
Opponents said he tread a fine line as a radio personality and councilman; crossing that line would be a breach of ethics. Beale begs to differ – it’s a wide line that he says he doesn’t cross. If he brings up politics on the radio, it’s in the vein to make sure people register to vote and when Election Day rolls around, he suggests that they go and vote.
It’s a unique position, he acknowledges, radio personality and councilman; perhaps the only one in the nation. The fine line that he does maintain is separating his radio persona from the credibility he needs as a councilman.
But voters discounted the opposition’s hue and cry and chose Beale to represent the first ward of the town of Wappinger. This time he won overwhelmingly with 62 percent of the vote. This past January he was appointed deputy supervisor.
So where did this interest in politics come from? The answer falls to John Beale, director of the Dutchess County Office for the Aging and a former county legislator who just happens to be Bill’s father. The need to entertain also comes in part from his dad, who is known to tell bad jokes while serving as emcee at picnics and other events sponsored by the Office for the Aging.
Beale’s first encounter with entertainment did indeed come through the high school drama club where he was behind the scenes taking care of the lighting. After graduating from high school he moved on to the County Players, a community theater troupe, where he handled lighting design and sound.
Beale credits the discipline of live theater with helping him in his approach to mobile disc jockey entertainment. He also credits MTV and its show, “My Super Sweet 16,” with increasing his business. “The Super Sweet 16 market is incredible. My bookings were up 400 percent last year (over 2006.)”
His business has grown from just himself doing backyard parties to having six deejays and six different packages and entertaining 250 people at venues throughout the Hudson Valley.
As for his favorite music, Beale enjoys the songs from the disco era with Earth, Wind and Fire being a favorite. During a recent morning radio gag, the morning crew had to sing songs representative of the year they were born. The one-hit wonder by Wild Cherry, “Play that Funky Music,” got the full-Beale deal, high notes and all:
“Lay down the boogie and play that funky music till you die.”
Perhaps the fitting epitaph for all deejays.
