By Rick Kaempfer
DANIELLE IN THE MORNING
D
www.fitzgeraldsnightclub.com
F R I D AY, J U N E 6
Lagunitas "Steal The Glass" Night
Buy a pint of Lagunitas IPA and keep the Lagunitas glass!
Red Elvises
S AT U R D AY, J U N E 7
Alligator Recording Artist
anielle Tufano, the morning co-host
and assistant program director of The
River (95.9 FM) in Aurora, is a rare
breed in the radio business these days. She's
in her '20s. "28," she clarifies with a laugh,
"just got in there under the wire." Anyone
who follows the radio business has noticed
this trend. The question is: Why are young
people today choosing not to pursue radio
careers? Danielle has her own theory.
"I still occasionally teach at the Illinois
Center of Broadcasting," she notes, " and a lot
of people my age don't appreciate that there's
so much more to it than cracking a microphone and talking. There's a lot of hard work
and networking and going above and beyond
the call of duty required to make it in this
over 8 years," she explains. "I met him when
he worked at the Oldies station downtown
(94.7 FM, WLS). He actually knows my family because that radio station played the
Buckinghams all the time, and my cousin
Dennis is the original lead singer of the
group. Dennis would bring Scott around to
family events. After he came to the River,
Scott had a couple of co-hosts before me, but
when this last one left suddenly in late
February of this year, I volunteered to fill in
until we found someone permanently. I think
that because we already had a relationship,
Scott and I gelled right away."
It's a show that hyper focuses on the local
community, and that's something that really
appeals to Danielle. "I love both big city radio
Tommy Castro &
The Painkillers
T H U R S D AY, J U N E 1 2
In The SideBar
Brad Cole
F R I D AY, J U N E 1 3
In The SideBar
Sam Doores
S AT U R D AY, J U N E 1 4
The Congregation
The Velvet Jimis
T H U R S D AY, J U N E 1 9
Teresa James &
the Rhythm Tramps
F R I D AY, J U N E 2 0
In The SideBar
Moral Hazard/Ron Lazzeretti
S AT U R D AY, J U N E 2 1
Celebrating the release of new album Brass Tacks
NRBQ
W E D N E S D AY, J U N E 2 5
A benefit in support of Mercy Home for Boys and Girls.
Half-Way to Christmas Day Benefit
F R I D AY, J U N E 2 7
A Hard Day's Night album is performed by an All-StarBand
featuring Phil Angotti, Casey McDonough (NRBQ), Scott Ligon (NRBQ) and Tony Kidonakis
A Hard Day's Night album is performed in its entirety followed by other Beatles classics
B eatles Night
S AT U R D AY, J U N E 2 8
Performing two sets of sizzling soul music.
Nikki Hill
Coming July 2-5:
33rd Annual American Music Festival
See the full schedule on page 55
20 illinoisentertainer.com june 2014
Danielle Tufano
business. I'm not going to lie – even though I
still have a long way to go in my career – just
getting to where I'm at has taken so many
hours, and sometimes not getting paid to do
things – and I think the younger generation
doesn't appreciate putting in those kind of
hours to wait for the return."
That work ethic is what Danielle has
become known for in her short career. "When
I first started out as an intern, I would get to
the station at 4:30 in the morning, and I'd help
out until about ten, and then I would go to
school, and go to my paying job, and then go
back to the radio station again at night –
around 7:30 or so – and stay there until 10.
Those were really long hours, but I was doing
something that I really loved and I knew
someday it was going to take