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Clem Stein
Clem Stein flunked out of the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1959. He got the word that the University didn’t want him back while on the tennis court at Camp Strounghart whe...view moreClem Stein flunked out of the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1959. He got the word that the University didn’t want him back while on the tennis court at Camp Strounghart where the University had gotten him a job as a tennis instructor. The fact that Clem was an Eagle Scout helped in getting the job but not with the University who said one year of him for them was enough.
Now, knowing he would not be returning to the U of W he took the $2,000.00 he had saved while working various jobs while in high school, he got a on plane in Oshkosh and flew to LA where he had an aunt. She put him up for the weekend, drove him to Hollywood on Monday, and he enrolled at the Don Martian School of Radio and Television Arts and Sciences, and moved into a boarding house behind Gramins Chinese Theater.
After the air fare he had just enough money to pay his tuition and cover room and board for one month. Next he found a job bagging groceries at Ralph Super Markets. That would pay the bills and had flexible hours so he could go to school from 6PM to 11PM and work the day shift at Ralph’s. He was setting a pattern for his life. Get something done, anything was better then nothing and don’t give a dam, just follow your passions as Clem really wanted to be on the radio and be noticed.
With incredible luck (Luck, meaning where preparation meets opportunity) and not one moment of prior air time Clem was hired by an LA FM radio station to work from 6PM to Midnight. So, he switched his class schedule from nights to 11 AM to 3PM, quit bagging groceries and went on the air. Radio was his thing, he never once asked what they were going to pay him and then he transitioned into TV. The draft caught up with him in 1962 but with the most incredible tenacity he overcame the US Army and ended up as the Traffic Time DJ in Munich Germany on the American Forces Radio Network. Married a German Lady, had two great years in the Army and came back to the USA, settled in Oregon, got a College Degree at Southern Oregon University on the GI Bill, moved to San Francisco so his wife could get her PhD at UCB and became a Financial Television Program host and did 4 hours of LIVE TV Monday thru Friday. He was having fun.
Then some unpleasant reality enters. A divorce from the Germany PhD, who kidnapped his 5 year old son, emptied the bank accounts, and went back to Germany. He had just quit the TV gig and was starting a financial career which required more school and starting from the bottom, if you can call a noted TV host starting on the bottom a beginning. Clem ended up getting all the required llicenses and started his own real estate companies, buying homes in Palm Springs and Tahoe, and living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area.
All of this goes into the trilogy of books he has written. From a kid’s book to let kids know that planning their life based on their passions, and a bit of respect for the advise from Mon & Dad, to a Money Manual which illustrates how someone else’s life’s lessons can be a learning device, to the fascinating science fiction look which looks back at today from 300 years in the future. It’s a trip. Take it with Clem Stein.view less