01
Primary Career
Radio
Music, microphones, live audiences, countdowns and the energy of broadcasting in real time formed the center of the career.
Meet Gizmo
On Air
Born and Bred Gen X
20+ Years in Media
Meet Gizmo
The editorial voice behind Smells Like Gen X—built from a career in media, a lifetime of pop-culture mileage and firsthand memories of the decades that shaped a generation.
Gen X Original
Real Media Mileage
Editor and Host
Gizmo — Smells Like Gen X
SLGX Broadcast System
Radio
Television
Newspapers
Magazines
Highly Rated 80s Radio
70s • 80s • 90s
Side A — The Story
I didn’t just study it. I lived it.
The culture was never background noise. It became the
soundtrack, the career and eventually the site.
I’m a born-and-bred Gen Xer who didn’t just grow up in the 80s and 90s—I lived the pop culture that defined them. From music, movies and television to newspapers, magazines, radio and the everyday weirdness of the era, those decades were more than a backdrop. They were the soundtrack of my life.
I turned that passion into a media career that took me across the country, working primarily in radio while also spending time in television, newspapers and magazines.
During that time, I came full circle by hosting highly rated 80s radio shows and reconnecting with the soundtrack of Generation X.
Gizmo is the public editorial identity behind Smells Like Gen X. It keeps the focus where it belongs: on the songs, toys, television, movies, memories and beautifully strange cultural moments that made the generation what it was.
The Signal Path
More Than a Nostalgia Hobby
Smells Like Gen X is shaped by decades spent inside the media business—not by somebody discovering the era later through recycled lists and secondhand memories.
02
Visual Media
Television
Experience on the visual side of media added another perspective on how stories, personalities and pop culture reach an audience.
03
Written Media
Print
Time spent in newspapers and magazines reinforced the value of detail, context and writing that does more than fill space.
04
Full Circle
80s Radio
Hosting highly rated 80s radio shows brought the career back to the music and memories that helped shape it in the first place.
What Shapes the Site
The Stuff We Remember
There is a difference between generic nostalgia and writing from somebody who remembers countdown radio, cassette cases, rerun schedules, toy catalogs, mall record stores and the weekly ritual of the video store. That lived experience is the lens behind every Smells Like Gen X rewind.
Music and Radio
Toys and Christmas
Television
Movies and VHS
Commercials and Fads
Everyday Weirdness
The Smells Like Gen X Approach
This is not retro tourism. It is the culture remembered by somebody who was actually there when it was happening.
The goal is not to pretend the past was perfect. It is to remember what it really felt like—the excitement, the ridiculousness, the overhyped toys, the songs we wore out and the moments that became part of who we are.
Choose Your Starting Point
Pick a Decade
Start with the era that still triggers the strongest memory.
Analog Beginnings
The 1970s
Toys, television, music and the wonderfully questionable beginnings of modern pop culture.
Enter the 70s → Maximum Neon The 1980sMTV, mall culture, toy empires, blockbuster movies and a decade that refused to be subtle.
Enter the 80s → The Last Analog Decade The 1990sGrunge, hip-hop, cable television, toy crazes and the strange road toward the digital age.
Enter the 90s →