From the Studio to the Kitchen

Atlanta radio fixture David Hull talks about hanging up his headphones to pursue another passion.

By David Hull

David Hull is a familiar voice to a generation of Atlanta residents. His decades in radio included stints at WGST-AM, CNN Radio and WQXI-AM and 94 Q

I used to be someone else. Several times, in fact. Once or twice, I chose to become someone else. Sometimes I was pushed. When that happened, I always tried to make sure my pockets contained stuff I might need.

My current incarnation as a personal chef resulted from a push. Fortunately, at 60 I had plenty of experience to draw upon as I thought about what came next.

Most of the time we are defined by occupation. I was often asked, “What do you do for a living?” Rarely did anyone ask who I was. It took many years to understand that what I do and who I am aren't the same thing.

My Mom had many skills, but few of them were related to the kitchen. So, as a kid, I spent a lot of time teaching myself how to make breakfast and lunch while manipulating my friends into inviting me to dinner, especially on nights when my mom planned to dish up the dreaded canned salmon croquettes and navy beans. I also somehow never managed to attract a woman who could cook. So cooking was not only about enjoyment, it was also a matter of survival.

Did I envision food preparation as a career? Never. I spent no time as a young man flipping burgers. But over the years, I learned a few things, including how people from different backgrounds and cultures approach food. And no matter the occasion—wedding, funeral, family reunion, holiday—there was always a big table full of food. I remember the first time I tasted lamb. It was like that moment in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy walks out of the house into Munchkin Land and everything morphs from black and white into color.

I spent most of my adult life as a radio broadcaster. It was the only thing I ever wanted to do. When other kids played army or cowboys, I stayed in my room pretending to be a disk jockey or a newscaster. As a news pro, I reported on the major events shaping the world, from the moon landing to the civil rights movement to the development of computers and AI. Change was the only constant, and how it affected our lives was always top of mind.

At 60, I was laid off from my last radio job, not because I sucked or made mistakes, but because the “businessmen” who owned the property decided humans were more expensive to maintain than automation. I could have chased another radio job, but I decided it was time for another real change.

What holds us back from enjoying WHO we are instead of what we do? Living according to expectations, not what we really want. Waiting for the right time, not acting on things that could have made a difference, choosing comfort over growth, and caring too much about what others think. Most of the time, when someone says, “I can’t,” they really mean, “I won’t.”

My final year as a broadcaster included co-hosting a show with the local newspaper food editor. We reviewed restaurants and talked about food. I learned a lot about the industry inside and out.

When I left the studio for the last time, I went out on a limb and took out a loan to attend culinary school. I discovered some things in addition to the fifty years of poor cooking habits that needed correcting. I realized that my life experience, the places I had seen and the people I had met, gave me a wealth of stories that might be useful in my presentation. I set my sights on becoming a personal chef and never looked back.

It wasn’t easy. I drew on every contact I had ever made — family, friends, former colleagues — to spread the word. I sat under tents handing out food samples; I managed a restaurant; I waited for the phone to ring until I slowly built my clientele, mostly through word of mouth.

After one dinner party, the dozen people at the table applauded me and told me what a good time they had, not just because the food was tasty but because they enjoyed my company and my stories.

If at first you don’t succeed? Trite, I know. But Edison failed many times before he invented the light bulb and that’s why people remember him. Or as another mentor told me, “You can hate the fact that a rose bush has thorns, or you can find joy in the fact that a thorn bush has roses.”