The Beginning, Tor McCartney

Tor "Michaels" McCartney sits behind a desk piled high with legislative write-ups, press releases and mail. A photo of McCartney with his daughter and former President Bill Clinton sits beside his computer screen.

"I used to joke that I was born in the commissioner's office," said the Centre County political figure with a multifaceted life, joking about his ties to the region's politics.

McCartney is Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Conklin's chief of staff, helping him with legislative

work and often acting as the congressman's spokesman to the media.

But once that's done for the week, he puts on his other hat. A "plaque of appreciation" from the Bellefonte post of the American Legion hangs in McCartney's office, a subtle hint of McCartney's other side.

Meet Tor Michaels.

Each Thursday and Friday night, McCartney sheds the suit and tie -- and his last name. He packs up his black CD case with hundreds of disks and heads over to the American Legion's bar in Bellefonte as DJ Tor Michaels, his radio name for 25 years.

McCartney was 15 when his father first started driving him to radio station WBLF-AM in Bellefonte for work in the early 1980s. The pay was only $3.35 per hour, but the excitement of radio lured him in.

One of his early assignments was to create his DJ name. McCartney dropped the last name and started going by his modified middle name on air. It stuck.

Live at the Legion, Tor "Michaels" McCartney

Around 4:30 p.m. Fridays, the crowd at the American Legion starts to filter into the old, gray stone building located near the post office and the library in the small town of Bellefonte. Mostly military veterans and their spouses, the crowd of more than 30 gathers around the rectangular bar, sitting under the American flags and colored Christmas lights.

They are ready to kick off the weekend, laughing with good friends and cracking jokes up and down the patriotically decorated bar. In between one-liners, ask any of them why they are there, and they'll agree: "To see Tor."

It is "name-that-tune night" at the bar, with McCartney at the helm. The Legion members will spend the next three hours trading wisecracks and comebacks with McCartney, who never puts the microphone down, sipping his Diet Pepsi between spars.

One of Tor's favorite targets is "Cranky" Carol Bitner, of Bellefonte, who is everything but cranky.

"He goes to Washington inaugurations and things like that. He's very professional, but by night, this is what he's like ... he's an entertainer," Bitner said. "I guarantee everyone is here because of him ... I love him to death."

It seems to be tough love when Bitner takes shots at McCartney's appearance, forcing him to come over to her so she can fix his hair.

"There are all kinds of people here from all walks of life, rich and not so rich," said Tim Maloy, of Bellefonte. "It doesn't matter. Tor treats everyone the same."

Tim's wife, Lorna, was sporting a homemade shirt with the phrase "No party is complete without Tor and fleet." The shirt was one of two made the night before by John Kaleski, another patron. Kaleski said he has made different versions of shirts for McCartney, usually with humorous phrases and pictures of McCartney, who friends agree bears a striking resemblance to Steve Martin.

One of the patrons McCartney likes to spar with is 83-year-old Ardell "the Antique" Gross, a World War II veteran who met McCartney at the bar about five years ago. Gross said he counters McCartney's verbal jabs at his age by taking a swing at the DJ's political beliefs. Although McCartney's friends may be able to look past their differences in politics, Tor's political side has placed him in hot water in the past.

Valleys: Times Get Tough, DJ Tor Michaels

Despite his humble beginnings at WBLF, McCartney got hooked on the radio business.

"I get out of bed with an extra spring in my step when I know I'm going to be on the radio," McCartney said.

After one politician calling into his show told McCartney he only had two listeners, McCartney began addressing his show to his signature "two listeners club," a practice he still continues.

"My first priority when I get up in the morning is the 'two listeners,' even in this job," McCartney said while at his desk in Conklin's State College office.

By 2004, he was the news director at WRSC-AM, a news radio station in State College. McCartney said he was an aggressive reporter, and it only took one hardball story for his supervisors to tell him he had crossed the line.

After discovering that a local township supervisor did not live in the township he represented, McCartney took the story to the air. "I aired the story and publicly called and adamantly called for him to step down," McCartney said.

McCartney said he was fired from the station afterward and saw his dismissal as a result of connections between his management and the township supervisor.

"The same management that fired me was praising me just the week before that," McCartney said, referring to a large newspaper ad the station had run touting McCartney's coverage of local news.

The dismissal was hard on McCartney. He said the only way he was able to keep his house from being foreclosed on was through the help of the folks at the American Legion. With watery eyes, McCartney recalled the American Legion telling him, "We'll do whatever we can to help you." They increased his pay and the number of nights they hired him per week.

"They are wonderful people," McCartney said. "They are my second family."

Even with the legion's help, McCartney was still struggling. Problems with alcohol began and led to even harder times for the Howard, Pa., native.

They finally culminated with a DUI charge in December 2005, according to court documents.

McCartney decided this would be his "last embarrassment."

"I got tired of embarrassing myself," he said. "I had to recognize that my behaviors were out of line"

He put down the bottle.

"Every person reaches a point in their life when they have to decide what life they are going to choose, what path they are going to choose," he said.

This December will mark the fourth year since McCartney last had a drink. Looking back, McCartney said this period helped him to learn to appreciate the good times in life.

"You can only enjoy the highest peaks when you've been in the lowest valleys," he said. "You can only enjoy those peaks when you remember the people that have helped you in that low spot."

And there would be more peaks.

Peaks: A Life in the Political Spotlight, DJ Tor Michaels

In 2006, the Democratic Party came calling for McCartney. He was offered the position of spokesman for U.S. congressional candidate Jerry McNerney, a California politician.

McCartney moved to the San Francisco Bay area, but he was unhappy. He missed his daughter and the area he had lived in. Later in the summer, McCartney was approached by then-Centre County Commissioner Scott Conklin to work on his campaign for a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. McCartney accepted. Both McNerney and Conklin won their elections.

Despite his success in helping others get elected, McCartney said he does not see himself becoming a politician.

"I fear that I have blotted my copy book to the point that might not be possible," he said. "I have reached the conclusion that I will always be the king-maker, never the king."

Since Conklin's campaign win, McCartney has taken over as the representative's chief of staff. He still stays active on the radio, talking to his "two listeners" on "Tor's Day" a weekly feature of veteran DJ Jerry Fisher's show "Centre County This Morning."

McCartney said he is not sure what his future has in store, but he would like to pass on his experience to students who may follow his similar vocational footsteps. Regardless, he said the future will revolve around his family. Speaking of his daughter, he said, "She will be my last campaign."