Wright started his radio career in 1958 as a teenage disk jockey at his family owned station in Wausau, Wisc., WRIG-AM. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he returned to manage WRIG and its FM companion, which he put on the air in 1964. ​​From those beginnings came a radio broadcasting career of over 40 years, during which he built a Midwest broadcasting empire.