Taylor Mason - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

The son of a radio farm broadcaster and a homemaker mother, Mason was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, and grew up in suburban Chicago. His father, Bill Mason, worked at WGN Radio and Television, a local Chicago station that featured farm news in the early mornings and every day at noon. This served as an introduction to show business for young Mason, who often accompanied his father to broadcasts. His father was also hired by farm groups to speak at their conferences and meetings, and Mason was a regular sidekick to his father’s speeches.

His childhood was stereotypical for the time: piano lessons, Little League, summer vacations and church dinners. His father was a deacon in the Congregational Church, where the Mason family attended every Sunday morning.

They moved to Ottawa, Illinois, while Mason was in high school, and he graduated from Ottawa High in 1974. Mason then attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he majored in agriculture and communications, graduating in 1979. While there, he played varsity football for The Fighting Illini, and suffered a knee injury during his junior season. This led to an entire autumn in an ankle-to-hip cast, during which time Mason began performing at his fraternity as a disc jockey and comedian for dances. By the time his football career (he received the Illini Champion award and varsity letters) and undergraduate education ended two years later, Mason had become a campus favorite by spinning records and telling jokes at parties, college functions and university events.