In his early teens, Shuster became interested in bluegrass music and learned to play the five-string banjo.  Shuster's father took him to the mecca of country music, the Grand Ole Opry.  He met legendary country star Earl Scruggs, the originator of the three-finger picking style that the budding picker' was eager to learn.  When Shuster found out that Scruggs would be playing at the Wisconsin State Fair, he arranged for several lessons from the veteran performer.  Another accomplished musician, Joe Schott, who had his own midday TV show on Milwaukee's WTMJ, also trained Shuster on the banjo.

It was Shuster's talent with the banjo that gave him his first break in broadcasting.  "The next time Scruggs was in Milwaukee, I was backstage and played banjo with him," he recalls.  "The owner of  WMIL, the radio station that brought Scruggs to town, said to me "Would you like to come down to the station, play the banjo and sing in the evening?  I said 'yes' and came in a couple of times.  I sang and played and was interviewed by the disc jockey.  Then, WMIL offered me a job as a disc jockey…at a dollar an hour…which was below the minimum wage." 

 
A VINTAGE SHOT OF MILWAUKEE'S WMIL WITH
D.J. TOM PETERSEN (Courtesy robd-germanradio.blogspot.com/)

At the age of 15, Shuster was officially in broadcasting and sported a new name courtesy the station: 'Scott Davis'.  "I was playing country music, running religious programs off reel-to-reel tape at 5 a.m. and announcing the English language commercials on German language programs," explains Shuster, whose professional employment rattled the senses of his family.  "My parents have always been in shock over what was becoming of me," Shuster laughingly recalls.  " I think they saw it as a positive thing.  And there was no stopping me.  Certain people are born to do certain things.  Priests, political leaders…I'm clearly of that genetic line.  People might say that I was a news geek, but that's who I was.  From the time I got on the radio, I was determined to be the best."