Blackburn managed to land a job at a radio station in Santa Ana, California in 1942, and worked his way up. He also attended college at Fresno State Normal School. Eventually, he landed a job with the Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League baseball team, and was part of the Beavers' broadcast duo with Rollie Truitt on station KWJJ for 18 years. During that time, Blackburn was also a play-by-play announcer for University of Oregon and Oregon State University (OSU) football games in Portland, over the Tidewater Oil Company's sports radio network. In 1953, he became the sports director of KEX, a station where he also had his own afternoon disc jockey show. In 1957 he moved to KPOJ also doing the afternoon shift. In 1958 he moved to KXL, and then back to KPOJ in 1959.