Today, he is perhaps best known for his nearly four-year run as a daily fixture on VH1. He hosted a daily music and entertainment show featuring celebrity interviews and music videos. His "Top Ten Countdown" was consistently one of the channel's highest-rated weekly shows, and he has hosted special-events programming such as the VH1 Fashion Awards. After leaving VH1 a year ago, A.J. was a celebrity spokesperson for the nationwide media tour of Milton Bradley's new "Planet Hollywood, the Game." Earlier this year, he worked as a special correspondent for the internationally syndicated show "EXTRA," covering the Grammy Awards and personality-driven "sweeps." His photo is featured in the recent coffee-table book Heartthrob, 100 Years of Beautiful Men, and he was the subject of the cover story of the October issue of Gym magazine.

Heartthrob described him as "part of the new arena for on-air talent taking us into the millennia." The book also praised the 33-year-old A.J. for his "very likable personality and ease with his job," as well as his "almost-too-good-looking-for-words attractiveness."

"At the University of Hartford, I had a girlfriend, but I was a scrawny kid," he recalls.

He seems genuinely unaffected by all this fame. "The least interesting part of all this, for me, is celebrity," A.J. says. "I just want to be myself. I learned long ago, in Wil Runk's (A&S '80, adjunct faculty) Introduction to TV class at the UofH, that I loved the production part of entertainment most.

"By the time I got to college, I was in a mind-set that I was already in the career I wanted -- radio," says A.J. "My immediate goal was to get a job with WSAM, as WWUH was not student-run. The general manager saw the fire in me, and I became program director. It was a top-40 station then. My work there gave me marketable skills."

His weekends were full, as he also worked from 6 to 10 p.m. on Saturday nights at WILI-FM in Willimantic and from midnight to 5 a.m. at WTIC-FM in Hartford.

According to A. J., he became "one of seven philosophy majors" at the University when he took a course under Professor Bernard den Ouden, head of the philosophy department, and "became genuinely interested in philosophy. Den Ouden was a cool guy."

In the summer of his senior year, he served as a Red Cap and loved it. "The training program alone was worth the time. I give a big thumbs-up to that program."

College life wasn't all radio and work, though. He remembers evenings with friends at the Beacon Cafe in Hartford ("we called it the Old Milwaukee club") and at The Pub on campus. A Monday night skiing class at Ski Sundown in New Hartford was a favorite activity. "Several of us were better than the instructor. We'd finish skiing early and spend the rest of the class at the lodge drinking beer."

A.J. was hired as the full-time 7-11 p.m. personality at WTIC-FM upon graduation, and he stayed there until he was hired by WPLJ in New York City in October 1990. He spent four and a half years at WPLJ, the flagship FM station of Disney/ABC, as host of its high-energy night show. It was there that he acquired the name Hammer. "They said I needed something catchy."

Of his move to VH1 he says, "Working at WPLJ was my dream job, but the station was changing, and I had already achieved my goal of working on a major radio station in New York City. I never thought about being in front of the camera. It was basically on-the-job training in 60 million households."

Most recently, he has been hosting a show for the metropolitan New York area's Metro Guide Channel. On Oct. 9, he hosted the worldwide television/Web production of "NetAid" onstage at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. "It was the largest Web event in history, with other shows taking place at the same time in Geneva and at Wimbley Stadium in London."

A.J. currently has a deal with Vin DiBona Productions ("America's Funniest Home Videos") to serve as host for the American version of the wildly popular British show "Don't Try This at Home." "We shot the pilot in London this summer, and I am still waiting to see what happens with it."

In his spare time, he works with Birch Services of Putnam Valley, N.Y., an AIDS service organization that sponsors camps for city-dwelling pediatric AIDS patients and their families. "It's so emotional and gratifying," says A.J. "Kids have time to have fun and be happy, without the secrets they may have in the city. I now take nothing for granted."