Graham graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Science degree and a major in aviation in 1971. He began his broadcast career after graduation aboard an aircraft carrier in the Navy as an announcer working in public affairs. After his military service concluded, Graham worked in commercial radio as an announcer, but chose the path to broadcast engineering when he realized he enjoyed fixing things more than being on air.

Graham’s broadcast engineering career path has kept him working mostly in the southeastern United States. He got his first radio chief engineer job in 1979 before becoming a contract engineer in Georgia and Florida in 1983.