In 1986, he returned to the Hampton Roads area and scored his first full-time radio job at WRSR-FM (97Star), which soon reverted to the call letters WGH-FM.
In 1989, after just a little over a year at WNVZ, Schnitt was hired by Scott Shannon at Pirate Radio, KQLZ in Los Angeles as creative director, assistant program director and morning show cast member.