I've lived in a few states...visited most...People remark at times: "haven't you ever thought of living elsewhere...biggertown...larger radio market...?" The answer: Yes...of course.
Yes...20 or so years ago this would not have been my choice for settling down. Two decades ago I would have said things like, "...are you kidding??...West Virginia??...and give up culture...climate...money...entertainment......c'mon, really! ?
I've been here 15 years. I wouldn't change a thing about Charleston, or any of the West Virginia I have come to know...well at least not outside of "inside" company. You know...I can talk smack on my sister...you can't!
I came here by choice...but not entirely. I wanted to work in a radio market closer to Pittsburgh without actually stepping into the snake pit of radio that has...and is ...losing touch with it's "live and local" flavor. I wanted to work in the radio I'd grown up with...so I joined a company that had a similar vision...and the resources to keep it that way.
Radio, on the large scale, is seeking it's level...it will find it. It won't be satellite alltogether...sorry to all you "I hate commercial radio" junkies out there...it simply won't. There is a place for satellite...and it occupies it nicely...but make no mistake, people still like "Live and Local". They especially love the right to hate it...and without some miandering, rambling jock to irritate them, satellite really loses it's charm.... Choices? ...oh yeah...tons of 'em....more than you really want, or have time to explore in your car...(the average commute in America is under 20 minutes...that's 4.2 songs)...lot's of generic vital information that pertains not a nano to your day, time and space....but, by god...you can listen to that alternativejazzcountryclassicalmiddleoftheroadrythmandblueshiphop...and without any commercial interruption...hardly...(not that much...)....okay some, yeah....but the choices! Commercials are going to be there, albeit, nicely disguised as "support arms of the radio sytem of choice" and not nearly as time consuming as that other "local" radio broadcast stuff. In satellite radio, we basically split the cost with advertisers. You pay about half...they kick in about half. You feel like you've won the war...Sirrus giggles around the board table. But, hey...it's consumer driven, right? We buy it. Well...we take it more than buy it...soon to be standard in most vehicles so you can say in your next at-the-water-cooler cluster....got it!...love it!...(and pay for it)...but I don't listen to all those commercial spots!!!!! I don't mind paying to lose those...! (really?)
Anyway...I'm a hypocrit. I'd do satellite radio in a "New York minute"....if asked...paid...and it seemed like radio. But the thing is...I found radio. It was tucked along the interstates, easily overlooked by tower-eating conglomerates and still operating largely as small market radio. Largely...very largely.
No accident really. The owner and President of this company have some notion that radio hasn't breathed it's last...that markets still like their own air personalities...even if it's to be vocal about their distaste for that morning show girl...or that afternoon drive idiot! Their idots are their idiots...their radio kin....and their personal connection to local and world events.
In a crisis...and we've seen a few in the past 10 years...
-when a chemical company spews unknown vapors...
-when a whole community is under a boil water alert...
-when an amber alert is sounded...
-when the weather is going from ugly to death threatening...
-when the only road home is a mass of debris for hours...
-when a shelter in place alarm is sounded...
-when, and I hate that we had to deal with this one...when mother nature swallows our miners...or....
-when we all felt so alone...and vulnerable after terror struck on 911...
We wanted news...
we wanted it now..
.we wanted it accurate...
we wanted it national....and (think about it) we wanted it local.
That's right. We wanted a familiar voice in our crisis. We wanted one of the family to break the news...and we wanted the comfort of our own stations...music...and trusted personalities.
You listen to that satellite feed...but I tell you...first sign of a concern...a crisis that in any manner affects you... you're going local...and you're staying there. Me too.
So...it's radio...as I thought and hoped it would be...right here in Charleston, West Virginia. I am probably "that idiot" afternoon guy to some...that rambling, talks-too-much guy to others...but...(and this is why I'm in it)...that voice of reason, humor, intrigue, ...that fun guy who takes the edge off the day...that afternoon jock who is dead-on with traffic and weather...seems to care that I stay informed...wants to lighten my load and...and maybe best of all...is my neighbor, friend and community advocate. If I get to be those guys...Then I'm in the best job for me...in the best darn radio market I've been asked to join...and I can sleep better at night than I have in the 25 years before when the work ended with a pill to bring on sleep and I connected with no one unless there was a deal to seal.
I may be a "dinasaur" going to fossil...and radio may be going in different directions...it is changing for certain. If it wasn't, I'd be more concerned for it's future....but radio is not going away...it's getting better...and it's getting more "local" all the time.
I found radio...and guess what...it's right next door....not in L.A.
1 comment:
And we are so glad to have you here. I listen to you on the drive home and love the talk and music. I do have satellite radio for my long trips but generally listen to the local stations along the way to see what else is going on besides our little capsule of the world here in Charleston.
I have been in WV since 1987 from California by way of Michigan and Texas. I am permanently landed here and hope you and Jeannie will stay and grace our lives for a long time to come.
Thank you for being such a great person!
Post a Comment