Sounding the third alarm.
It’s truly a piece I’d rather not be writing. But, I have to because once upon a time, I had this dream of being on the radio. What I dreamed about was one thing. It was an escape into the fantasy world of rock and roll. What I grew into…was so much more and it’s going to vanish, and society can’t afford that.
All I wanted was to be seen and heard. I was a misfit from childhood through adolescence. I was not a good fit in school, I was put on Ritalin for it and I also began drinking at 12 because the Ritalin kept me awake. I got my crack at “joining the circus” when I was 5 months out of high school, getting a radio internship and I never once looked back. My mind was set on one small notion. To remember that the majority of people who work do what they have to do for a living instead of what they want to, and my role is to be their relief. How do I give them a break from the minutia once a day, even if only for a moment.
What I got was an education in the importance and value of the intangible. A radio spot plays…and then it’s gone. A song comes along you like, then you have to wait till you hear it again. You heard your neighbor drop by and talk about something important going on at the school. Last night, when you bumped into them out in the driveway, they were nervous about it, but there they were doing it. Even better….your kid got to be on TV! The meteorology guy dropped into their school for a science day. You got to drive up to the TV station and give some change to the Telethon. Gimmicks? Think again
It’s all of this that builds the fiber of a community. Your favorite morning show talking about what’s coming up in the area for the next couple of weeks. The TV station out doing a kinda whacky report about some event raising some money for the Red Cross. The guy in the afternoon doing ticket giveaways. Yes, the ticket giveaways have a hidden meaning. They are reminders…they are the glue that helps the commercial sink in. The radio interview with the neighbor? That’s engagement and mutual benefit. That song that you liked? Did you buy the record, or download it? Mission accomplished. Maybe the radio station will have a hand bringing that act to town.
Now the harshest of reality. When 9/11 hit. What did you do? Chances are most everything came to a stop and you sought out some local, trusted voice and waited to find out what they were getting. I was imperfectly at work for about 18 hours that day. Scrambling, but I knew people needed to know. What if there’s a chemical spill in your town? What if there’s a weather emergency? Today, thanks to greed….those voices are sill coming in from somewhere else and cheerfully delivering last Friday’s news or talking about an event that’s already come and gone….because no one is there.
That’s 100% of the reason that we’ve built digital on demand media. They have given up on the communities they are federally licensed to serve. Stop supporting them, they gave up on you long ago.
