Saturday, January 26, 2013

"Horse and Buggy, AM and FM....Lemmings Of A Feather..."

I quit.

More about that in a moment.

Some years ago, a top flight studio and concert musician that I had the privilege of knowing and working with told me that the best musicians he had ever experienced were unique in that they understood one very important, often overlooked, fact.

"What it takes to be a world class musician," he offered, "isn't knowing when to play...

...it's knowing when not to play."

Being the astute type, I honed right in on those transporter co-ordinates.

And thought back to the musicians, stage performers, comics, even politicians...and, especially, radio personalities that I have experienced over the last forty or fifty years.

The ones I remember most readily, and vividly, were the ones who knew about subtlety, nuance, timing and, more importantly, when to shut the hell up.

There's a reason, it turns out, why the old expression "always leave them wanting more" is an old expression.

Yesterday, I "retired" from my third career, to date, in this lifetime.

And said a symbolic, if not literal, farewell to the occupation of conventional radio broadcasting.

Career number four looms imminent.

And, to paraphrase George Harrison's wonderful line in A Hard Day's Night re' Ringo's drum kit, I hope, one day, for that career to loom large in my legend.

The what, why and how's about it of said career will be the subject of my semi-regular ramblings here.

If you're aware of my work, you know what to expect.

If you're new to the playground, welcome.

Either way, I promise to be a champion of the people, a voice......oh....wait.....

That was Charles Foster Kane's declaration of principles.

My bad.

This collection of essays will offer my insight (read: two cents) about the current state of broadcasting, media, et al, where they've been and where I think they're headed.

As with any blog, obviously, with my opinion and seven bucks you can buy cigarettes.

So, don't feel any obligation to drink the Kool Aid here.

Take it for what it's worth.

And I promise to be nothing more, or less, than true to whatever insight finds its way from my assorted cortexes to the fingers typing these words at this moment.

Every good new movie or show begins with a pitch of premise.

As it should be with any good new blog.

So here you go.

The premise is that I think conventional radio is dying.

And that it has joined the ranks of the Pony Express, Ma Bell and eight track tape player factories.

Out with the old, in with the new.

That's why I retired yesterday.

Putting a dull blade into the display case.

And signing on to wield a little cutting edge.

Put simply, as I said at the outset...

I quit.

And, so it begins.









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