The Gold Glow

​It’s 4:19 on a Monday afternoon in the middle of July. I had a full day of radio already and that means it was probably a pretty good day.
 
All radio days are good. Just some are better than others.
 
I woke up this morning next to my wife of 26 years, took a shower and drove to our radio station on the campus of Purdue Northwest.

The studios have a gold glow right before sunrise. It’s partly because the colors for that fine educational institution are black and gold. The carpeting has gold in it so do the walls.and so does the sun coming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
 
There must be beauty in these old airwaves.
Someday, eons in the future, a Martian or
A Lilliputian will hear what I had to say this morning.
 
I hope the Martian or Lilliputian wont’ be nearly
As disappointed as the three or four of you may have been.
 
I talked about innocent until proven guilty and
Playing lob ball as a kid and making sure that you
Pee before you leave anywhere anymore. I talked
About Trump and no traffic and how the Cubs keep
Winning and the Sox keep losing. We talked about
How a cop is charged with raping a woman and how
A little kid was killed by a stray bullet and then we
Laughed about Elaine on Seinfeld and how hard it is
To put toothpaste back in the tube once you’ve
Squeezed it out.
 
Radio is the answer. Radio is the cure. In the morning
Before I even start talking it is gold and it is beautiful
And it is pure.
No arguing with that, mofo.
 
…. Anyways, after the show, which I did for three hours, I worked out and then sat in Starbucks for a while reading. If I haven’t mentioned it to the three or four of you already, I’m back in school after a few decades. I’m taking the first class on my way to an MBA that has eluded me for a long time. Three or four times I have gone back to school only to stop studying for the first class half way through. That’s may happen again.
 
I walked into Starbucks carrying a backpack and textbook. I bought a hot Emperor’s Mist green tea, and sat down at one of the tables. To my left was also a student. You could tell because he had papers next to his laptop. On my right was a young woman who was also a student. She had a bunch of file folders that it took her forever to gather as she prepared to leave. I think she was pissed about the woman on the phone at the next table over.  The woman on the phone talked loudly for a long time. I, too, wanted to leave because of the woman. But, other than my office, I really didn’t have anywhere to go. So I stayed to read the ten pages that I had planned to.
 
After that, I went to the old WJOB studios where Frank Reynolds used to work and Jan Gabriel and Felicia Middlebrooks did too. Geno Sferruzza was there doing his noontime show and we fixed a bunch of stuff like a hum in the headphones and an overmodulated microphone. We also figured out how he could record his show at decent levels on Adobe Audition. Also, we fixed the Telos, which is a machine that lets you take calls on the air. Evidently, callers can’t hear the station while they’re on hold. I ordered a part and will fix that by the end of the week.
 
WJOB station manager Debbie Wargo and I then worked on invoicing people and figuring out our schedule for Pierogi Fest this weekend. We have a broadcast booth that we gotta man for the whole weekend. We also have to figure out how we’re gonna cover the big Pierogi Fest parade on Friday night. They get a hunnerd thousand people for the parade. Our booth is right in the thick of it. I think that this year I won’t walk in the parade. I’ll just hang out at the booth and help Rick Kubic and Kat Marlow broadcast the parade live. We’ll see.
 
I also met with Ben Cowert and Ryan Walsh and Jimmy Mullaney. We’re trying to figure out how we’re gonna cover high school football and college soccer this year. We’re also gonna Facebook Live and broadcast on the radio a dozen baseball games or so from Optimist Park. It’s the Cal Ripken World Series. The big technical dilemma is that they’re playing the World Series on two fields and we really only have the people and equipment to do one field at a time well. If we split our resources – including how much internet space we have available – we’re risking not having either one of them on Facebook in video. Or we risk doing both poorly.
 
Like anything else, do one thing well and you’ll make it through life with your underwear in tact.
 
I’m trying like hell to force out Another Thousand Words for the three or four of you about My Radio Life before Alexis and I go see a movie. On the air this morning. Mad Mac called in and gave his comments on “Dunkirk,” which just came out. Mad Mac suggested that if you’re gonna go see “Dunkirk,” read about it first. I don’t know what that means, but I’ll probably take his advice anyhows and read a few reviews.
 
Tonight we’re gonna go see “The Big Sick.” It will be a welcome break from radio and law, concerts and birthday parties, cleaning out the attic and filling up the holes in the backyard, Every once in a while you gotta sit in a dark, air conditioned theater and watch a movie that may or may not be good.
 
All movies are good. Just some have better sound than others.
 
To finish my workday, I met with Shemari Walker, the kid who’s gonna be a junior at Gavit High School. He’s as technically adept in computers and code as anyone I’ve ever met at any age. He and I are working on a special project that I can’t tell the three or four of you about yet… but soon. You’ll like it.
 
Bye, Talk to you later, the three or four of you who won’t go away.