The main reason that I don’t have time to give you the appropriate attention is Facebook Live video. It’s taking over my life, along with Twitter video also.
“That’s why you’re retired,” my childhood chump Billy Baker used to say on the air all the time. “Admit it. You’re living like a retired guy.”
And I was for a long time. I would do the morning show and then I’d shuffle some papers at the office and then ride my bike home before noon. Lots of naps. Lots of lifting weights. Some cleaning of the house. For years, I did my laundry daily.
The world has changed. My world has changed. And I really don’t know where it’s headed, if anywhere, because of Facebook Live and Twitter video.
On Monday, I rode my bike to the morning show and then came back in the late morning to do two “JED in the Money” segments. These are when I sit down in the studio with people from the business community and talk with them about their businesses. We do it only on Facebook Live/Twitter in video. I honestly don’t know why I started to do them. Perhaps there’s no other reason than I want to prove to my childhood chump that I’m not a retired guy.
Monday, 10am – I interviewed Steve Kavois and Jason Urbaniak about their wealth management firm, Oak Partners as a “JED in the Money” segment.
10:30am – I interviewed Jerome Fleming, a pipefitter. He turns a lot of wrenches, so his hands hurt. He’s developed a machine in which you soak your hand in bubbling water and herbs and your hand pain gets better. Jerry’s spent 250K to do this.
11am – I ride by bike home.
Noon – I run the three miles back to the studios at Purdue. I do this because I have an extra bike still at the studio and I want to bring it home. I am still out of shape and I hack up blood once in a while when I run, but at least all of my bikes are at home now.
1pm – Brandon Smith from Meatheads restaurant in Schererville caters a lunch for Debbie, Sam Michel, Christina Cortez and me. There’s burgers, grilled chicken, chicken tenders, chopped salad, fresh potato chips and more. This is one of the perks of doing radio, er, broadcasting. Every so often a restaurant calls up and asks if we want lunch. We do.
1:30pm – I interview Brandon Smith of Meatheads. He’s their catering coordinator. Brandon went to Hammond High and lives not too far from the station. He’s studying marketing at Ivy Tech. Good communication skills. Let’s see where he goes in life.
2:30pm – I sit down with Sam Michel and on a whim we do a Facebook Live/Twitter video segment called “JED and Sam.” We talk about Highland high baseball coach Joe Bogner, amongst other topics.
6:45pm – I run into Tyler Korellis, the son of my neighbors. Tyler recently graduated from West Point.
“Where you headed, Mr. Dedelow?”
“Yoga.”
“Yoga? Did you lose a bet?”
I pull away quickly. I don’t look at Tyler in my rearview mirror. Now, just to review, for the three or four of you and Billy Baker – does this sound like the life of a retired guy?
It does not. If I was the “retired guy,” then I would have gone home after the show and lifted weights in the garage, did some laundry, rode my bike over to mess around with my nieces and nephews, and then came home to cook some shitty dinner for my lawyer wife.
That was my life until Facebook Live came along. Now the world has changed. As a matter of fact, in the shower recently I came up with this marketing message.
The world has changed. It’s no longer TV and radio. It’s Facebook Live and Twitter video. And we got it.
That’s not earth-shattering marketing, but it gets the message across, which is this – I am no longer the “retired guy.”
On Tuesday morning, Verlie came in and we did a good radio show like we always do. But at the end of it, Verlie suggested that she won’t see me until August.
“Maybe I’ll give your boycotters what they want and I’ll take off July.”
“Doubtful,” I said. There won’t be any bowing to the boycotters or anyone else, at least not now. If boycotting or pressure from agenda hounds interferes with my real retirement, then we’ll talk. For now, let’s just do radio. You can say whatever you want. I’ll just try to stay as independent as possible and sit in the corner and watch the entertainment.
On Tuesday, the non-retirement because of Facebook Live continued. After the show with Verlie –
11:15am – I interviewed Wally Kasprizicky of the Cavalier Inn in Hammond. Wally said something that you don’t get to hear too often when you do business interviews.
“I really try not to change things too much.”
Wally’s family has been serving Polish food – and American drink – since 1949. It worked for his mom and dad and it works for Wally and his family. I like his acceptance of things. Sometimes you just have to get out of the way and let things happen. Wally does this well.
1:30pm – Eric Gastevich, the developer, comes in. He just built that big 2929 building on 80/94 at Kennedy Avenue. He also developed White Oak Estates and several of the biggest subdivisions in northwest Indiana.
“At the heart, I’m a Region guy. And I’m proud of that,” Eric said.
Gastevich grew up in Gary. We talked about that and how “cash is king, you gotta have it” if you’re gonna be a developer. By the time Gastevich leaves, it’s past 2pm. I still have to ride my bike home and go to a wake. I woke up at 3:45 to get ready to do the show and I won’t get home until 6pm. Does that sound like the life of a retired guy?
What’s really happening is that I did live a little bit of a retired life for a good six or seven years. I admit that. But now My Radio Life is heading in a different direction. Facebook Live and Twitter video are making sure of that. Here’s the dilemma, though, for the three or four of you.
Yes, I understand that we should be doing as much Facebook Live and Twitter video as possible – but where is it all headed?
That’s the tough question. Remember that I write this blog not just for the three or four of you who read it now, but also for the seven or eight who will read it in the future. I want them to know what it was like during the transition from radio to something other than radio. The seven or eight in the future will have the advantage of knowing what the answer is to the question – where is this all headed?
You and I do not know the answer to this question. It could be that I’m doing all of these “JED in the Money” interviews and doing all of these games on Facebook Live and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars investing in video stuff… and it’s heading nowhere. There are all sorts of scenarios in which what we’re doing right now in terms of transitioning to Facebook Live and Twitter just doesn’t work. As a matter of judgment, if I had to handicap it if it’s more likely or less likely that we will ever get a return on all of this investment, I’d have to, when push comes to shove, admit that there’s no guarantee that our hard work and sacrifice will pay off. It may be that it’s less than likely that this foray into video will ever pay off at all.
That doesn’t mean that we’re gonna pull back on it. We’re actually pushing forward on it. I forgot to put in my above calendar that I had breakfast with Ryan Walsh, the WJOB sports producer, and Sam Michel, our resident fill-in host and sports announcer. I put a challenge to them.
“I want you to do with sports what I’m doing with business.”
“Okay.”
“You guys see how, with JED in the Money, we’re slowly making the Purdue Commercialization Center the center for business broadcasting in the Region.”
“Yeah.”
“So do the same thing with Sports.”
I don’t know how this can happen, with both business and Sports. I do the “JED in the Money” interviews because I like to hear business people’s stories. Each one is its own drama, its own story of taking risk and not knowing if it’s gonna work out or not. That’s the definition of a mystery. I can’t get enough of people’s stories of risk and only the possibility of reward.
So I ask them to come to Purdue to tell me their stories. I don’t have a solid business plan for doing so. And I don’t really have a plan of where it’s supposed to lead. All I can do is rely on my business horse sense, and that is telling me that I should, eventually, bring every business person in the Calumet Region to our studios at Purdue and have them tell us their story. Something good will come of that.
But what about Sports? Sam and Ryan toyed with the idea of going around to the local high schools and colleges and interviewing coaches and players on Facebook Live.
“Is that really the most efficient way to gain the most content?” I asked them.
They both scratched their heads.
“What if we bring the coaches and players to us instead?”
There’s a thought. We can cover more coaches and players, and they can get a taste of what it’s like to be in a “TV studio,” if they come to us. Let’s see if Ryan and Sam make this happen. It’s a mystery.
You know what else is a mystery?
Like how come I’m up in the middle of the night writing a blog for the three or four of you instead of dreaming about baseball and sex, red hot pizza and monsters under the bed. Like where radio’s headed. Like where Facebook Live and Twitter video is headed. The only thing for certain is that if I do happen to be able to fall back asleep for a couple of hours, I’ll wake up with a sore shoulder and a stiff back and I’ll still have to ride my bike to work to do a radio show. This is something that I very much hope happens. Talk to you soon.