Radio As More Than A Station, A Vocation

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?

Do you know a DJ? Do you know someone who knows one? I do. Weird, aren't they?

Defensive, outgoing, culturally sensitive, to a fault in many cases, vain, embittered, pent up, generous, to a fault in many cases. Brilliant when he should be worried; worried when she should be concerned. Many now have gone online, as I will, right before your very eyes in just a moment. See what I mean, though? Always promoting. Coercive, entitled, opinionated to the point of it being a shortcoming (in many instances). Faulty, to a fault in many cases.

That's the kind of fluctuation you might encounter should you make a great big something out of absolutely nothing. That's what these DJs did. There was no such professional occupation only five to ten years before many of them entered their life-long field.

Shotgun Tom and Bobby Ocean

Just a smattering of years back, these very souls were a bit younger, more wide-eyed more often, and much more frequently in awe. With the myriad others that made up their gen-gen-generation, they were witnessing an historical speed bump, or pivot point: the birth of the Media Big Bang.

In the beginning you had to have a very loud voice. Then there was the invention of radio. We were able to hear voices and music "right out of the air!" There were "shows of all timbre, from somber to limber!" And it broadcast right into your home radio receiver!

Just a few years ago, making the career choice, to get into radio, required a certain degree of daring and boldness. Radio Show Biz was enchanting all right, AND there were other considerations. You needed either a "thick skin"in order to take on all the strangeness, unfamiliarity and emotional risk included, or. in lieu, youth would do.

Plus, it was frightening. Recall for a moment that what we were attempting to do on the radio had never been done before; by way of maps or templates, we had none. That said, we also had nothing holding us back.

Adding up the "nothings," we found we didn't have any good reason not to jump into broadcasting with both eardrums..

[In making that choice, Broadcasting as a vocation, I was barely aware that's what I was doing. Coincidentally, it also never occurred to me that I might not succeed.]

"You're going to go on the radio and play hit records and tell jokes? You're crazy!"

Going on the air in the role of the DJ, "in front of God and everybody," was classified as a fine mixture of bold, spontaneous Mark Twain Adventure Story and Unfeigned Optimism. That it was as good an actual vocation as our provident Earth supplies was a bonus; most of us had made the decision to do it anyway.

It was better than perfect; the part seemed written precisely for each one of us individually. It was, at once, too good to be true, and, better than could've ever been imagined. No wonder our radio station, way before internet, way before syndication, went viral coast to coast. No one told us we couldn't.

We were so wrapped up in presenting San Diego our personal best, we didn't notice we were making a little radio history of our own.

For the rest of the story, I now switch to my online media appearance and will be joined by many of these "kids who chose to run away and join the carnival," radio. Just click on the Shotgun/Ocean pic above...