ON THE RADIO

I always thought it would be great to be a DJ. In my youthful naivete, I fully believed that you would get to play whatever songs you wanted, and say whatever you wanted. [Note: I listened almost exclusively to the "Oldies" station in my youth, as that is what my dad listened to. Because of this, I have a warped sense of what radio is actually like.]

As I got older, I briefly considered attempting a career as a DJ. The morning shows of my youth - Eddie and Jobo on B96, followed by Mancow on Rock 103.5 (followed by Mancow on Q101) made it seem so cool - interviewing celebrities, having women throw themselves at you, playing awesome music. As I learned more about radio/TV careers, it became a lot less glamorous. I met a DJ from a Peoria radio station when I was in college and he...he wasn't as cool as I thought he would be. [Note 2: I met him at an appearance at a local restaurant. I had the choice between a Mighty Mighty Bosstones tape and a Blur CD. I chose the Bosstones.] Despite my one appearance on the campus radio station - filling in for "Deathboy," one of my residents - I thought my days of broadcasting were done.

As I mentioned in this space previously, one of the things I had talked about doing but never done was a podcast. One advantage this would have over traditional radio is that content wasn't dictated to us by any corporation (although we troll for sponsors). Another advantage would be the freedom to swear - freedom I didn't want to use if I didn't have to. The disadvantage, of course, being that any idiot with a microphone and an erstwhile companion can have a podcast, so it's difficult to know what exactly to talk about that hasn't already been discussed ad nauseam.

In any event, my friend/erstwhile companion Chuck and I spent Friday night recording a podcast. I was very nervous going in - would we have enough to fill an hour or so? Would I get an uncontrollable attack of the giggle-farts? Would I be the first one to swear?

To answer: Yes, no, and no. In fact, I don't know if we dropped an "F-bomb," and we did record two hour-plus length shows. It was smooth sailing, really, mainly because Chuck took care of all the technical aspects, leaving me free to just worry about talking. I'm already looking forward to the next time we record, hopefully with some special guests.

The link to the original version is here.

The link to the "PG" version is here.

This information is provided just in case you are the one person who reads this blog who is not also a facebook/myspace friend. (The person from the CCF who left a comment around Thanksgiving...I know you're still out there, searching blogs every day for mentions of the Christian Children's Fund! If it helps, CCF CCF CCF.)