Taking over the airwaves!

When I was in college, a friend of mine worked part time as an assistant at the local FM radio station. The job title sounded impressive, but in reality it left a lot to be desired. He was a glorified gopher who covered the front desk and ran for coffee. On the rare occasions he was let into the studio and asked to briefly cover for the DJ, making a restroom pit-stop, he was told not to touch anything.

The station was small potatoes. The power of its wattage and the number of listeners were nothing to write home about. For us students, stuck in the middle of nowhere, though, the station, was the only game in town.

To make matters worse, the station, in the days before streaming services, played a steady run of syrupy bubblegum pop music. For my friend, who lived outside New York, this was unacceptable. He was used to listening to a wide array of music genres and regularly taking the train to concerts to see some of the biggest bands of the day like The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and Peter Gabriel. He couldn’t stand the round the clock playing of electronic dance music and pop. The mere mention of the Grateful Dead or up-and-coming alternative rock acts, outside of the Top 40, would send him into a tirade.

Um, let’s think this through!

Late one Friday night after the millionth playing of Madonna (Papa don’t preach) and Lionel Richie (Say you, Say me), he reached his limit. He came up with the brilliant idea to break into the studio and take over the station. His plan was to lure the DJ out of the studio and then lock himself inside and take over the airwaves, playing “real music” as he called it. He understood that he would get into trouble. However, he believed that once listeners came to his defense, he would be lauded for his taste in music.

I’m not sure how serious he was, but he sure put a lot of thought into his plan. Now smarter heads prevailed. Yes, yes, I convinced him that the station wasn’t worth the trouble, including getting kicked out of college. A large group of us, though, spent the rest of the night dreaming whimsically about what we would do if we were ever in charge.

Our list was long. We would play music we wanted to play. We would make the cost of used text books cheaper. We would run more buses on campus so that you didn’t freeze to death walking from one end of campus to the other. We would have cheap wings every night in the cafeteria, not just Monday and Tuesday. You know — important stuff!

Taking over the airwaves!

My friend calmed down and soon forgot about how close he came to getting into trouble. That’s my way of saying that I never got my chance to take over a radio station. But I recently achieved the next best thing. Yup, I got to take over the Sharing the Heart of The Matter podcast and turn the tables on my friends Vicki Atkinson and Wynne Leon and ask them about reaching their 100th episode milestone.

God help us all. God help anyone brave enough to listen. Me? Taking over a podcast? Uh-oh!

We talked about creativity and process and how they come up with each episode. But I got to the real fun. I got to grill them on all the tough questions that their inquiring listeners want to know. For example, I asked them to spill the beans about who their dream guest would be.

I suspected they’d mention the movie and shakers of the world. I thought maybe some of Hollywood’s finest like Meryl Streep or Scarlett Johansson. From the music world, maybe Taylor Swift or Jennifer Lopez. Vicki and Wynne love talking about writing. Naturally, I thought of Colleen Hoover of It Ends With Us fame. I also considered nonfiction writers like Malcolm Gladwell or Michelle Obama.

Of course, they both said they love talking shop with writers big and small. I put them under the hot lights. I even threatened some water torture. They still came back with regular everyday folks. I guess I need to work on my turning the table skills. My skills need some work.

In the meantime, check out the HOTM Podcast. Let Vicki and Wynne know in the comments who you suggest they interview next? We have to start a campaign to get Authors Brené Brown or Mel Robbins to come on their podcast. Who’s with me?

Related Item:

• Episode 103: Turning the Tables with Brian Hannon on the Sharing the Heart of The Matter.