The Life of a Media Mongrel

William Randolph Hearst and Rupert Murdock are media moguls.

I, on the other hand, would be a…..media mongrel.

They are known for their media properties. I am known for my addiction to media, despite the fact that I no longer earn a living at a manual typewriter or in front of a microphone. They did it for money. I do it because I find satisfaction and a creative passion to dabble in the audio arts.

This week I launched an Internet radio show which goes by the same moniker as my blog which is what I formerly used to call my radio commentary----Talk Isn’t Always Cheap. Don’t ask me where I got that title….it was devised way too long ago.

I originally thought I wanted to be a newspaper guy but after earning my way through journalism school by working at local weekly newspapers..And then getting kicked out of journalism school because I saw myself as an amalgam of Woodward and Bernstein….I turned instead to radio.

I simply love radio. It is a part of my bloodstream. I dearly admire Murrow and former St. Louis great Jack Carney to death. I might earn my living as a college president, but I will always want to instead continue the dream of being the overnight guy at KMOX in St. Louis. That would be the dream job of all-time for this humble Illinois boy.

So, when I discovered a former student’s efforts to recreate the radio experience on the Internet, I started scheming. That student is Ray Lytle, the creator of Chubby Ray Live, an Internet show on Ustream that I have admired for a couple of years.

I kicked Ray “off the air” more than he was “on the air” back in the day when I taught radio at Lewis and Clark Commjunity College. He was a highly successful FM air personality in Springfield, Illinois for years before deciding the Internet was the place to be. Ray’s development of an interactive show was something that simply was too much for me to resist.

So, I started by building a mini-studio in my mancave and now I am working to create a website to host my radio show and my blog. This has all come at a time when work has been extremely stressful. But in the evenings, I leave my college president hat at the front door and escape into the media much like Don Quixote did in literature…. Once I land in the ‘cave the stress flows away. I must say that Carol has been very understanding about the transformation and the retreat into the ‘cave…..

I have been challenged because unlike my kids, who are technology natives…..I am an immigrant to cyberspace. It doesn’t come easy. Remember, I started my media career on a Royal manual typewriter.

So, please, have some fun with me on one of these evenings. Click on the link that is offered on my Facebook page at the appointed time and escape into radio with me. Jack Carney used to have 300,000 listeners at the height of his career in St. Louis. I, on the other hand, got aroused when I realized my second show on the Internet drew 32 people!

Thirty two!

Just wait----I am on a rocket to fifty before Christmas!

That will put a smile on this media mongrel’s face.