I have been on the radio twice and it still makes me nervous.
We in Laguna Beach (California) are lucky to have our own radio station, KX 93.5 FM. It is a commercial-free, community station that plays music from the 1960s forward, interviews local personalities, and announces area events. Though it has only been in operation for a handful of years, it has become a dependable and much listened to source of music and information for Laguna residents, as well as for worldwide listeners who can access KX 93.5 via the internet where they can listen to programing via podcasts.
Last spring, soon after my book was released, I made my radio debut on Tyler Russell’s early morning show. Tyler, a 26 year old native of Tucson, Arizona, is a graduate of multi-media journalism from Chapman University. Having worked at a string of southland stations before coming to KX 93.5, Tyler is already a veteran DJ who was able to put me at ease (sort of) before the show went live—not a small task. He interviewed me for a quick 15 minutes and the time slid by rapidly, with only a few heart palpitations.
Then some months later, while at the garden birthday party of a dear friend, I was introduced to her neighbor, Ernest Hackman, a long-time local resident involved in the business, service/non-profit, and educational institutions of the area. These days he also hosts an hour long music and interview show on Laguna Radio, an activity that drew me to him the day at the party. I was introduced as the author of a recently published book with an fascinating story to tell. In spite of my trepidation about live radio, his interest in my novel was evident and, within days, I had a booking for a future appearance on his show, “The Importance of Being.”
So last Saturday, I again found myself at the radio station, seated on a high stool, a large, black foam-covered, microphone brushing my nose, and waiting nervously for the green “on the air” light. Ernest made every possible effort to put me at ease (again, not an easy assignment).
I liked the format of Ernest’s show. The interview segments, only about 10 minutes each, were separated by longer stretches of music. During the music segments, he let me know how he wanted to steer the conversation in the next portion of the interview and asked me what I wanted to be sure to cover. At the end of the last segment, I was given time to share information about my web-site and some of my up-coming speaking engagements. When it was all over, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief and Ernest kindly pronounced the day’s program to be “good radio.”
I find appearing on the radio to be exciting, but I am still not entirely comfortable with the medium. I have to admit that I miss the audience feed-back that comes with live, public speaking. I love the energy that flows from an audience you can see and feel. (More on how much I am enjoying speaking to a live audience in another blog soon). On radio, no matter how friendly and warm the DJ is, I still am not my best speaker in front of that black, inanimate, radio microphone. Of course, if given the opportunity, I would again climb aboard that scary ride for the thrill of experience and the chance to share the story of Immigrant Soldier.
Both Tyler Russel and Ernest Hackman sent me pod-cast links to the shows on which I appeared and I posted them on my author and personal Facebook pages. If you have not had a chance to listen to them on-line at the KX 98.5 web-site, the links to them is available below.
Listen to the Podcast of the March 31st, Morning show with Tyler Russel
http://kx935.com/podcast/tylerrussellspodcast/3.31.2015.0700
Listen to Podcast of September 26th, The Importance of Being show with Ernest Hackman
http://kx935.com/podc…/tiob.interviewpodcasts/9.26.2015.0800
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