Radio Ga Ga -- Jay

Sometimes I say stupid and embarrassing things. And that makes me nervous about this Thursday. Why? Because I’m doing a live radio interview on The Dave Congalton Show.

Mr. Congalton (who’s an author, as well) used to direct the local writing conference, which I attended for several years. He’s had an open-invite for me to appear on his radio show, but I’ve shied away from committing because…well…sometimes I say stupid and embarrassing things. And that’s fine when I’m standing in a classroom, or even in an auditorium. But on the air?

So how did this happen…

This coming Sunday, I’m doing a book signing at Coalesce Bookstore in Morro Bay with Catherine Ryan Hyde. Ms. Hyde has been doing the publishing-thing for several years, so she’s well connected with the local media. When she asked if I wanted to do a signing with her, she also said she could get us booked on The Dave Congalton Show on KVEC News-Talk 920…to which I replied with a very audible “Gulp!”

See, in high school, I did a brief internship at KVEC. They were searching for a couple teens who might be interested in writing for the radio news business and my guidance counselor recommended me.

It was an amazing few months with many cool responsibilities. One, I had to record the ABC news feed which came in at specific times. This was before the internet took off (in fact, I recorded it on 8-track cassettes!), so if I missed it, we couldn’t just download the report. Two, I had to call people, interview them, and record sound bites. Three, if I wanted to, I could record myself doing a special news report and they would air it. But I only did that once because my teen-voice was not radio-friendly. And four, I called the police news hotline to find stories to fill air-time. I became addicted to that hotline and would wake up in the middle of the night just to see what was goin’ down in the underbelly of my town…which wasn’t much. The only story I specifically remember writing was about a neighborhood Peeping Tom who’d been peering into bathroom windows. The police caught him in the bushes…y’know…doing something. (I'm not sure if this was the inspiration for a certain scene in Thirteen Reasons Why, but it sure sounds like it.)

After writing those police stories for several weeks, I was told that the news guys hadn’t been using my stuff. Ever! Apparently, I wasn’t writing them correctly. And everyone kept forgetting to tell me I was doing it wrong...or to show me how to do it right. So, day after day, I was happily turning in material which I thought was being used.

And I’m a sensitive writer!

So I left the radio business for good. But this Thursday at 3pm, I’m back! And even if you’re not in the area, you can probably catch me saying stupid and embarrassing things online by clicking here.

- Jay