Author Archives: Steve Mays
How far would you walk for a cup of Rocket Fuel?
5.1 miles according to Google Maps. And — as Google predicted– it took just about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
The battery on my 12 year old 4 Runner conked out Sunday evening. A neighbor jumped me and I dropped the car at the local Toyota dealer. This morning I could have called someone for a lift to work but that would have meant missing my visit to the Coffee Zone.
So I set out on foot just before 6 a.m., with a sign taped to my back that read: “Latte for a ride.” I figured I’d get a ride in no time. Seriously, I thought it was cute (but later learned it was just creepy). I left just before 6 a.m.
Big strong men in pick-up trucks passed me by. They were either afraid of me or just didn’t give a shit.
90 minutes later I arrived at the Coffee Zone, sweaty with two quarter-sized blisters on the bottom of my feet. When the oil is all gone I’ll be able to ride a bike down the middle of the street.
Do you have anything in first class?
During our brief chat this morning, my brother told me of a recent trip he and a co-worker took from one Indonesian city to another. Half-way through the 12-hour train ride, the lights went out. The crowded car was pitch black. A trip to the toilet involved trying not to step on the people who were sleeping in the aisle (or the rats and cockroaches).
On the return trip, they opted for the bus. There’s the regular bus which allows you to bring small farm animals aboard… and the “Executive” bus which does not. They chose the latter.
The most exciting part of the trip never happened. As they sat on the train, waiting for it to leave the station, two men got on, stowed their luggage, and then got off. My brother and his companion agreed they would get off the train if the men were not back on by the time it departed.
Taisir Yanis: Great American!
Tape and resume requested
During my radio days (70’s and early 80’s) it was common practice to check the job listings in the back of Broadcasting (a trade publication) to see who was hiring. (The main reason station managers didn’t leave the magazine lying round.) Most of those ads ended with “Tape and resume requested.”
The tape was also called an “air check” and usually worked something like this:
Let’s say I did a four hour air shift each afternoon. I would record it and later edit out everything except the parts where I was saying something clever or –at the very least– saying something in a deep, resonant voice.
If I was doing a record show, my air check consisted primarily of my introductions to songs. This was in the day when the DJ “talked over” the instrumental intro to a song and it was considered something of a skill to be able to chatter mindlessly right up the instant the vocal started. DJ’s prided themselves in knowing the exact length of the intros to popular songs.
So the air check –once it had been “telescoped”– had this weird “this is/that was” quality. I did a lot of air checks and they always reminded me of how little I was actually adding to the listeners’ experience.
And the voice was important back in those days. Deep, full, rich voices were highly prized. “What” you said was considered less important than “how” you said it. “Good pipes” were much in demand.
And many (most?) DJ’s had this strange, over-modulated, swallow-your-words way of talking. I’d give you an audio example but it’s too painful and embarrassing to recall.
It’s a short hop from one of those telescoped air checks to the realization that –with the new computers and software– a DJ could record his or her part of that four hour air shift in far less time. Which would mean we could cover more air shfits with fewer DJ’s and take all that money to the bank.
As the cost of satellite distribution came down, group owners figured out they could have a few talented folks in one part of the country “voice track” shows for LOTS of radio stations. Even more savings.
I remember spinning records for 5 or 6 hours at a time, and thinking this is not a good use of my great talent. But I’m really glad I didn’t miss that part of the radio experience. Going into a studio to voice-track several hours of “my show” would seem to be very… unsatisfying. Like being a sperm donor.
I don’t know what it’s like working at a radio station these days. I hope it’s still fun. I remember Charlie Earls (the owner of our station) saying something along the lines of: “If we make enough money to pay the bills, and have fun in the process, that’s a good deal.”
I’m thinking you don’t hear that much anymore.
Non-American health care
Good old American health care is all I’ve ever known. I remember when the family doctor made house calls. I think I even remember when the insurance company existed to help us (but that could have just been a dream).
We can’t really call what’s happening a national “debate” on health care — more of a national shriek– but there are those who think we have the best health care in the world. Since I haven’t been a lot of places in the world, I decided to get the opinion of some of my over-seas pen pals.
Keith Povall lives in or near Birmingham, UK and has recently had more of their national health care than he would have liked. You can read his full assessment in the comments, but here’s an excerpt:
“In modern times, much criticism has been leveled at the NHS because there is a lot of truth in the opinion that it is a monster grown out of control. It is the largest employer in Europe for example and many say / believe that there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians (to coin a phrase). Over the years, governments have thrown billions at it and the monster gobbles up the cash. It is believed governments would like to introduce a private service to replace it, but in the main “the people” love the NHS, something that is there as a safety net for when they need it and whilst you will hear complaints about income tax and stealth taxes, no one complains about their NI contributions.”
Peter is a psychiatric nurse in the Netherlands and –as a health care provider– might be less than objective on this subject. On the other hand, he has first-hand knowledge of his country’s system.
“The insurance companies want to control everything; they even want to control what professionals like me should do or not. The basis of their policy is not what the clients want (those who put money in the big jar) but what the shareholders want. Their goal is not good health care for their members, but profit and big bonus for a couple of hotshots. A very bad development which surely will be changed the moment the issue is hot again and elections are due. As you see we are quite a normal country in this.”
Again, I hope you’ll read Peter’s full email in the comments.
I’m still waiting to hear from a friend in Belgium and will add her thoughts if and when we get them. My thanks to Keith and Peter for taking time to respond to a serious inquiry from me. Something they are rarely called upon to do.
“No surprises”
Reply
I love the novels of Neal Stephenson and find that I can read them again and again, always discovering something new and fresh. The excerpt below is from Snow Crash, written in 1976. published in 1984.
“The people of America, who live in the world’s most surprising and terrible country, take comfort in that motto. Follow the loglo outward, to where the growth is enfolded into the valleys and canyons, and you find the land of the refugees. They have fled from the true America, the America of atomic bombs, scalpings, hip-hop, chaos theory, cement overshoes, snake handlers, spree killers, space walks, buffalo jumps, drive-bys, cruise missiles, Sherman’s March, gridlock, motorcycle gangs and bungee jumping. They have parallel-parked their bimbo boxes in identical computer-designed Burbclave street patterns and secreted themselves in symmetrical sheetrock shitholes with vinyl floors and ill-fitting woodwork and no sidewalks, vast house farms out in the loglo wilderness, a culture medium for a medium culture.”
It means nothing out of context, I suppose, but this is where I put things I want to find again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Neal Stephenson do an interview but perhaps I just missed them.
A video from the CEO
Learfield CEO Clyde Lear started blogging in March of 2006. And he’s been very consistent since then, writing or rewriting every post. This morning he asked me to come to his office to help him add a video to a post he was working on.
He shot the video by setting his Casio Exilim on the window sill (to get the best light) and ad libbing his post in one take. By the time I got there, he had the file on the desktop of his iMac and just wanted to know best way to trim the front and back. I showed him how to do that in iMovie and then gave him the login to my YouTube account.
You can watch the video on his blog if you’re interested. I think the quality is pretty darned good.
Equally impressive –to me– is Clyde’s use of his blog and –in this instance– video to communicate something to the entire company. This is the next best thing to him walking into every employee’s office and talking to them, one on one. The entire process took maybe 30-40 minutes.
So there are two things at work here. First, our CEO wants to let us know why he does the things he does. He cares that we get it from him “directly.” Second, mastering the tools and skills needed to do this.
Am I making too much of this? Maybe. But had he had someone write (and rewrite) a script that he “delivered” to a crew who gave it to some editors who ran it past some lawyers and PR types… the message would have been a different one.
Never answer the phone while having intercourse. Texting is okay.
July is Cell Phone Courtesy Month. As with all such months, there’s a list of cell phone no-no’s. There are a lot of lists. As I scanned them I saw that I was guilty of a couple of the more venial sins. I still catch myself talking too loudly and I answer the phone in the middle of a conversation. I’ve chalked these up to still being something of a newbie to the cell phone experience and plan to break these bad habits.
Nathan Waddell is the director of sales for U. S. Cellular in Missouri and a nice PR lady named Susan arranged for me to talk with Nathan about this important topic.
Radio stops with the listener
What do you do when someone sends you a good video, a photo, or a link to an interesting news item? You share it. Maybe with a link on Facebook or Twitter; a blog if that’s your thing; or you simply email it to everyone in your address book. And some of them will do the same. It seems quite natural after 15 years of life on the net.
Now, what do you do when you hear something interesting, amusing or important on the radio? Assuming you’re not recording, your options are limited. You could call a friend, but by the time you reach them the song/interview/comedy bit is likely to be over.
All the good stuff you hear on the radio (or TV) pretty much stops when it reaches the listener. That never bothered me before because… well, where else _could_ it go after reaching me? There WAS no practical way to share it.
The web changed all that. Even the dumbest cat photo goes on and on and on.
Before hitting the record button or opening the mic, we should ask ourselves, “Can anyone link to what I am about to create?”