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Corey Deitz was on with us today on Life is Show Prep. Deitz has done radio shows in some of the greatest markets including Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Richmond, Virginia Beach and Little Rock.
He and his partner now do mornings on KDJE-FM (100.3) in Little Rock and syndicate their show to several other Clear Channel radio stations. His first book about the inside world of Radio, “The Cash Cage” was published to rave reviews.
As we progress with the show, Corey and I started talking about the listeners… I thought that he had originally written the following story, but apparently not. I’m not sure who to attribute that to, however, I thought it was fitting to pass along.
Electric Dreams
It was a Monday morning just before 5 a.m. I’m getting ready to go on the air, waiting for the network show we’re running to end. It’s John Garabedian and the Open House Party.
As John is wrapping up, he tells us about a well known New England broadcaster who recently passed away… a man named Sonny Joe White. I wasn’t familiar with Sonny, but my news director hails from Maine and he had heard a lot about White’s work.
John ended the show by playing a song in Sonny’s memory… and he selected the song Electric Dreams, from the movie of the same name. Formatically, it fit the show perfectly because it’s a dancy tune… but more than that… the sentiment couldn’t have been clearer. “We’ll always be together in electric dreams.”
I found myself strangely moved… I didn’t know the deceased… but the idea of a broadcaster continuing to exist to his or her friends and fans in electric dreams appealed to my emotions. Moreover… I absolutely believe it’s true, and I’ll explain why.
As a broadcast professional, there’s a basic job you do each day: play the music, play the spots, read the weather, keep the station on the air. But what you really do goes way beyond those basics.
You make people laugh. You make people think. You make people happy. You provide companionship… perhaps even friendship. You may be a role model for a young person who has been bitten by the radio bug and wants to be just like you. You help make things happen in your community. You’re there when someone needs to talk.
Evidence of this? A listener you’ve never met before comes up to you at an appearance. Right away, the listener feels comfortable in your presence… not intimidated. Does that mean they don’t consider you a star? No. it means they consider you to be a part of their lives… and that’s the mark of a truly successful broadcaster. They’ve let you in!
It’s the listener who invites you to dinner. It’s the listener who comes up to you at a remote and throws their arms around you as if they’ve known you forever. It’s the listener who asks you to come to their daughter’s school play because it would mean so much to her. It’s the listener who did something nicer for you on your birthday than your friends did. It’s the listener who’s sad when you go on vacation, and is so thrilled when you’re finally back.
The bond between broadcaster and listener is a paradox. You’re broadcasting to thousands, yet it’s one of the most intimate forms of communication in the world. They care about you… and they want to believe you care about them. It’s a relationship that exists in an electric reality. And it lingers.
Every once in awhile I’ll get a call or a card from someone who used to listen to me in a different part of the state. They haven’t forgotten a thing! It’s amazing that the time we spent together on the phone or at an appearance made that big an impression on them. So perhaps during my absence, we were already sharing electric dreams.
In the electric dream, we’re always their favorite personality… they’re always our favorite listener. We live on somewhere in their memory whether we move, leave the business or in the saddest case, pass away.
Isn’t it a wonderful feeling to know that our life… our influence… doesn’t end the last time we open the mic? Isn’t it wonderful to know that the most positive part of our essence as a broadcaster… our personality… will live on?
Someday, somewhere, someone who used to listen to you will hear a song and it will spark inside them a pleasant memory of you. And there you’ll be… the listener and the personality… together in an electric dream.
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