Huh? What's Up With That?

anytime you deal with the...     I have learned over a period of time that there are people who don't like dealing with The Public and would rather not have anything to do with The Public.  They make it sound like they despise The Public and even go so far as to act as though he or she is not a member of the same universal group we call The Public .     The irony?  Most of the people who don't like The Public have jobs or positions with organizations or businesses that deal with The Public on a daily basis.     HUH ?   What's up with that ?   It's incalculable the number of times I've heard the phrase, Well, you know, anytime you deal with The Public.. ..    The last time it was directed at me, I smiled and asked the speaker if he was aware he was speaking to someone who is a card carrying member of The Public.     There is a vast difference between The Public and ...

  job$  somebody's gotta do...       Sounds of the City  was a unique radio program back in the early '60s and featured interviews of workers who held unusual jobs.   The interviewer was legendary Indianapolis broadcaster, Jim Gerard.      Mr. Gerard's radio home was on WFBM-AM (1260) beginning in 1962.  In the years to follow,  he would become a radio and television giant in that city.     Each Sounds of the City interview was complete with the sound(s) of the person's job in the background which meant Mr. Gerard went on location for these recorded one on ones.   I specifically remember the rapid staccato hammering of a jackhammer as Gerard talked to a man on Monument Circle about how long he had been  jackhammering .     Radio's job has always been to paint a picture for the listener.  Never was a pic...

  by design...                 When I first met Steve Kahn before the century turned, he was wearing a New York Yankee baseball cap.   We became acquainted when he frequented a business which I was a  part time worker during the summers of my Encore Performance .  He was an almost weekly customer, but I never saw him without that cap or its replacements.     The Bronx Bombers logo is what made me notice Mr. Kahn.     HUH ?   What's up with that ?    I grew up in a household that revered the Yankee tradition of fielding some of the game's all-time remarkable players.  My dad saw Babe Ruth play and who knows how many other legends.    Over several years in the 50s and early 60s, a trip to see the  Boys in Pinstripes  play the White Sox in Chicago was an annual or every other year event for the George brothers from Indianapolis.  A couple of our dad's friends a...

oddities, observations, & omg's...                                                             I have often wondered how close I came to being a child prodigy.    HUH ?   What's up with that ?    Was it a hands down deal that I was to be as I am?  Could it have been something totally different at 10 or 11 years old?  A gene in a different location or even an altered alignment of my DNA might have been all it would have taken for a child prodigy of music, math, or, even pop culture, to have emerged.     However, none of that happened.  Ordinary is my average.  But, as you read further you will see that I do share early age similarities to a child prodigy.....just in a different way.      The first presidential race I remember was 1952.  I marveled at t...

  a world without wayne...   There was something both wholly final and depressing about deleting a friend or relative from the contact list of my cellphone recently because that person had reached the end of life.     HUH ?   What's up with that ?    About two years ago,  my mother's name was removed from the same directory.  That was the first time I went through that emotional experience even though I did have a choice.  I could have left the number in my contacts as MOM,  but I chose not to pretend I could call her at any time.      Of course, a good friend passing away isn't of the same magnitude as losing a parent, but there is s a degree of sadness.   My friend's name was Wayne Perkey.  He was one of the first people in the community to welcome me to my new position when I moved to Louisville 46 years ago.      Ther...

encore performances...9                                                                      There are so many activities POS (People over 60) seek out once they begin their post-working career lives.  Interviews with perhaps 80 people over the course of the last 18 months reveal handball, tennis, pickleball, hiking, walking, and bicycle riding as just some of their favorite physical activities.  Swimming was mentioned often too.  One man in his mid 70s told me he skateboards.  He appeared to be fit enough to be successful at it.  A husband and wife who appeared to be in their 60s said they go mountain climbing twice a year.    However, when it comes to things to do excluding physical activity, domestic and overseas traveling is far and away the leader of all choices.  Start...

  the 1st saturday in may...                                                                      It was one of the most memorable sporting events I had ever witnessed and all because of the circumstances that placed me in the midst of tens of thousands of horse race fans.      HUH ?   What's up with that ?   Here's how those circumstances came to happen.   The year was 1976 and the venue,  Churchill Downs , was just a name that prior to that year was barely known to me.  I would soon learn it was as iconic a name in sports venues as  Yankee Stadium  and  Soldier Field .      My goal for the first years I had been in broadcasting was to work for a 50,000 Watt AM radio station.  There were only 12 clear channel (50K) stations (no other s...