The radio show you are listening to was “born” two decades ago. Yes. Two decades. Meaning 20 years. A score. I was in the middle of an enjoyable career in television. I had graduated to television from an enjoyable career in radio. That is a not-so-unusual trajectory. A communications-inclined broadcaster starts in radio and, if they are attractive (yes this is true, and two decades ago I was…to more people than my love-is-blind family members) they often move on to television. So my body moved on, but my heart was always in radio.
I love radio for alot of reasons – it’s intimacy, it’s ability to allow the “commoner” to participate in mass communication, the creative possibilities of sound and sound effects. On and on. But mainly I love talking to people. I love your stories. I love hearing where you came from, how you got here, where you wish you were and where you hope to be.
One of my assignments as a reporter for The 700 Club television show was to find and interview someone who “came over on the boat” through Ellis Island to become an American. I scoured the public records of New York City (this was pre-internet) and found a woman – then in her late 80′s who came over from Europe to her new home. I took a taxi to her home – the 62nd floor of an unassuming New York City high rise. I spent a wonderful 3 hours in the tiny apartment of this woman – her home for over 50 years. She told me with clarity and passion of her journey to our shores, her first glimpse of Ellis Island, her love for America, her cherished citizenship. She seemed thrilled to tell the story, grateful to have been asked.
As I walked the concrete away from her high-rise – I looked up, trying to identify the window that was hers. I scanned the windows and I thought “behind every one there is a story.” Yes, that’s really how I think. Then and Now.
In months to come I’ll finish the story of how I got here. But I want to find your window. I want to hear your story. Call me. or post your own blog. I really love this.
