I had my first studio recording session yesterday. I’m pitching the idea of a Real Joe radio show to a couple of media outfits and they’re interested. One has some seed money for developing a pilot, but they want to hear some tapes of my written essays before they decide. I found an independent radio producer here in Northfield who has a professional studio setup in his house and he’s offered to help me.
I stopped at a cemetery before my recording session to reflect a bit. I was aware that I really wanted to be able to do this. Ever since I heard folk-blues musician Tony Glover do his all-night ‘underground’ radio show on KDWB am 63 back in 1969 (“Brought to you by J.A. Gerber Jewelers, 385 Wabasha Street in downtown St. Paul. Home of the Northern Star diamond.”) I’ve had a closet desire to be a DJ or radio personality of some sort. His show’s theme song, Repent Walpurgis by Procol Harum, is one of my all-time favorite rock instrumentals and I’ve been entertaining a fantasy about it being the theme song for a Real Joe radio show.
But I know this is an ego thing, not much different than wanting to be the lead singer/guitar player in a rock band, or a professional hockey player, both fantasies of my youth. I’ve told myself that it’s not necessary for me to be a radio voice, that the main thing is get a show on the air somehow, and find people who have the knack for hosting and contributing good pieces who have great radio voices. So I resolved to tell the radio producer who I asked to help me to be totally honest, that it wasn’t critical for me to do this. In other circumstances where I’m about to do something new, a prayer might be “Help me summon the courage to do this” but in this instance, my prayer was, “Help me accept the truth.”
I did ok. I don’t have one of those ‘golden throats’ obviously, but my voice is evidently easily understood without me having to deliberately enunciate. I managed to find a middle range between monotone and sing-songy but I had to force myself to read a lot faster. It helped to imagine that I was speaking to someone face-to-face. I now have to come up with a couple of pieces that can be read in 2-3 minutes, so I’m thinking maybe one essay, one Joe to Go, and a”news of the week” Weblog piece. My next studio session is Thursday. This doesn’t mean I’d be a host, just that I could read my own stuff. Cool beans.