The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost's 1916 poem about taking the "road less traveled" has inspired many people.    There may be one path we take in our lives, but there are many forks in that road.    If someone asked me what my career path would be if I had not taken the broadcasting and advertising route, my answer would be quick and clear.   I'd be teaching history.   My fascination with social studies even predates my interest in radio as a kid.   Geographic facts stick to me like Crazy Glue, but maps can get very technical.   It's the story of man that is most compelling to me.   When I go on a vacation trip, I make a terrible beach bum.  I'd rather play tourist.   That means visiting historic places.   In the seventies, I took plenty of college history courses but was discouraged from pursuing it because it was "not very marketable" at that point while I landed a radio job right  after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree.   After being laid off from Hartford radio station WDRC in 2002, I pursued the history dream again with four courses at Eastern Connecticut State University.   Maturity worked better for me the second time around in the form of better study habits as I garnered straight A's, but again I got more involved in making a living in radio broadcasting and direct mail advertising.   It was a great experience, but the history goal - and free time - grew more elusive than ever.   As I follow today's news, I know this background has helped me make some sense out of it all.   You might think I would watch the History Channel all the time, but much of the UFO shows and Nostradamus predictions seem like pseudo-history instead.   We can draw from so much real history - and should.      

Kaddafi Has To Go

I don't get it.  Libya's Muammar Kaddafi was a leading sponsor of international terror in the eighties and then bought off people for their silence.  He made billions off Libya's resources while his people stayed poor and isolated.   He brought in mercenaries to kill his own people when the protests in the Arab world came to his doorstep.  There is no evidence that the rebels are linked to al-Qaeda or any Muslim radical groups.  These revolutionary movements in Libya and elsewhere have been largely peaceful and are inspired by a hope for democratic freedom.   We saw the obvious outpouring of joy in rebel-controlled Benghazi when freedom from a tyrant seemed at hand, and how terrified these same people were when the tide turned against them.    From the Arab League, the UN and much of Europe, there was backing to use "all necessary means" to defend these people from a discredited dictator.   What do we hear?   Fox News, which would have led the charge if this happened under George W. Bush, consistently paints a picture of doom and asks why President Obama is taking his family to visit South America.   He's not hiding in the Amazon.   Republicans, who never blinked when authorizing a trillion dollars for Afghanistan and Iraq, now question the cost of enforcing a no-fly zone.   Democrats like Dennis Kucinich call Obama's part in offensive actions against Libya without Congressional authorization "impeachable."   The first missiles were fired from a French air force jet only days ago.   Give things a chance.  To just sit by as Kaddafi mercilessly puts down a truly democratic movement would tell any oppressor that Egypt's and Tunisia's ousted leaders were too lenient.   And yes, the Libyan civil war has already disrupted oil prices, and we still need stability.   These actions by the UN and NATO coalition are warranted.   We need to be on the side of these democratic movements without leading them.    

And It Makes Me Wonder

Millstone Waterford Nuclear Plant

I admit to being glued to the news and the dramatic pictures of tragedy and destruction from the huge magnitude 9.0  earthquake and the resulting tsunami in northeastern Japan.   As if that weren't enough, the news continues to unfold about the critical situation involving several nuclear reactors in that area.    Given the potential for catastrophe when nukes go seriously wrong, it doesn't come as a surprise when people - including Connecticut's Senator Joe Liebermann - begin to question the use of nuclear power here in the United States.   You don't have to be in domestic panic mode to think twice about this invisible, tasteless and odorless hazard that many of us don't understand.   Not being a nuclear engineer, I can only wonder what would happen locally if the Millstone Waterford complex experienced a serious problem requiring mass evacuations.   I think back to one Friday afternoon when a serious crash closed down I-95 near the I-395 split.   Traffic was backed up in every direction for hours on the Connecticut Turnpike from Old Saybrook to Norwich, not to mention Routes 1, 32, 82, 85, 156, 161 and more.   That alone should be reason to extend Route 11.   That incident left a permanent doubt as to whether an evacuation here would ever work.   I hope we never need to find out, because it wouldn't be pretty.  

Charlie's "Winning" Ways

Wow, my 200th post!   I must have a lot to say.  What hasn't been said by and about Charlie Sheen over the last couple of weeks?  Perhaps his most memorable rant-filled interview  leading up to his firing from "Two and a Half Men" was with ABC last week, when Charlie's most quoted words were all captured in the span of a few minutes: "tiger blood," "one gear - go" and of course, the ever-present "winning."   This has either been the most publicized celebrity meltdown in history or Charlie is a genius at playing us all for fools while getting notoriety - or both.   Google "Charlie Sheen" and you'll get all kinds of impersonators, with Jimmy Fallon and Jerry O'Connell among the funniest.   "Two and a Half Men" may not be high culture, but it has been very well written and I'm not too snobby to think it's funny.   Some variation on this theme can still succeed in CBS prime time.  Whatever happens, it will take more than merely replacing Sheen's character with a similar one.    The tabloids are having a field day as the world finds itself incapable of looking away from this train wreck.   I can't help but feel sad for his family.  There are so many people less fortunate than Charlie Sheen who can't find their way back to sobriety.    For all his millions, he's no different than the dysfunctional people on the Jerry Springer Show.  I don't see this headed to a good place.  Perhaps a trip to quake-ravaged Haiti with his pal Sean Penn can inject some perspective into his own victim mentality.    I will say that if getting fired from a job ultimately defines "winning," then I'm a big winner too!

Radio Flashback: The Vermont Fortress of Solitude

WCFR in Springfield, Vermont was my first regular airshift at a commercial radio station.  I was the Sunday air personality from 3:00 to 9:30 pm for a couple of months in the winter of early 1975, and it's safe to say my level of personality was still in a very formative stage.     Although a small market station emanating from a fallout shelter on top of a long hill outside of town, the guys who ran it had this high energy Top 40 AM & FM simulcast sounding pretty big time.     The AM side (complete with highly pumped up audio) would sign off at sunset and the FM was still in glorious mono.   At the interview, the general manager asked me, "Do you believe in WCFR?"  After my first show, the program director asked if I enjoyed it.  How many bosses ask those questions?  I remember the control room had a very imposing microphone suspended from the ceiling.   There were these big handles on each side of the board which I grabbed onto for dear life as I screamed into the mic trying to get into the whole Top 40 thing.  The PD told me it wasn't necessary to shout.   What really left an impression on me was the solitude of that long weekend shift that included running tapes after 9:30 for the King Biscuit Flour Hour and then a slightly hip religious tape called "Scan."   No sooner did I get some comfort level at this frozen fortress of solitude when I came to the realization that my studying for Monday Psych 101 quizzes at Keene State College was conflicting with the show.   That and a few commuting experiences up that hill in my less than  snow worthy '67 Plymouth Satellite sealed the deal.  I had to give my notice the same day I had been given my own customized jock shout.  The PD was disappointed, but radio hadn't yet become a central tenet of my life.   That would change.   I still can't hear "Kung Fu Fighting" or "Lady Marmalade" without thinking about that isolated radio outpost making my $2.10 an hour.