Podcasting in captivity

Kids in the ‘50s-‘70s who were radio geeks and dreamed of being disc jockeys (what a lofty goal) would often have “bedroom stations.” Generally, this was when no one else in the family was home because you sounded like a blithering idiot, but you would get a tape recorder, a microphone, your record player and records, and you would do faux radio shows. I also used to grab magazines for commercial copy. The hell with “more music,” I wanted to talk.

Thank God those tapes of me no longer exist. I can’t even fathom how terrible I was. My emphasis, of course, was on comedy. I did different voices and characters (not my gift) – tried to be Bob & Ray, Lohman & Barkley, Stan Freberg, Dick Whittington, Don McKinnon, Elliott Field, Gary Owens, and Emperor Bob Hudson all in one. I only had about twenty records so even the music part would have be excruciating if God forbid I did have listeners.

Some radio geeks were way more elaborate than me. Some had two turntables, some had thirty records, and some even made transmitters so they actually did broadcast, even if it was only five yards. For the sake of my neighbor, thank goodness that wasn’t me.

Looking back in my development, the bedroom station was probably very helpful. By the time I did get on a real station – KLA, the UCLA campus station – I had shed all the voices and skits. I was still abysmal but marginally better.

Thus launched a fifty year radio career as a disc jockey, talk show host, satirical commentator, and play-by-play announcer for major markets and at times nationally.

And now I’ve come full circle. Podcasting. Out of my office not bedroom, but otherwise the same. Yes, there are a couple of slight differences. I think I’m a slightly better broadcaster, and my podcast can now be heard in every corner of the world.

Fortunately, I can do my podcast from home. The acoustics are excellent and I don’t need to rent a studio somewhere. And it’s a great diversion during this time of self-quarantine. Usually I try to have guests half the time, but for the immediate future it will just be me. I am not reprising one of my hilarious voices. I also don’t like doing phone interviews. I think they sound awful.

But I’m not at all worried. I can usually talk for a half hour even if I have no idea what the hell I’m talking about. I’m planning some interesting things for the coming weeks including an “experiment,” commentary tracks, and I’m waffling on whether to do this one week: For a media class at UCLA, fellow-classmate Bill Pearl and I made an audio documentary for our term paper. It traced the state of Top 40 radio from the late ‘50s to the early ‘70s complete with samples, programming analysis, and a lot of bullshit intellectual blather. At the time it went viral in the industry. Copies circulated throughout radio stations around the country. My question: would enough listeners be interested were I to play it on my podcast? You tell me, and my feelings won’t be hurt if you say, “God no. I could care less!”

For now my podcasts will continue every week with no interruption due to self-quarantine. Coming up in the next episode: I recommend comedy movies you might want to see while under House Arrest yourself.

Stay safe and thanks for listening (if you do).

from By Ken Levine