Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The first time I met Ted Kennedy

One night recently when I was feeling somewhat depressed and wondering what the future held, I decided that instead of feeling blue, I would make a list of all the amazing and fortunate things that I have had the privilege of doing in my life.

Right near the top of that list was that I had on a few occasions, the opportunity to meet and talk with the legendary Senator Edward M. Kennedy. However, it is the first time that I talked to him that made a lasting impression on me and the moment is as fresh in my brain as if it was yesterday.

Most of my friends don't know that when I was a young broadcaster I spent a brief time working as a television reporter. It was not something I was especially fond of and as you know went with the radio side of broadcasting instead.

But as a young reporter, I once had the occasion to sit and interview the Senator and do a background piece on him. He was in Iowa to lend his voice to a colleague's campaign and on this particular trip had brought his entire family. His then wife, Joan, daughter Kara and son Patrick.

Of course, any discussion of his career at that point had to deal with the subject of the Chappaquiddick incident. As it came time to approach that subject I could feel myself begin to fidget in the chair, I started to ring my hands and felt a few beads of sweat form on my upper lip. As I fumbled for the words, I diverted my glance to his wife, then his daughter and finally his son. I didn't think I could do it.

He instinctively knew. And with amazing grace he reached his hand out, put it on top of mine and said, "Young man, do your job." I did. I will never forget the moment when he gave me the courage to do what some say is the hardest thing ever, speak truth to power.

His accomplishments are many. His compassion for his fellow man and his battle for "the cause of his life", health care reform are unequaled.

It is truly the end of an era. I don't think we will ever see another one like him. The last surviving Kennedy son. A man who left the world far better for his having been here. He will be missed.

God Bless Senator Kennedy.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

How could I have let this happen??

I did something today that I simply cannot believe. Something so out of character, something so disgusting that I just don't know how I am going to be able to show my face to friends and family.

In getting the house ready to sell and arrange for the impending move we have gone through so many boxes, had a garage sale and discovered so many things that I had forgotten. But today, something happened that is likely to set me back emotionally for perhaps years to come.

In a back corner of the garage, behind some shovels, rakes and a decorative outdoor fountain that we no longer use, I found two cases of beer. As near as I could remember I had gotten them about three years ago Thanksgiving when we had some friends over and they had since gotten buried and forgotten.

Three years in the garage. The heat and humidity of summer and the freezing cold of winter. This had to be some pretty skunky beer.

You can't sit two cases of beer on the curb for the garbage man to pick up because skunky or not, you got to know the neighborhood kids would have been all over it.

Sooooooo....... I dragged both cases into the back yard, painfully opened them one by one and wept openly as I poured out two cases of Bud Light. Enough good beer to keep a couple weeks of good football watching parties going, or my buddy Jerry happy for a few hours.

My only consultation is that I know that in the time it took me to pour out the beer, The Busch family in St.Louis probably produced 100 times as much as I dumped out.

But as Homer Simpson would say, "DOHHHH... my beautiful sweet beer."

Monday, August 17, 2009

My friend was correct

April 27th of this year will be a day that I will always remember. It was the first time I got fired from a radio job. And while I was assured that it was not a performance issue, that did little to ease my concerns about mortgage, car payments and putting food on the table.

A couple years prior to that fateful day, I had made a smart move by hiring someone that has since become a very dear friend to me. Unfortunately he did not work for me very long because he heard a higher calling. He was an ordained minister that was back in radio because he was a little burned out and needed a break. But soon realized that he was hearing his original calling and is now a Pastor for a congregation in the Chicago area.

I bring him up because we e-mail often and he has always told me that he has us in his prayers. He also told me something that at the time I had a hard time accepting.

He said, "You have been a good and fair boss. You have given a lot of people a leg up in this industry, and because of the way you have treated people, you have built up a lot of good will. Someone is going to step up now and help you out."

I am not a big believer in Karma, but I am a firm believer in the Golden Rule and while some days I do better than others, I try to live by that everyday.

And then I went through the whole period of a career change and my thoughts that I no longer wanted to work in radio. Problem is, I really didn't think I knew how to do anything else.

Well my friend was right. Last week I heard from a friend that is a Manager of a cluster of radio stations in my home state of Iowa. We had first met in the '80's and I have always thought he was a great guy. He had created a new job in his cluster and said, "You are the first person I thought of."

Within a matter of a couple days we had a deal put together and we are packing to move back to Des Moines and oddly enough I will be going back to work for Clear Channel, the company that fired me on April 27th.

So, the moral of the story is, my friend was right. Once again, do unto others....

It really is just that simple.

Bruce, thanks for helping me see that and your prayers. And Joel thanks for the opportunity. We are going to have some fun and do some good radio.

And one last thing. These two, while important to the story were not the only ones that had kind words and expressed good wishes during the last three months and I thank all of you too. Know that I will always be there when the time comes that you need me.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

A kind gesture repayed.

There are very few absolute certainties. Things that are indisputable facts that everyone can agree upon. The sun is going to come up in the east and set in the west that kind of fact.

One such thought that I think most of us can agree upon is that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is an unstable, deeply disturbed, perhaps mentally ill man. The kind of person that keeps the world worried from day to day about what he is going to do next. And a nuclear armed North Korea is even more dangerous.

But yesterday, he displayed an act of compassion that was totally unexpected, unless you know the interesting back story.

Many years ago when Bill Clinton was President he sent Kim Jong-il a sympathy card when his mother passed. A gesture that apparently made quite an impact. Because apparently when you are one of the most hated men in the world any kind gesture sent your way makes a big impact.

Jump ahead to 2009 and the imprisonment of two American journalists tried and convicted and sentenced to hard labor in Korean prison. Efforts made to secure their release had made no progress.

Then out of the blue the news channels are reporting that former President Clinton is on the way to North Korea and surprisingly secures the release of the two and flies back home to the United States with them.

Why was he successful where everyone else had failed? Kim Jong-il said that he would not have released the two journalists to anyone else in the world. But he recalled the kind gesture of President Clinton's card when his Mother died and said he wanted to repay the thoughtfulness.

The point being, you never know when you take a moment to show kindness to your fellow man or do a kind turn for your friends how it might come back to you and even in this case, change the world.

That Golden Rule thing is something, huh?

Nice job Mr. President.