Journalism in the U.S. is in trouble. Or more percisely the American people are in trouble when it comes to journalism or the lack there of. Earlier this month Advance Publications announced the slashing of more than 400 newspaper jobs in the state of Alabama; including the Birmingham News, Huntsville Times and the Mobile Press-Registar. The cuts also affected the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Not only has the media group cut staff, it is planning to move from daily publications to only 3 days a week. You know, because news doesn't happen everyday.
Hey, I understand the ecomonics of all this. Newspapers are a dying breed. The majority of Americans say they now receive their news from TV, the internet or some other type of social media. It has become increasingly more difficult to make a profit in the newspaper business...and local TV and radio stations are also feeling the crunch of not only the economy but the changing media landscape.
(Newspapers do not make it's money from the sale of papers...it makes it from the sell of advertising. Fewer eyeballs reading papers, the less they can charge for an ad. One has to wonder if TV and radio will benefit from the ad overflow.)
Alabama is not an island. Newspapers have been shuttering all around the country for the last couple of decades. In fact, most major cities which had multiple newspaper outlet are down to one. Since 1984, when I came to Birmingham I have seen the Birmingham Post Herald go from the morning paper to the evening paper and then shut down completely. The Birmingham News was the evening paper and moved to the morning and now will reduce publication to only three days.
Local news will continue to be available in various outlets, such as online at al.com , but one of the primary roles of newspapers, i.e., journalism is being compromised. The role of watchdog!
This was just one of the topics of conversation I had this week with a former TV news reporter. Now working as a public relations officer, he says that with fewer reporters being responsible for covering more news beats the results will be some public issues and policies will simply fall through the cracks. In other words, they can't be in all places at once.
One of the great things about the First Amendment is the power of a free press. It allows for all media to explore and examine AND report on government and school boards and public entities that tax dollars support. The watchdog function of journalism is not just important to newspapers, it is essential for US as news consumers. When done properly, they act on our behalf.
Yes, there are still TV news station that will cover city counsel and school board meetings but good news consumers don't rely on only one form of media to get their news. AND TV is less likely to have a reporter that can devote the time to a beat. Radio news, at least in Birmingham...forget about it! With the eliminations of newspapers and reporting jobs it also eliminates the number of eyes keeping watch. This is not a good thing.
More and more the news consumer will be getting the "company line" as media outlets rely more and more on press releases and public relations propoganda. Some would argue that we have already seen the movement to fewer eyes keeping watch due to increasing number of newspapers, televison and radio stations that are owned by fewer and fewer entities.
The classic 1976 motion picture "Network" is one of the most prophetic pieces of work regarding the television news business and corporate America. You really need to watch it! It predicts reality TV nearly 40 years before it's time.
Check out this scene with Ned Beatty who plays the part of the head of a major corporation that owns a fictional televison network :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxiT30N6ti4&feature=related
The deregulation of the broadcasting industry during the Reagan years has also changed the broadcasting landscape. Before, any person or corporation was limited to owning 7 AM Radio stations, 7 FM radio stations and 7 TV stations IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. Now, there is no limit on ownership. Citadel Broadcasting owns five radio stations in Birmingham ALONE. As does CXR Holdings.
Major corporations such as Time-Warner, News Corp, Clear Channel and Comcast, just to mention a few have ownership in multiple newspapers, magazines, TV and Cable Networks and stations. And that is just a handful...there are more.
This month sounded yet another death knell for the newspaper industry. It also is a foreshadowing of what may be in store for what we get as news and HOW we get it. It was inevitable. We no longer live in a 24 hours news cycle. It is instant now with Facebook and Twitter and the other social media. The turnaround time on newspapers was too slow. It was old news. Although the longer wait was not necessarily a bad thing. The longer turnaround time permitted newspapers the "luxury" of fact checking before rushing to break the story (see CNN and Fox News on the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding Health Care).
To be honest, I rarely pick up a newspaper; I read the newspaper online...but those same reporters that were covering the stories were posting it online and still providing the service of journalism. With reduction of staff, even online journalism will dimished.
I do not mourn the newspaper industry per se. You adjust, you adapt or you die. I do mourn the loss of jobs and the loss of opportunity for aspiring journalists. I fear that we are taking one more step away from accountability.
Seeking the truth and telling it fully has never been more important. But the importance of holding our politicians accountable is no more critical than making sure our news media is also credible and doing it's job.
Thanks for reading!
Jeff
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Off With Their Heads
I found it interesting recently that a woman from Pennsylvania is suing the Phillie Phanatic for injuries she sustained when he picked her up and threw her into a swimming pool; deck chair and all. She claims that he tossed her into the shallow end of the pool causing back and neck problems.
Read about that here. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2012/06/phillie-phanatic-sued-/1
Let me say that I HATE sports/team mascots; particularly the ones whose faces are completely hidden. You name them…I hate them. I find them more of a distraction from the sporting event than any entertainment. But there is something creepy about not being able to see who is really inside that suit. Heck, I am not that thrilled with Mickey Mouse at Disneyland or Disney World.
I am sure you have heard of the “six degrees of separation”. If not, it is the theory that any two people can be linked together through a maximum of six other people. (It would be a fun experiment to try this with your Facebook friends.) Because of my career as a minor league baseball announcer I am actually only one degree separated from the San Diego, World Famous (whatever he is calling himself these days) Chicken and quite literally had to be separated from our buddy the Phillie Phanatic!
During my years with the Birmingham Barons the Chicken performed during a Barons game at Old Rickwood Field. After the game he and his assistant bummed a ride from me back to his hotel. Despite making $4000-$6000 for the night, he was too cheap to rent a car or call a cab. After a long ball game (these clowns add 20 minutes to the length of the game) I was ready to go home. But “The Chicken” lingered in the clubhouse…taking his time showering and watching Letterman on the TV while his assistant and I loaded up the back of my station wagon with his trunks of costumes and props.
When “his Highness” was ready we finally were able to depart. The trip was made in virtual silence and when we arrived at the hotel “The Chicken” did not bother to help unload the trunks; leaving that to his assistant and me. And here’s the kicker. He never said “thank you”, “I appreciate it”, “kiss my foot” or anything! This was just the beginning of my hatred for mascots.
A few years later while broadcasting a Samford University basketball game my wife is bringing my very young daughter at the time through the lobby of Seibert Hall. One of the corporate sponsors for Samford was Little Caesar’s Pizza. Well, they have this guy/gal dressed up like Little Caesar or Baby Pan-Pan and “it” jumps out from behind a pillar and scares the bejezuz out of my daughter. She has never liked masked characters since! It is a good thing I didn’t find out about this until after the fact.
Ahh…but that is what brings me to my less than one degree of separation from our old buddy , The Phillie Phanatic. It was a Friday night in August 1992. I was out of baseball and had been a teacher for, oh…about two weeks. A friend from out of town was visiting and we decided to take the whole family to the Barons game. It was a double-header and we arrived just as the first game was ending.
(Side note to this story: While driving to the game we heard on the radio that a cheerleader from a local high school had been killed when her head struck a light pole while she had her head out the school bus window on the way to a football game. They were still in the parking lot when it happened. This was very somber and sad news and we discussed how quickly something like that can happen.)
Okay, back to my story. We were seated in the box seats behind the third base dugout. Having seen as many baseball games as I have, I am terribly aware of just how rapidly a late swing can shoot a baseball into the stands. Someone on the third base side must be particularly alert when a left-handed batter is up and vice versa. During the final moments of that first game I kept reminding all the kids around us and their parents to pay attention.
Not only was this night a doubleheader, it was Phillie Phanatic night! As soon as the game was over he pops out of the third base dugout and begins to “entertain”. The entire night felt surreal to me. There was a giveaway on the field and the woman who won was invited to home plate. There she and her two young children were greeted by the Phanatic and his Four-Wheeler. He coaxes the mom to get on for a ride and he takes her all the way out to the warning track in center field. He has her get off, takes her picture and then hops on the bike and leaves her 400 feet away from her kids who are at home plate.
The cat and mouse game starts then. She begins walking toward her children and he acts like he is coming back to get her. Ha ha…nice joke. But when she stops, thinking he is coming to get her, he stops the bike. This goes on for several seconds. In the meantime, the little kids are getting upset… so much so that the dad comes onto the field to get them. Finally, the mom is allowed to get back on the bike and is delivered to home plate, her children and her annoyed husband.
But wait. It gets worse. During this time my kids and some other kids we know move down to the first row behind the dugout. Hey… we are 20 minutes away from the start of the second game. No foul balls to contend with, right. No problem.
But the Phanatic is back! He decides to tease the kids above the dugout with a baseball; making them think he is going to throw one into the stands. He walks out to the coaching box and goes through an exaggerated wind-up and rears back and lets it fly…I mean it is sailing. Now the idea of the routine is that he has one of the players in the dugout ready to catch the ball and fake the kids out. But this time the ball slips out of his costume covered hand and it is headed right for the nose of my four year old daughter. Luckily one of our friend’s son brought his glove to the game. He literally dives over two empty seats to catch this ball…the force of the throw pushing the glove into my daughter’s face!
That is when the Phanatic and I got up close in personal. He knew this stunt had gone horribly wrong and I knew I was about to kick some mascot butt. The next thing I know I am standing on top of the third base dugout with my left hand on the throat of this idiot and my right hand cocked and ready to put his lights out. The thing that was as annoying as anything was he was making is appear to be all part of the act. Finally, after calling him some things I cannot put in a family blog I kind of shoved him away from me and walked away…to the cheers and jeers of some of the fans.
Remember we had just learned of the death of a young lady hours before from a freak accident and I could see the possible consequences of this freak show. I was drained. I felt sick from the fight or flight rush of adrenaline that had coursed through my body. I was shaking like a leaf. Talk about an adrenaline flush!
That was 20 years ago and it still quickens my pulse each time I retell the story. So you can see, I am not much a fan of the mascot…any mascot that hides under a mask. Baby Pan-Pan, The Chicken, The Phillie Phanatic, Fredbird, Babe Ruff or Mickey and Minnie Mouse. To me it gives opportunity for a moron to do idiotic stunts while never having to reveal his/her true identity. (There was the night at Rickwood Field where Wicki Wood moon walked and fell off the top of the Barons dugout; now that was entertainment!)
It should be noted that the guy who was inside the Phanatic suit during our close encounter has retired and there are two new men that have taken over the act. Apparently he trained them successfully to be idiots underneath that silly green outfit too. If there's merit, I hope the lady wins her lawsuit.
As for the next degree of separation? I say off with their heads!
Thanks for reading!
Jeff
Friday, June 22, 2012
Blessing or Burden?
It was ten years ago this week that beloved broadcaster, Jack Buck and Cardinals pitcher, Darryl Kile died. In fact, it was ten years ago today that Kile died. Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch called it, "The worst week in St. Louis sports history."
I cannot say that I knew Jack or Kile. I had met Jack on a few occasions and had an encounter with Kile at spring training the year he died. Of course, like most Cardinals fans I felt like I knew Jack better than I did. I had spent many years listening to him and Harry Carey broadcast the Cardinals games on the radio. It was only after Carey was fired that I got to truly appreciate the talent that was Jack Buck.
I wanted to be Jack Buck...or be as good as he was. He had the job I dreamed of having some day. Just as many young ball players may dream of playing along side their favorite player, I dreamed of working in the same booth with Jack...calling Cardinals games. He made it look and sound so easy.
I do know Jack's son Joe. We crossed paths and got to know one another while we were both broadcasting Triple-A baseball. Joe with the Louisville Redbirds and me with the Pawtucket Red Sox. I remember that among my peers in the league we all HOPED that we would get that call to the majors; but everyone KNEW that Joe would.
By the year 2002, the year of Jack Buck and Darryl Kile's deaths, I was out of professional baseball broadcasting. Joe, indeed, had made it to the Big Leagues and was , in fact, trying to cut back his local work because of his commitment to Fox Sports.
Jack was in and out of the hospital in late 2001 and as the new year began found himself back in the hospital only to never leave. As the 2002 baseball season began to unfold Joe was in the booth filling in for his dad. It was during spring training of 2002 that Jack Buck and Darryl Kile were welded together in my mind; months before their deaths.
It was my third time to go to spring training. I had made two previous trip when I was broadcasting for Pawtucket, but this was my first as a "fan". My family and I had made the trip to Jupiter and had tickets for a pair of Cardinals exhibition games. On Tuesday, I sat in the stands with my family and watched the game and afterwards approached the window of the broadcast booth to say hello to Joe, who was working the game with Mike Shannon.
We spoke for awhile and then he ask if I was going to be coming back again. When I told him we would be back on Thursday he invited me to come up and sit in the booth during the game. I took him up on his offer, abandoning my family in the stands. During that time I caught the baseball broadcasting bug again (not that I had really ever lost it).
My conversation with Joe was primarily limited to just before the start of the broadcast and during commercial breaks between innings. But the things that is burned into my memory is Joe's cellphone. He was constantly getting updates about his dad. I remember one inning where Joe was doing the play-by-play when he got a call and turned the broadcast over to Shannon. I knew that Jack was not doing well and in fact was doing much worse than the public had been led to believe.
Earlier that same day, on one of the back fields used by the Cardinals for spring training workouts,my family and I hurried to catch the last moments of the pitchers drills. We got there just as things were wrapping up and players were heading to the clubhouse to get ready for the game. That is when we encountered Darryl Kile.
We were quite fond of Kile, as a Cardinals pitcher, but also because he looked like he could have been related to my wife's family. We approached the rope that separated the fans from the field and Kile came over to sign autographs. As he signed for my son I noticed that he signed using his left hand. I thought that interesting since he was an All-Star right handed throwing pitcher.
Old broadcasters don't die they just lose there voices and I had to ask him about what I had observed. Kile told me that he actually was LEFT handed. He did everything left handed EXCEPT pitch! He said he ate, wrote, even bowled left handed. The only reason he threw right handed is because growing up he only had access to baseball gloves for right handed throwers. So he taught himself to throw with his right arm. I thought the story quite interesting and one I had never heard told on any broadcast. I knew that if I were broadcasting a Darryl Kile game I would be sure to use that story.
So on that day I had lasting memories of both Jack Buck and Darryl Kile. Jack's through the worry and concern of his son, Joe; and through my personal interaction with Darryl Kile and the time he took to talk with us that day.
When Jack passed away I remember feeling like I had lost a member of the family. I was deeply saddened because I had admired him for so many years and because he was kind to me on those times I did meet him. But the death of Kile stunned and shocked me. He was so young and was a professional athlete...how could that be?
I learned of Kile's death while in the ER with my daughter. We had gone of a canoe trip with her church youth group that day. While trying to negotiate some white water the canoe tipped to one side and she put her hand down on the rocks to keep us from turning over. In doing so, she ripped off her fingernail.
While in the ER, the Game of the Week came on the TV in the room we were in. It was a clear and bright day in Chicago but for some reason the game was being delayed. After several minutes, Cubs catcher Joe Girardi came out and made the announcement to those in Wrigley Field and a national television audience that there had been a tragedy in the Cardinal family and the game would not be played. We would later learn from, of all people, Joe Buck that Kile had been found dead in his hotel room.
It is strange how people enter your life or cross your path, even in the briefest of moments. It makes you think and wonder about how certain things happen in the time and with the timing they do. In that moment, I was connect again with Darryl Kile, Jack and Joe Buck.
I am not sure what the "take away" is from this but I do believe that somehow we are all linked together. We do not live in a vacuum. Perhaps the "take away" is that we are placed in other peoples lives; sometimes for a brief encounter...sometimes for longer periods of time. Regardless the duration, we have the ability to be a blessing or a burden...to be blessed or to be burdened by an experience.
Take a moment to think how God may place you in someone's path today...no matter how briefly. Will you be a blessing or will you be someone's burden? You may never know what memory they will take away from having met you!
R.I.P. DK57 JFB
Thanks for reading!
Jeff
I cannot say that I knew Jack or Kile. I had met Jack on a few occasions and had an encounter with Kile at spring training the year he died. Of course, like most Cardinals fans I felt like I knew Jack better than I did. I had spent many years listening to him and Harry Carey broadcast the Cardinals games on the radio. It was only after Carey was fired that I got to truly appreciate the talent that was Jack Buck.
I wanted to be Jack Buck...or be as good as he was. He had the job I dreamed of having some day. Just as many young ball players may dream of playing along side their favorite player, I dreamed of working in the same booth with Jack...calling Cardinals games. He made it look and sound so easy.
I do know Jack's son Joe. We crossed paths and got to know one another while we were both broadcasting Triple-A baseball. Joe with the Louisville Redbirds and me with the Pawtucket Red Sox. I remember that among my peers in the league we all HOPED that we would get that call to the majors; but everyone KNEW that Joe would.
By the year 2002, the year of Jack Buck and Darryl Kile's deaths, I was out of professional baseball broadcasting. Joe, indeed, had made it to the Big Leagues and was , in fact, trying to cut back his local work because of his commitment to Fox Sports.
Jack was in and out of the hospital in late 2001 and as the new year began found himself back in the hospital only to never leave. As the 2002 baseball season began to unfold Joe was in the booth filling in for his dad. It was during spring training of 2002 that Jack Buck and Darryl Kile were welded together in my mind; months before their deaths.
It was my third time to go to spring training. I had made two previous trip when I was broadcasting for Pawtucket, but this was my first as a "fan". My family and I had made the trip to Jupiter and had tickets for a pair of Cardinals exhibition games. On Tuesday, I sat in the stands with my family and watched the game and afterwards approached the window of the broadcast booth to say hello to Joe, who was working the game with Mike Shannon.
We spoke for awhile and then he ask if I was going to be coming back again. When I told him we would be back on Thursday he invited me to come up and sit in the booth during the game. I took him up on his offer, abandoning my family in the stands. During that time I caught the baseball broadcasting bug again (not that I had really ever lost it).
My conversation with Joe was primarily limited to just before the start of the broadcast and during commercial breaks between innings. But the things that is burned into my memory is Joe's cellphone. He was constantly getting updates about his dad. I remember one inning where Joe was doing the play-by-play when he got a call and turned the broadcast over to Shannon. I knew that Jack was not doing well and in fact was doing much worse than the public had been led to believe.
Earlier that same day, on one of the back fields used by the Cardinals for spring training workouts,my family and I hurried to catch the last moments of the pitchers drills. We got there just as things were wrapping up and players were heading to the clubhouse to get ready for the game. That is when we encountered Darryl Kile.
We were quite fond of Kile, as a Cardinals pitcher, but also because he looked like he could have been related to my wife's family. We approached the rope that separated the fans from the field and Kile came over to sign autographs. As he signed for my son I noticed that he signed using his left hand. I thought that interesting since he was an All-Star right handed throwing pitcher.
Old broadcasters don't die they just lose there voices and I had to ask him about what I had observed. Kile told me that he actually was LEFT handed. He did everything left handed EXCEPT pitch! He said he ate, wrote, even bowled left handed. The only reason he threw right handed is because growing up he only had access to baseball gloves for right handed throwers. So he taught himself to throw with his right arm. I thought the story quite interesting and one I had never heard told on any broadcast. I knew that if I were broadcasting a Darryl Kile game I would be sure to use that story.
So on that day I had lasting memories of both Jack Buck and Darryl Kile. Jack's through the worry and concern of his son, Joe; and through my personal interaction with Darryl Kile and the time he took to talk with us that day.
When Jack passed away I remember feeling like I had lost a member of the family. I was deeply saddened because I had admired him for so many years and because he was kind to me on those times I did meet him. But the death of Kile stunned and shocked me. He was so young and was a professional athlete...how could that be?
I learned of Kile's death while in the ER with my daughter. We had gone of a canoe trip with her church youth group that day. While trying to negotiate some white water the canoe tipped to one side and she put her hand down on the rocks to keep us from turning over. In doing so, she ripped off her fingernail.
While in the ER, the Game of the Week came on the TV in the room we were in. It was a clear and bright day in Chicago but for some reason the game was being delayed. After several minutes, Cubs catcher Joe Girardi came out and made the announcement to those in Wrigley Field and a national television audience that there had been a tragedy in the Cardinal family and the game would not be played. We would later learn from, of all people, Joe Buck that Kile had been found dead in his hotel room.
It is strange how people enter your life or cross your path, even in the briefest of moments. It makes you think and wonder about how certain things happen in the time and with the timing they do. In that moment, I was connect again with Darryl Kile, Jack and Joe Buck.
I am not sure what the "take away" is from this but I do believe that somehow we are all linked together. We do not live in a vacuum. Perhaps the "take away" is that we are placed in other peoples lives; sometimes for a brief encounter...sometimes for longer periods of time. Regardless the duration, we have the ability to be a blessing or a burden...to be blessed or to be burdened by an experience.
Take a moment to think how God may place you in someone's path today...no matter how briefly. Will you be a blessing or will you be someone's burden? You may never know what memory they will take away from having met you!
R.I.P. DK57 JFB
Thanks for reading!
Jeff
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Thanks Dad
On this Father's Day 2012 I am blessed to have all three of my "children" with me. It is hard to refer to them as children when they are all so grown up and living such meaniingful lives, The fact that all three want to hang with the old man at times other than Father's Day means more to me that any gift or card designated for a Sunday in June.
It has been two and half years since my father passed away and I was reflecting on the drive to the beach this weekend how much of an impact he had on my life. Here is part of the eulogy that I spoke at his funeral December 22, 2009:
It has been two and half years since my father passed away and I was reflecting on the drive to the beach this weekend how much of an impact he had on my life. Here is part of the eulogy that I spoke at his funeral December 22, 2009:
At a funeral once I heard the minister make reference to the dash in the program denoting the date of birth---dash---and then the date of death. In Dad’s case, it would be December 30, 1917---dash---December 19, 2009. The really important thing is not so much the beginning and the end but the dash…how a person fills the time between being born and when they die. There are a lot of things that happened during those 91 years.
I once heard a man say that if he could do things over he would make all of the same mistakes again; only this time he would make them sooner. In one of my last conversations with Dad I ask him if he would change anything about his life and he said, “No, not really.”
I found that answer to be both sad and in a way comforting. Sad, because there were so many things he would have loved to have tried if he had had the guidance or support. It is comforting, however, to have lived a life with no regrets and to be content. He never envied or was jealous of what anyone else had.
He was a very competitive person. However, he was not competitive for power, or influence or money or for riches. But if it were a game of HORSE or horseshoes, canasta or wheelchair races he wanted to win and to be his best.
He loved his family, baseball in general and the Cardinals in particular. He loved milkshakes, cherry pie and pancakes.
He was creative, funny and imaginative. He converted our breakfast table on Sunday mornings into WSBS-The World’s Smallest Broadcasting Station-where he recreated old radio shows for us… pausing for commercial breaks for whatever product was on the kitchen table…whether it was holding up a box of Aunt Jemima Pancake mix or a bottle of Karo syrup. It was a broadcast that never extended beyond the walls of our kitchen…
He would have loved to have worked in broadcasting, something that I have been fortunate to do. He didn’t know back then how to get a job in broadcasting but he helped a lot of people hear or see the games by repairing their radios and TVs. He took great pride in his work and his work ethic; something that he passed on to us and I hope I have passed on to my children.
His competitiveness and his stubbornness were evident to the very end. He once told me he wanted to live as long as possible.... He had lost so much. But now, he can once again see…he can once again hear…he can once again walk. And even though he told me he was not very fast, he can once again run. And I know that if there are games in heaven, he is playing one right now!
That was in 2009 but something else struck me recently. I touched on it a little earlier. Dad was not materialist at all. He never coveted anything that other people had. Some thought he was tight with his money and to a certain extent he was. See, he never wanted what anyone else had; he just wanted what belonged to him. He was careful with his money and that was his right. I can never remember ever going without. He provided everything we needed.
There were things my mom would have liked to have done or had. There were often times that his thriftiness made life harder than it should have been, but he always was looking ahead to that "rainy day". We thought he was "tight" but after all it was his money. When he got older and we had more access to his finances we learned that he rarely turned down any appeal for a contribution. The checks may not have been for much..five dollars here and five dollars there...but he had trouble saying no.
I try to be generous too and focus my giving more specifically than my dad. Another traits that I gained from my father was pretty much a lack of desire for material things. Granted I do spend a lot of money eating out but I don't splurge on material items for myself and I will not go into debt to feed my ego or the ego of my children. What kind of legacy would that be leaving them?
I never wanted my family to do without either but there is something valuable in hearing the word "no" now and again.
And then there are others who seem to desire/lust/covet the material things of this world and the security that can come with them. It saddens me that a personal relationship has ended seemly based largely on a choice of comfort, contentment and security through materialism rather than contentment with being with a soul mate, best friend and love. One day you will learn that love wins! It always does in the end.
Its Father's Day and I would be giving my dad something because the calendar says I am supposed to. But as I listen to the sound of MY son sleeping I realize my dad gave me a great gift with his example. He could not be bought. He would never sell out. He never expected anything to come his way simply because he felt entitled to it. He worked hard and earned his way in life.
I don't have to apologize that God has given me all I need. I don't have to feel badly that my car is a Saturn and not a Mercedes or BMW. (you see I don't care) I don't have to worry about not living in a big house with a big bank account. I have learned what it is to be content with what God see fit for me to have at the time I need to have it.
The reality is I feel sad for those people who feel their contentment and their security can be placed in the things of this world.
So thanks, Dad for showing me that there is value in honesty and integrity. Thanks for showing me that you can live nearly 92 years and have no regrets. Thanks for knowing that your happiness was not found in things of this world but in family and loved ones. Thanks for teaching me never to sell out and that each of us should have enough self-worth that we can never be bought.
The greatest gift I could receive this Father's Day is knowing that I have passed some of those same values on to my children. I have been blessed beyond measure and I don't need a calculator to add up my assets to know that.
Thanks for reading!
Jeff
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Who's Side Are You On?
As anyone who knows me knows, I love baseball. To me it is the greatest sport ever invented. This is not a popular notion where I live, where football remains king, but I still feel that way. People who say that baseball is boring never watched Game Six of last year's World Series or sat through the final innings of last night's perfect game by San Francisco Giant pitcher Matt Cain.
In fact, I would be so bold to say you wouldn't think baseball boring if you sat with me at a game. I love the game within the game. There are so many moving parts during a game that the less than average fan would miss it. The communication between the bench and the catcher...the signs flashed to the pitcher. The shortstop and second basemen signaling which one will cover the bag in the event of a stolen base attempt.
My usual comeback to people who tell me that they find baseball boring is: "Well, it is a thinking man's game." Sure there is more full body action during hockey or basketball; and football offers explosive plays. But for me the NBA has gotten to be a joke until the finals. Give both teams 100 points and put 2 minutes on the clock and lets save some time.
Baseball is still a regional game. It has lost some of its appeal as the "National" Past Time because of the NFL's one game a week hype by its rightsholders. Here in the south, college football is more religion than it is an athletic competition.
The regional nature of baseball makes it difficult to gauge its national status. MLB has never been healthier and when you look at the ratings of local baseball broadcasts it holds it own. Baseball fans are loyal to their team. There is a difference between a Cardinals fan and a plain ole baseball fan. Some people will watch baseball no matter who is playing. Other are only interested in watching their team. Fantasy leagues and the various viewing packages have increased out of market games. I find myself checking in on other games to see what my fantasy players are doing.
I am such a baseball/Cardinals fan that I have XM in my car and MLB.TV on my computer so I can listen/watch all their games. The way it works with my packages is that you only get the home team's broadcasts. So, I get to listen to a lot of different announcers. Maybe it is sour grapes from a former minor league announcer but there are a lot of pretty bad P-B-P guys working right now. (topic for another blog maybe)
The point of this blog entry is to hold a mirror up to baseball fans and reflect how Americans get their news. Say what? Bear with me a little longer. Because baseball is such a regional sport fans get used to the way the games are called by their favorite team's announcer. Mike Shannon and John Rooney do the Cardinals games and there is no question who they work for. Same is true with Marty Brenneman of the Reds, Milo "we and they" Hamilton of the Astros or even Vin Scully of the Dodgers. That is just the point. We want our announcers to be for our team.
In most cases, a typical local broadcast is going to center on the home town boys at least 75 percent and the other team about 25 percent...give or take. But when we watch a nationally televised game on Fox or ESPN the crew has to be more balanced. They generally try to be 50-50. Of course, the game often dictates some of that.
Now comes the interesting part. Fox broadcaster, Joe Buck says that whenever he does a World Series game he gets angry letters from BOTH sides telling him that he is biased against their team. Texas fans complained that he was pro St. Louis. St. Louis fans told him he was going out of his way to talk about the Rangers. Sounds to me like he must have gotten it right. We are not used to hearing the other team get half the attention. It is not what we want nor expect.
So how does that apply to news? I am glad you ask. Look around at your friends and the people you enjoy hanging out with. If you are like most people you find friends that have something in common with you. You share the same interests, hobbies, same type of movies, etc. I know some people who just like to argue or debate but for the most part most people want to be around folks that tend to think the same way they do.
The same is true of the type of news programming you prefer. No question MSNBC leans left and Fox News leans right. In my opinion, CNN falls somewhere in between. I have already debated that statement with some folks...but lets go with that for now. Jumping back to the baseball analogy, if you are a left leaning Democrat you want to listen to like minded commentary and agree with MSNBC's approach. If you are a right wing leaning Republican you most likely prefer Fox News. You see you want to hear it from your "hometown" announcer. See where I am going with this?
Don't get me wrong. There is enough bias to go around. But sometimes the bias is in the eye of the beholder. My whole point is this country no longer knows what news is. We have "News Channels" but the biggest part of their programming is commentators analysing the news...giving their opinion.
As for me, I watch them all. I want to see how Fox is covering a story and how they can make it Obama's fault. I am interested how MSNBC will spin it so that the Republicans look bad. Here is my thinking: When someone has to tell me they are "Fair and Balanced" or "No Bias No Bull" or to "Lean Forward" red flags go off for me. Ye protestest too much!
The news is no different than buying a car or a flat screen TV. Test drive it. Check it out. Compare. Don't just buy it because your dad always drove Chevys. We as a nation have a responsiblity to be better consumers of news. If we demand more, if we expect more...eventually the quality will improve. Don't just get your news from one source..shop around. You may end up back where you started but you will have done the heavy lifting to make you better informed.
As for who's side is the media on...well they should be on OUR side. That is their job...to seek the truth and tell it fully. Go ahead and root for the home team; but the opponent can make some great plays too and it is unkind and unwise to think otherwise.
Thanks for reading.
Jeff
In fact, I would be so bold to say you wouldn't think baseball boring if you sat with me at a game. I love the game within the game. There are so many moving parts during a game that the less than average fan would miss it. The communication between the bench and the catcher...the signs flashed to the pitcher. The shortstop and second basemen signaling which one will cover the bag in the event of a stolen base attempt.
My usual comeback to people who tell me that they find baseball boring is: "Well, it is a thinking man's game." Sure there is more full body action during hockey or basketball; and football offers explosive plays. But for me the NBA has gotten to be a joke until the finals. Give both teams 100 points and put 2 minutes on the clock and lets save some time.
Baseball is still a regional game. It has lost some of its appeal as the "National" Past Time because of the NFL's one game a week hype by its rightsholders. Here in the south, college football is more religion than it is an athletic competition.
The regional nature of baseball makes it difficult to gauge its national status. MLB has never been healthier and when you look at the ratings of local baseball broadcasts it holds it own. Baseball fans are loyal to their team. There is a difference between a Cardinals fan and a plain ole baseball fan. Some people will watch baseball no matter who is playing. Other are only interested in watching their team. Fantasy leagues and the various viewing packages have increased out of market games. I find myself checking in on other games to see what my fantasy players are doing.
I am such a baseball/Cardinals fan that I have XM in my car and MLB.TV on my computer so I can listen/watch all their games. The way it works with my packages is that you only get the home team's broadcasts. So, I get to listen to a lot of different announcers. Maybe it is sour grapes from a former minor league announcer but there are a lot of pretty bad P-B-P guys working right now. (topic for another blog maybe)
The point of this blog entry is to hold a mirror up to baseball fans and reflect how Americans get their news. Say what? Bear with me a little longer. Because baseball is such a regional sport fans get used to the way the games are called by their favorite team's announcer. Mike Shannon and John Rooney do the Cardinals games and there is no question who they work for. Same is true with Marty Brenneman of the Reds, Milo "we and they" Hamilton of the Astros or even Vin Scully of the Dodgers. That is just the point. We want our announcers to be for our team.
In most cases, a typical local broadcast is going to center on the home town boys at least 75 percent and the other team about 25 percent...give or take. But when we watch a nationally televised game on Fox or ESPN the crew has to be more balanced. They generally try to be 50-50. Of course, the game often dictates some of that.
Now comes the interesting part. Fox broadcaster, Joe Buck says that whenever he does a World Series game he gets angry letters from BOTH sides telling him that he is biased against their team. Texas fans complained that he was pro St. Louis. St. Louis fans told him he was going out of his way to talk about the Rangers. Sounds to me like he must have gotten it right. We are not used to hearing the other team get half the attention. It is not what we want nor expect.
So how does that apply to news? I am glad you ask. Look around at your friends and the people you enjoy hanging out with. If you are like most people you find friends that have something in common with you. You share the same interests, hobbies, same type of movies, etc. I know some people who just like to argue or debate but for the most part most people want to be around folks that tend to think the same way they do.
The same is true of the type of news programming you prefer. No question MSNBC leans left and Fox News leans right. In my opinion, CNN falls somewhere in between. I have already debated that statement with some folks...but lets go with that for now. Jumping back to the baseball analogy, if you are a left leaning Democrat you want to listen to like minded commentary and agree with MSNBC's approach. If you are a right wing leaning Republican you most likely prefer Fox News. You see you want to hear it from your "hometown" announcer. See where I am going with this?
Don't get me wrong. There is enough bias to go around. But sometimes the bias is in the eye of the beholder. My whole point is this country no longer knows what news is. We have "News Channels" but the biggest part of their programming is commentators analysing the news...giving their opinion.
As for me, I watch them all. I want to see how Fox is covering a story and how they can make it Obama's fault. I am interested how MSNBC will spin it so that the Republicans look bad. Here is my thinking: When someone has to tell me they are "Fair and Balanced" or "No Bias No Bull" or to "Lean Forward" red flags go off for me. Ye protestest too much!
The news is no different than buying a car or a flat screen TV. Test drive it. Check it out. Compare. Don't just buy it because your dad always drove Chevys. We as a nation have a responsiblity to be better consumers of news. If we demand more, if we expect more...eventually the quality will improve. Don't just get your news from one source..shop around. You may end up back where you started but you will have done the heavy lifting to make you better informed.
As for who's side is the media on...well they should be on OUR side. That is their job...to seek the truth and tell it fully. Go ahead and root for the home team; but the opponent can make some great plays too and it is unkind and unwise to think otherwise.
Thanks for reading.
Jeff
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Looking For Signs
LOOKING FOR SIGNS
It is said that we are either going into a valley,already in a valley or coming out of a valley. I have been in a valley for the past several months and hopefully I am on my way out now. There have been lots of people who have prayed for and with me about the valley I am climbing out of and I am so thankful for those who have listened to the same lament countless times.
Much of my time has been spent in prayer too... but I was hesitant to turn everything over to God. I thought I knew what His plan was and continue to pray for what I wanted; not necessarily what He had intended. That is where "Looking for Signs" comes into this entry.
Let me take you back about 35 or so years. You see, this is not the first time I have "wrestled" with God. Anyone who knows me knows that I can be obsessive! Some who are reading this are nodding their head and saying, "Ya think?" Anyway, my obsessions have changed over the years. I guess it is not unlike any type of addiction; you just move on to something else.
I guess you could go back even farther than 35 years. When I was a kid my obsession was to play Major League Baseball. Most desirable the St. Louis Cardinals. I was long on desire but more than a bit short on talent. I still believe, though, if I had the type of coaching that my own son has been exposed to that thing might have been different. But I digress.
I loved the game. Still do. I worked hard at it too. I would stand in my yard so that I could see my reflection in one of the windows of my house and practice my swing. I was always looking for a game or someone to play catch. I usually was the first one at practice and the last one to leave. This same trait carried over when I was playing high school and college basketball.
If wanting it badly enough could have gotten me to the big leagues I would be in the Baseball Hall of Fame today. And I prayed for it. Constantly. It was my greatest desire in life. But it never happened for me. So you move on; you adjust your goals. If I couldn't make it to the big leagues as a player why not get there with another talent I had? Talking! Play-by-play. Little did it occur to me that there are fewer broadcasters than ball players. The odds were even MORE difficult!
I worked and worked and practiced and honed my craft. I would turn the sound down on the TV and do P-B-P. I listened to my broadcasting idol, Jack Buck and wanted to be just like him. I did games of my college team and took radio jobs in Canton and Jacksonville, IL before a nine-month stint in Iowa. After getting married and returning to Decatur, IL I finally landed a gig with the Birmingham Barons. Double-A baseball. It was just a matter of time.
And I never stopped praying for the big leagues. I never stopped praying for that major college play-by-play job. Then in the late summer of 1987 God answered my prayer. I was going to be allowed to work a pair of games at Old Comiskey Park. The White Sox were letting me come up to the Windy City to broadcast Major League Baseball.
They say that players who only spend a short time in the majors have had "a cup of coffee" in the show. Well mine was more like a sip. Six innings. The middle three innings on Tuesday and the middle three innings on Wednesday and I "knocked it out of the park." Because of changes in the White Sox broadcast booths I felt certain I would land a job. It never happened.
The details can be left to another time but instead of finding myself in "the show" I was back to riding buses in the Southern League. And I kept praying. Should I stay in Double-A Birmingham? Could I make the leap to the majors from there? I sent out tapes and resumes to every major league team. I even sent some to some Triple-A teams. And I prayed: "God I am a Christian and look at how important a messenger I can be for you in the big leagues."
I finally decided that I had to make the move to Triple-A and went for and landed a job with the Pawtucket Red Sox. This was a great opportunity but was one of the loneliest times of my life. I was away in Rhode Island while my wife and two little girls were back in Alabama. And I prayed. I prayed not for the money that a major league job would bring. I prayed that God would see how valuable I would be to him. What a platform to share the gospel and the good news and my faith to young men and women. "God you know this is what you want for me."
I was in the valley. I was one step away from the major leagues but I was away from my family. I found Pawtucket to be dark and looming: a city that drained the energy from you the moment you drove into town. Was it the city or was it the adversary? And I prayed!
My goal was to land my first full-time major league job by the time I was 35. Long story made shorter...by 35 I was not only NOT in the major leagues...I was out of professional baseball. And I prayed. "Why God? Don't you know how important I am to you? Don't you see how I can further your kingdom by me being in the big leagues?" It never occurred to me that I had not done much to further His kingdom in the minor leagues. You know, bloom where you are planted?
I became angry with baseball, the broadcasting industry, with my circumstances and with God. My thoughts and motives were selfish and that valley grew deeper; contributing in part to the failure of my marriage.
But God did answered my prayer. Now I did not hear His voice say this to me but in essence he said "Jeff, you want to have a platform before young people? You want to have an impact on kids? I am going to let you do that everyday." Believe me, it was not the way I had wanted my prayer to be answered. In 1992 I was hired to teach TV Production to high school students and I just finished my 20th year!
Okay, so what does that have to do with signs and the title of this entry? I was always looking for signs that God wanted me in the big leagues. I mean, getting called up to do the White Sox games is a pretty good sign, right? I got the job in Pawtucket, beating out over 200 applicants for the job. Surely that was a sign.
All my life I have been looking for that crystal clear moment of clarity that God wanted the same thing for me that I did. My desires were not necessarily wrong but the importance I placed on them were.
Fast forward to present time. As I wrote earlier I am coming out of a valley. It is a relationship valley. It was a relationship that I was sure that God had ordained. And I prayed. I saw the signs! Again, the details are best left idle for now but I was back to twisting God's arm again; wrestling with him...trying to convince Him to do things my way. I had seen the signs and I had seen how everything came together at the exact right moment so that every detail fit into place. It HAD to be God's will. And I prayed.
I prayed that God would see all the things He had done to make things work exactly as they had. I used God as a magic lamp to grant MY wish...to do what I wanted. I wanted to prove to God that He would be glorified by keeping this relationship alive because of all the things that could not have happened by accident.
But just like with my dream of being a big league player or a major league announcer I was more focused on what it would do for me than what it would truly do for God. The fact is, God doesn't need me to do anything; "... for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."
(Matthew 3:9 ESV) I am His to use how He wants to use me.
This most recent quest for signs led me to reflect on some of the valleys of my life. So I did get to the majors. I got six innings of major league baseball play-by-play. Thanks God! And I had a wonderful relationship that was filled with going in and coming out of valleys. When that season was in full bloom it was some of the best moments of my life. It was real and meaningful but that season has now passed.
So what are the signs from God we should look for? Last summer a colleague of mine was distressed over a work assignment. She was stressed to the max with financial worry, the death of one of her parents and the illness of the other. This new assignment was the last straw!
She spoke of seeing signs of this and that. She talked about her daughter interpreting something as a sign from God. Finally after listening to her I told her what I should have been telling myself these past few months:
The most definitive sign that God has ever given us is the sign of His son dying on the cross for our sins. What greater sign could there be that God wants what is best for us?
I believe there are no accidents; no coincidences. I sometimes struggle with God's total sovereignty. I am still a work in progress and strive to understand it more fully. But I know that God has placed different seasons in my life...seeds you could say...that have been watered and cared for and provided to give me a glimpse of His grace.
Seasons come and go. “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
(1 Peter 1:24-25 ESV)
Are you looking for signs in your life? I know I probably will continue to look for signs of God's will in mine but I am climbing out of the valley knowing that the sign I MUST look for now and in the valleys to come is the CROSS. What a sign! What a Savior!
Thanks for reading!
Jeff
It is said that we are either going into a valley,already in a valley or coming out of a valley. I have been in a valley for the past several months and hopefully I am on my way out now. There have been lots of people who have prayed for and with me about the valley I am climbing out of and I am so thankful for those who have listened to the same lament countless times.
Much of my time has been spent in prayer too... but I was hesitant to turn everything over to God. I thought I knew what His plan was and continue to pray for what I wanted; not necessarily what He had intended. That is where "Looking for Signs" comes into this entry.
Let me take you back about 35 or so years. You see, this is not the first time I have "wrestled" with God. Anyone who knows me knows that I can be obsessive! Some who are reading this are nodding their head and saying, "Ya think?" Anyway, my obsessions have changed over the years. I guess it is not unlike any type of addiction; you just move on to something else.
I guess you could go back even farther than 35 years. When I was a kid my obsession was to play Major League Baseball. Most desirable the St. Louis Cardinals. I was long on desire but more than a bit short on talent. I still believe, though, if I had the type of coaching that my own son has been exposed to that thing might have been different. But I digress.
I loved the game. Still do. I worked hard at it too. I would stand in my yard so that I could see my reflection in one of the windows of my house and practice my swing. I was always looking for a game or someone to play catch. I usually was the first one at practice and the last one to leave. This same trait carried over when I was playing high school and college basketball.
If wanting it badly enough could have gotten me to the big leagues I would be in the Baseball Hall of Fame today. And I prayed for it. Constantly. It was my greatest desire in life. But it never happened for me. So you move on; you adjust your goals. If I couldn't make it to the big leagues as a player why not get there with another talent I had? Talking! Play-by-play. Little did it occur to me that there are fewer broadcasters than ball players. The odds were even MORE difficult!
I worked and worked and practiced and honed my craft. I would turn the sound down on the TV and do P-B-P. I listened to my broadcasting idol, Jack Buck and wanted to be just like him. I did games of my college team and took radio jobs in Canton and Jacksonville, IL before a nine-month stint in Iowa. After getting married and returning to Decatur, IL I finally landed a gig with the Birmingham Barons. Double-A baseball. It was just a matter of time.
And I never stopped praying for the big leagues. I never stopped praying for that major college play-by-play job. Then in the late summer of 1987 God answered my prayer. I was going to be allowed to work a pair of games at Old Comiskey Park. The White Sox were letting me come up to the Windy City to broadcast Major League Baseball.
They say that players who only spend a short time in the majors have had "a cup of coffee" in the show. Well mine was more like a sip. Six innings. The middle three innings on Tuesday and the middle three innings on Wednesday and I "knocked it out of the park." Because of changes in the White Sox broadcast booths I felt certain I would land a job. It never happened.
The details can be left to another time but instead of finding myself in "the show" I was back to riding buses in the Southern League. And I kept praying. Should I stay in Double-A Birmingham? Could I make the leap to the majors from there? I sent out tapes and resumes to every major league team. I even sent some to some Triple-A teams. And I prayed: "God I am a Christian and look at how important a messenger I can be for you in the big leagues."
I finally decided that I had to make the move to Triple-A and went for and landed a job with the Pawtucket Red Sox. This was a great opportunity but was one of the loneliest times of my life. I was away in Rhode Island while my wife and two little girls were back in Alabama. And I prayed. I prayed not for the money that a major league job would bring. I prayed that God would see how valuable I would be to him. What a platform to share the gospel and the good news and my faith to young men and women. "God you know this is what you want for me."
I was in the valley. I was one step away from the major leagues but I was away from my family. I found Pawtucket to be dark and looming: a city that drained the energy from you the moment you drove into town. Was it the city or was it the adversary? And I prayed!
My goal was to land my first full-time major league job by the time I was 35. Long story made shorter...by 35 I was not only NOT in the major leagues...I was out of professional baseball. And I prayed. "Why God? Don't you know how important I am to you? Don't you see how I can further your kingdom by me being in the big leagues?" It never occurred to me that I had not done much to further His kingdom in the minor leagues. You know, bloom where you are planted?
I became angry with baseball, the broadcasting industry, with my circumstances and with God. My thoughts and motives were selfish and that valley grew deeper; contributing in part to the failure of my marriage.
But God did answered my prayer. Now I did not hear His voice say this to me but in essence he said "Jeff, you want to have a platform before young people? You want to have an impact on kids? I am going to let you do that everyday." Believe me, it was not the way I had wanted my prayer to be answered. In 1992 I was hired to teach TV Production to high school students and I just finished my 20th year!
Okay, so what does that have to do with signs and the title of this entry? I was always looking for signs that God wanted me in the big leagues. I mean, getting called up to do the White Sox games is a pretty good sign, right? I got the job in Pawtucket, beating out over 200 applicants for the job. Surely that was a sign.
All my life I have been looking for that crystal clear moment of clarity that God wanted the same thing for me that I did. My desires were not necessarily wrong but the importance I placed on them were.
Fast forward to present time. As I wrote earlier I am coming out of a valley. It is a relationship valley. It was a relationship that I was sure that God had ordained. And I prayed. I saw the signs! Again, the details are best left idle for now but I was back to twisting God's arm again; wrestling with him...trying to convince Him to do things my way. I had seen the signs and I had seen how everything came together at the exact right moment so that every detail fit into place. It HAD to be God's will. And I prayed.
I prayed that God would see all the things He had done to make things work exactly as they had. I used God as a magic lamp to grant MY wish...to do what I wanted. I wanted to prove to God that He would be glorified by keeping this relationship alive because of all the things that could not have happened by accident.
But just like with my dream of being a big league player or a major league announcer I was more focused on what it would do for me than what it would truly do for God. The fact is, God doesn't need me to do anything; "... for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."
(Matthew 3:9 ESV) I am His to use how He wants to use me.
This most recent quest for signs led me to reflect on some of the valleys of my life. So I did get to the majors. I got six innings of major league baseball play-by-play. Thanks God! And I had a wonderful relationship that was filled with going in and coming out of valleys. When that season was in full bloom it was some of the best moments of my life. It was real and meaningful but that season has now passed.
So what are the signs from God we should look for? Last summer a colleague of mine was distressed over a work assignment. She was stressed to the max with financial worry, the death of one of her parents and the illness of the other. This new assignment was the last straw!
She spoke of seeing signs of this and that. She talked about her daughter interpreting something as a sign from God. Finally after listening to her I told her what I should have been telling myself these past few months:
The most definitive sign that God has ever given us is the sign of His son dying on the cross for our sins. What greater sign could there be that God wants what is best for us?
I believe there are no accidents; no coincidences. I sometimes struggle with God's total sovereignty. I am still a work in progress and strive to understand it more fully. But I know that God has placed different seasons in my life...seeds you could say...that have been watered and cared for and provided to give me a glimpse of His grace.
Seasons come and go. “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
(1 Peter 1:24-25 ESV)
Are you looking for signs in your life? I know I probably will continue to look for signs of God's will in mine but I am climbing out of the valley knowing that the sign I MUST look for now and in the valleys to come is the CROSS. What a sign! What a Savior!
Thanks for reading!
Jeff
Speaking Into Dead Air
SPEAKING INTO DEAD AIR
Although I have been a school teacher for the past 20 years, at heart I will always be a broadcaster. My teaching career has kept me connected to the broadcasting world because of what I teach: TV Production and Broadcast Journalism. I have also kept my toe in the water through working the Hoover High School football and boys basketball broadcasts; as well as other freelance assignments.
The term "dead air" is associated with that time on air when there is silence. For example, a commercial spot is not cued up and it doesn't play when needed or the right dial was not turned up and nothing is heard. It also refers to when a play-by-play announcer doesn't have the words to describe what action is taking place...or lack there of.
All truly professional broadcasters HATE dead air.
SPEAKING INTO DEAD AIR is my first blog. What I will attempt to do when the spirit moves me is to speak on various topics that are near and dear to my heart. Sometimes it will be rants; other times it will be raves. Sometimes it will be about how it feels when the words that are being spoken are dying in the air or falling on deaf ears. Sometimes it will be about my life experience; my faith, the media, sports, etc. I hope it will challenge whomever reads it to think, to reason, to question...to reflect.
Edward R Murrow once talked about how some who have a platform to express their views (TV, radio, newspaper and now the Internet) think what they have to say is more important than "the guy at the other end of the bar." (Murrow and his colleagues were not immune to bending the elbow; which makes for a great analogy) His point is that everyone is entitled to there opinion and just because someone has an audience of millions doesn't make his/her ideas more valid.
Of course, we have to temper that with acknowledging life experiences and age. I would venture to say that many of the younger people who may read this will think differently after they have had a few more years under their belt. Likewise, I never cease to be amazed what I learn for younger people; including my children.
So now that you have read the official introduction to SPEAKING INTO DEAD AIR let me take you into my first entry:
As I said before, good professional broadcasters hate dead air. Unfortunately, that concept often has carried over into my real life. Silence is a difficult thing for me. Not that I can't be quiet or reflective. There are times when you are with someone that you truly care about when words are not necessary. You can just be comfortable in silence together; sharing the moment. Breathing the same air. I have experienced that joy in my life and I cherish those times.
But more often than not... I speak. I have to fill the dead air. And that is not always a good thing. I would love to have $5 for every time I have been told. "You've said enough."
In many respects I identify with Christ's disciple, Peter. Peter was often loud, bold and outspoken. He would have been a great broadcaster. He, too, hated dead air! But how often he spoke before thinking through his comment or his response to what he was feeling, experiencing and seeing around him.
I take great comfort in the flaws of Peter. I see many of those flaws in myself...too quick to speak, too quick to anger. But look at how mightily God used Peter. In fact, Peter also said and did some pretty incredible things!
It should be a lesson to all of us that God will use our flaws and weakness to gain His great glory. And it should be noted that God calls for some dead air:
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
(Psalm 46:10 ESV)
Next up I will share how I needed a little dead air in my life. Thanks for stopping by.
Jeff
Although I have been a school teacher for the past 20 years, at heart I will always be a broadcaster. My teaching career has kept me connected to the broadcasting world because of what I teach: TV Production and Broadcast Journalism. I have also kept my toe in the water through working the Hoover High School football and boys basketball broadcasts; as well as other freelance assignments.
The term "dead air" is associated with that time on air when there is silence. For example, a commercial spot is not cued up and it doesn't play when needed or the right dial was not turned up and nothing is heard. It also refers to when a play-by-play announcer doesn't have the words to describe what action is taking place...or lack there of.
All truly professional broadcasters HATE dead air.
SPEAKING INTO DEAD AIR is my first blog. What I will attempt to do when the spirit moves me is to speak on various topics that are near and dear to my heart. Sometimes it will be rants; other times it will be raves. Sometimes it will be about how it feels when the words that are being spoken are dying in the air or falling on deaf ears. Sometimes it will be about my life experience; my faith, the media, sports, etc. I hope it will challenge whomever reads it to think, to reason, to question...to reflect.
Edward R Murrow once talked about how some who have a platform to express their views (TV, radio, newspaper and now the Internet) think what they have to say is more important than "the guy at the other end of the bar." (Murrow and his colleagues were not immune to bending the elbow; which makes for a great analogy) His point is that everyone is entitled to there opinion and just because someone has an audience of millions doesn't make his/her ideas more valid.
Of course, we have to temper that with acknowledging life experiences and age. I would venture to say that many of the younger people who may read this will think differently after they have had a few more years under their belt. Likewise, I never cease to be amazed what I learn for younger people; including my children.
So now that you have read the official introduction to SPEAKING INTO DEAD AIR let me take you into my first entry:
As I said before, good professional broadcasters hate dead air. Unfortunately, that concept often has carried over into my real life. Silence is a difficult thing for me. Not that I can't be quiet or reflective. There are times when you are with someone that you truly care about when words are not necessary. You can just be comfortable in silence together; sharing the moment. Breathing the same air. I have experienced that joy in my life and I cherish those times.
But more often than not... I speak. I have to fill the dead air. And that is not always a good thing. I would love to have $5 for every time I have been told. "You've said enough."
In many respects I identify with Christ's disciple, Peter. Peter was often loud, bold and outspoken. He would have been a great broadcaster. He, too, hated dead air! But how often he spoke before thinking through his comment or his response to what he was feeling, experiencing and seeing around him.
I take great comfort in the flaws of Peter. I see many of those flaws in myself...too quick to speak, too quick to anger. But look at how mightily God used Peter. In fact, Peter also said and did some pretty incredible things!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
(1 Peter 1:3-9 ESV)
(1 Peter 1:3-9 ESV)
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
(Psalm 46:10 ESV)
Next up I will share how I needed a little dead air in my life. Thanks for stopping by.
Jeff
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