Trial Balloon: December 11, 2008 Archive

Our final Morning Show broadcast was an immense hug and a truly beautiful thing thanks to the waves of faithful listeners who flowed to and through the Fitzgerald Theater and St. Paul's Central Presbyterian Church. The size of the crowd went well beyond our expectations (I wagered 1500) and their warmth was off the charts. If you haven't seen the slide show yet, take a look. As a lifelong radio guy, I am naturally timid at the thought of facing a live audience, but this group was as comfort-inducing as any collection of 2000 souls can be. What's the opposite of an unruly mob? A ruly mob, I guess. That's what we had.

All the heartfelt words of praise for our Morning Show were oh so welcome, but after awhile I did begin to feel a bit guilty. Let's face it, everybody works hard and the stress of day-to-day living takes a toll. Who wouldn't get a boost from having a gaggle of admiring people asking for your autograph? I confess I enjoyed it tremendously, but I recognize that most people deserve a kind word and a pat on the back for the good things they do every day, and do they get it? You know the answer. Sorry Jim Ed and I hogged the love storm, but what could we do? It blew down the doors.

The Morning Show is done. It was a long-running and sometimes confounding radio gymnastics routine with plenty of twists and flourishes and it looked like we would come crashing down a couple of times, but our spotters were there for us and gravity gave us some lucky breaks, and the dismount was incredible.
Now it's time for the next event.

Radio Heartland is already up and running. On the first installment of my Jim Ed-less Morning Show, I'll visit with Ann Reed in the studio and bring back the five (FIVE!) songs that were done in our honor at the last broadcast, including Peter Ostroushko's cruelly manipulative version of "You Are My Sunshine".
We start at 6am Friday!