"Of Naysayers. Haters. Gaslighters. Energy Vampires"

 I read a book once where the author said, "Seeing people for who they REALLY are is one of the most valuable and profitable things you can do in life."

Naysayers. Haters. Gaslighters. Energy vampires.

There's no avoiding them. They pop up at work, school, a rude ("I hate my job") cashier at your local convenience store, a friend, church services, sports events, family gatherings, competitive singing TV shows ... you name it. Thank goodness there are proven methods you can use to banish them forever, or at least minimize the irritation they bring into your otherwise generally pleasant day.

Recently, in a phone chit chat with a  friend, I mentioned another friend of mine I've known for years, has become a certified, undeniable, energy vampire. She has two moods---grumpy and grumpier. I LOVE the term...energy vampire... as I have encountered a number of them over the years, and it seems like such a good description. Just in case you're out of the loop, an energy vampire is defined as:

"Friends, family members or coworkers who literally zap your emotional energy."

(Break out the garlic and sharp, wooden stakes).

According to Psych Central, energy vampires tend to be emotionally immature, self-centered and lack empathy. 

The million dollar question is "How do you deal with energy vampires who suck you of your energy?"

Some suggestions are: hang out in groups of three or more, stick to light topics when chatting, lend an ear, reduce contact, and cut them out of your life. 

A longtime friend is a "triple play threat." An energy vampire, naysayer, and hater. (Other than that, she's a great gal!) Sometimes the phone rings,  I see her name on caller ID, and I just can't answer the phone. One afternoon, I was "treated" to her ear shattering, 1000 decibel screech about how awful Kelly Clarkson dresses on her afternoon TV talk show. I let her rant for a bit, then told her she can always change the channel. "Just grab that little black thing we call a remote, and change the channel." What an idea! Nope. That flies right over her head. I'm positive she enjoys the hating way too much.  Another time, it was about Good Morning America's host, former football player, Michael Strahan, and how much she hates the gap in his front teeth. I informed her that some viewers like the gap, and some don't, as I heard him say one morning on the show. That launched another shout down on the phone, to which I tried to change the subject quickly---"WOW. How about this great weather we're having!" Or, "How about those Warriors and Steph Curry. They kicked butt last night!" That was met with a typical, monotone, Debbie Downer from her, "I don't watch men's basketball John." OKKKK! Sour pusses will be sour pusses, I guess. Just trying to elevate the conversation.

I had a few naysayers when I told them I was going to go to radio/broadcast school to learn to become a deejay, at the age of 18. "Oh really? (sarcastic chuckle), let us know how THAT works out." In a way, that kind of drove me. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Those types of discouraging comments can put a bit of a chip on your shoulder. But it turned out to be good. I had a very satisfying on-air career for 20+ years in places like West Palm Beach, Charlotte, Akron-Canton, Miami, Joplin ("Oh no! Another tornado!") and met many recording artists and celebrities; most of them very nice to talk to. I also worked alongside some very talented people and learned a lot. Meeting the often outspoken station listeners was cool too. "You guys play too many commercials and you play the same songs over and over!" Or, "Why are you guys already playing Christmas music? I haven't even digested the turkey from Thanksgiving?" (Truth be known: Radio ratings went up considerably when we went early with the Christmas tunes).

As for the haters who are often insecure and get enjoyment out of trying to marginalize your success by knocking you down a peg or two, ignoring them or removing them from your life is a very useful option. I have an attention seeking brother-in-law (4th grader mentality) who for some reason likes to play the hater card on me; childish, verbal attacks. Jealousy comes to mind; a very common hater trait. We rarely see each other, but at family funerals,and I'm OK with that. My technique? Simple... I ignore. The contrived drama that is thrown my way goes in one ear and out the other. And this is coming from a man of supposed high intellect who is a director at an institute of a well known university! 

 Backhanded/patronizing comments are definitely a part of the hater toolbox. A sassy co-worker in the coffee break room who says, "Hey (fill in the name), NICE shoes! Where'd you get them, Pay Less?" Wouldn't you just love to stick a bagel in her yapper.

Wanna bring your haters out of the woodwork; as in by the dozens? Hit the Powerball jackpot.  As the old Bachman Turner Overdrive song lyric goes, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!" People you thought were your friends/family will be seething with jealousy. Not your fault the lottery Gods showered their good luck down on you! By the way, as I write this post, the current jackpot stands at $450 million ; worthy of at least a one ticket purchase. Yep, I'm on that lottery playing train: "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. All you need is one ticket."

This post is getting long, so I'll skip a lengthy chat about the gaslighters. You probably know what challenges they present. If you don't, Google the term. I can tell you from experience to watch out for the "tag team" husband and wife gaslighters. They love to work together with a plan, and have it down to a science. Bullies. Two against one.

As you go up the ladder in your profession of choice, these kinds of sad and sorry people will try to take cheap shots and bring you down. March on. Ignore. Smile. Your daily success will be your victory. Land that next voice-over job. When you do, celebrate a bit. You deserve it! Oh, and tell Debbie Downer to take a hike.

                                                                            

Funny man Steve Martin on being undeniably good

 I think most folks would agree, comedian Steve Martin has enjoyed phenomenal success in his long career.  So many funny moments on screen. And who could forget his controversial song "King Tut" from the late 70's. He wrote it by the way. Some people weren't laughing and called it racist. (that's for a conversation at another time). He's been known to bring his banjo with him and play at San Francisco's "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival" in Golden Gate Park. Cool thing is it's a FREE event. A day well spent with the talented musicians. I highly recommend it. But just know it gets very crowded. I went one year. "Sardines" comes to mind. (elbow to elbow).

Steve had this to say about being undeniably good. As you grow in your voice over career, keep this in mind. (or any career for that matter).

From A-Z quotes...

"Be undeniably good. When people ask me how do you make it in show business or whatever, what I always tell them & nobody ever takes note of it 'cause it's not the answer they wanted to hear-what they want to hear is here's how you get an agent, here's how you write a script, here's how you do this-but I always say, “Be so good they can't ignore you.” If somebody's thinking, “How can I be really good?” people are going to come to you. It's much easier doing it that way than going to cocktail parties."

Here's a link to a cool CBS Sunday Morning interview with him from the archives. I didn't know he is such an art fan and collector. At the very end of the interview, he breaks out his banjo.

                                                                               

"Tiny Tim on MY country radio station? Oh, hell NO!"

 So I was broadcasting my midday, country radio show from a remote studio at the Burt Reynolds Ranch in Jupiter, Florida when our station photographer Sam called to tell me of a celebrity he had in his van. They were coming down the Florida turnpike not far from my studio. He asked me if I wanted to put Tiny Tim of "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" fame on the air with me. He said Tim was in South Florida to cut a new record with a country music flavor. I told him, with some reservation, "OK. Bring him by."

They showed up, and I must say, Tiny Tim was just like he looked on the Tonight Show when he married Miss Vicki with Johnny Carson overseeing the proceedings.  Make up on, he was looking like a stretch from being masculine and a very quiet man. We chatted on air for a while and at the end, I told him we needed to hear a bit of "Tip Toe," his novelty hit song with his ever present ukulele and high falsetto. He gladly agreed, and then left after taking a picture with me. 

The negative phone calls I received afterwards from listeners was off the charts. I took heat. How could I put this feminine man on their macho country radio station?!

I shook it off. He was a well known celebrity at the time and a super nice guy. Too bad the good ol' boys had an issue. It saddened me to hear he died of a heart attack while performing on stage in Minneapolis in 1996. 

My broadcast studio is right behind me in the pic below. Those boxes over Tim's shoulder in the storage room have all manner of western wear in them...cowboy boots, jeans, shirts, etc.

When she was married to Burt, Lonnie Anderson came in one day with her daughter to buy some boots while I was on the air. I about fell off my chair in the studio. Prettier in person (if that's possible) but highly demanding of the staff that worked in this store. Boots were flying everywhere as she tried on the various styles and the staff tried to accommodate her. Between you and me, I think the ladies who worked in the store were happy to see her go! OK, I'll be quiet now.

                                                                         

"Take a Walk on the Wild Side"

 If you're a busy voice over talent, you may have those days that can be overwhelming with client expectations about your turnaround time/tight deadlines and everything seemingly coming at you all at once. I record a good amount of learning content. Some of it is very technical. Aviation scripts comes to mind. I think it's super important to force yourself to take a break and reboot. Do something that centers you again. In my case, I like to go out and walk a bit through my neighborhood. Lately, here in the Bay Area, we've had some outstanding weather; mid 70's and a slightly cool breeze. The streets are such that I can take a short walk, or much longer one, depending upon how much time I have. I say hello from afar to a big, bad, barking dog that's fenced in and looks very intimidating. I absolutely love walking as you notice things you would never see while driving. Sometimes you find a few coins in the dirt. And unfortunately, sometimes you see litter. Time to bring back that 60's TV campaign, "Don't be a Litterbug." There's a mom and pop convenience store just across the way I can get to in about 8 minutes from my front door. I'll go over there and grab a snack and buy a few lottery tickets. They have those "pickle in a pouch" things which I like a lot. (Van Holten's). I've enjoyed those since I was a kid. I'm also addicted to homemade pickles... but that's another story. There's a hofbrau in San Francisco called Tommy's Joynt with a big barrel of all you can eat pickles! I'm dying to try that out. (I know! I know! It's the little things in life). Anyway, I head back to my home studio, enjoy the snacks, and get back to recording or editing the audio. It's not an overly long break, but just enough to reset. When I walk, I always try to take some deep breaths along the way and move briskly. Of course, if walking's not your thing, there are so many other options. Some like to close their eyes and meditate or listen to music with headphones on. Hey, whatever works for you. 

Over the years, I've gotten many compliments about my fast turnaround of the voice overs. That's totally cool. But you really should take those much needed breaks. Resetting is, in my opinion, a very wise thing to do. And you might even save yourself an aspirin or two at the end of the day!

"Hello. I'm Johnny Cash" (A surprise throwback pic)

 This picture of me and Mr. Cash was totally unexpected and not planned.

It was my day to host and emcee on behalf of our radio station WIRK from the South Florida Fair in West Palm Beach. Typically, you'd have a matinee show under the big tent at 4 PM and then an evening show at 8PM. We had an RV off the midway with a live microphone back to the main station so we could go on the air from the fair and yack for a minute or so to get people to come out to see the entertainment;most of it country music stars.

A station photographer and friend of mine ("Sam") was at the ready and yelled, "Hey John!" as we were going up the stage stairs. We both looked over and he snapped this cool picture of the two of us. I forgot all about it until Sam brought it by the station a few days later and gave it to me. I was honored to be on the same steps with "The Man In Black." (now if only I could sing like him!) A  real treasured photo.   

                                                                                

Kirstie Alley (before she was famous) and "You'll never make it!" stories.

There are tons of stories about famous people who were told they'd never make it; some of them well known voice actors. (Voice ace Scott Rummell comes to mind. Search for his TED Talk on You Tube).

Oprah was fired from a Baltimore TV station as an evening news reporter because some clueless director said she became too emotionally involved in her stories and was "unfit for television news." (how would you like to be the fool who fired Oprah, and then later be quizzed about it at small talk parties... F-O-R-E-V-E-R).

Hugh Jackman was fired from a 7-11 convenience store job because his boss said he talked too much to the customers.

J.K. Rowling of "Harry Potter" fame was once fired because the boss said she was writing stories on her computer all day, instead of working.

On a more personal level, while I was filling in for our afternoon drive time deejay on WIRK in West Palm Beach back in the 90's, our program director came in the studio to tell me he had passed on some up-and-comer kid named Tim McGraw to do a telephone interview with me because 'he's the son of some famous baseball player (Tug) and I don't think he's ever gonna go anywhere in the recording industry. So I told the promoter NO.'  Last time I checked, our program director was still wiping egg off his reddened face. No word if he's still working in radio. Somebody throw him a towel...would you please? (Mercifully, I won't put his on-air name here).

Here in the Bay Area, I've been watching Buzzr TV, which is similar to the Game Show Network. They broadcast old episodes of shows like "Password," "Match Game," "Concentration," "What's My Line?," "Family Feud," "Hollywood Squares," and beyond.

I enjoy watching them as these are shows, and celebrities, I grew up on---many of them now resting peacefully in that big game show hall of fame in the sky. By the way, did any celebrity do more game show panelist appearances than the late Betty White? Almost like every-other-show. Of course, her husband, Allen Ludden, hosted Password. I loved it when Betty would go on Password and her and Allen would tease/squabble a bit. It made for good TV.

Recently, one of the really lovable actresses from "Cheers" passed away. What a surprise I got the other day when Buzzr TV broadcasted Kirstie Alley's appearance on "Match Game" before she became a big star. In her former life, she was an interior designer. Here's a clip of Kirstie on MG. She gave off a ton of confidence and sexiness, even way back then. No doubt some astute talent scout was watching that day. She "auditioned" on a gameshow and got the role of a lifetime on "Cheers."  Smart lady.

       

How is your stuff doing these days?

 In my early days of radio broadcasting, I was constantly moving to the next opportunity. U-Haul and I were the best of friends. I usually rented the smallest truck. I made it a rule not to hang on to useless clutter that I would have to senselessly move to my next town. Besides, most of the time when they hired you, they'd want you there in days...not weeks.

Which brings me to the fine art of clutter. Some folks are really good at it. I don't have a lot of that here at my place as I've never been a "things" person. I'm allergic to malls. A few months ago, I went down to my carport storage, unlocked the door for the first time in years, and saw a few big Tupperware containers which I had forgotten I had down there. Much to my surprise, there was a shoe box crammed with cassette tapes of my old radio shows. I took the box out and went back upstairs to my living room where I could see dates on the cassettes; some of them dating back to the mid 80's! Not having a cassette player, I called a friend who had one, and she gladly loaned it to me. Playing the tapes of my early radio shows was kind of weird. Some of my on-air antics were cool; others I was less impressed with. Time gives you a whole different perspective. I even had a recording of a couple of actors who visited my studio for a live, on-air interview from "Greater Tuna," a very funny show featuring Joe Sears and Jaston Williams; a comedic play set in the fictional town of Tuna, Texas, the "third- smallest" town in the state.

After listening, I was going to put the cassettes in a closet, when it occurred to me, I would probably never be listening to them again. All of this was from my past, and it had very little sentimental value to me. I took the entire box, cassettes and all, and threw them in the garbage can for Monday morning pickup. See how easy that was? Something clicked, and it made me feel good. 

I went through my closet and found like new pants and other clothes I will never wear. Off  they went to my neighborhood Goodwill. "Ahhhh...much better now." 

 I was reading a book by one of my favorite British authors, Stuart Wilde, where he speaks about decluttering our lives and making way for the new and the good that's coming to you. I'm a firm believer. Less, not more, is the way to go.    

Some people just can't imagine throwing their useless junk away; they seem attached to it. And I'm not talking about hoarders.  Even though they've never touched it in years, there it sits taking up space and collecting dust.  And God forbid they should have to move. That'll take days to relocate all the stuff they never use. They'll have to rent out that jumbo sized U-Haul you see around town to get all that junk to a new location; and beg family and friends to help them move all that crap stuff into and out of the truck. Insane, I say. Get rid of it already! You'll feel much better. And "lighter." Out with the old...in with the new!

                                                                  

CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley

 

One of my favorite TV shows is "CBS Sunday Morning"that airs here in the Bay Area at 7 AM on our local affiliate. It runs 90 minutes and features all kinds of interesting people, many in a creative field-writers, singers, artists, entertainers, producers, poets and beyond. Even the occasional voice actor. 

What I especially like about the show is the lighter fare. Nothing too heavy-most of the time. I find many of the personalities featured to be quite inspirational. Yesterday, they ran a piece on LeVar Burton, who in addition to his many outstanding acting credits like "Roots," also narrates audio books. 

In the same show, Bob Ross, the soft spoken, late artist of public TV fame, was profiled. I had seen him many times on his "Joy of Painting" show teaching painting techniques, but had no idea it was taped in a converted house! The feature said he had to rehearse a painting session so he could get everything finished within the allotted TV time for the viewer.  If you are not familiar with Mr. Ross, he had a very calming voice and spoke with a half whisper, as he dabbed the paint on the canvas while giving out instructions. And with that whisper, he drew you in to what he was doing. In a day and age where being loud often comes from our TV's, he was one of a kind.  It reminded me that as a voice actor, that half whisper can come in handy for subtle emphasis on copy.

Part of the magic of "CBS Sunday Morning" is that each show contains many segments. So if you're not particularly into one feature, you know that something else will soon be coming on. The last segment is usually a very brief, non-narrated nature/animal piece.  I highly recommend it. 

By the way, the hostess of the show, Jane Pauley, is married to  Pulitzer Prize winning American cartoonist, Garry Trudeau.  He's well known as the creator of the Doonesbury comic strip.

This blog has NO agenda!

There are already a huge amount of voice over blogs out there. When I decided to jump in with my own over ten years ago , I knew I would want to go beyond just talking about voice over techniques and tales. Living in the Bay Area, there's plenty of other stuff to write about. 

This blog is mainly intended for beginner and intermediate voice talents. Seasoned voice actors will know much of what I speak. 

One area of everyday conversation I will never write about on here is POLITICS.  Like many, I have my viewpoints, but I will not use this blog as a forum for political arguing and hostile chit chat. I'll leave that to others out there. 

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy and learn some voice over methods through my random writings here and the stories about my "former life"in radio and TV broadcasting. It was great fun for me, and now, recording voice overs suits me just fine. I have some fantastic, longtime clients/customers.You know who you are. THANK YOU!

Good luck to you in your journey. As someone once said, "Life is NOT a dress rehearsal." Live to your fullest right NOW! Nothing is guaranteed going forward. 

Feel free to reach out to me directly at john@johnmilesproductions.com with a comment or a question. 

"I'm living on the air at WKRP in.....Mansfield, Ohio"

The start of my radio career wasn't exactly like the TV show "WKRP in Cincinnati," but it had a few wacky/odd moments. (None like the famous WKRP "turkeys dropped from high above" episode. A must see on You Tube!)

Upon graduating from high school in Strongsville, Ohio, I told my Dad I wanted to go to a broadcast school in Cleveland to become a radio deejay. He said, "Son, I don't know about that. It's a dog eat dog business." As usual, he was right. After considerable begging, he agreed and gave me a very reluctant nod of the head to enroll. The cool thing was that the instructors were deejays I heard on the radio in the Cleveland market. One of mine was "The Real Bob James." He was on WGAR, a very popular station at the time. Bob was very funny on air and would go on to co-found the American Comedy Network. It was a comedy service that radio deejays subscribed to for funny material they could use on their radio shows. I listened to Bob on the radio and held him in high regard. In short, I was thrilled to have him as one of my teachers. Upon graduation from the school, I started sending out my demo tape to radio stations around the country. Much to my surprise ( and my Mom and Dad's too), I got a phone call from a radio station in Mansfield, Ohio which was about 45 minutes south of where I grew up. It was a Mom and Pop AM/FM station called WCLW. They had a reputation for paying low wages and hiring guys like me who had zero on air experience, but wanted to get in the radio business as a deejay. After a telephone interview, they hired me to do an afternoon show on their low wattage AM station. ("Hello. Is anyone out there?") My Mom and Dad had to have been in a mild state of shock. I actually got a job at a radio station!Thus began my very long and journeyed radio career. Even though at first I was awful on the air, I knew, with dedication, I could improve and work my way up to the better stations and actually make a living being on the radio. WCLW was owned by an elderly couple and their daughter Lynn ran it like a drill sergeant. One day, early into my employment there, she told me I was going to do a remote broadcast on an upcoming Sunday afternoon from a pet cemetery! The goal was to get people to buy a burial plot for their beloved pet. I'm thinking, "What in the world am I going to say on air about a pet cemetery of all things?" It would be the very first of many awkward on air assignments she would give me that were very much a "sink or swim"situation that eventually would make me a better broadcaster down the road. Other remote broadcasts would include a ladies clothing store in downtown Mansfield with a bubbly Julia Child- like owner on microphone with me talking about all the wonderful selections to buy. And at another broadcast chatting on air about the love making virtues of a waterbed with the inventor Charlie Hall, who was doing a live appearance at "Aquarius" waterbed store. I had many on air assignments at that first radio station that would force me to ad-lib and be on my toes. It was all quite the crash course and it turned out to be a very good thing  in preparing me to work at much bigger stations in the years ahead.

WCLW will always have a special place in my heart. It gave me my start. For that I am truly grateful. 

My love affair with... (wait for it!)...You Tube

As an avid music lover, when I'm not recording voice overs or marketing my business, I'm often on You Tube playing songs I haven't heard in years. Songs you rarely hear on the radio anymore but may have been a big part of the soundtrack of your life. Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me" comes to mind. It's one of those songs that never gets old no matter how many times I have heard it. I also like to read the comments below the video post of the song. It's cool to see what people are thinking with their likes or dislikes comments.

But from a voice over standpoint,  I use You Tube to check proper names that may come up in scripts I'm recording. Or product names that are not necessarily running commercials on radio or TV. I learned early on to check multiple videos for pronunciations of the same word as relying on only one video may not give you the correct pronunciation. In other posts on this blog I have recommended Forvo.com and Howjsay.com as helpful for pronunciations. Often they will not have a pronunciation for a proper name that can be found by doing a search on You Tube. Using You Tube for pronunciations has saved me a lot of time. Just make sure you double check the pronunciation.

Fame can be a fickle thing!

Mid 1980's. I'm hanging in the front reception area at country music station WIRK in West Palm Beach after my midday show. Rhonda was a fun, sassy, thirty something, African American receptionist who answered the phones and gave listeners their prizes when they came in. It's a blistering hot South Florida day when the door swings open and in come two dudes with tank tops on, flip flops, cut offs. One of them approaches Rhonda and says "I'm here to tape an interview with Terry Slane." Terry was our morning deejay and program director. I immediately notice it's country music superstar Roy Clark. And back then he was on TV... a lot. Hee Haw, commercials, TV concerts playing his electric guitar to perfection. So, Rhonda says, "Your name?" He says, "Roy Clark." She gets on her phone and calls Terry. "Hey Terry, there's a Roy... um... er... ahhh... I'm sorry sir, what's your last name again?" He pointedly says, "Clark." "Terry, a Roy Clark is here to see you." She then hangs up the phone and tells Roy that Terry is on his way up. Terry comes up and shakes Roy's hand and the other dude's hand and off they go. I chime in, "Rhonda, that's Roy Clark! How could you not recognize Roy Clark!?" She loudly says, '' I don't listen to this country music crap, John. I'm a Rhythm and Blues girl!" I fell down laughing. Later, I thought, no matter how famous you think you are, to some people you're not famous at all! The man with him was his brother in law and they were out fishing at Lake Okeechobee before coming in to do the interview.

Haters gonna hate and the Golden State Warriors

One thing's for sure, if you're living and breathing, you have people that will go negative towards you. For. No. Apparent. Reason. Sometimes supposed friends. A family member. Your jealous brother in-law "Tim." A person you hardly know. Haters. There's no shortage of them. They create false drama to make you look bad. Inside, they feel inferior and want to knock you down a peg or two. If you start to talk about your success stories or wins, they have fingers in their ears. Volumes have been written about how to deal with the haters in your life. A common conclusion is to create distance between yourself and the hater. 

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, home of the amazing Golden State Warriors. You don't have to visit too many online sports forums to see the depth of "haterism" for the team. Pretty simple to understand. They're just so darned good.  Not to mention Steph Curry as one of the greatest of all time. Psssst! I'm not a New England Patriots fan, but I'll give QB Tom Brady his due. He, like Steph, is undeniably talented in their respective sports.

So, when you're under attack from a hater, frenemy or enemy, remember the old saying, "The best revenge is massive success." (Frank Sinatra). It works wonders for your frame of mind.

   

My Burt Reynolds interview

The recent passing of Burt Reynolds put me in a very reflective mood. 1985-1986 were especially exciting years for me as an on air talent. I was on WIRK, a heritage country music station doing a midday show. Burt's people at his ranch in Jupiter, Florida approached our management team with the idea of building a broadcast studio in his gift/souvenir store, and  relaying the signal back to our main station, and then out across the South Florida airwaves.  I was in the right place at the right time. My daily routine consisted of driving to the main radio station in the morning, picking up commercial and music logs for that day, then driving twenty some miles up the Florida turnpike to the ranch studio to do my show. I interviewed lots of recording artists as well as celebrities-many of them friends of Burt's. One time, he showed up at the studio to do an interview with me and you would never have known you were talking to a very big movie star.  He was very real and gracious with his time. Here's a postcard I held on to through the years from his gift store. R.I.P. Burt. And thanks for being so kind.

The 10 Most Irritating Phrases List

I'm posting this on a Sunday morning with "Meet the Press" on in the background. Once again, I cringe throughout the broadcast as politician after politician (and commentator) keeps saying "At the end of the day..." Is there some law that I missed that says on any nationally televised political show the phrase "At the end of the day" must be said at least 100 times? It got me to thinking, so I Googled "10 Most Irritating Phrases" and lo and behold, "At the end of the day"claimed the top spot according to an Oxford survey. Here's a link to the list.

Remembering my friend Ed McCarthy of CNN radio

What a shock I got the other day. Having some down time between voice over jobs, I Googled the name of a friend I use to work with at WIRK in West Palm Beach, Florida. Don't know why, but I had him on my mind and was curious if he was still in the business. Like me, Ed had traveled around the country from station to station and landed a great job at CNN radio in the mid 80's. Back when he worked at WIRK, he was our news director. But he was also more than that to me. He was my golfing buddy, one of the funniest people I've ever met, a darn good broadcaster, and every year he would invite his co-workers from the radio station to come by his apartment for out of this world corn beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. A real character with a huge laugh. When I did my Google search, it indicated he had passed away back in 2009 at a hospital in Georgia. We had not been in touch for a very long time-I continued my career in radio and then voice over, and he became a national radio correspondent at CNN Atlanta.

I'll always remember the great times we had and how I was with him on a par 3 golf course in Florida one afternoon when he made a hole in one and fell down on the grass, laughing his rear end off. He hit the world's biggest slice ball off the tee. And he used a fairway wood to make the hole in one on a VERY short hole. Most average golfers would have used a nine iron. The ball did its usual wicked slice routine and fell in the hole, much to our amazement.

R.I.P friend. Thanks for the laughs and cool memories.

"Where's the beef?"

I see they've come out with the top 10 advertising icons of all time and Clara Peller, the "Where's the Beef?" Wendy's spokesperson made the list. No surprise there. I had a moment of reflection, as back in the 80's, in my "former life" as a radio broadcaster, I had a chance to interview her. I was on the air in West Palm Beach on a Saturday morning when a call came in from a photographer friend of mine who had a knack for taking pics of celebrities. He happened to be visiting with Clara and her son, who were staying at a Palm Beach Gardens hotel. Sam asked me if I would be interested in doing a short interview with her on the air as she was in town for the Senior Olympics. At that time, everyone was running around saying "Where's the beef?". Folks were wearing t-shirts with that slogan on it. If you were around then you no doubt remember. It was insane! So, I told him that I'd be happy to put her on, figuring it might be somewhat comical. There was one small problem though. Her son informed me that she was extremely hard of hearing and doing the interview over the phone might be difficult, to say the least. I told him that I had an in studio reel to reel tape recorder patched into the phone line and I could roll tape, and then do an edit before putting the interview on the air. That in mind, he put her on the phone and I opened by asking her what brought her to the Palm Beaches, so she could talk about the Olympics. From the beginning, I knew I was in deep trouble when my questions were answered with absolute silence and she would occasionally bark, "Where's the beef?,"as if on command. (Think of one of those play dolls with the string you pull to hear a mechanical sounding voice). Her son grabbed the phone extension and said perhaps if I asked him the questions, he could ask her and I'd have enough stuff on tape I could use. So that's what we did.  I  edited out the pauses and gaffes and eventually put the very brief interview on the air, my listeners none the wiser. I later learned that Clara was in fact so hard of hearing that when they filmed the Wendy's commercials, someone hidden from sight would tap her on the leg from behind the counter to cue her to say her famous line, "Where's the beef?"