One Giant Step for Radio!

It’s 2007 and we, as a culture, long to feel connected in a world that has gone digital. The internet is doing a fabulous job connecting the world, but you need some type of computer to get online. It’s a medium that still has separation: cost, availability, and location. Radio, on the other hand, has no separation. There is always someone out there. This is why I love Radio. It's a medium that creates cohesiveness. Radio waves are these invisible things that float in the air and somehow make communities and familiarities. Turn the knob and you will find it waiting for you. If you hear a DJ laughing, you can laugh with him. There is a sense of relief that I can hit a button and the radio station will be there, with a real person on the other side. Imagine if AM FM radio did not exist. The world would seem barren and empty.

Remember the Y2K scare where we all thought we’d lose power at midnight of 2000? Everyone ran out to buy radios “just in case” because we were scared we’d be “cut off.” My mother actually bought me a crank radio for that occasion, no batteries required. I still use it when I go camping. Sometimes I’m in Three Sisters, or maybe down at Smith Rock, and I’ll feel comforted when I hear a voice on the radio. Live. Talking and keeping me informed or entertained.

I think we’ve gotten saturated with multimedia snobbery, as if people don’t want to listen to the radio, but when you think about it, local terrestrial radio is forever. It immediately connects you to being human, to the fabric of being in a community and knowing that you’re not alone. It’s like a flag that says, “I’m here!”

ZigZag Montefusco, Executive Coach & Radio Listener
www.coachzigzag.com