Most people tend to agree that spending a lot of time listening to yourself can be rather unpleasant. Not sure if this may be different with singers, professional speakers and the narcissistic. But, for me, it can be very painful … but sometimes not as much.
I am relatively pleased with the radio show over the past two months, but am slighted irritated at last week’s opening commentary. It’s not awful. No major errors. But there are a few moments where I don’t sound natural.
It is such a freaky thing to be on the radio for someone like myself. I love it, and look forward to the show each week because I genuinely enjoy the content and the fact no one else is doing what I am doing. If I found out that, say, only 37 people in the St. Louis metro area were actually tuned in and listening it would have no impact on my experience. Regardless of of how this turns out, whether it be six months from now, or 16 years from now, I will always be pleased that I pursued one of my life’s dreams: to bring my love of the NBA to St. Louis radio. So, there you go.
The show seems pretty well entrenched, so I don’t mean to imply otherwise. Just recently I have ran into a struggle to cover my costs for doing this show, but hopefully that will work itself out very soon. I’m sure when basketball season returns, that will help quite a bit!
But, as for my performance, I think I do a decent job of just talking like I usually do to other sports fans. There is a certain necessity to speaking in a radio-friendly manner and to move outside of yourself at times, but, for me, the primary thing is to never “act.” No reason to be artificial, inflammatory and just act like someone you are not. Well, that is my approach anyway. If you listen to a lot of sports radio shows, they tend to be light on content, feather light on substance and heavy on being antagonistic, sensationalistic and controversial – or, at best, they just talk about TV, movies and sex in an attempt to pass that off as a radio show.
The challenge for me is to not be boring. But if you like basketball and sports, then you’ll like the show. I may not be a fake, an asshole or an actor – but I love hoops and will bring that passion to the air as long as the opportunity is in front of me.
As for episode No. 17, I could have paced myself better and been more jovial in the opening segment but my headphones volume was off (my fault) and I thought I was louder than I was. I broke down the plight of Team USA in the World Championships, and set the stage for the show’s theme: the historical impact that the University of Kentucky had in the 2010 NBA Draft.
I was very pleased with the good interview we had with Washington Wizards writer Zach Weidie, as we analyzed John Wall, Gilbert Arenas and the state of that franchise. I was equally happy with the interview we had with Sacramento Kings writer Zach Harper. as we taked in-depth about DeMarcus Cousins, and also Tyreke Evans and what to look for from the Kings in the 2010-’11 season. Each is an NBA expert who happens to specialize in a single team’s coverage. But you’ll find their work all over the NBA landscape.
I also discussed the wild story of ex-Missouri player Josh Kroenke gaining control over the Denver Nuggets … at the age of 30. Damn that kid! For more info and to listen to any of At The Buzzer’s interviews, please click here.
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