Old to the New...radio to podcasting

It's a sign of the times. Old school radio is dying. Plain and simple. While traditional over-the-air traditional radio still exists, much of the power of transmission and who controls the content, has seen a major shift to the listener. 

When I started in radio

I started in radio in 1988, volunteering my time at WTIG 990 AM in Massillon. I went in Sunday at 6 a.m. and turned on the power to the transmitter and station and played country music for 90 minutes before switching over to back-to-back church broadcasts. It was thrilling. The only interaction I had was with my Mom who would call me every now and then to make a request. Mom was the best!

Fading interest in radio 

Fast forward 30 years to Hiram College. Interest in radio was fading away as students were not using the radio station so much in the basement of the Kennedy Center. The space that was the radio station studio had fallen on hard times. Equipment was broken and Hiram College's IT Director Matthew McKenna and I decided to shut it down, rip everything out, and restart it as a podcast studio. 

The old studio at Hiram College

Here's what the old studio looked like.

We tried to sell the records and equipment and had no takers. Everything went to the trash. After a lot of help from the Hiram College Physical Plant, the IT Department, Marc Freeman, and others, the space was cleared. 

How academic restructuring played a role

In the spring of 2018, our Dean Judy Muyskens announced a number of new academic majors and programs that we as faculty at Hiram College should come together on and bring to fruition. One of those new majors was sport management. Sports psychology professor Andrew White, Integrated Exercise Science professor Mike Rebold and I came together to research sport management programs and went to work assembling curriculum. Part of our work included creating a wish list of things we would need funding for. I proposed we included funding for the podcast studio so athletics could use it. Funding was approved and work got going on transforming the space from what you see above to what you see below.

The new podcast studio

Tuesday, February 26, we had our big reveal of the new studio space. We had 16 students show. It was awesome to hear the collective "oooohhhs" and "ahhhhh" when I removed paneling from the window so they could see the studio. And right away, I showed them the equipment. They opened up GarageBand and started playing around and recording. It was a blast to hear the students discuss ideas about how to share content and get shows going. I can't wait to see where things go from here. 

If you have a show idea for a podcast, feel free to share it with me in the comments on this. 

MAGA hat controversy

Is a MAGA hat the level of Tinker v. Des Moines?

MAGA hat outlawed?

(The image above is from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6735531/California-student-claims-school-banned-wearing-MAGA-hat.html)

I just saw this news story about a young lady who was told she could not wear a "Make America Great Again" hat in her high school. The link above the photo in green will take you to a video about the student and this situation in California.

Substantial Disruption

Regardless of how you feel about President Trump, this is a free speech issue and an issue that was dealt with in the Supreme Court in Tinker v. Des Moines. In that 1969 landmark case, Mary Beth Tinker and John Tinker were banned from wearing black colored peace armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. The High Court ruled the school could censure student speech IF it would cause a "substantial disruption" to learning.

If the student would get disciplined for it, she could appeal it. In the case of the young lady from California, I don't see how her wearing a #MAGA hat would cause a "substantial disruption" to the educational environment.

When I was in school

When I was in school, wearing any kind of hat was not allowed.Granted, I graduated from high school in 1989. At that time however, hats were not allowed in school. Since that time, things have changed quite a bit. With the advent of social media, student expression has taken on new life and new ways. As polarized as this country is, I think we will see more news stories like this one from California.

Facebook posting

I love Facebook...maybe too much but even I have set my limits and mentally stop myself from getting carried away. I like it because I post what's going on in my life...mostly good. I don't want to post negative or bad stuff because I feel like it is drawing too much attention. But that is a symptom of how conscious people have become of posting things on Facebook.

The real reason I am writing this is because of people who post too much information on Facebook. I just want to list three examples.

1. Do not post details that should be private about your job. Another person who I know is a grad student and teacher. He has openly posted his gripes about students multiple times and other times, he will blast the school he teaches/studies at. NEVER blast students on social media...and especially if you do not have a full-time job yet and hope to graduate in a couple years.

2. A friend of mine went through a tough divorce last year...as the break up and divorce was proceding, he posted gripes about his soon-to-be ex as well as her parenting abilities and things she supposedly did. If a divorce is pending in court, this was probably not a smart move.

3. I get that sometimes it is important to let others know how a loved one is doing if they are sick or in the hospital. I understand that. BUT I do not get people who post pictures of injuries or grotesque photos of injuries. I don't want to see that!

Please feel free to add your "do not post" or what you cannot stand that people post on Facebook comment. What are your thoughts?

Jobs and Relationships

It's been so long since my last blog post. I feel the need to write. For a long time, I have compared jobs to relationships and vice versa. We are looking for "the one"...whether it's a job or the signficant other. I strongly believe the two have a lot in common.

For both...
You want to make a great first impression.
You want growth in both.
You don't want to cheat on either. If you are cheating, what you have currently going on is not satisfying you. Or it is not giving you something you need or deserve.
You want good, open communication.
You want to have input in your future.
You want "the one" you find to be your last one.
If there's bad news, you would like to be treated as an adult and treated with respect. Meaning, you should be talked to in person and not in a memo or e-mail.
And vice versa, if you have to leave, do it respectfully. Be a good person. Show that you have class.
The transition process from one to another can be awkward and requires time.

In the Business Communication class I teach, I say to my students all the time to treat people like how you would like to be treated. The Golden Rule. Even if you have to fire an employee and it is unpleasant, do them the favor and tell them in person. It could be a learning experience for them as well as for you. I am such a huge believer in this. I try to treat students and colleagues with a positive attitude and support them.

Over my career in which I have worked numerous jobs, I have noticed that the "rules" I have listed in my comparison to relationships, usually hold true.

Newswriting issue

Sorry it's been so long between posts but I had to write something after seeing this story on the local news.

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - Anferney Fontenet, 16, has been sentenced for raping a woman with Asperger's syndrome alongside a Toledo road.

As the judge handed down the punishment of 18 years in prison, the victim watched from a monitor in another part of the courthouse and Fontenet shed tears.
Judge Stacy Cook says Fontenet has no control over his impulses and that makes him a danger to the community.

The victim's mom read a letter her daughter wrote saying how the rape and robbery changed her life forever.

Fontenet had a few words to say in court too.
"I'd like to apologize to the victim and her family. I didn't intend for any of this to happen, but I'm not going to make an excuse for it, but what I did was not right. What I did was wrong."

The victim's family is glad this boy is off the streets.
"I don't feel satisfied. I don't feel dissatisfied. I am happy he's off the streets so he doesn't hurt anyone else, but I'm not in for revenge," the victim's mother said.

Fontenet will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He says he plans on appealing the sentence.


****My only question with this story is why is it relevant that the victim had Asperger's syndrome? Why is she identified by her illness?

You never know who you'll run into...

Ok, so here's a story...
I was at Kroger's on Main Street in Bowling Green, on the north end of town. At least I think it's Main Street. This was this past Saturday night. I was on my way to a birthday party. I just filled my gas tank and was waiting to turn left to go south...leaving Kroger's. I'm behind a white Chevy Caprice Classic. All of a sudden, the car puts it in reverse and starts backing up. I can't go anywhere because a car is behind me. I lay on my horn a couple times. The car kept coming and hit me!!!! Didn't seem major but the car hit me enough to get my attention. Of course, the light turns green. The white car turns left. I'm pissed. I follow the car. I'm honking my horn and flashing my lights every other block. The car keeps going. I call BG Police....who are busy with the Tractor Pull. I read off the license plate number and took a picture of the car with my phone. As I'm on the phone with BG Police, I am calling out what direction I am going and what streets I'm passing. Every so often, again, I flashed my lights and honked my horn. I noticed the passenger turned around and looked. I pointed to the side of the road as if to say, "HEY, PULL OVER!" I even yelled that out the window. We were now five miles away from Kroger's. We went by the fairgrounds where the tractor pull was going on. We never went faster than 40 mph. Eventually, I got transfered to the Wood County Sheriff's Department. I followed the car to a little town called Tontogany. Otsego High School is not that far away. We were now about 6 miles from where the "chase" started. The car pulled into a driveway. I parked. The passenger got out. She was a short woman...a little rough around the edges. I said, "You hit my car." She said, "no, we didn't." I said, "Yes, you did....back at Kroger's. We were sitting at the light waiting to turn onto Main....you started to back up and I laid on my horn and you hit me." The woman got really nervous and pulled out a cigarette and was shaking. I looked at the front of my car and really couldn't see any major damage. There might have been some scratches in the grill or something but nothing big. Anyway, then, the driver gets out. She's probably in her mid-60s. There's a handicap accessible placard in her rearview mirror. She struggled to make it over to me and the other woman, who as it turned out, was her sister. The driver, was missing teeth and walked (really struggled to walk) with a cane. She didn't know or believed she hit me either. She thought I was tail-gating her. After talking to her and her sister, the driver told me she is homeless. Her car is pretty much the only thing she owns. She has no phone. She lives in a mission in Toledo. She also told me she had been the victim of a break-in and had been robbed recently in Toledo. Her sister lives in a room at the house of a friend we were at parked at. She has a pre-paid phone. Both are looking for work. The driver was overly apologetic and seemed to be getting upset that she hit me and didn't realize it. The sheriff's department told me BG Police would follow up with them when I told them I live in Toledo. However, after hearing how down on their luck both women were, I decided this wasn't worth it. They don't need the trouble. I told them to forget about it. Just then, a Wood County Sheriff's Department officer pulls up. He showed me a message from the BG Police that basically said that again, they would follow up if I wanted to. I told him to forget about it. The ladies thanked me and said I was a very nice guy. I left and went on my way to the birthday party but man, it really taught me a lesson about waiting to judge somebody before I get all the facts. Here I was thinking, "what kind of a-hole hits me and keeps driving?" And then after talking to these two ladies, I found out they were super nice and didn't mean it all. And in the end, I ended up wishing I could have done more to help them.

Things on my mind as I go through school.

Let me first apologize for writing about my doctoral program experience. I know not everyone can get into this but there are a lot of lessons that apply to areas outside of school.

First, my adviser, Dr. Ewart Skinner, said to me, "Think of the end....now." In other words, what I do now has a direct bearing on what happens when I graduate and look for jobs if I want to move around or even stay at Toledo. In terms of what I am doing now, more specifically, he meant the theory I specialize in as well as the research method is something I will carry with me throughout my doctoral student career and then when I apply for jobs or stay at Toledo, I can talk about my areas of specialty.

Second, think about your audience. My research interest is studying how pregnant teens and teen moms identify with pregnancy themes in the media like tv shows and movies. We have seen people blame the media for glamorizing pregnancy and making it more appealing to teens. To me, this has practical applications. I want to talk to teens about the media's impact. Once my research is completed, I want people, especially teens, to read it. In my opinion, there is a lot of academic research that seems to float in this cloud above people that only academic types read. I don't see the point in doing research if it does not benefit people in some way. So, to shorten up my point, basically, who is the audience? Who will read or hear your research? How will it impact them?

Lastly, you are constantly making an impression on somebody. What I mean by that is no matter what happens, what assignment you have, you are always "interviewing." Someone has their eye on you. The faculty in the Media and Communication Department at BGSU is strong and have published a ton of research articles and have connections. While many are set in where they are, they might get a call from a professor they know at another university asking if they know of someone who they think would make a good hire. I try to keep that in mind. I don't want to be the student who gets spoken of as, "yeah, he tries hard but doesn't seem to give it his all" or "he goes through the motions a lot." Not cool.