January Mailbag: I Get Letters (The Electronic Kind)

Are you that bored that you want to ask me a question? Ask it at http://formspring.me/joelontheradio or e-mail me at joel-AT-joelontheradio.com (replace AT with @)

Did the dust bowl/Black Sunday of the '30s affect your part of Kansas (KC)?

I dunno. I wasn't around for the Dust Bowl. I would assume it affected south central Kansas (much more flat like Oklahoma) more than the KC metro. Although, KC was a cow town back then and I'm sure cattle trade in KC was affected. This is all off the top of my head. You better fact-check my answers.

Who invented the Christmas tree?

According to Christian lore, the Christmas tree is associated with St Boniface and the German town of Geismar. Sometime in St Boniface's lifetime (c. 672-754) he cut down the tree of Thor in order to disprove the legitimacy of the Norse gods to the local German tribe. St. Boniface saw a fir tree growing in the roots of the old oak. Taking this as a sign of the Christian faith, he said "...let Christ be at the center of your households..." using the fir tree as a symbol of Christianity.
Ya' know, you can look this stuff on Wikipedia.

What is the difference between a hotel and a motel?

Sorry, I'm not gonna type that out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel

Is that Pinto still available?

No, my dad sold it . . . in 1982.

Why does the refrigerator door close itself, but the freezer door stays open?

The auto-close mechanism in the freezer . . . froze.

What do people in China call their good plates?

Oklahoma plates

Why is an alarm clock going "off" when it is actually "on" and ringing loudly?

Because you're about ready to knock the alarm clock "off" the nightstand.

Is the hokey pokey what it is REALLY all about?

It used to be what it's all about about. How else would you know the lyrics of a song that's nearly 70 years old.

Why?

Why not?

why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

Historically, the term "parkway" has often implied that the road was designed specifically with a naturalistic or manicured landscaping of the median and adjacent land areas meant to suggest a pastoral driving experience, isolated from the manifestations of commerce and advertising, even when the road passes through populated areas; for this reason commercial traffic is excluded. (Thanks Wikipedia)

My guess on driveway is that housing in a more rural society usually came with a long road that they maybe called a driveway. You came up or down the drive to the house, but I'm totally making that up.

Have you ever thought of going back to sports writing on the net as a side gig. Kind of as a paying hobby? Nothing wrong with a little extra dosh, eh? :-)

Oh sure. I actually worked in sports radio doing production and hosting a high school football scoreboard show for 5-6 years. Then, I did basketball play-by-play for a year. Print media is suffering (probably more) than radio is suffering. Business models are changing and free-lance gigs aren't as plentiful as they were when I got my first newspaper job. But, I still dabble in sports and journalism in general a little bit.

Best advice someone gave you?

It came from one of my college professors at the University of Central Oklahoma. It was advice he gave to all of us about pagination (newspaper page layout), but it makes sense in the way I approached my production, my shows, etc.
I am paraphrasing here: Know the rules and follow them, but know when to break the rules. When you break them, you better be able to explain why you did it - why it had to be this way.

If you could go only to one restaurant for the next five years, which would it be?

My wife would probably say that I would say Chili's, but I'm not so sure. Something that had a lot of variety. Can you imagine, 5 years? Maybe Chili's/Oklahoma Joe's BBQ. Can they make a combo place?

How come you left kcradio.com? I missed the announcement.

I am leaving kcradio.com to go work for another broadcast group. I'll still be based in Kansas City, but this group is national. It's a different kind of job (not a DJ job), but I am excited. At the same time, I will miss the kcradio.com listeners, but I know that kcradio.com has a bright future.

Why did you decide to go into radio?

What a sad story that is! LOL My uncle works in radio and my first visit was to a little station he worked at in southern Oklahoma, KSEO in Durant (which is still there BTW). As a kid, I was always "playing radio" with friends (my Hot 101 station on Dena Lane was the bomb!) Playing radio, recording radio, getting up at midnight to hit record because a station was changing formats, I was that kid. My parents didn't really like my career choice too much at first because of the instability in radio. I went to college and majored in newspaper journalism, worked as a sportswriter for the daily paper in Oklahoma City and quite honestly enjoyed it. But, I won a Seven Day Jesus CD from the Christian Top-40/Rock station I grew up with in OKC. I asked the DJ (who later was in my wedding) how to become a volunteer DJ. Two months later, I was the Sunday afternoon DJ. The rest is history.

Do you regret telling people to call the comment line at kcradio as often as they want?

Not at all, it was pure entertainment. I was thinking about dropping cable because of it.

What has kept you in the radio business in spite of the lack of job security?

It's kind of like riding a roller coaster and yes, I have thought about getting off the ride. However, I still get excited about the biz, but more importantly where media will be in the future (not in a traditional sense). I think job security will change in a bunch of areas (not just radio) in the future.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

sorta both

If you were stranded on a desert island, which one person would you bring with you?

My wife