As long as I can remember, people have told me that I should be on the radio. I guess I have a pretty good voice. And I don’t mind discussing decent topics when the muse strikes.
So after a few years of hearing about it, I went down Saturday morning to try out for KXNT 840 AM’s “Radio Star 5” contest. It’s an annual thing where they let people come down to the South Point Hotel and Casino and let them be on the radio for a few minutes, talking spontaneously about a topic chosen from a short list, and the best ones enter a further round, where an ultimate single winner gets to be a part-time personality for the station.
I put on a tie and got there very early, both of which made zero difference. I looked at the four topic choices–domestic partnerships, federal holidays, term limits, and mass transportation–and thought I could give a decent audition about the holiday one. I turned in my application first, and got to be the first one to go up on stage and show off my stuff for the regular hosts.
I gave a short speech about making Constitution Day a federal holiday because it would help promote literacy on the subject and make our electorate more informed. Sadly, I wasn’t supposed to give a speech. I was supposed to pretend that I was hosting the show and get callers to chime in with their opinions. Oops. So I was unceremoniously dismissed, and then drove home listening to far more fluent and chatty contestants strutting their stuff.
So there’s absolutely no hope that my “audition” will get me to the next round–the top 20 from which the final winner will be chosen. But a lot of the best performers were trying out for the second or third time, and I made some notes and will review them before I try out again next year.
I met some great people and had some fun, even though my kids heard me on the radio and made fun of me.
But seriously, Constitution Day should really be a federal holiday. September 17, people.
Gently Hew Stone 