Different Hats

If you had asked me to draw an ideal road map for my career three years ago, I probably would have started with a dot that said, "Graduate College" then progressed through a series of jobs in the media to pump up my resume and ended with a dot that read, "Get a radio show where I can shoot my mouth off indiscriminately." I also probably would have added a few more steps after that, something to the affect of "lose the rest of my hair," "get fat and happy" and then "retire."

Yet here I am three years later, and I've got an outside shot at crossing that big end goal off my list. It's a little overwhelming...

...No, I didn't mean the "lose the rest of my hair" goal, though I suppose I'm within striking distance if this week doesn't go well. What I mean is I'm getting two one afternoons this week to audition as an afternoon talk show host on AM1670 WTDY in Madison. If I can pull it off, and it's a big if, it would be a huge step up and perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The two previous afternoon hosts, Prebil and Murph, departed WTDY for a pretty sweet gig in Minneapolis a couple weeks ago, and since then, listeners have heard a parade of varying drive-time personalities while the management has worked behind the scenes to fill the spot permanently. I consider myself a betting man, but I would just as soon keep my money to myself as far as who they will settle on to fill the slots.

Yet somehow, I like to think through cunning and conniving, I'm in the running. Now it's just a matter of not blowing it.

So I'm going to try to approach the audition the same way I approach the blog -- with a grain of salt, but also with a healthy curiosity and holding nothing so sacred it can't be laughed at. It's been almost two years since I hosted the last edition of "Slightly Off Kilter," my contribution to the world of college radio. College Broadcasting Incorporated sat up and took notice when they named our show 2007's best regularly scheduled program in the nation.

So Monday and Thursday this week, from 3:00 to 6:00, I'll be hanging up my reporter's hat and switching the safety off for a bit. Hopefully, after two years on the coat tree, my Host's Hat hasn't collected so much dust that I can't turn a few heads on the commercial radio scene.

For the most part, I'll keep the topics lighthearted, but nothing's off limits. And it's a call-in show, so I look forward to being told how wrong I am by everyone that can operate a touch-tone.

Tune in. It'll be something, anyway!

***Monday morning edit -- Change in plans, and I'm only hosting for sure on Monday now. Thursday could still be in the mix, but things are very fluid***