I’ve never been one to spend a lot of time looking back.  After all, they say if you’re doing that too much, you’re not watching where you’re going.

Here’s how it works–as you get older, you get more reflective.  Of course, that’s because you have more of life to look back on.  But I totally adhered to the philosophy, ‘the best is yet to come.’  So, while high school reunions are a blast in reconnected for an evening with old friends, I don’t recall those days as being the best days of my life.  They were what they were and I just kept building on those years.

When the topic of my radio career comes up, I am totally split down the middle.  I’ve gone a different direction since my last days in front of a live microphone and am 9 years into being a writer, producer, director and marketing kind of guy.  As openings pop up, I’ll be honest–I toy with the idea of going back.  I even tossed my hat in during the WARM 106.9 shakeup a year ago, but in hearing what they expect from the early-rise winner, Mark Christopher, he’s doing exactly what they wanted….and that’s definitely not me.

Why stumble down this hallway on a January Friday morning?  Because of a weird coincidence yesterday.

I received not one, but TWO random emails on the topic of my radio past, from people I don’t know, but with whom I share a kinship to that 30-year radio career.

The first was about my first professional radio job at KQOT in Yakima.  One of my blogs must have to do with those days, where getting up and “feeding the horse” actually appeared on the station log.  I was one of five or six full-time employees, including the owner, Bob Moore, a complete burn-out who brought all the advances of the 1940s with him to work every day.  Imagine my surprise when this showed up in my email:

Hey Tim,

I too fed Lace the Wonder Horse.  I put up with Bob Moore for 2 months, then took my second ever job in radio at KACI The Dalles.  Then, on to KISN in Portland…KBDF in Eugene…KOPA Phoenix…WRKO Boston and ABC Radio Network News NYC.  Now doing am-drive News and Sales in Palm Springs.

Later…Jeff Michaels

Seriously, only a few emails letter, I received this incredibly awesome note from a former KLSY listener:

Hello! In April 2000, my husband and I were invited to the Murdock, Hunter, and Alice show on 92.5 where we played Battle of the Sexes and he proposed to me on air!!! I don’t know if you remember that day, but it is a moment that my husband and I share with anyone who asks the question, ‘so how did he propose?’ That was almost 14 years ago – WOW – and we are coming up on our 13th wedding anniversary with two beautiful children in tow. We recently learned that Alice passed away some time ago and we were very sad to hear this. She was a lovely woman, full of positive energy and light. We remember you all so fondly, and I just wanted to say thank you for welcoming us into your studio that early April morning, and that all of you will always be an important part of the story of our life.

All the Best,

Tim and Kristi Logg

Two flashbacks in one day!  They were both reminders of how much impact you can have by goofing around on a microphone and creating a bright spot in a person’s life, if even just for a few minutes every day.  Would I ever go back to radio?  It’s a far cry from what it used to be and with the fragmentation of listenership from streaming options, satellite, podcasts and just listening to the music on your phone, I just don’t know if I could ever revive the personal connection it takes to generate emails like that years later.

Then again, it would probably be fun trying.  I’ll keep you posted.

Tim Hunter