Archives In The Hall

On Friday, I did take my collection of radio show tapes to the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame's library and archives for storage. Many thanks to Archivist Dianna Ford, who took such an interest in the materials, and gave a really great tour of the facilities. As you might suspect, they have some amazing artifacts in there!

My first stop was to WCSB. I'd call it my old stomping grounds, but the studios have relocated from CSU's Rhodes Tower over to the Cole Center. All of my shows were broadcast from Rhodes Tower. The old studios had walls lined with cork, for sound absorption. It had a peculiar smell, and if you spent more than a half hour there, you went home 'smelling like the station'. Student Media Specialist Dan Lenhart left a WCSB t-shirt with Randy Allar for me to wear at the Hall.

Randy Allar once trained me in radio production. Not long after, I was training students in production as well. Here Randy shows me the layout of the 'new' WCSB.

This was a very proud moment for me. I was initially floored to even have the request made of me. My shows were never the most popular when they ran. They were respected, enjoyed, useful, educational- but never the top show. I was always lurking somewhere in the shadow of Steve Wainstead, who always seemed to have the top show whenever he was on. This is a great shadow to be lurking in, to be sure. Second to Wainstead is still high atop the mountain. But while I've foregone popularity in other areas of life, I always felt somewhat under-appreciated... Is that even the right word? Anyhow, I always seemed to want some kind of recognition that, yeah, you're doing good work there, Kole. Well- here it is!

The Library & Archives of the Hall is separate from the main museum, and is attached to Tri-C's campus at 30th & Woodland. I was told that eventually, the library will be open to the public. Visitors will be able to read and listen to stored materials (won't be able to check them out, though), including my shows. I'll be very interested to go back once it's operational!

Archivist Diana Ford accepting the first installment of my collections. The original cassettes and playlists will be kept forever at the Hall's Library & Archives. She and her staff will transfer the music from the CD copies I made of all the cassettes. She was very happy that I saved her a lot of time. I joked that I wished I knew that she wanted the materials two years ago, when I started making the dubs.

When Dianna Ford took us on a tour of the archives, the very first thing I saw was a shelf full of film canisters. I would so love to see this. It's the original!

So- why did I never pursue radio in Indiana upon arrival in 2002? Well, I was spoiled by my experience at WCSB. I always got to play whatever music I wanted to. 100%, absolutely everything was at my discretion. You don't generally get that luxury in commercial radio settings. Why not political talk? It doesn't really pay that well, for one thing. Most starting talkers have to make appearances in order to supplement their radio paychecks. I'd done that before, in Cleveland, when I was doing sports at WHK, ever so briefly in 1994-95. I knew right away that it wasn't the way I wanted to make a living.

So, I podcast when I'm so inspired. It's a beautiful thing. About $300 in equipment gets you up and running, and I can record a show whenever I feel like it. Listeners can subscribe on iTunes and get the show files downloaded when they are issued. My current podcast is definitely just for fun. If it never gets any recognition, I'm very cool with that.

New Podcast, At Last

Without further ado, here's a link to "This Podcast Could Be Your Life".

It's a little over an hour long, and like a lot of first shows, there's some 'splainin' going on, mixed in with Big Respect to Mike Watt, a bucket list report, part of an interview with Steve Wainstead, music from fIREHOSE, and I found time to drink a beer.

If so inclined, you can subscribe on the page, and it will send every episode to your iTunes. Yeah, automation!

New Podcast Almost Ready

Now that the nature of the thing has been decided, I've begun assembling bits for the first episode of "This Podcast Could Be Your Life".

I interviewed Steve Wainstead as my first guest, drank a beer, and discussed some Bucket List stuff. In the next day or two, I'll have it in finished form. Stay tuned!

Podcast Decided

I've come to a conclusion about a podcast direction. It's going to be a personal thing, and hopefully entertaining to listeners.

I'll call it "This Podcast Could Be Your Life". That's a tribute to The Minutemen, and their great song, "History Lesson, Part 2". I took a great deal of inspiration from them, and specifically this song, over the years for the DIY ethic, and in particular the line, "Punk rock changed our life".



The plan is to simply talk about and play things that are important to me. Old WCSB pal Keith Newman and I share an outlook on great radio- it's personal and at least a wee bit obsessive. People get drawn into the lives of great radio personalities on the basis of the things they can relate to, and to the passion the host has for these things. Howard Stern is my favorite case in point, at least up until he got divorced.

So, I have a minor format that I've been working on. "Minor" because I don't want it set in stone. I like having features that recur, but not every time, and not in a set order.

Big Respect. I want to give a nod to someone important to me in each podcast. The title is a tribute to Mike Watt of the Minutemen. Watt has his own lingo, and when he speaks glowingly of someone, he often says "Big respect to...".

Musical Rediscovery. In going through old radio show tapes and in ripping old 7" records to digital files, I've rediscovered some great music, and want to share it. I'll focus on one artist each time.

Bucket List Report. No, I'm not dying, but I like the concept of the 'Bucket List'. It keeps me focused on goals. When I'm not striving for something, I get listless, so I'm making it an active priority to continuously put some goals out there. The first things I'll cover are travel related.

Radio Days Flashback. Those old radio tapes have some real gems. There was a lot of crap, too, but I'll spare the world and myself, acting like the latter never happened.

Mike Kole Drinks a Beer. Once upon a time, I was a home brewer, and even wrote articles about beer. Sometimes I even got paid for it. I really enjoy craft beers, and have missed beer over the last 8-10 years. Isn't that strange? I'm actually making a podcast as a tool for enjoying a beer once in a while. Well, when I'm a candidate for office, I feel I always have to be 'on', and I never drink. Throw in Lyme Disease, and I really just can't handle very much alcohol, so I've stayed away from it. But I do miss the enjoyment of one really good one now and then, and I've learned how to manage the symptoms of Lyme, so why not bring it in? Sad thing is- and this will annoy my drinking friends- I rarely even drink the whole thing. I get my fill in 4-6 ounces anymore. Go ahead- tell me I'm old. It's cool.

Mike Kole Drinks a Root Beer. Over the past decade, I discovered root beer as a lovely substitute for beer. Plus, with a horrible kidney stone episode in 2006, I learned I had to stay away from sodas with phosphoric acid, which means all colas. No Coca-Cola! I really am getting old. Funny how diet gets shaped by disease.

People In My Life. This will be the best thing. At least, this is the thing I'm most looking forward to: Interviews with friends. I've been taking stock of my friends and family and really getting to how great they are, with fantastic stories to share.

Beyond these, I figure there will be reports on family, travel, hockey, Where's George?, and yes, political opinion.

Thinking About Podcasts

I've generally enjoyed the experience of producing the LPIN's podcasts, but have been thinking of doing something more creative, probably in place of the LPIN one. The last thing I really need is another project. I'm looking to reduce projects, not take on more.

So, there have been two ideas I've been tossing around. One involves interviews with members of the Cleveland punk/underground/indie rock scene. The other is some kind of, dare I say, variety show?

The punk show is pretty straightforward. It occurred to me that the scene is getting elderly in a hurry. The bands I have in mind are generally not current ones, having played from the mid-70s to early 90s. There are a lot of fascinating characters in that scene, and a lot of stories to document. I know that many of these folks aren't going to be writing these things down. That's too much like work. Talking for interviews is easy and fun besides. Now, it has also occurred to me that I don't live in Cleveland. No big deal. I wouldn't want to be the only one doing the interviews. There are better connected people who have interviewing skills that can also do them.

The variety thing... Well, that's not straightforward. I have a lot of interests, and also am not a fan of regimenting or formating a show in a rigid fashion. Why not talk about hockey, root beer, politics, music, and have an interview with a friend all in one show?

The punk thing would be for posterity. The stories are invaluable, and I would work as a sort of archivist. The variety thing would be my favorite kind of 'radio'- totally idiosyncratic, where the process is the fun, and bonus if anyone listens. I'm sure my Libertarian / political friends would push me to continue the LPIN podcasts. Preferences?

Excellent Convention

I spent Saturday in Clarksville, Indiana (north of the Ohio River of Louisville) for the joint conventions of the Libertarian Party of Indiana, and of Kentucky. I was rather impressed.

Right off the top, I liked the cost savings made available by working jointly. Rather than having two sets of expenses, one set allowed for more money to be allocated for speakers, and I have no doubt that the quality of them had a great deal to do with the record attendance for an off-year, where not a single candidate for office was nominated. I also enjoyed the opportunity to discuss regional differences with our neighbors to the south.

I suspect the attendance growth also can be explained by the sense I get of growing dissatisfaction with the two older parties. There were many new faces among the Indiana delegates.

But due to my 2006 campaign for Secretary of State, it was terrific to be with so many of the people who worked alongside me, and in support of me. I only wish I could have stayed an extra day.

On to business, the convention was a gold mine of interview subjects for the podcast. In no particular order, I interviewed:

Al Cox, Brown County
Ed Coleman, Indianapolis
Ryan Liedtke, St Joseph County
Doug Horner, Fort Wayne
Rebecca Sink-Burris, Bloomington
Sam Goldstein, Chair, Libertarian Party of Indiana
Ken Moellman, Chair, Libertarian Party of Kentucky
Luke McKellar, Ohio Central Committe Chair
Wayne Allyn Root, candidate for President 2012

I also recorded the speeches of:

Daniel Williams, on drug policy
Goldstein, acceptance speech
Radley Balko, Senior Editor, Reason Magazine
Root, on the media and his campaign

Look for much to come from the convention on the podcast in the next several weeks!