New Years' Message

2007 is upon us.

And unlike at least some of the years that have piled up behind us, we here at the Mighty Blog of Fun(tm) actually put 2006 in the "good" column, personally.

A lot of good things happened in the past year for your Primary Editorial Voice(tm). Some are professional, some are personal, and we are optimistic that both will continue well into the new year and beyond. Some very special things happened as a result of this blog in 2006, even accidentally.

If this blog grew into what it has become for nothing else, it will have spawned lots of very kind personal contact from many of you, and even budding friendships, believe it or not. We consider ourselves very fortunate for that, this year...it was something we really did not see coming, but we are thankful.

And while we don't want to get TOO personal, those contacts and new friendships have shown us a lot recently. People matter.

We realized it even more, when a succession of names left this mortal coil recently.

From Casey Coleman, to Jaybird Drennan, to Joe Finan, and the most recent loss, Len "Boom" Goldberg, these people helped form the bedrock of Northeast Ohio media over the past decades.

You could have said, years ago, that any of these men passing away would be a loss to local broadcasting. But...all four of them within the span of a couple of months?

At its base, broadcasting is a "one to one" profession.

Though you are actually speaking to thousands when you open up that microphone, you're actually speaking to one person...the guy in the garage with his radio turned up to his favorite rock music, the woman in the car with three of her life-time women friends headed to a country concert, or the guy driving home from work who just can't wait to hear what that controversial talk show host says next.

The best broadcasters get it. All four of the men who left our local broadcast community in the past few months got it.

And, hopefully, we get it.

This missive is written with individual readers in mind.

The guy who works in a little production studio who can't wait to tell his co-workers what's going on at the station across town. The regular who knows more about local radio than your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) will ever know, finding out a new tidbit. The woman who does weekends on the AC station, who feels connected because she's not around during the week.

YOU, the reader, are OMW. Without you, we're not here. We could write to our editorial-we selves all day, but we already know what we're thinking, and don't need to type it out.

So, thank you. And may you all have a healthy, happy and prosperous 2007, both personally and professional. Let's hope we, the people, take local radio and TV back...