RUN JOEY RUN

"RUN JOEY RUN" was the coolest song in the world to me when I was 7 years old. Because my name is Joey. I had no idea the song was about teenage love, pregnancy and a father shooting his daughter by accident, all I knew was it was a song with my name. I ran away from home at the age of three. Mom had spanked me for eating her flowers in the front yard, it was just something I liked to do and I was apparantly pissed about the spanking and the minute her back was turned, I was gone. Now we lived on a U. S. Marine base in North Carolina, very large and very busy but imagine, I'm three yrs old for Gods sake! I walked thru major intersections, crosswalks and managed somehow to find my way to the bowling alley 3 miles from my house. Dad would take Mom, my two older brothers and I there whenever he was trying to make up with Mom after screwing up with either booze, women or beating the hell out of her, all three of which happened alot.

So here I was in the bowling alley, Saturday afternoon walking around like I knew what I was doing. There was a bar counter where they sold food, so I headed right for it. Climbed up on a bar stool and just looked around for a couple of minutes. There weren't may people there and only a couple of the lanes were being used. The barteneder fellow had been looking at me kinda funny, walked up asked me my name. I told him Joey. He asked me several other questions that I really don't recall, but when he asked if I wanted an ice cream cone, I said Yes Sir!! Being polite was mandatory in my family, it's a southern thing I believe. Here comes my ice cream cone, my life couldnt have been better at the momment. I had not thought one time about going home or what I was going to do after my ice cream was gone, I was living in the moment! I'm not sure how long I had been there, but I know I was knee deep in that ice cream cone when these 2 marine MP's walked up. I knew they had uniforms on like my dad wore but the difference was the big guns they were wearing. One sat on either side of me at the counter, took off their hats and starting talking to me. Everybody wants to know my name, I kinda like all the attention. I'm a single 3 year old out on the town, eating ice cream and chatting with guys with guns.

Somehwhere close to the end of my ice cream one of the marines ask me if I would like to see their police truck with sirens, and that was all it took to get me off that stool and outside. Real sirens? This is huge! They help me up in the truck, I scoot in the middle and they tell me we're going for a ride, and I can play the siren while we ride down the road. It's 1968 and I'm a kid, 911 didn't exist and the world was a lot safer I'm sure and come on they had guns what could be unsafe about this. Well down the road we go, the three of us. I'm wearing one of the marines hats, eating whats left of the ice cream cone and things are looking very familiar, wait a minute... this is my road, these guys know where I live and their taking me HOME!!! Oh no, Moms at home this won't be good, and it wasn't. There's my mother standing on the sidewalk in front of the house as we pull up, the siren stops and moms reaching in the window after me, she pulls me out and hugs me. This ain't so bad, she's happy to see me right? Right. But then she put's me on the ground and starts whipping the shit out of me right there in front of my new friends and tells me to never ever leave this house without her again or she would tell my father. The marines with the guns just sat there in their cool truck and smiled as my Mom gave me what I had coming.

That spring I stopped eating flowers.

DOWN ON MAIN STREET

"Down on Mainstreet" by Bob Seger was one of my favorite songs growing up and still is. It reminds me of how great life was in that little Mississippi town where I came from and Fridays after school was the best time to be a teenager where I lived. You run home and get ready for the weekend.

I'd would stand in front of a full length mirror and crank up Bob Seger, Foreigner 4 or a little Van Halen and play air guitar with my long ass hair whipping every which way. Whether it was walking the streets around the town square or hanging out in the M&F Bank parking lot, it was the best time of my life.

All my friends would be waiting for me there and the party was on. The parking lot was big, took up a whole block, everyone had their car doors open with the radios blasting, sometime the cops would harass us, when the music got too loud or a little scuffle in the parking lot broke out, but if you wanted to know where your kid was in Kosciusko (kos- e -es- ko) you could bet they were either "ridin' around" or at M&F parking lot.

I miss those Fridays after school. Sometime I'll catch myself daydreaming about being back there, but of course we know that's not possible. Fridays are still nice don't get me wrong, but not like it was back then. Or is it?

These days Friday's at work are frantic, busy,with a touch of hysteria all the way up to quittin' time. But the moment I'm outta there, I rush home for a different reason, not to play air guitar, but to be home with my family. They are my friends in the parking lot now, they are the ones waiting for me on Friday night. We can blast the TV now in our bedroom, or maybe turn on the 70's music channel on satellite and not worry about the cops coming. Rarely does a scuffle break out, if it does my wife usually wins. So no matter where I am in my 40 year old life, I can always get that Friday feeling by going home to my family....."Down on Mainstreet"

Night,

Joe








Well here I am blogging for the first time and looking for other broadcast bloggers out there and I know there's a few. I came here for Multiple reasons... One, to get connected to what others are thinking, doing, feeling and so on. Secondly, I'm here because I finally started a website Big Joe Media, a home based voiceover business and I'm looking for advice on how to get this thing off the ground. I have the equipment, I have the experience, I have the motivation, I have the website, now what do I do? Marketing yes.. I realize that, and maybe this blog is one step, but more "free" opportunity has to be out there accessible to me and my ambitions.

I've been doing this radio life along time and I shoulda,coulda, woulda set up a business years ago, but life gets in the way sometime of the things you really need to be doing, you know what I mean? I'm not sure what has motivated me, so...maybe I shouldn't question that at this time, just go with it as they say.

Ok a little about me..What's not on the profile.


I still love radio and I am extremely passionate about my work, even after 25 years. I've always described work as playtime, it truly is to me. I have memories of going to this playground when I was kid, I always had projects to work on, things to do. For instance, I'm going one day to be "king of the merry go round" or the next day I'll see how many chin ups I could do. (Not very many) I built things in my sandbox with blocks, sand and dirt, never once thinking, hey one day I'll use sound sfx, music, and digital audio equipment to keep the game going! Lo' and behold here I am, playing still after all these years.

I'm 40 years old, still feel pretty good most days, I have a family, a place I never thought I'd see 10 years ago. Being a well traveled radio jock was the best and worst times of my life, You know what I mean...a guy or gal that works in market after market, big and small, looking for that one spot where you feel that this is " The Place". The Place where life is comfortable and un chaotic. Egos, radio growing pains over the last 20 years, my own growing pains and one crazy life, keeps one on the move in this business. Radio gets into your blood like drugs and to be perfectly honest, it took awhile for me to find " The Place".

But after markets such as Nashville, Knoxville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Lafollette, Jacksonville,Yazoo City, Fargo, Meridian and Yuma, I am proud to say I make my home in the postcard of Anchorage, Alaska.

Yes, there are bears. Yes, we have moose in our front yards and yes there are snow capped mountains everywhere you look. This is a dangerous, exciting and beautiful place, that will make you believe in God if you didn't before

Life is good guys..I need a new car, I have bills like everyone, I'm not always in the best of moods, but I can't cry about life and certainly can't cry about the place I sit behind a microphone everyday. Morris Alaska is my godsend, I work for a great company. I have worked for the giants and the mom and pop stations in my quarter century in the biz and Morris is where I want to call home for sometime. They simply care. You see it in the hallways in your co workers faces everyday. People matter in this business big radio, and you might want to pay closer attention to that detail.

Well now you know a little more than you wanted too, but you know something... that's alright..It's my first blog and I'm sure there will be many more chances to run off at the mouth, after all I am in broadcasting and I do love to play in that sandbox. I'll share again soon

Peace and Be Wild

Joe