Pausing for a moment
(click on any photo to enlarge)
Our family is presently visiting the Central Coast, taking advantage of the three-day-weekend. One of our highlights was sharing time with his Sweetness, Dick Whittington, pictured here with my older son Peter. He's doing well, regaling us with stories from his long career of both radio and other things in entertainment (did you know he once was part of the cast of NBC's "Laugh In?") plus conversation about current events and of course, swapping stories about our families.
We did take a moment to raise our glasses (iced tea and water, in case you were wondering) in memory of Don Barrett. He was also a resident of the Central Coast before his untimely passing last year. More about my mentor in a moment.
Yours truly, Dick Whittington, Don Barrett (2020)
When I get to talk to someone as legendary as Dick Whittington, it's easy to spend the entire time talking about his time in local radio as well as other stops, including being part of the lineup of San Francisco's KSFO, including the legendary Don Sherwood ("the world's greatest disc jockey"). But we also talked about what's ahead. For example, he encouraged me not to retire anytime soon, something that's been discussed since I became Medicare eligible last week. But I digress. He also advised my son there may be periodic turgent waves, but that he'll be sailing toward great destinations in his years ahead.
So to simply mourn about what once was isn't particularly fruitful. And that's when our conversation again turned to Don Barrett. He knew the importance of paying tribute to the history of the medium while also acknowledging the present. I believe one reason Don put so much effort into LARadio.com was he could put current news in context, or more simply, having the present help us better appreciate the past. 
This will sound as if it's irrelevant, but please bear with me. The late Jim Murray, the Pulitzer Prize award winning Los Angeles Times sports columnist, wrote a column after he suffered a detatched retina, rendering him nearly blind. He described his eye as an old friend, allowing him to witness the many joyful times with his family, including meeting his wife Geraldine who preceded him in death ("she took the sunshine with her"). He said his old friend let hm see a bloodied Rocky Marciano coming back, Willie Mays facing Sandy Koufax, Johnny Unitas "pick apart a defense," Casey Stengel taking out a pitcher "beckoning his gnarled old finger behind his back," -- it was a recitation of the memorable sports stories in the 20th century. But before the reader could take pity on his lost friend, Murray concluded his column with these words:
Come to think of it, I’m lucky. I saw all of those things. I see them yet.
Those of us who have followed radio for these many years have indeed been fortunate to for our ears to hear some of the best talent available anywhere. Arguably radio continues to tip the balance between being an art and being a business towards the latter. This week there will be more updates about some significant changes in Los Angeles radio. There are other outlets who do a better job providing breaking news, we share whatever we can as quickly as we can. Nonetheless, we also think it's important to take a moment to provide a bit of backstory and maybe some perspective to help celebrate what our ears did get to hear, hopefully not easily forgotten.
Thank you for indulging me and our work. Again, please stay tuned.
P.S. On this Veteran's Day, a heartfelt thank you to those who served, and those who continue to serve.
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