It was 1968 when I began my radio broadcasting career.  I just changed records & tapes, along with running a control board and watching the transmitter readings, for a local radio station owned & operated by a man named Martin Williams.  I was 18 and Mr. Williams was in his 60s when I started work for him.

Think about this…Mr. Williams, as a young man in radio engineering school, met and spoke with Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of wireless communications.  It is a reminder of how fast technology has advanced in last 120 years.

I later moved into radio announcing, graduating from a broadcasting trade school in 1969 and moved into disc-jockey work and sports.  In those early days, the station manager was crazy enough to assign me duties of hosting a talk show.  I had a quick and rude awakening.

All those talk show hosts I watched on TV and heard on the radio made it look and sound easy.  What I didn’t know was the immense preparation that goes into a successful talk radio program.

Learning the lessons of making mistakes, I found myself hosting an all-night radio talk show in the Indianapolis area from roughly 1975 through 1977.  Imagine four hours of talking on the phone with people 5 nights a week.  It was fun, but a lot of work for little pay.

I learned the power of talk shows on radio.  They were different in those days.  I respected my callers, even when I didn’t always agree with them.  The station manager encouraged me to be provocative and stimulate conversation.  Let’s just say I did that.

I had no staff, except for an intern from IUPUI for a few months and she was a big help.  But it was up to me to book any guests for the program.  I didn’t need a guest every night, but getting them to come in at 11pm was not an easy sell in many cases.

I got a taste of what it’s like to produce a radio talk show.  Most good ones have several guests every day with a staff of people supporting the host.

There is a lot of talk radio commercially today, most conservative, a little on the liberal side, but ideology drives most talk on the commercial band.  If you want intelligent, reliable radio talk shows, public broadcasting generally does an excellent job.

That’s why I was saddened to learn of the cancellation of “All In,” a daily afternoon talk show on WFYI radio in Indianapolis.  I read rumblings on social media but IndyStar reporter Clair Rafford’s story appeared in the print edition of the Star Wednesday confirming it and can be accessed at this link. (NOTE:  You may be limited in accessing Star stories online if you are not a subscriber.  Again, please subscribe to your local media!  Online subscriptions are not that expensive)

It appears this is a financial decision by the powers-that-be at WFYI radio.  Public broadcasting is financially supported by members from the community and foundation grants.  Public broadcasting does receive some taxpayer support nationally.

I listened often and could note the great staff work to get good guests, often several for each one-hour program.  Mariam Sobh does an excellent job as host of All In, but she is located on the south side of Chicago.  It got a bit awkward when local people pressed her to visit a location or event locally and she finally had to admit she was doing the program from Chicago.

It is sad that WFYI is losing a very good talk radio program due to a lack of financial support.  I truly believe that having a radio program that allows local people and national figures of importance to sit down and talk in an extended interview about issues important to local people has great value.

But I also understand how much work goes into this.  I try to produce a weekly local podcast featuring local people and it is a lot of work just doing that.

I hope all those people staffing “All In” land with good jobs as they move on in their careers.  They were part of something that impacted the local community and should be proud of what they accomplished as a team.  Let’s hope intelligent talk finds a local radio place in the  future.