“As for you, number 4, you have a wonderful voice. Have you ever thought about doing radio?”
Sixteen-year old me hadn’t. In fact, I hated the sound of my own voice (news to anyone who’s heard me expand on my favorite subjects, but there’s a difference: I don’t enjoy talking just to talk. I love warships and history and religion and philosophy and so I love talking about those things, but it’s the subject I love, not the talking). Like most people, I couldn’t stand to listen to recordings of myself. So when the debate judge mentioned radio to me, it was the first time I”d ever thought about the subject.
I lost the debate, of course. I lost most debates – I simply wasn’t good at convincing people through the absurd and convoluted rules that American policy debate requires (I’m not bitter). I was a good speaker, though – in fact, I was the best in the district at the extemporaneous speaking competition, and probably should have performed better at state (I didn’t try my hardest, a fact which my debate teacher knew when she saw my final scores but didn’t call me on. I was tired of debate and didn’t want to do it next year).
Anyway, after a policy debate the four speakers (two on each team) would be given feedback from the judges, and I was consistently praised for the quality and control of my voice. “You definitely have the face – er, voice – for radio,” I distinctly remember one judge, a well-meaning older man with silver hair and a strong, confident face, saying. The judgment – a face for radio – stuck with me.
But I never did try radio.
Until Saturday, that is. I walked into First Alleyway, a popular expat restaurant in Gwangju. The expat community is pretty small here – it’s like a small village within the large city, about 300 people I’d estimate, give or take. You don’t know everyone, but you know someone who knows just about anyone. So when a new face (like me) shows up, people are naturally curious.
I sat down at the bar for dinner. On the TV, Interstellar was playing. Matthew McConaughey was being battered by massive ocean waves the size of city blocks. The fellow sitting next to me, a portly, bearded man with thinning hair and a friendly face, leaned over and said, “I saw this in the Imax here in town. Those waves on an Imax screen? I thought I was gonna die!” Thus I met Arlo.
Arlo is an Albertan, but fled to Korea a decade ago as a political refugee – a democratic socialist had no place in conservative Alberta. Initially an English teacher, he had gotten his master’s in Economics and now taught at Chonnam University, with a Korean wife and child. As a side hustle, though, he hosted People of Gwangju, an English-language radio program on the local expat radio network. When I mentioned that I taught at Gwangju Science Academy, he perked up. “Well, Brad, you’ve passed the barrier of being sufficiently interested. How would you feel about an interview? I’d make it worth your while.”
So it was that this Friday (about two hours ago) I made m shining radio debut.
I drove out to the station (and by that I mean I took a cab – I don’t miss driving one bit), which sits on a leafy hill overlooking downtown Gwangju. Behind the building a radio antenna leaps into the sky, one of the highest points in the city. I walked inside, past signs reminding me that ALL GUESTS MUST USE HAND SANITIZER BEFORE ENTERING STUDIO, and signed the guestbook (Please write your temperature. Did you bring a mask? Y/N), before being ushered into the studio.
THe production offices were, well, normal, apart from everyone wearing surgical masks (itself never too uncommon in Korea, admittedly). Cubicles and employees at computers, editing, writing, doing the administrative minutia that keeps every operation in, er, operation. Arlo met me, shook my hand (a bold choice in these times of COVID19) and ushered me into the studio. A desk with a pair of microphones and headphones for each of us, the soundproof glass barrier separating us from the production crew (Missy, his producer, studied at UMKC! We shared a mutual joy over the Chiefs’ glory before beginning) – it was a real radio studio!
The interview itself was super easy, barely an inconvenience. I talked about myself, mostly (my favorite subject of all!), coming to Korea, surprises, difficulties. I wish the story were more interesting, but honestly I was just excited to be there. It’s fun to be on the radio! After a brief conversation – barely twenty minutes, which I was told would of course be editted down, I was being thanked for my time and shown the door.
So nothing glorious or glamorous, but still fun. One more thing off the bucket list – appear (what’s the proper word for non-visual media?) on the radio at least once in my life. Between this interview for the English language radio station in a town with perhaps 300 native English speakers, and one of my Tweets getting more than a hundred likes, I’m basically a celebrity now. You can all say you knew me before I got famous, though, so there’s that.
Just a fun story for Friday afternoon.
Gwangju Dreaming 