Big Sale Ends Sunday + Head/Hand Shaking

An Echo of Thanks

Thanks to everyone who contributed to WCLK Jazz 91.9 FM on our behalf!!! We didn’t win this year’s Signature Serenade competition, but we did make a big difference for the station. We also had a blast being the guest DJs even with a huge technical challenge.

Back in the early 2000s, comedian Elaine Boozler told the hilarious story of getting to sing the Star Spangled Banner before a New York Mets game at Shea Stadium. She’d been warned about the echo effect, that unless you wear earplugs, you can hear the echo of yourself singing over top of hearing yourself actually sing, which would make any non-pro have a helluva time keeping track of where one is in verse or melody. It’s like singing Row Row Row your boat with the second person coming it at completely the wrong place that isn’t quite consistentingly in the same place each round. Her running gag about the experience, which with the help of technology she demonstrated, was that, if you timed it right, you could catch up with your own echo and sing as one.

For some crazy reason, every time we were on the air with Debb there was this tremendous echo of Chris’s and my voices. Debb’s voice had no echo problems, and our echos would disappear while our tunes played on the air and we were chatting just the three of us. The echo only happened when when we were live on air and couldn’t be heard by the listeners. Chris and I had phoned in 5 rooms apart with closed doors, headphones, and dedicated pro microphones. The station’s engineer tried to troubleshoot it, but nothing helped.

No “Rocket’s Red Glare,” at Shea Stadium effect. More like

We’re so excited to so excite be here be with you here to help our beloved you here help jazz station during Signature during Serenade Signature Serenade…[just kill me now…]

Because it’s not hard at all for a couple of amateur enthusiasts to sound intelligent on the radio [insert eye roll here] while hearing everything you’ve said as you’re trying to remember the next thing you were about to say.

Live.

With thousands of people listening from all over the world.

A friend of ours often refers to people as “A couple who ___.” The fill in the blank might be, “A couple who fights for social justice,” or “A couple who creates art together,” or “A couple who volunteers their time.” I told Chris, “I’d rather just be a power couple than “A couple who powers through.” Maybe you heard us? I’m told we pulled it off. We’ll get a copy of the broadcast soon and find out for ourselves. One thing I can say for certain is that our playlist kicked ass.