The radio business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.
~ Hunter S. Thompson

Okay, so all of us DJs have come across a management team that is more interested in the money aspect of radio than the artistry of playing music.

But what strikes me most about Hunter S. Thompson’s quote Is the imagery of the “the long hallway.”

Radio stations have multiple studios. And often they run alongside each other on two sides of a hallway. During the days those hallways are a whirlwind. With managers, engineers, secretaries, etc hurriedly walking about.

And you never know what you might find. Like the day I had to squeeze by a group of them carrying a piano up three flights of stairs to the World Cafe studio for a live Jackson Browne taping.

Or the day I went to check the AP wire for the latest news and found Joan Baez weeping in the arms of her son. The words on the Associated Press screen were typing out news of Jerry Garcia’s passing. Soon I was back in the studio gently guiding our listeners through the next several hours.

Radio can be many things to different people. It can be a shared celebration of music. But it can also be a place to turn when needing someone else to just be there. And it is that aspect of bringing people together for a shared experience that makes it so fulfilling.

Which leads me to mention one more thing about those “long hallways.” Nights and overnights the staff is gone. The hallways are now silent. And they are yours alone to roam.

Radio stations at night, lend themselves to artistry and freedom. Selecting CDs from shelves lining entire rooms, you follow some sort of inner compass. Cueing up one song after another in an unscripted mix. And the late night listeners add to the mystique. Calling the studio, speaking in hushed tones that the night naturally invokes. You take a moment to talk together about music and life. It’s a bonding experience. A shared interest in music that brings us together. 

So I invite you to continue joining me on this journey of life. 

As we share an appreciation for music along the way.

Email: radiobonnie@yahoo.com

Instagram: radiobonniehart

Website: www.radiobonniehart.com

For a bio of radio stations and shows, please visit my website

If you could just get your mind together 

Then come across to me.

We’ll hold hands

And then we’ll watch the sunrise

From the bottom of the sea

But first

Are you Experienced?

Have you every been experienced?

~ Jimi Hendrix