Gettin’ Cred’
By Joseph Inge
In the past, I hadn’t considered the importance of credible
journalism. For me, broadcast or cable news were filler programs,
background noise until something really interesting came on.
Newspapers were for coupons, cleaning windows and gathering on
the couch or a corner inside the house. There was rarely ever real
news available. Real news was something interesting like a
disgraced politician or businessman, the unlikely triumph of an ethnic
presidential candidate, a short war or the next trial of the century.
It wasn’t until I began sharing news and information on my own
radio program that, terms like accurate information and ethical
broadcasting became relevant in my life. And news, especially
political news, became interesting to me. Walter Cronkite died a
couple of weeks after my first broadcast. Though, I was fifty-three
years old at the time, that event represented, to me, a changing of the
guard. A great era had passed. I felt it was time for brave new
pioneers to step forward.
It was about two and a half years ago when I, along with a few
friends, first aired the Great Season Radio Broadcast. It was an
amateurish and ill-conceived attempt to bring relevant and practical
conversation to radio listeners of Southeast Georgia. I say, “ill-
conceived”, not because I had a bad idea, but because we didn’t do
any planning. We just showed up at the station, sat in front of the
microphones and began to talk. We didn’t have production meetings.
We still don’t.
Before considering radio, my friends and I would spend countless
hours, sitting around the kitchen table, solving the problems of the
world. I believed we were wasting some of the best and most
practical solutions available to mankind. So I decided to bring those
conversations to the public.
I recall that first evening. There were four of us gathered around
two microphones. We didn’t have a topic, and we were (at least, I
was) fearful of what to say and how to say it. I thought the
conversation in the studio would come as naturally and fluidly as in
the kitchen. It didn’t. While I consider myself a pretty confident
speaker, I stuttered and stammered into the microphone-I still do.
One or two of us became extra articulate, slowing their speech;
carefully enunciating the (long ‘E’) ‘i-n-g’ and ‘e-d’ endings of their
words. There was a great deal of laughter, and highly combative on-
air exchanges over insignificant points like whose turn it was to read
the next news story.
With absolutely no experience, or guidance, we were attempting to
emulate trained, experienced media professionals. We managed to
get through that first half hour with a minimum of pain. In fact, I was
elated! We had done it! Of course we would need fresh topics and
guests and funding, but I had actually, hosted and produced my first
radio broadcast. My elation didn’t last very long, however. It became
apparent, to me, that my new hobby was, merely being tolerated, not
necessarily accepted by those whose opinions mattered most to me.
The friends I began with found other interests. I welcomed guests to
the program to speak and share their ideas on topics relevant to
Christians and non-Christians. Some accepted the invitations.
Others, emphatically, declined, stating they wouldn’t feel comfortable
expressing their views in such a public forum. While it was my desire
to provide a clarion voice for people to express their feelings about
the world we live in, it seemed I was only succeeding in providing a
mechanism for creating a loud shrill irritating screech. A screech
people and sponsors found easy to ignore. If they couldn’t turn us
off, they simply plugged their ears.
I often wonder if media folks I had come to admire over the years,
had agonized over their dreams the way I do. I’ve read about their
accomplishments. I’ve watched them on television, as they make
media success seem so easy. I’ve admired people like Oprah
Winfrey, Ted Turner, Walt Disney, Bob Johnson, Richard Branson
and the recently embattled, Rupert Murdoch. Even in their
challenges, they’ve managed to capture our hearts and imaginations.
It may seem grandiose for a small-time radio host to dream, but I pray
that some day, I will have the opportunity to sit at the kitchen table
with them. Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to solve the world’s problems
with some of the greatest world shakers of our time.
Sometimes I wonder if God, in his infinite wisdom, has in deed,
assigned me this task of giving His Word practical application through
news media. Could it be a contrivance of my own ego and vanity?
And are we helping? Is anything improving? Have we, yet, become
a credible source of news and information? If not, will we ever?
After two and a half years, more than a hundred different topics and
sixty or seventy different guests and panelists, I wonder if we’ve
changed the world at all. One thing is for certain. I’ve been changed.
And perhaps, that is all God has ever really wanted me to do from the
beginning.