So far, I’m enjoying working with and getting to know Thomas Toscano, a conductor and composer and the Executive Director of WBTN, the much struggling community radio station where I begin my new radio show Talking to Animals, on Wednesday of this coming week from 1 to 3 p.m.

Thomas is the rarest of American figures, the individualist. He follows Joseph Campbell’s exhortation for each of us to know our myths. Thomas knows his.

He is through living the lives other people want him to live, and he lives by what he calls “The Russo philosophy” first outlined by a dear friend who was once married and decided never to do it again.

He is his own person, living his own life, and if anyone doesn’t like it, they can go stuff it. This kind of man might just save his little radio station from doom and extinction in the Corporate Nation.

When Russo was asked by people “are you married?,” he said, “no, I am happy.”

Thomas and I are getting to know one another – we are both cautious about friends, I think. The Katz philosophy wonders if friends are as necessary as we are led to believe. Do I have a lot of friends? No, but I am also happy.

Thomas and I are bonding with one another, I wouldn’t go so far as to say we are friends,  we have both seen a lot, but it could happen.

Sunday morning, Thomas has programmed Gregorian Chant for me at 7 a.m. because I told him that was among my favorite music. I was touched by that, and I will be up at 7 a.m. with my earphones and Iphone.

I asked Thomas if he was married or had a family. We were chatting late Saturday through  e-mail messages. I doubt we will ever speak personally on the phone.

“Never married, no kids,” he said.

“I’m a devotee of the Russo philosophy of life,” he said. “Had many, many relationships. Now I consider it a public service that I spent my time alone. And each time I see couples in conflict being portrayed on TV I look up at the sky and thrill at the fact I don’t have any such problems any longer.”

Thomas has given up on that part of life, traded it for other parts.

In the West,  writes Campbell in Pathways To Bliss, a bible of mine, “you have the liberty and the obligation of finding out what your destiny is. You can discover it for yourself, but do you?”

Campbell also wrote: “I’ve taught students of all financial strata, and the most fortunate are not always the very wealthy ones. In fact, they’re very often the least fortunate because there’s nothing to drive them. A very common experience is a student who has all kinds of possibilities and talents and essentially limitless money and becomes nothing more than a dilettante. The student is not forced to follow one path, to make a decision: “I’m going to do this.”

I get the sense Thomas, an opera singer and producer from  New York City, has found his destiny. It is music and WBTN.

It doesn’t hurt to be blessed with the accident of money, writes Campbell, and some margin of free time. “But let me say,” he adds, “that people without money very often have the courage to risk a life of their own, and they can do it. Money doesn’t count; it’s not that important our culture, it really isn’t.”

In a sense, WBTN and Thomas underscore that idea. There is no money, but plenty of purpose. The place has found its myth.

Thomas told me he was up late Saturday night making apple pies, something that surprised me.

“Why apple pie? I have a lot of apples (people gave them to me). I made two. I have to make a lot more. And then freeze them. Last year it was peach pies. This year it’s apple.”

I didn’t ask Thomas where the pies were going. It didn’t seem to matter.

Thomas apologized for the problems afflicting the new WBTN Amazon Wish List. It isn’t functioning quite properly yet. They are excited about it and will get it all fixed on Monday.

Our dry run last Thursday was a big success. The station couldn’t get over getting a call from California, the first such call to the station in its history as far as anyone knew. I hope they call back. 866 406-9286.

On Wednesday, my new radio show, “Talking To Animals’ debuts on WBTNAm 1370, Bennington, Vt., a community radio station meant for the people, not the politicians. Just click on the “live” button at the top of the page, it will take you right to the broadcast.

You can live stream the dog/animal show here. You can call me with questions about animals at 866 406-9286. You can e-mail me questions to discuss on the radio: [email protected].

Please call if you can, we will have a running conversation about the animals that are so important in your lives. Thomas will be sitting right alongside of me, trying to keep his Korean War equipment (really) going.

(By the way, Maria will be on the “Living Arts” hour on WBTN Sunday morning from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Thomas says she is a fascinating and original artist. This is true. Tune In.)

If you wish to support community radio and Thomas’s myth, and perhaps mine, you can donate here. All donations are precious to them.

Although the broadcast will focus on dogs, and to some degree, cats, we are wide open to discussions about animals, I’ve lived with plenty.

Audio: Money Isn’t That Important: Me Reading Joseph Campbell