27 March

Today, On The Radio

by Jon Katz

Today, “Talking To Animals,” from one to 2:30 p.m. on WBTNAM1370. You can call – 802 442-1010, or 866 406-9286. You can also e-mail me your questions at [email protected].

I know a lot of people are listening, but very few people are calling, or perhaps very few people are getting through.  That’s what I keep hearing. I suppose it’s not surprising, as the station’s equipment dates back to the Korean War.

A lot of people tell me they can’t get through, some people get through on the first try every time. WBTM isn’t exactly up to date, tech-wise. The good news is that there is a lot of feedback from different parts of the country, it is quite positive.

I can’t link to the live feed button because the station’s blog is down.

So I haven’t quite figured it out. If I don’t figure it out, I’ll have to re-consider, for me, this is all about talking with people, not pontificating or offering crackpot theories. I want to be helpful. As I’ve said before, I’m not going to go on the air to talk to myself.

(The podcast planning is forging ahead, we hope to be up and running the first week in April. I’ll offer details on how to listen and where to find us. Maria and I are very much into it.)

Today, I want to continue discussions about animal intelligence, the human animal bond, and issues relating to animal consciousness. To be fair, I’ve had some great discussions on the broadcast with Thomas, and with callers. I’ve enjoyed them.

We’ve also had great success helping people with their dog and cat training problems. I very much enjoy those calls and conversations. So cal 802 442-1010 and 866 406-9286.

Maria is a regular on the broadcast now, she’ll be calling towards the second half hour today as well. We’ll talk about the podcast and also about our training issues with Fate and Bud.

If you prefer, e-mail me your questions and I’ll discuss them on the air. I check my phone during the broadcast, part of our guerrilla communications system.

This is your program, that’s what community radio is all about. The program will only be as successful as your willingness to interact with it. Podcasts are different, they are just about listening.

Talk to you soon, hopefully. 802 442-1010 or 866 406-9286.

 

4 Comments

  1. You’ve probably thought of this but I have a simple suggestion for how to more flexibly allow questions from listeners, both on the radio show and the new podcast. Set up a dedicated number with a voicemail and let people call in and leave a message with a question at their convenience (I believe you can set up a free phone number with voicemail on Google Voice).. There are downsides of course (it will mean you can’t converse with the caller but will instead need to process their question with your co-hosts). But it does allow listeners to participate in a meaningful way, esp those (like me) who can’t call in in the middle of the day and who tend instead to listen to later recordings. It also frees everyone up from having to hit the mark of a specific hour (where lots of things, both technically and schedule-wise can go wrong), allowing the flexibility of calling in anytime the week before a broadcast.Just a suggestion. Thanks for your writing.

    1. Trish, thanks..I think for the podcast we’ll just have people e-mail their questions, and then down the road we’ll get
      softrware that enables calling. The stations problems are severe,their equipment is rarely functional, that’s the problem there. Plenty of people tell me they are trying to call…The podcast will be shorter and more of a conversation..for now we don’t really want live calls..20 minutes is not a long time..but thanks for the idea, much appreciated..

  2. Here’s a question! 😉 If you were only allowed to own TWO kinds of animals, what would they be and why?

    P.S. I was coming here originally to tell you to take questions via email but you’ve already reached that conclusion. In addition to solving the technology problem it solves the problem of people being too nervous or shy to call in! 😉

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