In 1966, I was 15 years old. I was friends with a guy by the name of Bob Poe, who I think is still alive. I hope so. But anyway, he was in college.
He was in his first year at USF, and I was in middle school. No, I was in middle school. I was working at a grocery store chain called Publix, and Bob worked there as well. And he lived in the same town I did, so we became friends.
And they had a career thing at my high school. And what I wanted to do in the worst way when I was 15 is work in radio. And so did Bob. As a matter of fact, Bob was going to college at USF to get a degree in broadcasting.
Anyway, through my school, I got an opportunity to go to a very popular radio station in the evening where I was going to be escorted in, and I was going to watch a disc jockey by the name of Dalen Rushing. Now, is that a radio name or what? 74 Degrees on Great Tampa Bay? I'm Dalen Rushing.
Dalen Rushing was a young man. He had worked at another station I used to listen to him on, and now he was at the big time. He was at WLCY. Really cool radio station.
I'm totally getting off the point. We're going to talk about music in this episode, and we're going to talk about gratitude, and we're going to talk about the immense feeling I got when Bob Poe and I walked into the back of that studio at WLCY and saw Dalen Rushing with his back to us getting ready to start playing a new song. So, according to the instructions that we were given, we were to go to the WLCY studios, which was also the local Channel 10 studios. We were to drive around back, and there was a back door with a number 7, I think, on it, or something.
We were to go there and knock. So we went up there, and we knocked. And then somebody let us in, and he said, oh, you're here to watch Dalen. I said, yes, and Bob Poe was about ready to have a thrombo.
I mean, he was just so excited about this. We walked down this hall and into what was a very small studio. It wasn't what I expected at all. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't what I had expected at all.
And there was this control panel, and there was Dalen, whose back was to us, and there was two turntables. And he was taking the needle, putting it on a record, and then he goes, it's 8.05. I'm great, Tampa Bay. I'm Dalen Russian.
And this is a message to Michael. Boom goes the dynamite. He starts playing Message to Michael by Dionne Warwick. Oh, my God.
And it was coming out over the speakers. He hadn't even turned around yet. And I saw him reach in front like he was adjusting his tie. And he turned around, and he was going to talk to us, but he said, can we just listen for a minute?
And I said, yeah. And Bob Poe was sitting there going, sure, whatever you say. He was just, Bob was very nervous. Very, very, very nervous.
So we listened to the music, and oh, my God, was it so good. As I was listening to the music, and it was wrapping up, and he was going in, and Dalen was getting ready to push a button, and it would set off about four or five carts. Carts are, remember 8-track tapes? They were kind of like that, but they were smaller.
And each one of these carts had a commercial on it. And he had like four or five of them on a rack. And all he had to do was push this button on the top, and they would all start. So he would have a lot of time to talk to us while all the commercials played.
WLCY was famous for playing too many commercials. Song wraps up, he pushes the button, and he looked at me, and he said, you know what I'm so grateful for? I said, what? He goes, being able to come in here at night when it's quiet and play just incredibly wonderful music.
That stuck with me. Now, he went on to explain all the nuances of radio and all that, which was very interesting, and I liked it a lot. But that statement, and I was someone, I always love music, and I love Dionne Warwick, and I love that song, and I love anything that, you know, any lyrics that Hal David wrote and the music that Bert Beckeracca created. It was very, very good.
So that's what stuck with me that night. Wouldn't it be cool to work radio where I could go in, like Dalen Rushney was doing, and I don't know why he had on a tie and a vest, but he did, and just push the buttons and listen to beautiful music and be able to express yourself that way. That was kind of incredible to me. And I'm going to tell you something.
Music is something to be so grateful for. It's a universal language. It speaks to everyone. It goes to the deepest part of our psyche.
You've heard the term, the soundtracks of your life. My soundtrack of my life would be very complicated and very diverse, from classical music to religious music, and I'm just grateful for the feeling that music gives me. You know, you get goosebumps, you know, with certain songs. If I hear a certain song, I get just total goosebumps with it.
I really do. You know what else I'm grateful? When I find music that I'd never heard before, and I immediately fall in love with it. I remember so many, just recently, coming across a little CD.
I found this little CD. I have no idea how I got it. I was 15 years old, and it was a jazz musician, and there was two songs on it. And the first thing I had to do was find a CD player that worked.
I found one in my closet. Isn't it amazing that we've now given up on CD players? Isn't it strange? Anyway, I found one in my closet, and I took it into my bedroom, and I plugged my headphones into it, and I listened to this music, and oh my gosh, it was so good.
Only two songs, but it was so, so good. I'm so grateful for the solace that music offers. And you know, when you're having hard times, just listen to some good music. When you're getting ready to go through a breakup, there's a Beatles song for it.
My friend John Palmer Claridge told me once, when we were in junior high school, that was a very long time ago, that there isn't a thing that goes on in our lives. It seems as though the Beatles haven't written a song about. And he's so right. He is so, so right.
I'm just really kind of grateful for music. As a relationship recently ended, you have a new job that you're nervous about? You're wondering how to tell a relative about something that you did a long time ago that you really want to fess up on? I mean, there's a million things that give us stress.
Music gives us grace. Music gives us calmness. Music gives us inspiration. You want to create something?
You want to create something really cool? Listen to some music. Get inspired, damn it. Just go out there and do it.
Ah, for the Daily Grateful, it's me, Michael Kroos. The Daily Grateful, it's me, Michael Kroos.