Friday was the major portion of Round #1: hosting a 10 minute talk show. I struggled to decide on one topic. Everyone recommended something “heated”, and there are a few which I am very versed on, but, I wanted to save those for if/when I advance to Round #2 and have to host an hour. I “geeved” and jumped onto the Cell Phone Ban topic.
For a guest, I tried to get my “Cell Guy” from Bell World in Georgetown. He was in until about 11am Friday morning when he told me that he had a meeting and wouldn’t be able to make it. I scrambled and found a new “Cell Guy” from another Bell World Store and got him ready for 2:10pm. I was set.
I did some prep and headed from my office in Acton to the AM 900 CHML Studio in Hamilton. The first contestant, Dan Rodrigues went on and did his slot about facing death. I know he had planned this topic well out in advance due to his guest, a motivational speaker, but I was like, “dang…hot topic, the Bill Kelly Show covered this earlier today!!!!”. At the end of his piece, he faced the judges, and the “Host” then said, “Thanks Dan, coming up next, Joe Scully….”
My heart sank. I was parked at the light outside of the station. I dropped my cell phone and freaked out…I wasn’t supposed to be on for another 40 minutes!
I floored it, wheeled around the corner, watched the last of my coffee fly across the truck, and raced to the door. I congratulated Dan and met Promotions Guru/Judge Andy Zimmerman at the door. He told me that the contestant that was supposed to go in front of me didn’t show up. He had asked if I could go early…I explained that my guest may be on lunch, but, would be willing to cover without him if necessary.
My nerves didn’t kick in until I walked into the Studio. Around the table, the host, Matt Holmes, Judge 1: Jeff Storey, Program Director, Judge 2: Shiona Thompson, Morning Show Co-Host and Judge 3: Andy Zimmerman would all be in the same room…staring at me…while I tried to pull a 10-minute talk show out of my butt… 2 minutes later, it kicked in…and I think I persevered.
I opened by tying in the music that the Producer selected and paraphrased my prepared editorial (below). I then brought on my new “Cell Guy”, James from Bell World in the Cloverdale Mall, Etobicoke, ON. We talked about the technology, how retail is being prepared for the influx of people buying headsets, and discussed how people don’t need to be afraid of the technology of Headsets. We opened the phones and talked with a caller, Joe, who said that the phone in the hand isn’t the problem, it’s people paying attention to the conversation. I brought it back to the stats that I had in the editorial, how 37% of your brain is taken away from the task of driving when on the phone.
I had another call come in, but I had run out of time and wanted to “sell it”.
From there, the judges all were pretty positive, and I was pretty proud of the feedback I received. It has always been my dream to do talk radio. I think this 10-minute sample has shown me how exciting “Live Talk Radio” is. I wasn’t focused on Filling the Time…I was more focused on not going OVER time. That gives me confidence that should I make it to the next round, the 1-hour segment will be a breeze!
The contestant after me, Mike Allen did a piece on the Tiger Cats, and showed a massive amount of passion and knowledge about the Team. Because the one contestant didn’t show up…we have a 1 in 3 chance of moving on…best of luck to my fellow contestants.
Thanks to AM 900 CHML for the opportunity, and to Transat Holidays along with the NH Krystal Puerto Vallarta for the exciting prizes.
It's all over except the...VOTING! Visit www.900chml.com, click on Talk Show Idol, then the voting tab. You'll have to register to be a 900 CHML insider first...and then choose the winner from Week 1. But vote soon, voting ends Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 1pm EST!
Here’s my Editorial along with links to supporting documentation:
The new DUI is going to be Texting, arrive alive…just drive. Today, we’re looking at Ontario’s Bill 118: better known as the “Cell Phone Ban”.
The new law banning hand-held cell phones and other hand-held communication and entertainment devices is coming into effect this fall, and there’s so much to understand still. Though Ontario isn’t the first to put a Cell Phone Ban in place, again, it comes in as one of the most aggressive. In California, first time offenders are fined $50. In our neighbour south of the 49th parallel, it’s $100. Here in Ontario, should you text, type, email, dial, chat, surf, F-book, tweet behind the wheel, you could be fined up to $500.
Was this law needed? A study from the University of Utah says cell phone use is the equivalent of a Blood Alcohol limit of .08%. A Carnegie Mellon study shows that driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37%. Drivers that use cell phones are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. – NHTSA, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. And we’ve all seen the drivers swerving all over the road while chatting.
In a recent survey, 92% of Ontario drivers will wait to make a call in the car, with 14% of those aged 18-34 say they’ll ignore the law.
It is going to be the law…be prepared. Just how important is the call?
Here's 5 minutes (they edited it) of the 10-minute piece:-click play-
Germany anecdote: One truck driver in Germany got off by: he claimed he wasn’t talking on the phone, but was just using a recently charged mobile phone to warm his ears. He also showed a bill showing that no phone call at the time… he claims he had an earache and that the heater in the truck cab took too long to warm up, so he was using the phone instead. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080316/153047550.shtml
