Who’s Really Big Around Here?
Ju-u-u-u-ust in case you’re confused, Big Talk has absolutely nothing to do with another similarly monikered radio show, The Big Listen.
I’d rubbed my hands together, grinning evilly, when I first heard about WFIU’s new syndicated show. New, that is, in these parts. The Big Listen has been around for a while. Anyway, I was hoping I could get mileage out of accusing the show’s producers of swiping the Big part of their name from my show.
‘Course, that would have been pure fantasy on my part. I really didn’t think radio content developers from Washington DC’s WAMU, whence that show comes, would have ever heard of my gig, despite its presence as a pillar in the Big Mike global communications colossus. Still, when WFIU’s monthly member newsletter floated into Chez Big Mike yesterday (I refuse to say why the thing comes to my crib) with The Big Listen’s host, Lauren Ober, on the cover, I tore through the thing looking for evidence Big Talk was the elder of the two.
My Commodore.
I couldn’t raise said evidence so I clicked over on my trusty Commodore Amiga home computer to the show’s website. Turns out The Big Listen actually started out, locally in DC, in 2009 for a short three-episode run. Dang, mang. That beats the genesis pants of Big Talk, which came screaming into this world on Thursday, January 9, 2014, with cartoonist Nate Powell as my premier guest.
The Big Listen did go dormant, apparently, from 2009 through 2016, with a single blip on the radar screen in November, 2012. So, really, Big Talk should be considered the senior of the two.
Even My Logo’s Bigger!
So now, lemme see. Aha! Yeah, I’m gonna blame this on that sneaky, conniving Will Murphy, the GM over at WFHB when I first arrived in this town and who now Program Directs and otherwise empties wastebaskets at the Indiana University 29,000-watter. He knows how popular Big Talk is in South Central Indiana — the most recent listenership numbers for my show hitting the high two-figures. Heck, If my mother and several neighbors hadn’t passed away a few years ago, I’d be sure to have hit the magic 100 figure by now. That Murphy definitely wanted to cut into my listenership!
So help me thwart that archvillain Murphy — make sure you tune in every Thursday at 5:30pm for the new half-hour format. And, honest to gosh, we’ll be posting links to shows just as soon as we rouse our tech geeks out of their coma-like repose, which should be by this weekend (fingers crossed.)
▼
She’s A Big Talker
My hat.
Thursday afternoon’s Big Talk featured me going toe-to-toe with Amanda Barge, this town’s newest Democratic darling. She’s the first-term Monroe County Commissioner and if she’s not sitting pretty in the United States House of Representatives by this date in the year 2025, I’ll eat my hat (as long as it’s made of graham cracker pie crust and filled with a rich lemony cheesecake).
▼
I Got Nothin’
If you’re expecting me to react to President Gag’s latest floater, you’d better not hold your breath.
This president-by-a-technicality has defined himself — and his fawners — time and again. They love him, and he loves himself. He’s not going to change, nor are they. We’re in a waiting game right now, waiting for the 2018 and 2020 elections. Those of us who detest him don’t need any more evidence of his rashness, his incuriosity, his slavish devotion to his race, his paranoia, and his outright meanness. His supporters don’t need to hear anymore from him to reinforce their feeling that he’s strong, forthright, and determined to bring back an America that never really was.
His next jaw-dropper will either be dropping the F-bomb when discussing one country or another or waggling his dick on live TV and claiming it’s the biggest one in the world. I’ll try not to react to those possibilities (probabilities?) because if he does either (or both) it can’t be surprising. Let’s stop gasping and let’s start working.
▲