Radio Blooper

This has been a very busy week for me. I sing in a barbershop chorus here in Augusta. We have a big show coming up this Saturday, and I have been doing a lot of the publicity for it.

If you opened the link I sent out Friday morning, you already know the story of the woman whose private telephone number was inadvertently printed on about 3,000 flyers for our upcoming show as the box office number for the theater where we are to perform. If not, here it is again: http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/09/25/met_549499.shtml That’s me on the left, the old guy with the gray hair, but at least I have some hair, unlike the other guys in the photo.

In addition to that publicity, I was called on to be the spokesman for the chorus on a local radio show. We had another quartet singing on that show, and the host asked me to introduce them prior to their performance of the songs. I started off okay, but when I got to the second fellow, Vern Lunsford, I drew a mental block and pronounced his name, Vern Lundquist.

That caused a lot of laughter in the studio, and also made my situation worse. I knew I had given the name wrong, (Verne Lundquist is a television sportscaster who broadcasts SEC college football games) but I couldn’t then think of our Vern’s last name. It was one of those moments of embarrassment that sometimes happen.

After Vern introduced himself, I was able to continue, and the next name (thank God) was George Brown. I needed an easy name at that point, and I got through the rest of the introduction without incident.

Someone taped the interview and the two songs for Southern Blend, the quartet that sang them, so I was able to listen to the whole thing later in the day. It all came out pretty darned good.

One thing that happened, probably because of nerves, was that I got a tickle in my throat just prior to going on air, so my voice came out sounding a little raspy. I was, in fact, one of those “gravel-voice” announcers I wrote about in last week’s column. That’ll teach me not to be critical of others.