attention! by David Rucker Okay. Having put away the serendipity episode I shared last month, it’s time to get back down to cases about the broadcast biz. Have you noticed how hard broadcasters work to get your attention? And wow! The television medium works really hard! Stuff like obliterating Katie Couric’s face before she goes on the air. All she has are eyes, teeth, and a chin. They don’t do that to Andy Rooney’s face. Hmm. Some years ago — decades, actually -- I was asked to participate in a panel discussion of broadcast journalists on local public television. When I arrived for taping at the appointed time, I was immediately hustled off to a little room with too much light, and you know what they did? Yep. They obliterated my face! I was afraid to speak or smile, because it felt like something might fall off! When the discussion show aired, I looked like someone who had spent an entire day in a tanning bed. Have you ever seen a religious broadcast on television? They work hard to get your attention, too, but despite their best efforts it’s rather boring -- especially when they cut to the congregation during the sermon. The preacher is usually moving around so much, the camera people must be motion sick by the time it’s over. (Pat Robertson’s latest prophecy is enough to make me sick without the motion.) Long story short — this points to how Robin has learned to use imagination in radio broadcasts. With the Mayflower Church radio broadcast, you hear music, Robin’s enthusiastic preaching (enthusiastic in the original sense of the word), various other features, and of course, Mr. Announcer telling you what you’re about to hear or just heard, and related information. Oh, yeah, you hear the congregation’s reaction, too. That’s us. When the radio show prompts someone to come around to see what we look like, they get more than they imagined. There’s no makeup (not much at least). They get to shake someone’s hand if they want, get into conversations, feel Richard Jobe’s pipe organ work rattling their bones. And with all their senses in play, even more of that wonderful mystery we call imagination stirs enthusiasm (in the original sense of the word). And they learn we need them as much as they need us. As Mr. Announcer says, “You’re welcome to worship with us regardless of your religious or cultural background.” That requires some hard work, too, and we seem to be pretty good at it. |
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