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SubscribeIt was a silent auction pretty much like any other at your standard fundraising gala. Table after table of dinners, tickets to shows, massage packages and jewelry. Lots of jewelry.
Tucked into a corner sat a simple frame. It was the logo that caught my eye. Those headphones. The over the ear “can” style with which I used to adorn my head on so many a morning sitting behind the mic at Metro Traffic Control in San Francisco. The logo was for the Voice Actors Studio in Henderson. The silent auction item was for an Introduction to Voiceover Workshop and a series of workshop sessions. There were some bids on it already, but something told me that this one had to go home with me. So I rolled the dice. Well, more like I scrolled through the bidding app on my phone, clicked the link, set a bid and then went about my business.
A couple of hours later, the telltale ping on my phone telling me that I’d won.
I gathered the gift certificates, went home and tossed the materials onto my desk … where they promptly got buried under more pressing documents. Several months later when I finally set about cleaning off my desk I came across the envelope and decided that it was time to check it out.
Now some disclosure – my very first job was in radio, ripping wire copy at an all news radio station in Philadelphia. Though I wasn’t on the air there, I spent hours in the studio on my off time, playing with the reel-to-reel editing equipment, hanging out in the engineering department learning the finer points of creating and polishing audio. For years I had thought that my career path would take me into news, radio reporting and perhaps even hosting my own show one day.
Time passed, things changed and my old equipment gathered dust. I pursued other things.
My love of radio, however, has never waned. Theater of the imagination – reveling in storytellers like Ira Glass, master interviewers like Terry Gross.
The minute I stepped into The Voice Actors Studio and met its effervescent and engaging owner, Melissa Moats, I knew I was home.
I don’t know how this return will manifest – though those that know me probably have a pretty good idea of the direction in which this might go.
As I proceed through the classes I’ll share some of the journey … so stay tuned….
My recordings from the first night of my ongoing Voiceover Workshop series