There’s nothing quite like watching someone’s passion and dream being fulfilled. Last month I got to see it in front of my eyes. ears.
During my time at Unplugd, I got to meet and know Stephen Hurley. Stephen is an arts consultant in Ontario and all around interesting, good guy. Stephen and I were in the same grouping as we did our collaborative writing. Stephen began by sharing this story.
The part of the story about his love of radio wasn’t even the core of his writing or story but it wasn’t hard to tell that Stephen had a passion for airwaves. Everything about it fueled his passion. What struck me was his determination despite the roadblocks and discouragments. Stephen’s story was heard a few times by others including Bryan Jackson and Giulia Forsythe, The two of them have become quite involved in the DS 106 Radio community, which in a nutshell is a off shoot of a course taught by Jim Groom in Virginia, and a collaborative idea with Grant Potter in Vancouver who started an internet radio station that basically is open to anyone to broadcast. (Read that sentence again and you realize what a world we live in). Guilia and Bryan introduced Stephen to DS106. These people, along with the rest of the community, would open a big fat door for Stephen.
The event ends on Sunday, and on Monday I find myself in Michigan City, Indiana on route to Minneapolis to spend time with family. While killing time at a outlet mall as my wife shows it who’s boss, I fire up twitter and see that Stephen is about to take the wheel and host his very first radio show live. Although my wireless connection was wonky, I was able to listen in a bit and hear Stephen. You would swear you were listening to a radio veteran of 30 years. This guy was made to speak into a microphone. As I sat on that bench in the image, I had this goofy grin on my face and kept whispering “awesome” as shoppers passed by.
Talking to Stephen about it now you can sense the new found joy he has for what he’s doing and how blessed he feels to have been given this gift, which in a round about way is the best story or example for the essay I wrote. For me, watching this unfold was joy as well.
If you want to listen to Stephen, you can follow him on twitter and wait for some late evening when he finds another bottle of Glenfiddich and takes to the air. it’s gold.