Radio Free BookCrossing
Promoting the convention on Charleston radio
by ResQgeekJune 5, 2007
Arriving in Charleston the day before the official start of the convention, I immediately proceeded to the broadcast studios for
The Bridge (105.5 FM), where a group of BookCrossers had been invited for an on-air interview to promote BookCrossing and the Convention. I was driving down with Skyring and we were running a bit late (no
doubt because we took the scenic route and were releasing books along the way), but when we pulled up to the station we were met by a group of BookCrossers patiently waited for our arrival. We headed inside and were greeted by our host and the station staff
and then were directed upstairs to the broadcast booth.
There were six BookCrossers present: bookczuk, Antof9, Skyring, Molyneux, Netstation and myself. The studio was a bit snug with all of us in there, and with only two extra microphones, we had to play a bit of musical chairs to get on the air. I was still suffering from a nagging cough, so I chose to avoid the microphone so as to not cough in Charleston's collective ears. Everyone else got a chance to chat though, so The Bridge listeners heard accents from the US, England and Australia.
As we entered the studio, Netstation
did a double take, staring at our host, Mike Allen. It turns out that this guy looks amazingly like Jim Hawkins (aka
JimOnTheRadio) from
BBC Radio Shropshire. Our Jim Hawkins look-alike seemed quite interested in the convention, and we found ourselves in his studio for a full hour, chatting both on and off the air. I think we did a good job promoting BookCrossing in general and the convention
in particular, and hopefully it helped encourage the people of Charleston to pick up and journal some of the books we were to scatter around the city.
On the way out of the station, I left a book in the station's reception area. I'm not sure how I came to be the only one in that group of BookCrossers to leave a book behind, but I'm glad I did. Later that evening, when I went to make the release notes for the day, I discovered that the book had been journaled by our on-air host, who had also joined BookCrossing under the screenname rockdoc98. Not bad for an afternoon's work, I'd say.
Pictured: rockdoc98, Netstation and Molyneux at the radio studio. (Rockdoc98 is holding a "BBC Radio Shropshire" bear.)
There were six BookCrossers present: bookczuk, Antof9, Skyring, Molyneux, Netstation and myself. The studio was a bit snug with all of us in there, and with only two extra microphones, we had to play a bit of musical chairs to get on the air. I was still suffering from a nagging cough, so I chose to avoid the microphone so as to not cough in Charleston's collective ears. Everyone else got a chance to chat though, so The Bridge listeners heard accents from the US, England and Australia.
As we entered the studio, Netstation
did a double take, staring at our host, Mike Allen. It turns out that this guy looks amazingly like Jim Hawkins (aka
JimOnTheRadio) from
BBC Radio Shropshire. Our Jim Hawkins look-alike seemed quite interested in the convention, and we found ourselves in his studio for a full hour, chatting both on and off the air. I think we did a good job promoting BookCrossing in general and the convention
in particular, and hopefully it helped encourage the people of Charleston to pick up and journal some of the books we were to scatter around the city.On the way out of the station, I left a book in the station's reception area. I'm not sure how I came to be the only one in that group of BookCrossers to leave a book behind, but I'm glad I did. Later that evening, when I went to make the release notes for the day, I discovered that the book had been journaled by our on-air host, who had also joined BookCrossing under the screenname rockdoc98. Not bad for an afternoon's work, I'd say.
Pictured: rockdoc98, Netstation and Molyneux at the radio studio. (Rockdoc98 is holding a "BBC Radio Shropshire" bear.)
