Yesterday, March 6, was the fifth anniversary of the Northern Alliance Radio Network.

 Like most things in life, it doesn’t seem nearly that long.

It also makes it, by about three years, the longest-lasting radio gig I’ve ever had. Although since it’s the lowest-paying, I guess it makes sense.

Psychologists say that everyone has some small set of activities that trigger their endorphins, that set their brain on “puree” and tickle that pleasure center.  The show is one of mine, I guess; for two hours a week, the cares and headaches of the week fall away.  Don Vogel was right, twenty-odd years ago, when he said “Mitch, talk radio is an addiction”.  He was right – and not always in a good way.  If you’ve read my “Twenty Years Ago” series, you may have figured out that I went through a prolonged withdrawal from talk radio in my mid-twenties. It took me a few years to fill that hole in my life.

But it’s a little different these days.  I have a different life.  Talk radio is an addiction, but a low-impact one, one that does something very few radio jobs do; it gives me much more than it takes away.

Anyway – thanks to Patrick Campion, who bought the original pitch, and to John Hunt, our GM, who continues to put up with us.  And to Nick Novak, our former PD and great supporter.  To Kate Fisher, our Promotions xena, and all the sales guys who keep finding sponsors for us. 

Thanks even more to our producers – Tommy Huynh and Jon Osburn today, but also the many in the past five years who made us sound less-amateur; Sam Holmgren, Anna Telkhova, Irina Malanina, and our first, the late, great Joe Hansen.

And most of all, thanks to Brian, John, King and Ed, and to NARNsters-emeritus Atomizer, JB, Scott, Michael and Chad.  Let’s hope the next five years are as good as the past five.

Only with more money.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 12:28 pm and is filed under NARN. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.