I thought my heart was going to jump right out of my chest.  I had just finished training with the National Academy of Broadcasting, earned my diploma and my necessary license to be a radio announcer.  I was feeling good about that but this was the day I had to make a good impression. 

            I knew I would have to read copy and show the man I could really be a radio announcer.  What if I became tongue-tied?  What if I simply froze and couldn’t do anything at all?  These are only two of the questions that raced through my head causing me to become more nervous about the upcoming interview.

            The man I met was a soft spoken and friendly person.  He seemed to want me to succeed which was a great boast in morale.  He gave me some copy, an old commercial that had been written and asked me to read it.

            I really felt that I did not do well but I was extremely relieved when he announced that I would do fine and I could start in two weeks.

            The worse was not over, though.  The night I showed up for work at the radio station I was even more nervous than I had been two weeks earlier.  There would be hundreds, maybe even thousands of people listening to my first broadcast as an announcer.  If I mispronounced a word I would surely sound like a first class fool.

            Those memories have been pressed against a thousand other memories through the years.  Why is it that they are the ones I think of today.  Those fears were unfounded because the first time I did make a mistake on the air I simply said something like, “gee, I got my nose fixed, now my mouth won’t work and people started calling in and telling me how much they enjoyed my show.  I did nothing but play records, read news and commercial copy.  Why were they so kind? 

            I have decided over the years that many times our own worst enemy is ourselves.  Others, as a whole are very forgiving and if they like you they like you. 

            I have been out of radio for years now but sometimes I still have someone who remembers me and they still think of me as a celebrity.  They remember the disc jockey they enjoyed when they were in high school.  Looking back, I wonder why I was so nervous that day when I went for that interview.  I had many wonderful hours in a profession that I truly enjoyed.  Well, all things come to an end but I still have my memories.  Evidently so do others.