Well it is time to look at yourself through the inner mirror.

What has happened to your trust? Have you lost trust in your fellow man?

It would seem to me that more than ever we have gone from trusting people to figuring that everyone is out to soak us.

Well what does that mentality do to our creative industry, education, government…

We need a re-boot!

Here is the conversation from Nightline.

We know this, we talk about youth all the time BUT are we doing anything about it? No.

Well I am doing my part, sure I am patting myself on the back but hey what are you doing?

I make it possible for students at Wellington International School in Dubai to come on Nightline and co-host the program, actually they do the show.

It is amazing what students come up with when you give them trust.

So why are more people not giving youth a bit of a chance?

I can’t think of a good reason.

And how many of us have taken a bit of time to plan our career?

And do we plan and work on our relationships?

I suspect most would answer yes and to what degree for each question.

What about your life fitness?

Do you have a plan for life long fitness?

Probably not!

Why not?

Marcus Smith of Innerfight.com joined me on my talk show on DubaiEye and spoke about this!

We need to take our health seriously and we just don’t.

We need to think about a serious mentality re-boot!

Now.

Here is my conversation with Marcus.

And to be honest students, high school students, are very media savvy today.

But what about students not pretending to do radio but actually doing it for real?

How often to we hear students on our local commercial or national radio networks DOING RADIO?

Never really!

And that never is exactly why every other week the students from Wellington International School in Dubai come on my show, Nightline, and take over the broadcast.

Risky? WC Fields said never work with pets and children.

Challenge? You bet!

Worth it? 200%

These students are doing a live broadcast every other week for an hour and doing well!

Imagine this program in 2 months time!

Why don’t more stations and presenters do what I am doing?

No clue!

Honest, sincere and real.

I loved his answer to the question about writers block.

Rash said that he felt like every song was his last and then the next one just seemed to arrive in his mind.

I love the sound of his music and he said that it is set to morph into a bit more deeper textures.

This is an interview that I would recommend to anyone who is looking at what they love to do and thinking of packing it in.

Sometimes all you need for a bit of inspiration is someone to take notice.

Listen to Rash Radio music at Triplew.me.

Here is the interview.

I can be  a real pain in the neck as an educator with a voice that can reach many people through the mass media.

Recently I asked myself why there isn’t any student radio on the UAE airwaves.

Sure you can find hybrid student radio online but what about students from a high school doing talk radio? Nothing.

Until now.

Twice a month the students of Wellington International School in Dubai take over my Nightline show for an hour.

The students not only create the content, this is talk radio, but they also run the board making sure that the technical side is perfect.

The result is arguably the best student radio you can hear in the middle east!

If you give our youth a voice it is incredible what you will hear.

No!

The old media is not preparing for the new media environment and new media enthusiasts are failing to actually figure our how to connect with an audience in a meaningful and sustained way!

But it is not all doom and gloom.

In fact there are some very interesting projects taking place with audio broadcasting!

My question is very simple, why are we not doing this int he UAE?

Maybe our schools, high schools, maybe our broadcasters, ARN and GN, need to be thinking a little more laterally.

Check out the idea of Localore.

Localore, a new initiative produced by AIR, builds on the groundwork laid by MQ2 to drive the continuing transformation of public media. Our 10 Lead Producers, in collaboration with their local station radio and television incubators, will focus their ingenuity on blending digital and traditional broadcast tools and platforms to expand the reach of public media in local communities and establish new capacity for R&D at stations. Collectively,  our producers and their teams will help lead us to a new vision of 21st century public media.

So what is it all about?

Experiment and invent new ways to find and tell stories

Discover fresh models blending old and new media

Forge new pathways between stations and their local communities.

I love the idea of MQ2.

MQ2 Takes Public Media to the Street from AIR on Vimeo.

Maybe we need to be thinking in terms of old/new media relationships from the perspective of an incubator?

I am up for it!

TED in Long Beach was great but it was TEDActive in Palm Springs that blew my mind.

One of my passions has been to talk to as many TEDsters on the radio, I host a talk show on DubaiEye 103.8FM, to share their ideas and passion for ideas.

Well here are those conversations with their links.

I like to call these conversations my own private TED event.

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-06-13T22_13_47-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-06-13T22_06_41-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-31T00_24_00-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-31T00_21_37-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-23T21_26_40-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-22T22_09_44-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-17T02_09_36-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-08T22_05_51-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-02T03_09_50-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-04-26T00_12_27-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-04-26T00_05_29-07_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-02-08T23_39_08-08_00

http://nightline.podomatic.com/entry/2011-01-31T01_36_52-08_00

Sometimes, as a professor of communication and media sciences, I am uneasy talking about career options becasue who knows where you might end up with a communication degree.

Sure many, maybe even the majority of grads ,will travel along the traditional prescribed career path but more and more today students are going madly off in different and new directions.

What I have learned over the last 6 years of doing radio interviews on DubaiEye is that more often than not our career paths are anything but obvious.

Take Daniella Williams as a case in point.

Today Daniella is a very good and very successful accountant to small business.

Daniella has been called the thinking accountant and this has happened because she is far more than a book minder.

But Daniella did not get to this point following the typical carrer trajectory.

Daniella studied piano, violin and drama initially and went on to become a music teacher.

Then after 3 or so years of teaching Daniella realized that teaching was not her love and instead of sticking it out, becasue teaching is a vocation you know, she went back to school and got an accounting degree.

Today Daniella has married education and accounting as she works  with SMEs to help them learn to be successful.

Who would have thought?

And it is because of stories like this that I often find it hard to point a student down a specific career path.

I was totally inspired by Daniella and recommend listening to this interview with anyone who really wants to take their career in a different direction but is not sure if they should.

Totally 100% inspiring.

But as of late I have been looking at myself and I realize that I have the life!

I am a successful University professor here in Dubai in the Middle East, my students seem to think what I teach is of value and that is success to me.

My family are healthy and getting the best education money can buy in the UAE.

And I have developed a very interesting radio show on DubaiEye.

Life is good, really good.

It is the radio show that has really grabbed hold of my attention over the last year.

The power of radio to stop us in our tracks is amazing and I think it is largely underestimated for one reason, we are distracted by new media.

But we still get into the car and turn on the radio!

I grew up listening to CBC so it is no wonder that it is CBC I turn to for my radio education.

And who do I like to model myself after?

Jian Ghomeshi of Q fame.

Sure I don’t have the resources of the CBC at my disposal but I try, for 2 hours 4 nights a week, to create the show that Jian Ghomeshi would want to listen to.

No I have never been to the CBC studios in Toronto and no I have never met Jian Ghomeshi and that is the allure of radio, you feel like you know a person because they are talking into your ears and he is my virtual broadcasting coach.

And no I have no plans to stalk him.

So how does my radio education work?

I listen to the Q podcasts on CBC and when I get the chance I tune into the videos on YouTube.

And then I take the tips on presentation and form and try to work it into my own broadcasts.

Here is a sample of Jian at work with a wonderful interview.

[youtube width="325" height="244"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT-SuOG9qfI[/youtube]

And this is the singing that was talked about in the interview.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMG0g7itbnk[/youtube]

When I watch what they do in the Q studio I am in awe, really.

I am no Jian Ghomeshi but I like to think a little bit of what he does has rubbed off on what I do here in Dubai on Nightline.

The take home is simple.

If you want to do great radio you have to listen to great radio and do what ever you can to rise to the challenge.