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I wonder what went through the young mothers
mind as she stood there looking at her nine year old sons face. He
was rejected, downcast, disappointed and on the verge of tears.
You see, her son was a huge fan of a local
television personality who had a show on at noon every weekday. He
would walk home from school to have lunch and watch the program,
then walk back to school for the rest of the day. He could have had
lunch at school and then played with his friends in the recess that
followed lunch, but watching that show meant the world to him. He
never forgot the day his birthday was acknowledged during the
program as his mom had sent the info into the show.
One day, this local television personality
announced an appearance at a grocery store opening in the little
boys’ neighborhood. He begged his mother to “please, please, please
take me there to meet Roundhouse Rodney-PLEASE”! The appearance was
to be Saturday between 10am and noon.
The boy counted the days, hours and minutes
and finally, the day came!
Unfortunately, there were chores to be done as
there were every Saturday. When they were done, they would go.
At last, chores done, they loaded up the car
and headed to the Red Owl grocery store to see Roundhouse Rodney!
Arriving at the stroke of noon, the little boy jumped out of the car
and ran across the parking lot to see his hero! “Roundhouse Rodney,
Roundhouse Rodney, my name is Johnny”, the little boy shouted as he
approached his icon.
Roundhouse Rodney said “Hey kid, my time here
is up-I’m leaving. It’s noon. You should have been here earlier.” He
walked away, leaving little Johnny standing there, dumbfounded and
confused as his hero lit up a cigarette, got in his car and drove
away.
This taught me a valuable lesson that sticks
with me to this day. ALWAYS acknowledge the children when they come
to see you. ALWAYS stay at your appearance if there are families
there to see you and your radio station. It doesn’t matter if it is
noon and time for you to leave or not.
ALWAYS drop down on one knee and be eyeball to
eyeball, face to face with the children. Talk with them and treat
them with all the respect in the world. They deserve and want your
attention, and their mothers appreciate it too. They will never
forget the day they met you and how you treated them.
Johnny and his wife are the
afternoon team at the national network, Family Life Radio. Johnny is
also owner of StoneStudiosLLC which produces the weekly syndicated
shows "Looking Up Country" for country stations and "Looking Up To
Number One" for CCM and AC/Hot AC stations.
Contact Johnny at
[email protected]
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