November 27, 2019
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
As some of you may know, this is my last broadcast. I’m retiring. Yes, this is it, my final newscast for KECO, Kool94, Paragon Communications. KECO’s Jared Atha is taking my place. He’ll do well. Be nice to him.
My wife and I and my Mom and Dad, all who have lived in the community of Sayre these past several years are moving soon, so it really is goodbye to many, many good people. I’m moving away in a couple weeks.
It’s hard. So many friends.
My wife, Shirley, asked me if I was going to say anything, if I was going to mention my leaving, my retirement. I said, no, news people don’t do that stuff. It’s not professional. But, this is western Oklahoma, not Chicago or Dallas. We’re all family here. We’re all neighbors. We help each other and know each others problems and we care for each other. We’re Western Oklahomans and Texans, too. People of the red dirt, where a hand shake is a powerful bond and meaningful statement.
So, yes, I’m saying goodbye – on the air – to you. Thank you for the opportunity to share my day through the stories I’ve come up with – for you to learn about our fellow Western Oklahomans and the struggles they are going through, the struggles that we, as Western Oklahomans, are going through. In so many of the stories I can say, there, but for the grace of God, go I.
Broadcasting, has been a on-again, off-again profession for me. I started out in it in journalism school in Lawrence, Kansas in the late 70’s. With my major, I wanted to be a TV anchorman. Never did that, but found my love in radio. Radio/broadcasting is magical. It always has been for me – still is. We flip the switch and we’re broadcasting, talking to listeners. Flip again and we’re separated. You know, it’s personal. It’s up-close. Radio is intimate. We bond. You know us. You trust us. We become warm friends, like a sweet pair of old shoes. Our voices are comforting, sometimes funny, but always (we hope) trusting. We are just one of the guys – and gals. We’re no one special – we, in local radio. We’re just like you and we live here and go to church here, too. We shop here and doctor here – for the most part.
It’s still a little odd to hear someone say, “Oh, you’re Paul Joseph!” And that connection makes them feel special. I’ve felt that too, for I’ve been a listener, too, and developed bonds with people through the air waves and when they leave, I hurt. I want them to come back. They’re comfortable. They’re familiar.
For us in radio, we talk in a box without windows, a small room with only a microphone in front of us and no one is “there.” We only “think” there’s someone listening and try to picture you in our minds as you drive or sit at home or in your office. And when we hear – later – that you have been listening, it’s special. Sometimes you even like what we say. Dynamite!
I left radio, once, back in 1980 and stayed out of it until I came here. Leaving radio was good for me, in one aspect. I learned that I’m no one special. It was a humbling experience, leaving radio. Since I started here at KECO/Kool94 in May of 2012, through the grace of owner Blake Brewer, I have easily and often remembered that radio gives me no special honor. I’m no one special. I just have a microphone in front of me and you don’t. Any trust you give me, is earned – I believe. I’m thrilled when someone says they know me, appreciative when they say they like how I do my job and am humbled when they say they’ll miss hearing my voice. Thank you.
This has been a great place to work. Wonderful people, wonderful bosses and wonderful co-workers. You should be so lucky, so blessed. I thank them for giving a guy, this guy, a chance back in a career I thought I’d left for good. It’s been a good run. I’m very blessed.
The ultimate compliment I’ve received since I started letting a few people know over the last few weeks that I’m retiring, came from a police chief, Eddie Holland, Chief of the Elk City Police Department, a man I’ve come to know and respect and call a friend. Chief Holland, Eddie, said, “I hate to see you go. I trust you, Paul.”
For someone in the news media, especially in this day and time, that’s powerful. That’s a compliment, one that I think is earned.
Please love one another. Be kind to a stranger, today. Peace, I leave you. My peace I give you. Thanks for listening.
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