Media
Room

It was near the end of the day in late January, and I checked my email one last time. I was surprised to find a note from a talk show host on WVOX, offering to interview me on the Caroline Kennedy / David Paterson fiasco. And, as if I were inaccessible, it concluded with a sentence to expect a follow-up phone call the next day.

Well, no one has ever accused me of a weak ego, and I jumped at the chance to promote myself, and my firm, on the radio. The talk show host did call the next day, and after giving me a few days for research, she took me through a dry run.

The test went fine, but my antennae went up when she said at the end, "By the way, I'm going to play devil's advocate."

At this point, I started to wonder what I had gotten myself into. Talking to my Dad was little reassurance when he said, "Don't worry, you were on the debate team at Exeter." Yeah, I thought, "That was only a few decades ago."

So, I redoubled my efforts, practicing my general points on index cards again and again until I eliminated the "you knows" and other verbal crutches. Finally, I felt ready with only a few trepidations.

The day of the interview -- it was about 12:30 PM I think -- the technician called me to set up the phone line. Then the host came on and asked whether I was ready. The response was "yes," and away we went on live radio.

It didn't take me long to realize the questions were completely different from the dry run, and they did become more and more adversarial. All I could think about was Sarah Palin and Katie Couric when Ms. Palin was stumped by one of the questions, and there was a long uncomfortable pause. Please, I thought to myself, "no Sarah Palin pauses."

Things seemed to go okay though it felt like walking on a tightrope. As the interview continued, my growing concern was "when is this going to end?" Finally, it was over, and two close friends said I held my own. Later, I learned my interviewer was a former Federal prosecutor!

Despite this apparent success, my business image still seems rather like the old man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz (and not because of my age!) My web site is great, and my SEO rankings are impeccable, but my company is a small fledgling firm, and it's been just slightly over five years since it was incorporated.

Needless to say, I will consider future offers of interviews with far more circumspection than I did for this one.