Steven Scott proudly proclaims to J.J. that he is indeed a "serial podcaster" during this interview. And it is hard to disagree with that statement when you consider the circumstances that led him to the place he finds himself with his career so far. Hear, or read the transcript below, as Steven regales J.J. with highlights from his more than 20 years of speaking into a microphone. Plus learn what is next for the RNIB, Double Tap and all-around Blind guy who talks tech. To keep up with Steven, and to get more information on his new podcast, follow him on Twitter @TechTalkerSteve
Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld.
For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit <www.afb.org/aw>.
Transcript
We strive to provide an accurate transcription, though errors may occur.
Hide transcriptTranscribed by Grecia Ramirez
Direct from Orlando, Florida; St. Louis; Las Vegas; Dallas; Sparks, Nevada – everywhere – it’s Blindbargains.com virtual Exhibit Hall coverage brought to you by AFB AccessWorld.
For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology; Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings; access technology; book reviews; and mobile apps and how they can enhance entertainment, education, and employment, log onto AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free monthly online technology magazine. www.AFB.org/AW.
Now, here’s J.J. Meddaugh.
J.J. Meddaugh: Blind Bargains virtual Exhibit Hall coverage continues. You know, I’ve never actually seen this next guest at the Exhibit Hall at CSUN, at least not yet. I have talked to him quite a bit about CSUN on his numerous podcasts and other media ventures, or adventures, however you want to say it. It’s Steven Scott, host of – can I want to call you, just, like, a serial podcaster, but you’re way more than that.
STEVEN Scott: That’s a great way to put it.
JM: Tech evangelist – there’s all sorts of stuff in the access technology space. And it’s a pleasure to finally have you on the podcast. Welcome.
SS: J.J., it’s an absolute pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for asking me on.
JM: And I paid him 20 dollars to say that.
SS: You don’t have to pay me. Trust me. No. I’m really pleased to be here. It’s an honor.
JM: So we’ve talked quite a few times but never had you on this show, and that’s our oversight for not doing that. But tell us a little bit of – what are you currently up to, a bit about yourself for people who might not be familiar with you, the three or four that are left. Tell us a little bit about you.
SS: How long do you have? How long does this thing go –
JM: Well, I mean, it’s a podcast --
SS: -- hours?
JM: -- so we can just keep going; right?
SS: Oh, I love it. This is what – isn’t podcasting great?
JM: Yeah. I love it for that stuff.
SS: There’s no time on it, you know. The thing for me is I’m a radio guy; right? So I – this is weird to me. This idea of sitting and just talking and talking and talking – if you said to me, you know, you can come in and you can talk as much as you like about yourself for as long as you want, to me, that’s just heaven. You know, it’s quite late here as we do this. And my wife said to me, she says, are you sure you want to do this this late? And I’m thinking, I’m going to talk about me. This is great.
I remember a great joke a friend of mine said. And I love this line. She said, look. I’m going to stop talking about me. She said, everybody is just sick of it. I’m going to stop talking about me. She said, I want to talk about you. What do you think about me? And I loved that line. That always stuck in my head.
No. So, I mean, for me, started out life as a radio host of a talk show. It wasn’t a talk show when I took it on. It was a music show, and I got bored and sick of the music and I wanted to talk. So I just basically ejected all the music out of the cards and said, let’s just talk. And I talked about all kinds of stupid stuff. We got into some really serious topics. and it gave me the starting point, I think, for just honest conversation. And that’s what I love.
I’ve never been a radio DJ in that sense of going on and spinning the hits and playing the big songs of today and, you know, whatever. You know, that’s not me. It never was me, I wasn’t the format guy. But I just loved talking. And it’s funny because my program manager came in on one show, and he said, look. I’m really sorry, Steven. I have to take you off air because you just talk too much. And, you know, it’s funny what you say. I mean, we do get a laugh, but you got to play the ads on time.
JM: Oh.
SS: You got to get to the news on time. And I’m like, yeah, but really? And they’re like, yeah. That’s what pays for everything. So I was like, okay. So they said, look. Do you want to get into something else? We’re doing this news talk thing. Do you want to do that? And I’m like, yes. Let me in. Let me try something new. And I get into news, and I get into talk radio through that as well. And then I ended up hosting a morning show for nine and a half years, doing early morning breakfast show in the UK all about the latest news and what was going on, breaking news stories, big news stories as they happened.
JM: Do we have airchecks?
SS: Covering elections, everything. Yeah. Everything. And it was great, you know; it was great fun. But I really – I guess something happened, and I don’t know what it was. I’d always had an interest in technology, and I thought, you know, I wonder if anyone would be interested in a show on the radio about technology and, especially, you know, with me being visually impaired, you know, maybe fuse the two and try and do something around that area.
You know, podcasts were fairly new at the time; they were kind of up and coming. There was a few on the go, but not many and certainly not in this space. And I thought, yeah. Let’s try this. Let’s do something.
And I went to my program manager, and I said, can I do a show about tech, and he, you know -- after he stopped laughing, he said, look, okay. Tell you what. Tuesday night, 7 p.m., you’ve got an hour. There you go. Just have that. Just don’t offend anybody. Don’t cost me any money. Just go do it.
JM: So he gives you the slot to pretty much – just to make you shut up and –
SS: Yeah.
JM: -- and give you a show.
SS: Exactly. Just to shut me up and say –
JM: Yeah.
SS: -- get out of the office. Leave me alone. And I said, great. So I had an hour. And that’s where Tech Talk was born for the RNIB.
And, you know, it was one of those shows that just kind of happened and – I can’t believe next year, that show celebrates ten years. You know, the – it’s been on air for that length of time. And it’s gone through some amazing journeys. I’ve met some amazing people out of it, I’ve gone to some great places as a result of it. And it’s been just amazing fun and working with the RNIB in the UK to make it happen, you know, having some great people who just give us the time.
You know, I met the great Shaun Preece who works with me now on Double Tap, and I could not believe this guy was not on air somewhere when I heard him because I thought, this guy is just an absolute star in the making. And I just wanted him on the air with me. And when we first – we just clicked on day one.
We actually talked about – both of us, kind of at the same time, were having that issue of just – just -- you know that point – and sometimes you get just a little bit enough vision but not enough vision, and then you start thinking, maybe I should use a white cane. And then, what will people think if I start using a white cane? And maybe if I don’t need the white cane all the time and –
I always remember we clicked over the comment about bringing your – our white cane out in the street that we lived. That we’d literally walk for miles, go through cities, and go through other countries with our white canes. But as soon as we got to the street where we lived, we would pack the cane away because we didn’t want our neighbors seeing it. And it’s just so ridiculous, but we both just clicked on that point, and that was it for me. And I just knew this guy – I’m going to be working with for a long time, and he’s become a great friend. He now works with me. He is a brilliant talent.
And then, you know, Tim Schwartz, I worked with. A gem of a guy who makes a great podcast, Life After Blindness. You know, I love him. He’s just great. He’s got great passion for his subject. We’ve all gone through this journey of sight loss, or, you know, experience of it.
Robin Christopherson, I worked with from the UK. You know, he’s just another great guy who just – and all the people before him. There’s been tons of people who have been on the show who’ve just made it great. And it’s funny. It’s not a job in any sense. It’s just – it’s passion. It’s all passion, it’s all love. It just feels like –
In some ways, I often say that our shows are like an hour of our conversations that we have, because we’re all great friends. We’re always talking on WhatsApp, we’re always together. Sometimes, I think the guys would quite happily block my number and never speak to me again because they’re so sick of me talking at them. But just working with those guys – and then more recently, Andy, who came into the fray to do stuff. And Andy’s fully sighted, but he just – he loves getting involved in it all. He loves getting – you know, involved in the conversations. He came into read the Emails on Tech Talk, actually.
And, you know, just having people around that just get it who are great friends. And I spend many a Thursday or a Wednesday night -- we all just get together, not for an on-air thing, just for a chat and a catch-up. And we watch all the Apple events together with pizzas and, you know, do all that nonsense. And it’s great, you know. It’s just been a wonderful thing.
And, funnily enough, the pandemic didn’t change anything for us because we – we were doing all that anyway. We’re always getting together. We never really met up. I don’t think any of us – I mean, Robin and I have met at events; Shaun and I have met on the odd occasion; Tim and I have never met because Tim’s in the states; Andy and I worked together in the same office, so we’d met. But those guys hadn’t met anybody else, you know. So it was one of those things that didn’t matter. The pandemic just actually brought us more together because we wanted to make sure we were all doing okay.
JM: You’ve obviously picked up the gig with AMI up in Canada. You mentioned Double Tap online. How did that happen? And then, when you started doing that, was there adjustments you had to make? You know, you’re a UK guy doing a show for Canadians.
SS: Yeah. That was weird. It still is, to be honest. So that started because the guys from AMI were starting their first live shows. And they had come to RNIB, the radio station I worked at for the RNIB for the UK, just to be – for those who don’t know, the RNIB -- I’m sure you would probably know that the RNIB is a massive UK blind charity.
JM: Sure.
SS: But it has a radio station, which is a part of it which came in a bit later in life. And it’s – that’s the bit where I work in, and – as well as doing the Tech Talk thing, -- and that’s what I guess I’m known for. I’m actually on air every day doing a daytime show on there as well, and they just can’t get rid of me off the radio. It’s like, you’re not getting my microphone.
So I had been doing that show, I’d been doing the breakfast show for a while, so obviously, doing different things. And AMI had come in and said, look. We’d love to talk to you about how we could create our morning show, and had a really nice chat with the guys who come over. And in the conversations, Tech Talk was mentioned, and it was like, we’d love a Tech Talk show. We’d love to do that. And the – kind of, if you like, leased the show for a year just to try it out and see what they thought.
And they came to me at the end of it and said, look. We don’t really want to lease the show anymore. We want our own show. Could you, maybe, come up with something? And I said, okay. And I came up with Double Tap. And actually, it was weird. It kind of just came to me.
I always remember, I was in a – in a flat in London, which was meant to be a hotel room but turned out to be a flat I ended up staying in by accident. It was booked in the wrong way. And I remember walking around – and the funny thing about this flat was that the – we had to pay like a 600-pound – I can’t remember, a thousand-dollar deposit -- before you could get the flat.
JM: Right.
SS: And this was all by accident. I was supposed to be in a hotel, but -- I thought I booked a hotel. It turned out to be a flat. So –
JM: Wait, you accidentally paid a security deposit?
SS: Well, no, but this is the thing. So I get to what I think is a hotel, and they’re like, yeah, 600 pounds. And I’m going, for what? And they’re like, oh, well, it’s a flat. And I’m going, I’m not buying a flat. I just want to sleep – you know, in a room for the night. And I had to pay this deposit.
So I was kind of walking around this flat so nervous because I knew if I broke anything, I’d have to pay – I’d never get that money back.
JM: Right.
SS: So I was kind of like just sitting on a chair, and – I think I even sat on the floor at one point because I thought, I don’t want to break the couch. So that’s when the call came through. And it was like, do you want to do this, and what do you want to do? And it was all just very quick. And then Double Tap was born, and we did it for a couple of years and it was just like, wow. Amazing, you know? Having the show and -- you know, two technology shows in two countries on radio stations being podcasted out to the world. It was just immense.
And then, I remember getting a call from the vice president of Programming AMI, and he said, I’m coming to Scotland, and I’m coming to see you.
JM: Oh boy.
SS: And I’m thinking, what have I done wrong? I mean, how bad is it; right? I mean, how bad are these shows? And he’s like, I want to talk to you about something.
So he flies in -- and I have to say, he wasn’t just coming to see me. He was coming to the UK for a reason, but he was sort of going down south, down to England, and he decided to come and fly into Scotland first and come and say hello on the way.
JM: Sure.
SS: And we met up for breakfast this morning -- particular morning, and he said, I want to offer you a TV show. And I said, what? And he said, this show’s doing so well. I think it needs to go on TV. And I said, uh, okay. And we talked a little bit about it, and I kind of said no. I was like, I kind – I don’t know if this is for me. I mean, I know nothing about television other than the fact that it’s, you know, generally a flat panel on the wall and pictures and sound come out of it.
JM: Sure.
SS: And he’s like, okay. Well, have a think. You know – he’s like, don’t say no yet. You know, just have a think about it.
So he went away, and I gave it some thought. Six months went by, and I was just not on board with it. I just couldn’t get around to the idea of how this would work. And the, kind of, general suggestion was, you know, I would be involved in the production element of the creation of it. And I’m thinking I know nothing about this. This would be like, you know, suddenly, I’m a brain surgeon; right? And it’s like, what do I do? I think the brain goes in the head. That, I know. But as for the rest of it, like, how it connects to the rest, I’ve got no idea.
JM: But the differences between TV and radio, while the visuals and the staging and all that -- especially trying to film remotely -- is definitely challenging, the content remains the same; right?
SS: It does, but it’s very different, I think. And I still – even to this day, I still feel it, because you have to consider the visuals in every aspect, and it’s very hard sometimes, I think, to – when you come from a radio background – in some ways, it helps. Don’t get me wrong. In some ways, it’s good because you always – your script is built for the blind audience; right? Because it’s built with audio first. And that’s exactly AMI’s approach. It’s audio first all the way. So essentially, a TV show on AMI could be broadcast on the radio. It would work the same way because –
JM: Right.
SS: -- it’s all described – AMI are very big on –
JM: -- and still could be podcasts.
SS: -- integrated description. Exactly. And, you know, they’re very big on integrated description. So rather than a separate disembodied voice describing what’s going on onscreen, they’re actually building it into the script.
So, you know, there’s a video they have on YouTube, which you got to go and check out, which is a show about pottery. And someone goes into the pottery shop, and it’s – instead of just walking in and saying, oh, hello. You’re – the person who has the pottery is like, oh, wow. What an amazing place. It’s like, you know, it’s as if you fused together the shop and the, kind of, pottery barn. You know, it’s got lovely pottery everywhere. So you know, the person’s describing the whole thing to you.
JM: Nice.
SS: And it’s just really clever. So that, I got. And I thought, yeah. I can do that. But how do I point a camera at something and know that it’s in focus, know that it’s in the right place, all these things; right? I’m just, like, terrified.
JM: Well, and even the content; right? So if you’re doing an Apple show and you’re just sitting there, you can’t just be sitting in front of a camera for a half hour with – just showing your –
SS: No.
JM: -- face the whole time; right? You want to have visuals that go along with it. If you’re talking about a feature, you want to have a screen shot or something that pops up that –
SS: Yeah.
JM: Yeah.
SS: Yeah. And that was the thing. I mean, there was a whole host of things I had to think about. You know, I’ve got a little bit of vision. Can I edit with that vision? Can I do video editing? Will that be possible? So, you know, should I dive into Final Cut?
I’d played around with final Cut for a while, a couple years – well, good few years back now. I did go into the world of video editing to try and kind of supplement my income, you know, do a bit of freelance work and, you know, make some videos for companies. And it didn’t work because I couldn’t see what I was doing. Well, I could to some degree, but I -- you know, my eyes get tired so quickly that it just wasn’t feasible. And, you know, sometimes these edits would take two, three hours or even longer.
And filming was always just hope, you know? Let’s just let autofocus do its thing. And, yeah. When this came along, I was a bit nervous about it.
And then, I got a call, and it was, again, the vice president, the same guy who, I have to say, is the most patient guy on Earth. I mean –
JM: Right. You said six months later.
SS: -- anybody who – I know. It’s like, you know, I thought, you know, this guy’s going to be sick of me.
JM: -- he would have found another host by then.
SS: Exactly.
JM: Yeah.
SS: He’s gone off and done it with someone else. And I would have not been bothered by that at all, honestly. But he came to me and said, no. Look, we want you to do this. We want to bring in a production company. We want to put, you know, some serious grunt behind this and make it work. And we’ve got this guy, Mark, he’s going to come on with you. We think it would be great pairing. He’s a host as well. He could, you know, help you along and certainly help from the Canadian angle and all those things. And I said, do you know what? Let’s try it. Yeah. That sounds more like it.
And he is just amazing. Mark is an amazing guy because Mark is one of those guys, no matter what you throw at him, he’ll just get it done. And he gets my limitations; he doesn’t ever get irritated by them, because I think he could, and I think he’d sometimes be justified to because –
JM: Sure.
SS: -- sometimes, I’m like, I just can’t do this edit today, or, you know, I just – I’m having a really bad eye day. I can’t do this. You know, headaches are bad or whatever. He never complains at all. Everything’s just, don’t be stressed. There’s always tomorrow. Nobody dies. We just do the show. And I feel very comfortable in that. And I feel that there’s a lot of – certainly, I have a huge respect for him, and I think that he is just a brilliant producer and someone who just gets on with it, and that really made the difference for me. And that meant I could start to enjoy it a bit more.
And it’s taken – not – don’t get me wrong, J.J. It’s taken a while. It’s taken me a long time for me to get used to being in front of a camera. I’m so used to this big microphone that I can wrap my head around, and I love being close to the mic.
JM: Right.
SS: This, sitting in front of, essentially nothing, with a camera in front of you is just weird to me. And it still is to some degree, but I’m getting used to it.
JM: What have you learned from transitioning from doing radio shows and podcasts to TV that perhaps surprised you, that you weren’t expecting that you would have to deal with or just something that’s totally different for TV?
SS: Nerves. I’ve done radio for so long, and it’s different; right? Nerves – so there’s a difference, and I think there’s a fine line between, being really nervous and being full of adrenaline that is, you know, essentially being fueled by the nerves. I was just nervous. And I just felt for a long time I wasn’t able to focus. And I had to learn to almost not care about the camera. That was the only way I could do it was to just forget about the camera, point my head in a general direction, and I know my – I know I’m not always looking straight at it. I know it’s there. I think I’m looking at it. I don’t think it often looks that way onscreen. But I’ve just had to kind of get over that fact, and I think – I’ve not learned to love the camera yet, by any stretch; not the way I love the mic. I love the microphone.
I love – I remember going back to my very first time on a microphone. I was thinking about this today, actually. 1995, I had started a hospital radio. You know, that – in here, in the UK, that’s a big deal; right? That would be like college radio, I guess.
JM: Okay.
SS: You go to a hospital. They have a radio station, and you go in and you play songs for the people who, you know, are in there, and they just get to listen. And it’s really just piped around – in some cases, it was literally just a tubing that was just through the whole hospital. And the people would just kind of grab one end of the tube and stick it in their ear. It was really –
JM: Wow.
SS: -- really basic stuff. But it was great. People loved – and they used to love it. You know, if you – you’d go round the ward – the deal was, it got you – like, it taught you how to, not just do radio, but how to interact with the public. And that was a really important part of it, that you were going around, you were talking to people – because a lot of guys would come in; right? And they would be like, give me a show. I’m going to be great. I’m the next big thing. And they’d be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s a note pad and pen. Go and talk to your audience. And that was really difficult for a lot of people to kind of deal with. I don’t want to talk to them. You know, I’m not going to go and talk to old people. And they’re like, but no. It’s important.
And then, when you did, you kind of got the sense of who you were talking to, the type of show you’d want to do, and it would change it. It would – it really helped. You know, it was exposure to a new thing – to new things. And I loved doing it.
And I remember the first time -- and it was a blind guy, actually, Ian Hamilton who was just a great guy who actually sat with me. Still friends with him today.
JM: Sure.
SS: In fact, he called me yesterday to say why haven’t you called me in months. And I’m like, because I don’t have time. But I’d gone and sat down at the microphone, and he said to me, you have this mixing desk in front of you. Push the fader up, and you’ll hear yourself in the headphones. So I did. And I’m like, hello. And I said, oh, I like that. Instantly. I mean, I don’t mean in the sense of I fell in love with my own voice, although some might argue I did. But it wasn’t that. It was just -- I just kind of realized, a bit like this now, we can just talk. I can just say things. And people – they can’t get out of it; right? And especially in the hospital. They definitely can’t get away from it.
JM: Sure.
SS: So it’s like –
JM: They can try to fast forward it. But you can’t --
SS: -- or find anything else, yeah. Just listen to grass grow or anything, but no. It was really, really enjoyable.
And, you know, getting the calls – and of course, there’s nothing like it. You know, when you’re on air and people call in, and they talk about the things you do or – I remember doing a quiz one night on the radio. And it was the most stupid game on Earth. It didn’t even mean anything. We didn’t give any prizes away or nothing. There was no budget for it. It was just a small local radio station. And I did this game, and it was nine questions in a row. And you had to get all nine right. And then if you called in and got all nine right on air, you would answer the tenth question, and that – you were the champion of the night. And it was called the 9 Plus 1 game. I mean, it meant nothing. It was the most ridiculous thing in the world. You wouldn’t believe the amount of calls I got on this thing.
JM: But there were no prizes?
SS: People loved – for nothing. I mean, the win -- the prize was a smile from me. That’s what I used to say. “The prize is a smile from me.” I mean, it’s like – I didn’t even have to smile; right? Because it’s radio.
So I remember this one night, a girl calls in and she says – do you know what? She says, I’m really annoyed at you, Steven. And I said, what have I done? She said, you did your 9 Plus 1 game tonight. And she said, I get stopped by the police. And she said – I said, well, what’s that got to do with me? What were you doing? And she said, well – she said it wasn’t so much the stop by the police. She was stopped because there was a lighted in her car that was out, and, you know, they wanted to tell me about it. But they leaned into the car, and they said, look. Here’s the deal. We can give you a ticket for this, or if you give us the answers to questions 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the quiz, we’ll call it quits.
They were listening to the quiz as well; right? They were tuned in, and they wanted to know the answers so they just thought, we’ll stop someone else and ask. And that was weird. You know, it was just that kind of amaze – the power of this thing, you know? This box that just –
JM: Local radio – yeah.
SS: It’s amazing.
JM: I mean, obviously, it’s sad. In most places, you don’t have that element of local radio. At least, in this country.
SS: Hmm.
JM: Sometimes in small towns, you still have a local radio station that is big and still part of the community. But in most places, it’s just gotten, you know, so commercialized.
SS: And it’s changed here as well. It’s very much the same. I mean, you know, the UK has gone very much the way of the U.S. in the sense that radio stations have been bought up –
JM: Yeah.
SS: -- by lots of different companies – and now there’s, like, two or three companies left, and they own everything. And it – the local aspect has gone, and I have to say, this is why I was so glad to leave commercial radio in 2007 when I left commercial radio to become part of what was not – you wouldn’t consider commercial radio – it was on the radio, RNIB radio, but it wasn’t commercial. It was – I don’t even know what you would have called it. I don’t even know what you – I think the new name for it here is community radio.
JM: Okay.
SS: Local radio but, you know, that could be by geography or by interest. And I think that’s where I kind of was really glad – I didn’t realize it at the time. I had no idea. I mean, I was leaving commercial radio, a good job, to go and work in a charity that was on the internet with a radio station. And I’m like – people thought I was insane. They were like, are you – why? Why would you do that? But there was something about it that just said, this is different, but it’s something cool here. And I just love the fact that it was – it became -- and is still going strong, great. You know, and the fact that it’s still available, and it’s supported by this huge charity is amazing. So, you know, I’m really glad I did it, and, you know, podcasting was, for me, I think, the natural next step.
I’m actually – I mean, it’s funny because people call me a podcaster. I’m actually not a podcaster because I don’t have a podcast. I have shows that are radio shows that are made into podcasts, but I don’t actually have a podcast. I’m planning to change that, J.J., but that’s, you know, that’s not been the case, so for a long time, that’s what I’ve been doing. So that’s why I always say broadcaster, because that’s what I’ve done. I’ve spoken on radio stations that don’t necessarily focus in on the one thing like the shows do.
JM: And I want to talk to you about that, your new podcast, in just a second. But, kind of, the more macro version of that. So you got into podcasts, not at the beginning, and you got – some say you got into podcasts even though you didn’t, but, you know, you ended up with podcasts –
SS: Yeah.
JM: -- because of the radio shows, and, you know, we’ve been doing it for a while here as well. You know, we started with the interviews then kind of started doing the weekly in 2015. Wow, that’s so long ago now. But things have definitely changed as far as the way podcasts are. A lot of big corporate players are into podcasting. It’s definitely a mainstream thing now, where before, when we had – when you and I got in, it was a little more niche, and yet, another one of those things, because it’s audio-based, that perhaps the blind community jumped on a little earlier than others. So there’s a lot of access tech podcasts out there and shows that are out there, some doing the same thing, some trying to differentiate. So that does lead me back into what you’re trying to do with a new venture, and really wondering what are you going to do that isn’t already being done?
SS: Yeah. That’s the hard bit, isn’t it, is trying to do – how do you take something that’s already in existence and, you know – I’m already doing? You know -- already got three shows at the moment. I’ve got Tech Talk in the UK, I’ve got Double Tap Canada on the radio in Canada, I’ve got Double Tap TV on TV there on AMI TV. So what else am I going to offer with a new prospect?
And I think, you know, it was a really interesting conversation, because when I sat down with the guys and we were discussing what to do, I struggled in this. And it’s taken months to get to this point because we went back and forward and so many different things. I’d tried a few things, some things had started and then stopped because I just felt it wasn’t working out or, you know, the pandemic put pay to the idea that I had and I thought, let’s – maybe just stop that and we’ll come back to it. I’m a great believer in don’t just do something because you’ve started doing it. If it’s not working, stop it. Just stop doing it. And, you know –
JM: Right.
SS: -- people tend to hold onto ideas because of pride. They think, oh, well, you know, I’ve started it, and if I stop doing it, I’ll look silly. I don’t care about looking silly. Listen to the shows. I mean, I think you’ll get that within five minutes.
JM: People give Google a lot of crap for getting rid of products, but that is one thing –
SS: Yeah.
JM: -- they almost do better than anyone else, and sometimes to detriments of good products. But if something’s not working or making money for them, they shut it down. Fast.
SS: Yeah. I agree. Totally. I mean, it’s funny. I do – I actually – I’m one of those people probably that criticize them a lot for doing that, but you’re right, actually. It is exactly that. I’ve – had a radio boss once. We had terrible radio listening figures after a massive format change in the station. And he came in and then he said, we’re changing the format because this isn’t working anymore. And I was wrong.
And I’ve never heard those words out of a radio boss before. It was always, this is what we’re doing, the listeners will come round. We’re just not there yet. And I – he – that stuck in my head. He said, no. If you’re – if it’s going the wrong way, change it. And why – and the thing from me was, you know, Tech Talk is doing really well. It’s – the highest numbers it’s ever had, it’s continuously growing in popularity. We’re getting new subscriptions to the podcast, it’s very popular on air on the radio station, we get huge feedback. Double Tap is amazing on AMI audio, you know, it’s number one in its time slot, it’s, you know, beating – everything else that’s on on the podcast front, it’s doing the same, TV show’s doing really well. Everything’s just growing and growing, and I thought, don’t change any of that. That’s all working really well.
JM: Yeah. People love their tech.
SS: Exactly. And I think what’s happened is we’ve gone from – and it’s interesting. I think I’ve probably learned more about podcasting than I have about TV coming from radio, because when I think about the differences, the key is that in -- radio’s about broadcasting. So you’re talking to somebody who is nine years old and 99 years old at the same time.
JM: Hmm.
SS: You know, trying to find something that will work in that area, or in that field. But with podcasting, the success comes in narrowcasting. You’re talking about one thing, one theme. I listen to some great podcasts that are not necessarily access tech or even tech specific, but I just love -- like, for example, 99% Invisible, which, you know, big news – actually recently, of course, with this acquisition. But, you know, I love that podcast. Oh, what’s that other one? Twenty Thousand Hertz --
JM: Yes.
SS: -- which is all about audio. You know, I love that podcast because it’s so creative; right? But, you know, the thing about it is, even though the topics are different every week, the theme is the same. It’s all about audio. And it’s just driven by that. So I love listening to that. And I think that’s kind of where we are.
So when we were thinking about what to do, how do we change this? How do we – or, not even too much change, but how do we bring something new to the table? I realized the one thing – and it was actually not me that came up with it, bizarrely. I mean, when I say it, you’ll probably think, this was clearly a Steven Scott idea, but it wasn’t. It was actually the guys around me who said, you know, you’ve come up with all these different ideas, but the one thing you do that you just love doing the most is being a grumpy old man about tech and moaning about, everything, frankly; and being critical; fair, but critical; and just being mouthy; being a little bit out there.
JM: You mean not an Apple fanboy podcast? Like –
SS: Well. But this is the thing; right? I mean, almost, it would make – it makes me more of an Apple fanboy if I do it this way because, you know, I’ll be really leaning into this. But, yeah.
I just think – the one thing that I love about talking to you, and talking to you in this format, is that we don’t have to worry about time. We don’t have to be constrained by – it’s 14 past the hour, it’s 14 Degrees, you know, whatever the radio station title. You know, it’s WASK. You know, whatever the station call letters are. You don’t have to do any of that anymore.
JM: Right.
SS: All that nonsense is gone. And you can just be yourself, but you can allow, I think, the subjects to breathe. Whatever you talk about, you can allow it to breathe a bit more. You don’t have to worry about, you know, every 15 minutes, you got to cover something. So I like that. I think this format will allow that, but I kind of want to bring the radio to it. You know, I think that’s the key, is bringing the radio into that discussion.
JM: But still keeping it moving; right? Because -- and part of it – I mean, we’re guilty of this in the past too. We have had podcasts that have just – okay. You record the thing and then, you know, you’re in an hour and a half, like, why did this go 90 minutes? We had 30 minutes of content, and somehow, it got stretched out. So, I mean, there is that side of it as well.
SS: There is, but I think there’s also – well, it’s difficult, isn’t it? Because it’s trying to get the balance.
JM: Yeah.
SS: The balance – and it’s all – you know, I’m very self-critical. I know people probably listen to my shows and think, he couldn’t care less. I am so critical of my show. I very rarely listen to the show. I never listen to it back.
JM: Same.
SS: I have people who do that, and they listen to it, and they tell me if it’s okay, or at least, in the editing sense. And, you know, sometimes I’ll get, you know, this was the best show we’ve ever done or, you know, hmm, I think this one, we’ll maybe need to rethink, or – I got a good handle on it. I leave a show – bear in mind, I’ve done live radio for a lot of my life, so you didn’t listen back. You couldn’t listen back. So, you know, you had to kind of just take it on the day and just assume -- you know. And some days were better than others. Some days, I was so up for it, really felt I’d given the best performance.
But the thing that stood out -- and I think this will tell you a lot. The thing that stood out for me was my manager coming in and saying – making a comment to me about the show. And I had said, you know, something -- I can’t – no idea what I actually said on air. But he said, you know, you’d mentioned this particular thing. And I thought he was going to refer to a joke that I’d made. And I was kind of waiting for him to say, you know, that joke you made, really funny. And he said, oh, no, no, no. I didn’t really get that joke, he said. But there’s something else you did. I screwed something up somewhere, and he said, that was funny. That was funny. And I’m just like, really? That’s what you found funny?
And the interesting thing for me, in my career, is there’s been one name that has come up time and time again. And I’m not going to say I’m at – an avid fan because I’m not. I haven’t listened to everything the guy’s ever done. But I did, you know, at an early age, for some reason – and I think it’s just the radio thing, frankly – I watched a movie called Private Parts, which is the Howard Stern story.
JM: Yeah.
SS: I didn’t really know much about Howard Stern, to be honest. Everything I learned about him was through that movie, and I don’t know how accurate that story was. I mean, people who know him will know better –
JM: Right. Because the show wouldn’t be on the air over there.
SS: -- than me. No. It was never here. No. I mean, they would never have allowed that over here. Our broadcast rules are way too strict for that. They would never have allowed this guy on. And I wouldn’t even go so far to say I was his biggest fan even after everything I know about him. But I did respect the way that he did the show in the sense that he did the show that he thought was right.
And he – it was exactly the same for him. He was getting comments about the show by his bosses and by people around him who were saying, that thing you did, that was – that was really funny.
He – and I remember in the film, this one bit where he reads an ad for a restaurant that’s opening. And he goes on about, you know, how, you know – but the thing is that the add is – he’s saying he doesn’t have any notes. He can’t find – no one can find the paperwork to kind of talk about what this restaurant opening is. And he’s like, oh. It’s the greatest restaurant I’ve ever been to. I love this restaurant. In fact, my family and I used to go there. We used to go there all the time. And then he gets handed the piece of paper, and he looks at it, and he says, and it opens on Tuesday for the first time. And he’s like -- well at least I – you know. Now you know. Now you know I’m lying to you; right? He said, look. I’m a radio guy. I’m at, you know, 40 quid a week here. I’m doing my best. And the people were just loving him for that because that was –
JM: --honesty.
SS: -- just him.
JM: Yeah.
SS: -honest. Exactly. And I took that from that. And I must admit, that has stuck in my head, and I can’t deny a lot of that inspired me. Now, I’m not interested in becoming the next Howard Stern. That’s not what I’m doing. And I would – I wouldn’t even attempt that. That guy is a genius at his radio and what he’s done, and, you know, I respect him whether you love him or hate him. He’s a huge success. And he is an inspiration to a lot of radio presenters, certainly, I would imagine in the U.S.
But I think there’s something in him that’s – that I feel is in me, which is this desire to be as honest with the audience as possible. And I’m not going to sit here and say that I’m shackled in any way, that I can’t do stuff on my UK show or my Canadian show. I am free to do what I want. But there’s a difference on those shows that – I’m kind of respecting the institution that it is. It’s on radio, I respect the rules, I believe in the rules, I don’t want to do that kind of show on those channels. I think the RNIB is a massive institution that has been around for a long time, it does great work, and it’s very well-respected, and my show’s part of that. Now, it’s only a small, small, small part of it. I know we get lots of listeners, but it’s still a very small part of what RNIB is; right? I’m not, you know, sitting here pretending it’s anything more than that. But the thing is I don’t want to denigrate that name because I’ve decided I want to turn it into a shock joke. That’s not fair.
JM: Right. There’s an air of professionalism –
SS: Yes.
JM: -- that is – not expected, but – that fits best with what they’re currently doing. And if you try to bring, for lack of a better term, shock jock technology talk, it’s not really going to fit as well –
SS: No.
JM: -- probably, in the RNIB platform. I haven’t listened to RNIB’s station, but I’m assuming most of the other shows probably don’t take that format.
SS: No. No, they’re not. And, you know, some people say that Tech Talk is a bit crazy at times, and it – I think it is, to some degree. I mean, I can’t help who I am. I do get – sometimes get a bit excited over something, but I tend to temper it a bit more on that show. And I think that’s important for that audience and for those people who listen, because I think – one thing that the people who listen to that show are really looking for are those reviews, those views of what’s in the RNIB shop this week or, you know – and they want to hear -- and you know, tips and all that stuff. So every – that’s what people tune into that show for. That’s what I want to give them.
Double Tap is kind of a bit crazier in some ways, but I think we kind of get to the point, and it’s a bit of a different beast. And, you know, like RNIB, AMI give me free rein, frankly. But, again, I’m just always – even though I’m told, you know, look, do what you want. You know, you the line, so just do what you want. I still feel – I don’t want to cross it. I don’t want to get even close to it. I’ll go up to it, but I’m not going to cross or even stand on it because I don’t want to disrespect that channel. The people on that channel are great, and I love working with them and I want to keep the show in line with what the station is doing and its values. So that’s my, kind of, take on it.
So my thing is, with this new idea, that we are going to create something that is just about what I think is the kind of show I want to do. I don’t really know how it’s going to go yet because we have to do it.
JM: Does it have a name?
SS: It’s – well – I would say it’s a working title. I think it is the title. Originally, one of the ideas that I’d had was just Blind Guy Talks Tech.
JM: Sure.
SS: And I thought, you know, it can’t get any simpler than that; right?
JM: Right.
SS: It says it all. But I kind of want – I think that will probably be the name it goes with, truthfully, because I think it just says it all. And I kind of want people to know what they get. I mean, you know, I was thinking about The Biggest, Blindest Tech Show Ever, but I thought that’s probably a bit naff. But I just wanted something that would just be a bit of fun. And, you know, I think that people need to know what they’re looking for, and hopefully, they’ll understand what this is about, because it couldn’t be any clearer, frankly.
If I was to describe it, I think the one thing I would say, you know -- I guess the question you asked me and what probably felt, in your mind, about 15 years ago, was, you know, what’s the show – how’s it going to be different?
JM: I asked you that? Oh, I forgot. That was a long time ago –
SS: I know. That’s in the dim and distant past, wasn’t it?
I think, for me, it’s going to be not a sanitized, safe place for anybody. If you’re easily offended, you’re probably not going to like it. If you’re easily triggered by things that just upset you and that you don’t like debates, you have your own views and you don’t really like a lot of confrontations, you’re not going to like this show. If you do like all that stuff, you’re going to love it, I think. And that’s basically the difference. There’s going to be a lot of honest talk, and we’re going to say things that might upset people. We’re not going to go out of our way to offend people. There’s not going to be an unkind show. That’s why I say it’s not Howard Stern. Granted, I’ve been inspired by him in a lot of ways, but it’s not that.
JM: And even he has tamed down over the years.
SS: Oh, I mean, God, he’s a shadow of his former self-
JM: Yeah.
SS: But, yeah. I mean, you know, I’m not interested in doing that kind of show. I just want people to understand I’m being honest and real with them. And, you know, it will allow me to do things – I’m not expecting that Tim Cook will ever come on that show orSatya Nadella or anything. That’s not going to happen; right? Maybe on the other shows, but not on – certainly not on that show. And I don’t want that. But what I do want is an honest conversation. I want a bit of fun.
I think things have become – and this has been born out of a lot of different things. I feel social media has become so – I don’t know what the word is, but it’s just – everyone’s so easily provoked into debate, and to –
JM: Yes.
SS: -- side today. Nobody can have a view, or a nuanced view, at least. You know, again, as someone who might come on and say, well, on the one hand, this and on the other hand, that, and they’re just ripped limb from limb for it. It’s like, well, clearly, you’re on this side and that’s the end of it. We’ve put you in your box, like it or lump it. And I just – I’m sick of it. I’m sick of this anonymous tweeting that’s going on from people. I don’t – it’s such a toxic environment. And in some ways, social media, to me, is a cesspit of, just cruelty, frankly, because there’s not – there’s nothing being solved here. There’s not – no issues are being resolved. We’re just creating divisions constantly.
And I just – I think – you know, the more I’m on social media -- of course, I’m there. I don’t really engage in it that much. I do what I have to do, and to be honest, the reason I’m on Twitter is because that’s where I get a lot of my tech news from. I follow you, I follow a lot of different people in this world to get a sense of what’s happening, because I want to hear your shows, and I want to hear your – read your Tweets, you know, about what you’re talking about -- about – especially around events. So I can kind of get a sense of, all right. Okay. New Braille Sense.
JM: Sure.
SS: What’s that about? You know, all that kind of stuff. But actually, engaging in all this hate that seems to be out there – and some of it’s not hate. Some of it’s genuine passion for advocacy, but I think it’s just totally misplaced.
JM: Passion can get mistaken for hate though, sometimes. You know, it is okay to be passionate --
SS: Yeah.
JM: -- about topics.
SS: Oh yeah. Absolutely.
JM: And you’re right. Sometimes we lose that.
SS: No. And I – but I think the point is it’s not the passion that bothers me. It’s the shotdown culture. The cancel culture.
JM: Yeah.
SS: And, you know, it’s been tried on me already. And it’s horrible when it happens. Horrible. Some would say if -- you know, if I had a therapist – and I don’t. But if I had a therapist, they’d probably say that it was the, kind of, being pushed more toward the kind of cancel culture brigade and, you know, almost being kicked out that kind of made me want to do this; almost fight back against it, you know, the political correctness which is just getting out of hand. You know, we’re not solving issues. And, especially around disability. I mean, there’s so many ideas, and I know that we’re saying it’s a tech show. But, you know, tech touches everything in life. You know, I could have a conversation with you about a lot of experiences I’ve had, and it could all link back to technology in some way. I mean, I think about my job and my career, I wouldn’t be able to do all that without technology. So, you know, it all links back in.
But I think that you cannot just siphon off and say, well, that means you can’t talk about these issues, and you can’t do this. The way I see it with this show, it’s my show, and if I want to talk about it, I’m going to talk about it. And if you don’t want to listen, well, you know, you can hit the pause button or the stop button or, you know, just unsubscribe or do what you like. I don’t care. You know, I’m not in this to make money, or huge amounts of money. But I want to make the show sustainable, which is why we’re going to be putting it on Apple podcasts. We’re going to be putting it behind a paywall.
JM: Wow.
SS: Some might be surprised at that. But I’m doing it because I want people to see the value in the show, and I want a bit of exclusivity to it, you know? I don’t – you know, if you want to come and listen, come and listen. But you, you know, you got to put your hand in your pocket for it, and that’ll help pay for the guys who do the show. I’m not taking in a penny for it because I don’t want the money for it. But I just want to be part of the solution to -- the biggest problems we have in this country and around the world is, you know, employment, for blind and partially sighted people who are not in jobs. That’s -- well, let’s make some jobs. You know, if this podcast makes enough money, then we can pay people. Is that not better than, you know, not doing that?
JM: Right.
SS: So, you know, there’s all that stuff.
JM: So a new – just – as far as the Apple podcast thing specifically.
SS: Hmm.
JM: And I know this is brand new to you as well. Is everything paywalled? Did they give you the option to say, I want to have this episode out there for free. That way, people could, say, have a sample episode. Do they give you options like that, or how does that work?
SS: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can – the whole thing could be free. You know, look, if we’re not getting the subscription numbers, maybe we’ll make it free; right? I don’t know. But, you know –
JM: Well, you could do something – you could do a mixed thing.
SS: Exactly.
JM: So – yeah. You could have, like, the first episode out for free, for instance, if you wanted to or something like that.
SS: Yeah.
JM: Not saying you’re going to, but --
SS: And that’s the idea.
JM: Yeah.
SS: No. No. That is the idea. So the first episode will be out there, and it’ll be a summary of – well, not a summary. It’ll be an episode, a proper episode, that you can go and listen to. Because, look, you have to do that; right? You can’t just ask people to start paying for something --
JM: Sure.
SS: -- they don’t know what they’re getting.
JM: Maybe. People know you. But still.
SS: Yeah. Even so. They’ll still be like, you know – and a lot of people don’t know me. You know, and I don’t live in any bubble. You know, and I – I just -- you know, people say, why do you do this? Because, you know, every time you do a show, you almost sound like you don’t want to be on it. And I’m like, it’s not that. It’s just, I’m very real. This is me. I’m not putting out a front here.
I mean, of course, there’s – anybody who tells you, in radio especially, or podcasting, I guess now, that there’s no ego in it is a liar, just a bare-faced liar. You’ve got to have ego to get behind the mic. You need it. Ego is not a bad thing; all right? It’s how people use it. It’s like anything else in life. You know, if you use something in a bad way –
JM: Right.
SS: -- then it’s not necessarily the tool’s fault that you’ve done that. So, of course I’ve got an ego. And you know, I don’t live – when I turn the mic on, that’s when it’s there. When I turn it off, it’s –
You know, tonight, for example, we’re doing some really big stuff later on TV. And then it was like, we stopped and I went outside and I put my pajamas on and I went downstairs and sat with my wife and we talked about her day, because she’d had an amazing day today and I wanted to talk to her about it. And she’s like, well, how did your day go? And I’m like, yeah, my day’s fine, but tell me about yours. I’m not interested in this. You know, that was almost -- I’d kind of had my bit, you know? I’d done my bit. I did it on air. And then I wanted her to talk to me. That’s kind of the guy I am. I’m not, you know, I don’t generally --
And it’s very difficult, actually. It’s very difficult in this world to know how you feel about this, but I found it very difficult. And I have friends who don’t understand this game. You know, people who work in regular jobs – because this is not a regular job. I mean, you know, what on Earth – this isn’t even a job; right? But people in proper – obviously, proper jobs, and they don’t really know how to respond to me on this. It’s actually made it very difficult with friendships for me because people don’t know how to react to the kind of job I do. They immediately think you’re on the radio like a DJ, so you’re playing the hits. And it’s like, no. I don’t do that. I talk, and I talk about technology, and I talk about technology for blind people. And they’re like, oh, right, oh. Well, don’t know what that means. And it all sounds very nice. And if someone listens to the show, as a friend of mine did, they listened to the show, and they were like, that is not the show I expected at all. This was not what I thought you were – I thought you were doing something very nice, and it was all very charitable and very lovely. Now let’s talk about the wonderful Braille device for all those blind people. And it was like, you know, slamming Android and, you know –
JM: No. Can’t do that.
SS: -- whatever it was I was doing that week. Yeah. It was just like, oh, you know, you know.
JM: You have to though. No, you have to – and ego’s one of those words that I think developed a negative connotation when it isn’t always negative. Like, you have to have a command of whatever your domain is, and whether it’s –
SS: Yeah.
JM: -- behind a microphone doing podcasts or whether it’s, you know, being on stage at a conference, you have to feel like you belong and you are the person that should be presenting or doing whatever this thing is, whatever industry it is. I mean, it absolutely – and you know, you call it ego, you can call it, you know, part of imposter syndrome, whatever you want to call it. There’s certainly – you have to have that confidence to know that you know your stuff, at the same time, also respecting other people and listening to them as well. So yeah. Absolutely do agree with that.
SS: I try that. I try to do that. And it doesn’t always work but –
JM: No one’s perfect.
SS: I try to – it depends on what they’re saying; right? I mean, you know, if someone says something I disagree with fundamentally, I’ll tell you about it. And, you know, I think that’s important. Because that’s about being real; right? That’s about being honest and saying, look, I just don’t disagree – I just don’t agree with you on that, you know, and that’s fine to do that. That’s the bit that’s going away. That’s what’s eroding at the moment, is actually that ability to say, I don’t agree with you. We can still be friends about it.
I had a conversation with someone just the other day on this very point. It was a particular story that this person had Tweeted out. And as much as I wanted to go on Twitter and say I completely disagree with you on this, I just knew the storm it was going to kick up on it. So instead, I just Tweeted them privately on direct message, and I said, look. I didn’t want to put this out there on the public because frankly, it’ll just get me hung and I’ll have all the people against me on it as usual. So I’m just telling you. And he actually called me, and we had a conversation about it, and we respectfully agreed to disagree. But it was no – there was no fight, there was no – you know, it was respectful. And there was no reason why it would have gone any other way, because, you know, I don’t pretend to be a smart person but that person is. And, you know, we had a very good nuanced debate, and I just – it was sort of refreshing. What is – the problem is that so many conversations are going on in the public sphere that it’s very difficult and -- yeah. I just think there’s room here to try and kind of navigate through that. I think we need to maybe stop dividing ourselves up the way we do.
You know, it’s interesting because I get a lot of criticism. A lot. I read some of it, I don’t read all of it, but I read some of it. I’ve seen some of the places where people write things about me, and it’s hard to read, you know? But I actually sometimes think it’s good to know what people think. And sometimes, I agree with them. I’m like, yeah. You’re right about that. I mean, I get called an Apple fanboy all the time. And I’m not – I can’t argue with that. I am an Apple fanboy, although not so much in the Mac.
JM: Yeah. You’re not the only one.
SS: Exactly. I’m not the only one out there. It’s not like I’m the only person that found out about Mac and thought I’d tell everyone about it.
JM: You have to listen to yourself and learn things about yourself and realize – I mean, there’s ways to improve. And sometimes, people’s opinions are valid. Sometimes, maybe not. You know, I’ve – reading back on the transcripts that we do here, you know, kind of brought to surface a few things about the way I talk or about the way I used to interrupt people. I still do. Sometimes, a lot more. You know, or certain mechanics of speech that you – will show up on a transcript that would never have shown up –
SS: Mm-hmm.
JM: -- up in audio. So it’s really interesting how just putting things in different formats gives you a different perspective on things sometimes.
SS: And – do you know – the one thing I love -- and my biggest critics think I don’t do this. But they don’t know me; right? They don’t know me. They sometimes don’t even listen to the show, I don’t think, because I do this a lot. I will change my position on something, because if I get information that tells me something else or if I try something new or someone else gives me perspective, I – this is the one thing I love most about what I do. No matter where it is, no matter what show I’m doing, no matter what the subject is, if I’m getting a chance to learn something, I always make the joke – and it’s partly a joke; it’s partly true. I’m not a smart person. I didn’t leave school and go to university or college. You know, I went straight into radio. That’s the very first thing I did as soon as I left.
I left school in 1999, and in that summer – well, I tell a lie. I did go to college for six months.
JM: Hmm.
SS: I went to college to do a radio broadcasting course. And it was a year-long course. I had gone along, and six months in, we had to get, like, a placement. You know, you go to a radio station for a couple of weeks, and you would, you know, experience what it was like and all that stuff.
And I got my placement through a friend of mine who was working at this radio station. And I turned up on the Monday morning with one intention, and that was never to go back to college and stay at that radio station. And I didn’t care if I had to clean the toilets every day for the next two weeks. With my tongue, I’d have done it. I didn’t care; right? I was like, I don’t care. I want a gig. And I got –
The funny thing was; right? I turned up on the first day; right? And I’m wearing this suit. And I’ve got my shirt and tie on. I’m overly well-dressed, and I go into the radio station. The first thing I notice – I had much better sight back then. I mean, I didn’t think this at the time, but my sight was a lot better. Now, I can realize that.
JM: Uh-huh.
SS: I remember going in, and the first thing I can remember seeing was all these guys in jeans and T-shirts, you know, ripped jeans and ripped T-shirts. You know, messy hair, and I’m thinking what is this? You know, it was just horrible. And I’m thinking, these people – they must be the people that, you know, had to carry the stuff about. I didn’t know what stuff people were carrying about, but you know. Maybe –
JM: Right.
SS: -- these guys carry stuff about. They look like people who would pick stuff up and move it about.
JM: But it’s radio, I guess; right?
SS: Exactly. You know, maybe there’s a thing that needs to be moved.
JM: Yeah.
SS: So I was like, you know, that must be these guys. And then, I’m hearing them talk and I’m like, I know that voice. That’s the DJ that does the – and I’m like, hang on. Is that the afternoon DJ? Really?
JM: There’s no camera, so who cares?
SS: Exactly; right? So the manager of the radio station comes downstairs and she says, I don’t know who you are, but I’m not buying anything. And I’m like, I’m not selling anything. I just – I’m here for the work experience. I’m here for two weeks. Oh, you’re Stephen. Yeah. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah. In you come.
So I go upstairs, and she says, right. First off, don’t wear a suit. That’s not how we do it round here. And I’m like, okay. So I go in, and that day, there’s a new program manager who’s starting. And he is in his office, and I get sort of flung into the office with him, and it’s like – he’s like, okay. What do you want to do? And I’m like, I want to be on the radio. And he’s like, okay. But – can you grab an end of this desk, because I need to sort this office out. So I proceed to – the jacket’s off, the tie’s on the floor, and I’m, you know, moving desks around, fixing computers for the guy, you know, organizing his CD’s, I’m, you know, doing all this stuff, all this, you know, bits and bobs.
JM: Yeah.
SS: And that was – and just – I fell in love with it, the place. I just fell in love with the environment, and that was it. And I just ke
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Joe Steinkamp is no stranger to the world of technology, having been a user of video magnification and blindness related electronic devices since 1979. Joe has worked in radio, retail management and Vocational Rehabilitation for blind and low vision individuals in Texas. He has been writing about the A.T. Industry for 15 years and podcasting about it for almost a decade.
