Posted by Bob Shannon on August 12, 2007 at 09:40:36:
In Reply to: Re: Bob Shannon and CBS FM in The New York Times posted by Allan Sniffen on August 12, 2007 at 08:52:32:
Thanks, Allan. I guess I learned over the years to try to not express as much cynicism and negativity, both personally and professionally. It's sort of the "what goes around comes around" thing in one respect. On-air, I sort of reached a point in my career where I realized that people listen on a number of levels, with the biggest being sort of an "energetic" one.
The overall tone of one's approach is "felt" by the listener regardless of the actual words being spoken (I mentioned this in another post about Broadway Bill).
I've often compared this to the difference in styles between David Letterman and Jay Leno. No disrespect to Dave, but sometimes he strikes me as
being more on the cynical side than Jay. They both could (and do) make similar comments about current events/people, but Jay comes across differently --
more "fun" while poking fun, if you will. At some point in my career, I made a conscious decision to be more in the Leno style.
When Alex Midlin of The Times was interviewing me about Jack he remarked, at one point, that he was surprised that I didn't seem "bitter" about the experience. I told him I wasn't. "Disappointed" would be more accurate.
Of course, you'd never guess that from the photo they chose to run, LOL! Of all the pictures they took, I guess they wanted that one to express some sort of mood? Oddly, if I recall, it was a pose I did sort of "goofing" with the phorographer. I think I even said to him, "Here's my INTENSE look". :-)
BTW, a little Behind The Hits note: What is printed as a sort of rambling ("rumbling"?) monologue from me about my career and opinions are actually my responses to specific questions Alex asked. For example, he asked if my voice had ever been recognized on the street. The response was the story of the cab driver. He asked if the format can succeed in modern times, hence my answer. Etc. I find it interesting how my responses to specific questions were pieced together as if I were just extemporaneously talking about myself and my career.