That first 'itch,' started about 15 years ago...

That's when my "America At Work" feature ran on WBEN, the CBS radio affiliate in Buffalo, NY.
America At Work was all about giving a voice to small business; highlighting the talented, hard working, innovative folks doing what they enjoy for a living and making this country work. I had wonderful chats with every day people and some quite famous in their ventures (and they never forgot where they started!). A short-format radio feature, we had one minute 30 seconds to tell a story about an entrepreneur or small business owner and inspire listener's to say, "Hey, I could do that!" Many times the interviews were chock full of 'good stuff' and whittling it down to 1:30 was tough. But by pulling out key sound bites and wrapping them with narration, some interesting, fast paced stories were created. Although I have to admit, quite a few ended up as two-part features.

There's something very powerful, very genuine about hearing the voice of a person talk about their experiences. A sense of trust is developed when we know that this is the very person who had the idea, experienced the challenges and the doubt, learned a few things along the way, and tasted success. We feel as though we know them a little, and we can definitely relate.

More than 100 features aired before that chapter of my life closed, but my interest in the stories behind entrepreneurs and small business owners never faded. Heck, I'll strike up a conversation with a business owner in a heartbeat!
So there were lots of mild 'itches' for years.
Most of the old tapes, notes, and handwritten (more like scribbled) transcripts survived a house fire and then a move to North Carolina. Throughout the years, America At Work was always in the back of my mind.

Another ‘itch’...
Last year (2008) I decided to host a pilot on streaming internet radio. Loved interviewing my guests live, but wasn't thrilled with the sound quality or the length of the shows. And I couldn't help but remember what my four kids always say when talking about anything internet or digital, "keep things short," "get to the point.” They're right.

The Scratch...

AmericaAtWorkStories.com is set to launch this month (June 2009). We're going to give a voice to small business and build a fabulous collection of conversations with owners. It's their voices, telling their stories, in their words. Features will run between 3 and 5 minutes long - easy listening - and give you insight, ideas and inspiration. We're even going to put the transcripts up, for all you visual learners out there - easy reading.

We’ll start small. I’ll share some of the original A@W features (they're timeless) as well as some fantastic new ones, and we’ll grow one conversation at a time.

Okay... this has gone on quite long enough. Promise my posts won't be this long again.

Now, if I can figure out how to attach an audio clip to this blog, I'll post some snippets from interviews once in a while.

And I'll put a transcript up now and then.

In fact, I was just listening to one of the original A@W features the other day, with Dave Thomas (founder of Wendy's). He was a real down-to-earth guy. I'll post that transcript tomorrow...