Entry Eighteen

Story:

John Mielke is a thirty four year radio veteran and takes pride in knowing that he owns one of the most successful AM radio stations this side of the Colorado Rockies.  His radio station, KKNX 840 AM is so successful, that he ranks fifth overall in the Arbitration ratings for the Willamette Valley.  This is an impressive feat, considering that he runs KKNX single-handedly above his families print shop.  For these reasons and many more, I knew the knowledge that he could pass on me would be worthwhile to my career development. 

Advice:

     Going into the interview having only knowledge of all John Mielke’s accomplishments, I had developed a schema in my mind, that made be  believe that he would be this insanely busy, complex guy.  This however turned out to be only partially right.  From what I gathered from the interview, John seemed like a relaxed, laid-back person, who enjoyed what he was doing.  This threw me off guard.  But John assured me that he was not always this way.  He explained how he had to work hard in the beginning and because of his hard work and dedication; he gets to now reap the benefits.   

     Because of everything that John Mielke had told me, I am now surer than I ever was that I want to someday own my own radio station.  I feel that if I could own my own station, I could not only use it to satisfy my urge to be in radio broadcasting, but I could also use it to spread the word of God.   John taught me that when you own your own radio station, you use it to send the message that you want your audience to hear.  Luke writes in Acts that Jesus will return when all ears hear the gospel of our lord.  What better way of spreading the word than through mass media, where the message has the potential of being heard from people around the world.