Commentary: Listen up!

I was born before television, so I have a special affection for radio, especially as it lived out its “golden years.”

Radio stations used to take pride in a wide range of programming. Today, radio stations boast a very narrow area of interest. It’s “all talk,” “all country,” “all news,” or whatever. There is one niche radio market that has never been filled and I’m here to fill it. I haven’t approached the FCC about call letters nor frequency. Neither is consequential. I do know my station’s programming however.In the middle of the “all-talk, all-country, all-news” world of radio is my station - “all-silence.”

No, I’m not kidding. This is front-edge programming. It’s high-tech, too. This is silence from the far flung corners of the world, collected by satellite and beamed to your boom box, car radio, or your pocket radio; silence from the Middle East, silence from Moscow, Peking; long periods of silence from London, Paris, you-name-it.There is late-breaking local silence at 11. Silence wrap-ups, drive-time silence, silence spots from local businesses, nationally-syndicated Hush Limbaugh from noon to 3, and Dr. Lull from 3 to 6. There is an early-morning silent team to offer inaudible quips, jokes, and trivia.

Weekends there’s “Top 40 With The Mute Button,” for the kids. Saturday mornings there are gardening shows with recordings of growing plants. There are innumerable erased recordings of commentaries from experts of all kinds and interviews with celebrities and politicians - all suffering with laryngitis. There is even a special call-in show for computer geeks - with no phone number. Oh, and let’s not forget the award-winning “Washington Clam-up.”

Now before you run for the net to throw over me and haul me away, hear me out.We humans are rather poor at this thing called silence. God knew it and had to reprimand us, “Be still and know that I am God.” It’s a polite, biblical way of saying, “ Shut up and listen.” Our lives are so full of prattle and dim-witted noise that we can’t hear a horn, siren, or sonic boom anymore, let alone the voice of God.

I sometimes hear persons moan about the fact that God “seems so silent in my life.” The fact is that God has been using a megaphone but simply can’t get through.

Tune in to my radio station and I promise you: (1) a measure of peace and tranquility that you haven’t known for a long time, (2) new ideas that you never knew you had in you, and (3) a spiritual center with a sense of God’s presence and voice that you never thought possible. Glad we could get together.