Beer and the radio…

I had a friend who was once a major part of the Pittsburgh sports radio scene. He had a nightly show on one of the local sports radio stations and was even a sideline reporter during the Steelers radio broadcasts. This friend of mine was one of the finest radio hosts the city of Pittsburgh has ever had and his shows are still the standard which I use to measure all sports radio shows that I listen to. I met him at an event and he being an Orthodox Christian like I am invited me to attend his church, which was only minutes from my house. During this same time that I met this friend I had gotten into home brewing beer. I would mostly brew IPA’s for myself and would brew various versions of double bocks for my now ex-wife. I enjoyed brewing and regularly shared my beers with my friends.

My friend had a weekly live broadcast from a local restaurant and one night I decided to stop into the broadcast with a 6 pack of my beer for him. I had been promising him some beer for a while at that point, so one night the ex and I decided to pay him a visit with the six pack. He was happy to see us and gladly accepted the gift which we brought him at the show. We talked happily during the commercial intermissions, but neither of us knew the humorous experience which we were in for.

One afternoon about a week later, while I was out shopping with my now ex-wife he called me with a rather excited tone in his voice. My greeting was “How was the beer?” He responded, I have to tell you on the way out of the restaurant the bottom of the six pack carrier fell out and all but 2 of the beers broke on the ground. I responded that was not a problem and I would gladly bring him more beer. He thanked me for my kindness but then said “I think this would make a great show!” He asked my permission to discuss me on the air and when I consented he said that it was only about an hour and a half before the show and he needed to get the show planned and to make sure that we were listening at 6 pm. The ex and I hurried home but only made it to the driveway by 6:00, right as the show was coming on. We did not want to miss a minute of the show, so we sat in the car listening to the first 20 minutes of the show until there was a commercial break before we ran into the house and turned on the stereo in the house.

My friend was a master communicator. His shows were full of life, energy and enthusiasm and were rarely boring. He was known to say “there is more to this than just saying ‘Hey Bill from Crafton, what do you think of the Steelers this year?’, there is actually a show…” This nights show was no different. He started out the show talking about how well the Steelers were doing in the playoffs. It was January of 2009 and the Steelers were on their way to their 6th Super Bowl title. He added how well the Penguins were doing at the time. The Penguins were on their way toward their 3rd Stanley Cup title. He added other elements of the sports world which would also make for a highly insightful show. I remember him saying “there is so much going on in the Pittsburgh Sports world right now, but my friends, I have a real dilemna!” He introduced my person as being his good friend. He went on to describe the beautiful icons that I paint and how I love(d) to brew beer. He described me carrying in the six pack of beer to the live show the week before and said I had the beer cradled in my arms as if it were my baby. He then gave the drama of the situation, the raison d’etre for the nights show: while walking out of the restaurant the bottom fell out of the six pack carrier and the beers fell to the ground with four of the bottles breaking. The next thing he said was simply brilliant. “What do I tell this great friend Mike? Do I tell him the truth of what happened and trust that he will not be upset with me and give me more beer, or do I lie to him and tell him it was great beer and not tell him about the accident?” At this point the ex-wife and I were sitting in the car laughing our brains out from how our friend had built up the topic of the show and also anxiously awaiting the responses from the callers. There simply was no time to run into the house and turn on the radio. That would mean we would miss a comment and we knew what was to come was going to be hilarious.

What happened next was pure magic. The calls immediately started pouring into our friends radio show and did not stop for 20 minutes. Men and women would call in and give their answer as to how our friend should handle the spilled beer and give their reasoning behind why he should handle it one way or the other. Each person was convinced they had the definitely way to handle the situation! It made for hilarious radio. We were laughing non-stop as we sat in the car listening to this show. People were both telling him to tell the truth and telling him to lie about the beer. You would have thought that this was the hot button topic of the whole city of Pittsburgh based on the calls that were coming in. Everyone had an opinion on the subject and everyone was convinced that their opinion was the correct one! It was so comical. In was so gripping. To the two of us it was must listen radio! For the twenty minute duration of the show which that segment took up, we totally forgot about all cares in the world and listened with joy and laughter to the responses of each caller. In a way, it was one of the best thank you’s I have ever gotten for giving a gift to a friend. A true act of love.

I tell you this true story which happened in January 2009 because I want to emphasize the fact that you never know how a small act which you might do for someone might impact their lives. At the time when I brought my friend beer to his radio show I had many cases of beer which I had brewed. Six bottles of beer were nothing for me to share with someone else. And yet he appreciated my gift so much that he returned the favor with an entire show on the radio dedicated to his incident with the beer while walking out of the restaurant. This touched me very deeply as a kind act of friendly love. Of course the next time I saw him at Church I brought him another six pack of beer! How could I not? Next time you have the opportunity to do something small for someone else, do not hesitate to do it. You simply do not know how it will impact their lives. I can not guarantee that you will get a radio show dedicated to you as a thank you, but at the same time you will have touched someone else’s life in a way that just might be the bright spot that they needed in their day. That alone is worth the gesture!