My Life as a Great Lakes Broadcaster

Autorentext

Bill Thompson is a best-selling author, public speaker, and native North Carolinian who writes about the South and, in particular, North Carolina. He has written nine books, including the best-selling short story collection, Sweet Tea, Fried Chicken and Lazy Dogs. Bill's column, "Front Porch Stories," was a regular feature in Our State magazine for almost a decade. Additionally, he wrote a column that ran in over thirty newspapers across the Carolinas, and his work has been featured in Garden and Gun and Oxford American magazines. He received a BA in English from Campbell University and an MA in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the course of his career, Bill has been involved in a variety of occupations focused on public relations and fundraising. He retired as President of Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina in 2007, an organization with which he was involved for over forty years. Bill is presently a speaker, performer, and emcee for festivals and charity events across the Southeast. He is a proud father and grandfather and lives in his hometown of Hallsboro, North Carolina.

Klappentext

My Life as a Great Lakes Broadcaster is a true story that takes the reader back more than six decades to when the author and electronic communication were both in their infancy. It is a recollection of stories from Michigan broadcaster Bill Thompson, as he returns to his roots growing up on the family farm in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. It shows readers how he was proficient at performing music in band and orchestra, then became interested in speech at Remus Chippewa Hills High School. From there he moved on to five active years at Central Michigan University where Bill describes his broadcast and journalism training. That college training helped to combine all of those earlier interests into one, and it came up, radio! That led to a forty-year career of rapid cultural, technical, and personal changes. Once leaving CMU, the journey took Bill "up and down the dial" across the State of Michigan, from Alma to Sault Ste. Marie and South Haven, working in various radio jobs except for sales and engineering, before coming to Michigan's Capitol City of Lansing where he settled into news reporting. After twelve years at two Lansing stations, Bill found his calling at a statewide radio news network for the next twenty-three years despite turmoil and five ownership changes. This book is an exciting journey that those who love Michigan history, culture and broadcasting won't want to finish until it's over.