Open Mike

Like many other people in the modern recession era, Mike O'Meara found himself out of a job, wondering what he would do with the rest of his life. After a very successful career on the radio, he was facing a new reality. The type of radio he loved was dead or dying. Spontaneous, fun, and original radio had been replaced by sports talk and right-wing ranting. Radio had also fallen into the hands of corporations, resulting in bland programming that reeked of "sameness." He knew one thing: having a microphone in front of him and speaking his mind to his listeners on a daily basis was as important to him as breathing. Although it seemed as though Mike and his radio partners had no place to go, at the urging of his friend Oscar Santana (another radio talker kicked to the curb), Mike reluctantly decided to try something different: podcasting. This is a tale of reinvention. It's the story of a few radio guys who had no other choice but to rebuild their careers on their own, like so many other Americans in these challenging economic times. Perhaps you have been fired from a long and successful career, or someone you know has been unapologetically booted out of a job with no thought to the financial and personal crises that would follow. If so, this book will remind you that there is always a way forward, always a new opportunity, and always hope that your next chapter in life can be better than all the chapters before.