Interviews | MikeChimeri.com

Fan phone call! September 1, 2010

Posted by Mike C. in Comedy, Internet, Interviews, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Pets, Photography, Radio, Sports, Technology, Travel, TV.
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Since March, I have been a semi-regular viewer of Alison Rosen’s weekly internet show, Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend, on the website UStream. One of the segments on her show, which streams through a webcam on her laptop, is Fan Phone Call. Phone numbers e-mailed to her by fans are taken out of a pot at random. The lucky fan is then called. If there is no answer, Alison leaves a funny voicemail and picks another number. If there is an answer, she interviews the fan. I e-mailed my number in March but it was never picked. So, I e-mailed it again on August 1.

This Sunday, my number was finally picked. You can see the call here. Scroll ahead to 27:40. I also recorded my end of the conversation in Adobe Audition with my mic in hand. I later mixed Alison’s end and my end together. Here’s the end result.

As you listen or watch, keep the following in mind:

I bear no malice toward WCWP or any of the management. I have nothing but fond memories and best wishes. I’ll have more on my Homecoming show in a later post. (9/25 UPDATE: The show is not happening, but I will be at Homecoming. 10/16 UPDATE: I’m not going, but should be on hand for WCWP’s 50th anniversary next year.)
I didn’t notice that Alison and her friend Dustin Goot were referring to the former JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater as they were pressing me on my departure from the station.
I was speaking generally when I said I’ve stormed out of places in the past, later coming back and apologizing. It comes with having Asperger Syndrome. I may regret writing this publicly.
As you’ve seen in a few concert recaps on this blog, I do take pictures of street signs, highway markers, and exit signs. I used to have Hagstrom’s New York City, Western Suffolk, and Eastern Suffolk atlases. Now, I only have a recent Nassau atlas. With sites like Mapquest and Google Maps with printable directions, there’s less of a need to rely on atlases.
Despite the heat, I kept my word and went for a walk 20 minutes after the call.

Ken Navarro interview feedback November 5, 2008

Posted by Mike C. in Interviews, Jazz, Personal, Radio.
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Last night, Ken Navarro left a comment on Facebook to my picture of me and him at during the meet-and-greet following April’s Smooth Jazz for Scholars concert. Not only was he complimentary of the picture, but he had positive feedback about our October 18 interview:

FYI – I posted links to both parts of our interview on the home page of my web site and I have had a lot of emails from people telling me how much they enjoyed it. I still can’t get over how you spotted the “Try Again” intro sample showing up in “On My Way To Somewhere”. You’ve got good ears my man…

The interview was indeed posted on his homepage (screencap with circle from me below)…

…and on his media page (screencap with circle from me below):

I am so proud to learn that so many people have written to Ken expressing how much they enjoyed our interview. It makes all that work conducting the interview on September 26, editing the interview in the days that followed, and airing the final cut on October 18 worth it. Thank you very much to all of you, and once again, to Ken.

C.W. Post/WCWP Homecoming 2008 recap October 21, 2008

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Interviews, Jazz, Personal, Radio.
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Later recaps: 2009, WCWP 50th Anniversary (2011), 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022

Before I begin the recap, here is the aircheck of my alumni radio show…
2008 Alumni Show aircheck audio

…and both parts of my previously discussed interview with Ken Navarro:
Ken Navarro Interview II, Part 1
Ken Navarro Interview II, Part 2
2/3/13 UPDATE: Ken Navarro Interview II-Final Cut

With that out of the way, let’s begin. I arrived on campus at 2:00 on Saturday, a cold (for October), windy day. First, I went to WCWP to put down all my equipment. Then, I walked to Hickox Field to take in the Homecoming atmosphere.

On the field, the C.W. Post Pioneers football team were playing the Millersville Marauders.

WCWP (highlighted in this picture by the black oval) provided the play-by-play:

Bored, and hardly seeing anyone I knew, I walked back to WCWP to prepare for my radio show. It turned out to be a good thing I left when I did, as you’ll find out three pictures down. (By the way, the Pioneers won 55-38, extending their record to 2-5.)

Earlier this year, fellow WCWP alumnus Kevin Jeffreys passed away. This year’s Homecoming and alumni weekend were dedicated to him:

All four news production TVs were tuned to the Studio 1 webcam used exclusively for alumni weekend. Below, you see the football postgame in progress.

The game, and subsequent postgame coverage, ended much sooner than I, and several alumni, thought it would. So, instead of coming on the air at 3:30, I came on at 3:00. Luckily, I found a handful long tracks on the CDs I brought for the original playlist to fill the extra time. Here are some camcorder vidcaps of my show, as seen in the video I linked to at the top of this recap:

Toward the end of the show, I went to the myWCWP website to see what the webcam looked like on the internet stream:

Then, Phil, a current WCWP member, took this picture from one of the news TVs:

Craig Stern, another fellow alum, shot this picture of me at the board:

After the show, it was off to the Pioneer Room on the first floor of Hillwood Commons for the Friends of WCWP Alumni Dinner, where Bernie Bernard hosted her alumni show (Craig Stern is in the first pic):

Here I am with Bernie and Alan Seltzer, who, as the Homecoming Coordinator, is responsible for putting alumni weekend together (updated after Alan’s comment):