Random Selection: The Beginning

Larry Wayne

I can't tell you how often people say to me "You have so many stories, you should write a book."  Well, since I don't have access to a publishing company, or an editing team, I guess I'll have to settle on writing a blog.  The positive is that there are no deadlines, and no stress about trying to get every grammatical point correct which will make the journey all the more enjoyable.

For quite some time, I've wanted to write about my random experiences, and on random topics - thus the name Random Selection.  My plan is to come across someone, something, or some place that's interesting to me and share my thoughts about whatever it may be. 

I hope to incorporate photos into the stories where possible to provide a visual basis for you, the reader, to have a point of reference.  Plus, pictures make a a blog more appealing as a whole. I actually toyed with the idea of creating a photo-blog, but I'm too long winded to allow a picture to tell a story on its own.  But we'll see, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.  For my purposes, I hope that most of these essays are shorter than 500 words apiece.  I figure if I don't have to write mini-books, I might be apt see blogging as less of a burden and keep the posting consistent.

Regarding labels, my goal is to include a generalized topic, and likely the town - if the photo or story warrants it. 

This blog is semi-dedicated to Larry Wayne who I used to listen to on Radio Deutsche Welle (The Voice of Germany) via Shortwave Radio in the 1980s.  Larry Wayne (his real name is Larry Wolfberg) had a weekly segment called Random Selection - Living in Germany which aired on Sundays.  Larry would often relate stories on a variety of current events, newspaper stories, and his own observations on happenings around him.  It's really an art to be able to tell a story in a way that captures a reader or listener.  Larry Wayne captured my undivided attention for the 7-10 minutes that he spoke, often made me laugh, and wanting more.  To top my experience, he actually read a few of my letters on the air that I sent him while attending college.

Larry is long retired from Deutsche Welle.  But I understand that he is still in radio, and works for a Swedish station playing Jazz music (see http://www.larryjazz.com/). He's also the author of the book Radio Man, which I hate to admit, - I haven't yet read.  But Larry - thanks for the years of stories and laughs. And while I'm at it -  thanks to both Glenn Hauser of DX Listening Digest, and Rob Sobkoviak for helping me to track down Larry's whereabouts after all of these years.

Well, that's it for now.  Hopefully, I'll keep you entertained. Now where to begin....?