World in My Eyes: The Autobiography by Richard Blade

Author:Richard Blade [Blade, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948080507
Amazon: 1948080508
Publisher: Indigo River Publishing
Published: 2017-10-30T04:00:00+00:00

T.V.O.D.

The phone call was totally unexpected but the words I heard coming down the line were something I had dreamed of and hoped for since being a young boy. I think as we’re growing up many of us secretly wish to be on television. It had certainly been in my thoughts as a kid, so much so that I put it on my list when I was just ten years old.

I knew I would never be a great actor; my years studying drama at Oxford had convinced me of that. I could hit my mark and remember my lines but I could never get lost in the role and become the character. When I was on stage a part of my mind was always saying to me “What would he do next?” rather than letting myself be in the moment and playing the part as it happened.

Working with the talented cast of Square Pegs—Sarah Jessica Parker, Jami Gertz and Merritt Butrick—as young as they were, reinforced my thoughts. Those young actors were so fluid and natural that they were already at a level I had to struggle to keep up with. So my problem became: If I couldn’t be someone else on TV who could I be? The answer was simple: myself.

In January 1981 while I was in Bakersfield at Magic 98 I read in a trade publication of a small cable channel planning to launch on the east coast that summer that would play nothing but music videos. I knew immediately that could be huge.

I contacted the local TV station that worked with my radio station and they helped me film a five-minute on-camera demo which I dutifully mailed off to Les Garland and Robert Pittman at that start-up channel in New York. The months went by and I heard nothing back and watched sadly as MTV debuted on August 1 of that year.

Now, sitting in the production room of KROQ on that Thursday morning in October 1982, I picked up the phone expecting a sales call and instead received the chance of a lifetime.

“This Richard Blade?” said the voice on the phone.

“That’s me. How can I help you?”

“My name’s Steve Poole. I’m putting together a music video show for television. We’re looking for someone to do a daily rock report on it. Think you could do that?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” I said.

“Do you have all your hair and teeth?”

I laughed, “Yes, last time I looked.”

“Our studio is in Burbank. Can you be there this afternoon with a sixty-second piece on a band prepared? That way we can test you on camera.”

As I wrote and voiced ROQ Notes every day for KROQ that would be no problem for me. I would just use that day’s segment.

“Sure, give me the address and time and I’ll be there.”

Two hours later I was heading west on the 134 freeway, running the script out loud to myself in the car. As I sped downhill towards Glendale I clearly remember thinking that if I pulled it off and landed this gig that everything would change for me once again.

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