The K-ZAP Short Tail (A Blog) – Mark in the Dark, (our new “Foreign Correspondent”) speaks:

The K-ZAP  Short Tail – Mark in the Dark, our new “Foreign Correspondent”  speaks:

Let’s start with that K-ZAP cat. I got into internet radio over ten years ago, looking for more interesting radio. I have several of them around the house, portable. Scrolling  through thousands of stations; online radio in English is mostly Country and Christian, as far as I can tell; dance, soul, and a few mad people…

I found K-ZAP several years ago, non-commercial music radio out of Sacramento, Calif. About a year ago I saw they had merchandise online. I asked them if I could get a sticker. They tried, but their auto-mailing wouldn’t send outside the USA. Then again this summer I saw something on line and had another go. This time the main man of the station emailed back. He asked if I had any experience of radio; they love English voices here, he said. We got a conversation going, and I sent him a voice clip, adding that I’ve always sounded to me like I’m about thirteen.

‘You do sound younger than your rumored 62 years,’ (note US spelling) he responded; ‘a bit like Phil Collins by the fireside’ he added, (I laughed a lot at that) I acquired the professional-quality microphone they named, and worked on the online playlists for a few months – I’ve always been able to talk easily but it’s a discipline, speaking for radio. Concise, with an energy level above normal speech but still sounding easy and conversational. Brevity, clarity, precise accuracy, breath control, without fluffs. A lot harder than it sounds. A real learning experience.

I went live in October. Find me online at K-Zap.org  on Tuesdays 8am-2pm GMT. It’s lots of fun! But really quite hard work. I have a listener in New Zealand, though, someone I’ve not seen for about 30 years. She says I sound just the same as when she knew me. Too kind, ma’am. 🙂