Mike Matson

A year-and-a-half ago I was met with an opportunity too good to pass up. It came about while working with the owner/publisher of The Manhattan Mercury on combining the operations of the paper with his family-owned radio stations.   It went sort of like this: “Hey Matson, given your background and experience, why don’t you design and host a radio talk show that we can sell?”   There was some altruism baked in. One topic per hour, one, maybe two guests per topic, use it as a ve

The staircase steps were small and closely spaced on purpose, designed for children. Taking them one at a time felt like a lot of work without much visible progress. Two or more at a time was just as uncomfortable.   The comfortable balance was never found.   The broadcasting operations owned by what was then Stauffer Communications (one TV station, two radio stations, and three radio networks) were housed in a building that started life as a schoolhouse for Security Benefit

Social media post: “ Deadline for my next newspaper column is 24 hours away, and I’ve not a clue about what to write. Crowdsourcing ideas.”   A welder from Abilene: “The weather.”   Public radio station manager in northern California: “Writers block.”   Education advocate: “The mess that is college athletics.”   Fellow author: “If I had an idea, I would write about it. A weekly column is torture.” (Mine’s only twice a month, so maybe not torture. What comes right before water