By Dave Young
This is my dad in 1958. He was the prototype for Mad Men. Don’t you wish we had a few stories from those days? I do.
My dad died almost 23 years ago at the way-too-young age of 65.
Here’s the really sad part, looking back over a couple of decades…
I don’t have any personal recordings of his voice, and he spent almost his entire adult life in the broadcasting business. Yep, he had full access to recording studios, tape decks and broadcast quality microphones but we never recorded any personal stories that his grandkids could hear today.
Tomorrow Never Came
We thought, “we can always do it…we’ll do it tomorrow…or next week…or whenever.”
To paraphrase Garth Brooks, “Tomorrow never came.”
We Got Another Chance
When my mom got sick last fall, I bought a quality portable digital recorder on my way back home.
Here’s mom and dad at their lake cabin in the 1970s. Two weeks before she died, we got a recording of mom talking about fun times at Lake McConoughy.
In the last 3 weeks of her life, we recorded several hours of stories from her childhood, college, marriage and more. I’ve got them in audio form and will eventually transcribe them and the sounds and words will be saved for posterity, grandkids and beyond.
Even with her weak voice, she is clearly “grandma” to my kids. Someday, just having these recordings will mean a great deal to them.
Now, you’re probably asking yourself, “Can’t I just go buy the same recorder and do this myself?”
OF COURSE YOU CAN!
Why haven’t you? Go do it. Do it now! Do it often!
I used a Zoom H1 Handy Portable Digital Recorder to record my mom’s stories. Here’s a link to the same recorder on Amazon: (Buy the Zoom H1 at Amazon)
But…if you don’t want to wait, or you don’t think you’ll really get around to it…
Here’s What We’ll Do for YOU:
We’ll send a trusted local professional radio broadcaster to record a live in-person interview at the location you choose. The subject of the interview will be a dozen digital photographs that YOU provide.
We’ll ask questions about each photo, recording the stories that you’ve enjoyed hearing from your relative over the course of your lifetime as the subject of the photo is discussed.After we get the recording made, we’ll turn it into a nice video slideshow, with audio narration from the subject of the interview. The narration will go along with the photos, and we’ll even give you the option of adding extra photos (related to the stories, of course).
NOTE: The person we interview DOES NOT need to be old or sick to qualify. Just someone whose stories you wish to preserve.
(Of course, we’ll also send you the raw audio file, so you can archive it and edit it for yourself if you want.)
Interested?
We’re selling a VERY LIMITED (less than you can count on both hands) number of these packages so we can experiment with the best way to get the recordings, save them, and turn them into a nice video.
For this beta version of this service, we are asking that you or someone that you designate, be available to be present during the interview.
Here’s how it works:
Reserving your place in our limited test program is only $499.
Once you’ve reserved your place, I’ll phone you to discuss a few more details before we find a professional broadcaster to conduct the interview.
We will also send you a detailed questionnaire about the person you’ve chosen for the interview. We’ll need contact information, the type of stories/photographs you will be providing and any specific points you want us to ask regarding a specific photo.
About Us
Shortcut Blogging is a web-content production consultancy. This is our first venture in direct-to-consumer services.
We built this company to serve our own needs after staring at our own computer monitors waiting for blog posts to magically appear.”
Dave Young
Co-Founder
This company was built to help people who wear too many hats. They know blogging has a great deal of potential. They just don’t have the time.”
Paul Boomer
Co-Founder
Paul Boomer and Dave Young are partners in the Wizard of Ads’ marketing and consulting group, founded by Roy H. Williams. Young is the author of Why We Blog, a why-to book on blogging published in 2004. Boomer is a self-taught expert on several different blogging systems, including the hugely popular WordPress platform.
Together, Paul and Dave have taught blogging classes at the famed Wizard Academy in Austin, TX as well as in other seminar sessions for budding authors and business owners. Both had careers in the radio industry before branching out to become independent consultants.
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