Airlift Mike & Trick Or Treat In Old New Orleans

Well, it’s that time of year again, when a morning dog walk through the ‘hood yields visions of ghosts, witches & goblins, all sharing front yard space with – the blessed Virgin Mary!

Only in New Orleans.

OK, possibly in other parts of America, but never more pronounced than here in a 300-year-old city predominately old Spanish, old French – and very Catholic.

So, in the spirit of Halloween, yours truly decided this past week to do a little bit of audio trick or treating of my own.

After spending quite a bit of time re-designing my Airlift Productions website, I went to work, trick or treating…

In an attempt to find some new folks to work with, some new “playmates in the sandbox”, the Shadeaux and I went to the internet, since no one really picks up a work phone anymore, and receptionists actually answering a phone is so last century.

AirliftProductionsMichealZiantsAndTheShadowOnTheJob
Airlift Mike & The Shadeaux at Airlift Productions, where Every day is ‘Take your doggie to work’ day

After doing a google search on the top advertising agencies in New Orleans, visiting each of their respective websites (amazingly, some had none), I wrote each one a rather succinct email, or simply filled-out their ‘contact page’ form.

I merely told each agency that I had been a voice talent, writer, studio owner, and audio production dude here in NOLA for the past 30 years and wanted to connect with them to discuss possible future work together.

These words were followed by an invitation for each of them to visit my website for corroborating material – audio, video, studio pics, and testimonials.

In closing, I simply asked, “May we talk?” And closed with a signature, phone number, and  the line “much respect”.

So, what happened?

After a substantial, decades-long contribution to the media DNA of New Orleans – years of audio production and voice work, shouldering the outdoor campaigns of WGNO and WNOL, WDSU and WVUE all old-school (reel-to-reel tape dubs in cardboard boxes), 17 years with the Lamarque Motor Company, ten years pro bono with the United Way, twelve years producing all the radio campaigns for The Esplanade Mall ….

Nothing.

Crickets…. Not a single reply.

Trick or Treat!?!

“Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse” … er, ah, a millennial. Wait a tick, I’m in the wrong holiday!

Either way, sorry, gang, but the way my mother raised me, I see this back-handed treatment as just downright rude.

Whether I’m considered (along with my formidable studio) irrelevant, old-school & ‘dated’ – or a threat, in the business world, of which advertising agencies sure are a part,  the courtesy of a reply is appropriate.

How about one more thought.

The prophet will always be without honor in his own land.

Oh, and a Happy Halloween to you and yours.

*******************************************************************

Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy & Digital Magic from New Orleans since 1984 

DelGiorno, WTN Nashville & Airlift Mike in 2017

The email came into the Airlift Productions Studios to my attention, innocently enough, just last week from a producer at WTN Nashville with a simple question…

WTN Nashville’s Talk Show Host MICHAEL DELGIORNO at the studios, along with a close friend, Donald who?

Would I be able to make myself available for an interview the following morning with Michael DelGiorno?

Well, color me intrigued.

Of course I agreed, and then found myself back on the air in Nashville on October 4th, 2017 being “grilled, chilled and thrilled” (sorry Acme Oyster House) by Michael DelGiorno himself!

As the fates would have it, growing up in New Orleans as the son of famed WWL talk show host Bob DelGiorno, young Michael was an unabashed fan of that Q-93 Radio Mike McCann dude.

Really?

Dude, who knew?

WTN Nashville’s MICHAEL DELGIORNO with his  pop WWL’s BOB DELGIORNO

Together with stories about meeting me briefly back in the 1980s at the WQUE studios and the huge impact my on-air work had on him back in the day, he salt ‘n peppered-in probing questions about the way I dressed back then (my choice of jeans) – and even this choice one,  “Did you ever date (then-WDSU-TV Anchor) Lynn Gansar?”

 

It was all a lot of FUN. And very, very flattering.

We reminisced, caught up and laughed – HARD – about many things –  my early WGNO-Tribune TV announcer days, Scoot’s transition to talk radio (not pretty), and the times I recorded both his dad, for TV-radio spots, and his brother Bobby, for Ray Brandt TV-radio campaigns at the Airlift Productions Iberville location in the ’90s.

And it all came out of Nashville radios like this….

**** 10-4-17 WTN Nashville Interview with Mike McCann ***

Gee, the POWER of radio, huh?

As I traveled town-to-town all those years – Harrisburg to St. Louis, on into Nashville, then Philadelphia, and on to New Orleans, I always thought of myself as a modern day ‘Johnny Appleseed’, sowing little seeds and nuggets of wisdom & whimsy among the records I played.

But little did I know, until just last week, that one would find fertile soil in the heart, soul and mind of little Mikey DelGiorno.

I do now.

Chalk another one up to the powerful – yet intimate – MAGIC of radio.

Oh yeah, and a free dinner and Tennessee Titans game are now but a cell phone call and a road trip car ride away.

*******************************************************************

L-R.HeathAllen, TheresaAnderssonMichealZiantsRichLenzAirliftProductionsNOLA
L-R, Heath Allen, Theresa Andersson, Micheal Ziants, Rich Lenz – during a break from the original HEALING HOUSE sessions, Airlift Productions 2004

“For years, I have worked with Micheal Ziants and Airlift Productions recording songs for Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Miracle Network.  Mike’s attention to detail is legendary, but his commitment to the kids and the challenges they face goes far beyond that.  He gets it.   Professionally, he’s as good as it gets.  Everyone SOUNDS better after a session with Mike.  And no matter what the audio project, you FEEL better after a session with Airlift.  That’s “Z” truth! ~ Heath Allen, WDSU-TV Reporter, and veteran guitar picker

**************************************************************

Airlift Productions – Audio Alchemy & Digital Magic from NOLA since 1984… we’ll leave the light on for you!