Waiting in the lobby the elevator opened and we were welcomed by a man in a track jacket. The first thing I noticed about this guy was his voice. He had a subtle accent about him that suggested he had been to other places other than Winnipeg.
Bubba B the MC - or Bubba B - invited all eight of us into the old elevator that brought us up to the HOT 103 and QX 104 studios in the old building in Winnipeg's Exchange District.
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We brought our four Career Trek participants on a field trip to give them a feel of what it was like to work in a real radio station and in the radio industry. Bubba B was our connection to the real world and I was blown away by the inspiration we got from this dude at the microphone.
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| Bubba B giving live, up-to-date Winnipeg weather conditions |
This guy was super awesome - he used the analogy of HOT 103 as a spaceship and how Ace Burpee, Chrissy Troy, and LTI launch the spaceship from the ground and into space to meet the space station floating around in space. In the space station, Chris Fantini was like the astronaut-scientist who knew all about space walking and all the crazy stuff he needed to do to keep the audience listening to the show for the rest of the day. Finally, Bubba B brings the spaceship back home to Earth after a long journey through space. His job was to land it safely after all the struggles and triumph it had encountered through the day.
Bubba B was very inspirational about his own journey through his radio career. He talked about how he got started in Calgary, AB in Canada and thought he was going to get his big break. After waiting for two years thinking he'd finally get his own radio show, he found himself leaving the radio industry altogether. He was an artist himself. He wrote his own songs and recorded them too. After Calgary, he left the radio industry and forgot about his passion in music, not doing anything related to it for six years.
"Winnipeg saved me," said Bubba sitting in the radio station in front of the three widescreen computer monitors.
What he said truly inspired me and I was sure it inspired the four fourteen-year-old participants in the room as well.
He described the path to his career as tough but he kept trying. He described HOT 103 as a defining moment in his life that told him radio was clearly his passion. He remembered hearing one of his favourite songs on the radio and on that particular incident, he knew he was doing was he was supposed to be doing - being an on-air talent for a radio station, engulfed in music and creativity.
Another memorable thing about Bubba was his use of water as an analogy. He quoted Bruce Lee when he said "be like water" meaning be ready to take different forms in radio. Working in radio meant a person needed to be able to work with anything that was thrown at them. Bubba works at night but if he were to get a phone call in the morning saying he had to fill in for a sick co-worker, he knew he had to be at the studio in the morning on top of what he had to do at night.
Bubba also explained knowing the different forms water could take was essential when working with other people. Knowing when to be 'liquid' and knowing when to be 'ice' in different situations when dealing with people was important because it allowed you to deal with problems and come up with solutions. Knowing when to be easy on yourself and knowing when to be strict to push yourself to your limits would help you achieve your goals in life.
I didn't know much about Bubba B before the tour but after listening to him talk that night allowed me to learn more about the radio industry and also about Bubba B himself. Bubba was honest, relatable, and most of all, inspiring. He was definitely one of the coolest Winnipeggers I've met in a while. One thing I could tell you for sure was that Bubba was not bothered by Winnipeg's extreme cold or annoying mosquitoes - a mark of a proud Winnipeg man. Thanks Bubba B!
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