Media

  Being the president of the MTRA meant that I was the face of the association.  It also meant that I needed to do media interviews.  My vice president had some contacts in the local media, which helped us get noticed.

 He reached out to the editor of The State newspaper.  We got an appointment to see him.  It was supposed to be a 30-minute meeting that lasted over two hours.  The result was a nice article in The State about our work.  We were put on the map.  That led to a TV appearance on WACH.  It was for a show called "On Point" with Cynthia Hardy.  Keith and I went to that.  She did a nice interview with us.  I was asked back to be part of a focal group on Black History Month.  There were three of us on that show.  I was the only one from the MTRA.  At the end of the show, Cynthia turned to me and asked if I had anything to add.  The words that came out of my mouth were words I had not planned to say.  I said, "History is important, because it helps you move forward."  Where did this profound sentence come from?  I was inspired.

 The next show I went on was "Awareness" on WIS.  It was a show geared toward African-Americans, and I was there to talk about our work to get better bus service to Lower Richland and Downtown Columbia.  My main message involved something that Edventure Children's Museum did for the schoolchildren of Lower Richland.  Edventure gave 400 passes to the children to come to the museum.  The problem was that many of the children couldn't get there without public transportation.  That was the catalyst for our work in getting them to downtown easily.

 Keith and I went on WOLO for an interview about our work.  It was a short interview, but we made our points about the need for better routes.  The only TV station in Columbia that didn't have us on was WLTX.  We made several overtures to them, but they didn't seem interested.  I even reached out to two of their anchors and one reporter to see if we could get an interview.  I always got the same response.  They would have to check with their producers.  I cornered a producer at an event.  He seemed interested, but I never heard back.  One of the places Keith and I did go was on the radio.  We did two shows with Frank Knapp.  

 A reporter from the Free Times weekly newspaper used me to comment on anything that came up regarding transit.  I also wrote a couple of editorials for that newspaper.  That was what it was like being the face of the MTRA.  And, I really enjoyed doing those appearances.  After all, writing and being in front of a camera is what I do best.