WHO Is "All Of Me"?

"Hi, everyone!"

"Good night, everybody."

"I want to thank all of you...."

"Some of you may...."

Does this kind of thing bother you? I mean, who the hell are these people talking to, anyway? Just exactly who is "all of me," or even "some of me"?

OK, so it doesn't bother you....but it does me. Par for the course.

One of the main things I remember from my radio broadcasting training back in 1971 is that when we were on the air, or recording a voiceover on a commercial, we were supposed to visualize ONE PERSON we were talking to. Some students were really good at that and others weren't (I wasn't). For me and the other "visualizing-challenged" folks, it was suggested that we actually bring a photograph into the studio and talk to THAT.

The point was, this method was supposed to instill a kind of genuineness into our voices as we spoke. It made what we said REAL to our listener (notice I use the singular noun here).

Because in the final analysis, we were speaking to ONE PERSON......multiplied many times over. (OK, OK, in the radio markets I worked in, I am convinced that ONE PERSON was not multiplied very many times over at all......especially Wednesday nights at 10 PM.....especially for my show. Even when I had Shirley The Rooster as my guest. Or maybe BECAUSE I had Shirley The Rooster.....)

But it didn't matter!! Quality over quantity, right?? The ONE PERSON who was listening KNEW IN HIS OR HER HEART AND SOUL THAT I WAS SPEAKING TO THEM AND ONLY THEM!!

Cause I had a picture there with me....which I looked at when I spoke.

And, nowadays, it rankles......I (or someone like me) am continually addressed collectively as "all of you" or "some of you". By radio and TV people, by public speakers, in print, on the web. By people who should know better. By people who OBVIOUSLY did not attend the Ron Bailie School of Broadcast.

It is constant. And nerve-wracking.

I have news for you, people:

There is only ME out here. Not some of me, not all of me, not everybody.....just ME! 24/7.

Visualize me, or hang my picture on the camera/microphone/lectern.

C'mon, talk to me.