Radio Stories Back in the Day

Jim, Elizabeth and me.

This is a shot of my favorite radio editor, Jim Davis, and young Elizabeth Montgomery in March of 1998 on the occasion of Elizabeth and me recording an play-like essay I wrote for WVTF Public Radio.

Elizabeth, who was 9 or 10 at the time, played a little girl named Julia that I was teaching to pitch a softball in a story about what kids teach us, based on real events. She was quite good. Better than I was, in fact, which is a pretty low, truth be told.

Elizabeth is now the young mother of two children and the daughter of my friend John Montgomery, who publishes Play-By-Play magazine in Roanoke. She has always been one of my favorite young people.

Jim made me sound like somebody who could actually read with his editing. Truth is I'm a truly lousy out-loud reader who's given to fumbling, bumbling and shouting "SHIT!" in the middle of sentences. He edited that out, bless his heart. He and VTF parted for reasons I've never determined, but he was a good editor and remains a good guy.