{"id":6313,"date":"2010-07-09T00:05:13","date_gmt":"2010-07-09T07:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=6313"},"modified":"2010-07-09T01:07:11","modified_gmt":"2010-07-09T08:07:11","slug":"german-radio-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"O\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"german<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

June, 1996: <\/strong>On the last day of May, I flew to Cologne, Germany, where I was a guest speaker at the Cologne RadioForum. Guido Hecker<\/strong><\/span> and Thomas Pintzke<\/strong><\/span> provided me a fancy suite in the Hyatt Hotel, overlooking the Rhine River, directly across from Cologne’s majestic Cathedral. The view from my portal-shaped window was quite impressive.<\/p>\n

I unpacked and went for a stroll outside. Sitting on a stone bench in a public square, I found myself observing an older man who was preparing his marionettes for a performance \u2014 sitting in his own chair, talking them for test walks on the plaza. I couldn’t help but notice the great affection and tenderness with which he watched over those marionettes…as though he were watching a toddler taking his first steps.<\/p>\n

The Cathedral was so magnificent that I decided to capture it on film. That would be a challenge, considering that I didn’t have a camera with me. I popped into a tourist-y shop and purchased a disposable camera, congratulating myself on how handily I had solved that problem.<\/p>\n

Then I tried to take the photograph.<\/p>\n

Although inexpensive, the camera (it turned out) took quite good photos. But the lens had only one setting, and the Cathedral was so massive that I could not get far enough away from it to encompass it all in a single snapshot.<\/p>\n

So all I can tell you is: Go to Cologne and visit the Cathedral. You’ll be impressed.<\/p>\n

When I returned to my room a couple of hours later, I realized the loud noises I had been hearing were emanating from my stomach. I opened the Room Service menu and while trying to decide what to order, I noticed that a previous hotel guest had marked a dinner selection.<\/p>\n

“H<\/em>e or she must have known what he or she was doing,”<\/em> I reasoned. So I ordered what he or she had marked.<\/p>\n

The dinner turned out to be a good choice, and I found myself wishing my unknown precursor had made other choice on my behalf: Maybe I would find notes on which TV channels to watch, where to buy a better camera, which direction to walk when I set out for some exercise.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I found no such guidance for the television set. I kept looking for an English-language program that could divert me while I flossed my teeth. (Flossing is a time-consuming, laborious process for me.)<\/p>\n

After passing on Columbo<\/em> \u2014 dubbed in German by an actor whose resonant baritone sounds nothing like Peter Falk<\/strong> <\/span>\u2014 I finally settled on a German-dubbed version of the film, BORN LOSERS.<\/em> That was the movie that unleashed the character of Billy Jack onto an unsuspecting world. Not being able to understand the dialogue improved the film measurably.<\/p>\n

The RadioForum had scheduled a day-long session (Air Personality Plus+)<\/em> for me. Toward the end of the day, I led the group in an interactive exercise designed to help them create completely original programming & promotion ideas. The latter half of the exercise consists of attendees spontaneously calling out suggestions and creative refinements.<\/p>\n

Like a few other seminars I have presented, this one was conducted with “simultaneous translation.”<\/p>\n

My words were translated into German by two translators sitting in a soundproof booth at the back of the room. Attendees could listen to me in English….or, with headphones, to the German translation.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, one of the translators stepped out of the booth and gestured wildly to me.<\/p>\n

“Oh, no,”<\/em> I thought. “There’s a technical problem. People can’t understand what I’m saying.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Excuse me,”<\/em> I said to the attendees. “There seems to be a problem in the translation booth.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I turned to the translator and awaited the bad news. She responded by gesturing that I should hand my microphone to her. Great; there must be a problem with the mic.<\/p>\n

She took the microphone from me and spoke directly into it:<\/p>\n

“Here’s a good idea. Why don’t you have your morning show do a special contest where….”<\/em><\/p>\n

The translator, who did not work in radio, had interrupted the session to add her own ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June, 1996: On the last day of May, I flew to Cologne, Germany, where I was a guest speaker at the Cologne RadioForum. Guido Hecker and Thomas Pintzke provided me a fancy suite in the Hyatt Hotel, overlooking the Rhine River, directly across from Cologne’s majestic Cathedral. The view from my portal-shaped window was quite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nO\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"O\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June, 1996: On the last day of May, I flew to Cologne, Germany, where I was a guest speaker at the Cologne RadioForum. Guido Hecker and Thomas Pintzke provided me a fancy suite in the Hyatt Hotel, overlooking the Rhine River, directly across from Cologne’s majestic Cathedral. The view from my portal-shaped window was quite […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-09T07:05:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-07-09T08:07:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/NicoleKidmanTranslator.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\"},\"headline\":\"O\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-09T07:05:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-07-09T08:07:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":696,\"commentCount\":3,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/NicoleKidmanTranslator.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/\",\"name\":\"O\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/NicoleKidmanTranslator.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-09T07:05:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-07-09T08:07:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/NicoleKidmanTranslator.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/NicoleKidmanTranslator.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2010\\\/07\\\/german-radio-conference\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"O\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\",\"description\":\"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\",\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/assistant\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"O\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"O\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","og_description":"June, 1996: On the last day of May, I flew to Cologne, Germany, where I was a guest speaker at the Cologne RadioForum. Guido Hecker and Thomas Pintzke provided me a fancy suite in the Hyatt Hotel, overlooking the Rhine River, directly across from Cologne’s majestic Cathedral. The view from my portal-shaped window was quite […]","og_url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/","og_site_name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio","article_published_time":"2010-07-09T07:05:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-07-09T08:07:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/NicoleKidmanTranslator.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dan O'Day","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_site":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan O'Day","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan O'Day","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c"},"headline":"O\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR","datePublished":"2010-07-09T07:05:13+00:00","dateModified":"2010-07-09T08:07:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/"},"wordCount":696,"commentCount":3,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/NicoleKidmanTranslator.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/","name":"O\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/NicoleKidmanTranslator.jpg","datePublished":"2010-07-09T07:05:13+00:00","dateModified":"2010-07-09T08:07:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/NicoleKidmanTranslator.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/NicoleKidmanTranslator.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/german-radio-conference\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"O\u2019DAY\u2019S TRAVEL WOES #80: THE GERMAN TRANSLATOR STAGES A COUP DURING MY SEMINAR"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/","name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","description":"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c","name":"Dan O'Day","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/author\/assistant\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6313"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6328,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6313\/revisions\/6328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}