My first call to BS was on June 8, 2010. I had thought of this idea earlier in the week (a sign of a BAD idea) and called in once the music portion of the show ended. The Black Hollies band was becoming very well known, yet did not have their own Wikipedia page, and I wanted to challenge the listeners to see if someone would do it before 11:30 that night, otherwise I would start one. I had never called in to a radio show before, so everything was very new to me. I was surprised that such a popular show had only one line going in--I kept getting busy signals every time I dialed. After almost 10 minutes trying I decided to try 3 more times to see if I could get through.
Finally I heard ringing at the 2nd of those attempts. Mike answered but mumbled "MHTIMST"? (FOTs say Mike answers as "Best Show?") He vetted me, asked if I had something for the topic, which I didn't - it was just announced a few minutes before when I was still trying to dial. Suddenly I heard the show over my phone, jumped forward in time without the radio Delay! I switched to speakerphone because I was on hold for like a half-hour or something, always answering "Hello, Tom?" after every "'FMU, you're on the air". Eventually he got to me, and I was so excited. I listened to the Archive days after to listen to my call objectively, and actually I handled it well for the first half, but while I was waiting to call in I never thought about whether my call would make good radio. When that idea flopped, I made the second mistake of not having any backup idea. I floundered on the air, and Tom mercifully killed that call.
My phone was off the hook before I figured that out, so I turned up my computer speakers again to hear his "commentary": I didn't mind being called "Willy Wonka" because I love the movies and my unreasonable request kind of fits into that, but what really hurt was 10 seconds or so of DEAD AIR before he moved on to other calls. I love the BS and wanted to be a part of it, instead I fucked up even after I went off; I realize how bad dead air is in radio. Well the past is past, I learned what doesn't make a good call; I still want to come in with a good call, I'll just wait till I think of one.
"Matt from Springfield" [Virginia]