In this episode you will learn about LCC Broadcast Services Manager, Daedalian Lowry, and how he got into broadcasting. We also chat about what his passions outside of work and how it connects back to his podcast, Shining Stars.

Shining Stars Podcast

LCC Art & Design Degrees & Programs

Hey, hey, hey. This is Lisa A. And you're listening to who's that Star? On LCC Connect at Lansing Community College. Who's that Star?

Is a behind the scenes show where I sit down and talk with the employees at the college.

This is an inside look at LCC where you will have a chance to learn about their passions, projects, what inspires them both at work and in their personal lives. I'm your host, Lisa Alexander. I'm so excited to get a chance to talk to all the people who make LCC great.

This show is for you to get to know the people that work at Lansing Community College a little bit more and see what makes them tick. Are you ready? Okay, let's go see who's today's star.

Our star today is someone who is really helping me out a lot.

His knowledge in the area of radio and broadcasting has supported a great history of radio at LCC. His voice will be familiar if you are listening to any media surrounding LCC. I think he's a cool dude.

He's been helping me with this whole process to do this show. I don't know what I would have done without him. All right, are you ready? Drumroll, please. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm glad to welcome Daedalian Lawry.

How you doing?

Welcome, Daedalian. I'm so glad you're here. I mean, really glad.

It is good to be here.

So, Dalian, let's get started a little bit about what your role is at the college.

Sure. I am the broadcast services manager here at Lansing Community College mostly these days, overseeing a lot of what we are doing right now.

And that is the programs and podcasts that you hear on LCC Connect.

Beyond that, I kind of just like anybody here at LCC, I have other various roles that step out a little bit outside of my job, but always fun stuff, no matter what I do.

Say. Duties as assigned, huh?

Yes, yes. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Well, Dadalia, how long have you been in radio and broadcasting?

Yeah, it's interesting to me. Like, you just hooked up with WLNZ. Did you do an internship? How did you get to WLNZ and well, back.

Yeah, back when I started here at Lansing Community College, in fact, the media technology program was in full force, and it was the reason I started here at Lansing Community College. I had gone through a few different career changes prior to getting into radio. And radio was one of those things that I always had an interest in.

And there was a point where one gentleman, okay, so like, I'm going to take you way back now. So this is back to, like the time when I was going to msu.

There was a point where a gentleman that I knew used to come into the place I worked, which was Burger King. I was a manager at Burger King at the time. He'd come in and he had Q106, like a folder. And, you know, I. I finally got up the nerve to ask him.

I said, so, what's the Q106 folder about? You know, do you work over there at Q106? He's like, yeah, yeah.

I actually went to Lansing Community College, and this guy Dave Downing, my predecessor, he actually showed me the ropes, and I went through the program and ended up, you know, getting into radio. Well, at the time, radio was not an interest of mine, but I always kept that in the back of my mind.

And by that, I mean, it wasn't my career objective at that point.

Right.

And after going out into the world and working. So I worked as a marketing coordinator for about a year is what it was, a marketing coordinator for an insurance company.

And I couldn't stand the job. So a year on the dot, you know, I told myself, I'm going to give this a year. If I. If I can get into this within a year, then that's cool.

That's what I'm going to do. I'm kind of answering your question around about way.

Yeah, no, go ahead.

But I went a full year and to the date I actually quit that job and decided, you know what? Forget all of this. Forget everything I've been trying for. I am going to go back to school for what I've always wanted to do, and that was radio.

And so I ended up picking up classes here at LCC. Now, getting back to your question. They had a media technology program here at LCC.

And I started off originally as kind of a volunteer around the station. So I'd help out here at WLNZ with different things. I'm trying to remember some of the stuff we used to do.

Listening to music, reviewing records is what we called it. And then eventually I submitted a tape to Dave and what we call an error Check.

And he said, hey, yeah, I'd love to have you on board as a student employee.

Oh, wow.

So I started off as a student employee, and I think it was probably about a year after that I climbed on as the assistant program director here at LCC after the previous assistant program director left. So that's how I got involved.

Wow. I mean, that's a rich history that you have here with LCC. And it's like you've kind of started, what, 22 years ago?

Yeah, yeah, it was about 22 years. Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, really? Where'd you go?

Yes. So at the time, I was married.

And radio is one of those industries that you have to be willing to pick up and move to other locations in order to continue to make progress, you know, to get into elevation. Career.

Yeah, yeah.

Elevate your career. And being married, that was one of those things where I thought, I don't know that I necessarily want to, you know, continue on this path.

Right.

And I always had, like, the ability to do design type stuff, so I actually ended up getting a degree here at Lansing Community College and something else. Yeah. I started doing graphic design.

Oh, wow.

Okay. Oh, so you have a really wide variety of experiences here at LCC.

Yes. And I knew that was something about me that you didn't know at all.

I didn't know. I had no clue.

Yep, yep. So there was about four years that I worked as a graphic designer here at the college. And then my.

My predecessor, Dave Downing, when he retired, I got pulled back into radio again because I was like, you know, they were like, would you be interested in kind of. I'm trying to. What do they call it? What do they call it when you do it for a little bit?

Intern.

Thank you. I knew you'd have the word.

I was like, so I was an intern for a little bit, and then after that I applied for the job and became the radio station's general manager.

And here you are today. Huh?

Here I am sitting in front of you and here you are.

I know. Wow. I know. That's a whole new story. It's amazing, though, how an interaction with someone and just noticing something about them was your. Aha.

Moment, in a way, and it took a little bit of time to get there, but you actually got to do your passion, and that's a wonderful thing.

Yes, I did. And I've got to do it on multiple levels because I would also say that graphic design is one of my passions. Art is one of my passions.

And I have been fortunate that here at LCC, I don't know if they've let me or again, or if it's just a matter of. Because of my interest, I usually seem to be able to incorporate a number of different things that I love to do in one job.

Right. Yeah.

And that has been awesome. It has been a great part of being here at LCC.

Yeah, I think that's a really cool part of the opportunity to work here is that you get to explore your interests outside of just your main job. I'm an academic academic advisor, and now I'm on the radio, so.

And that is true.

And you know, the funny thing too is even as a graphic designer in the marketing department, there was a point where I actually got to write radio spots, come down here, record those. So, you know, again, I'm. I'm still doing, you know, different things that go beyond the job description.

And that's kind of what I was getting at earlier is, is I've just always seemed to end up picking up something else somewhere that just is an interest for me. So that's always been a wonderful part about being here at LCC.

Yeah. I think it keeps you engaged in your job to have the opportunity to get to experience different things. And so that's pretty cool.

Well, I know you manage everyone here, but you also currently have a show on LCC Connect too.

I do.

Could you tell me a little bit about that?

Yeah. Okay. So, geez, I'm trying to figure out where to start on this.

When we originally decided to do LCC Connect, obviously one of the things that they expected from me was to create my own show. And I have been on an interesting journey, I think, over my lifetime in that. And I've explained it to other people before.

I do not come from a family of positive thinkers or anything like that. And I'm not going to say that they were a terrible family to grow up with. They weren't there.

I love them all, but it seems like anytime I look back on what we were doing, it takes a lot of hard work. That was always kind of everything was hard, and I didn't inherit positive thinking as a part of who I am.

It has been a thing where over the years, I've made a conscious effort to become more of a positive thinker and to try to think and project and be more positive, because I believe that what you put out there is what you get, for sure. And I also wanted to create something that allowed the various nonprofits in our area, an opportunity, a platform to be able to get the word out.

So the goal was to stretch myself a little bit outside of my comfort zone, because that's the other thing. And as you can tell, I'm getting more comfortable with talking about it, but.

But I haven't always been very comfortable talking about positivity or even the objective of trying to be more positive. And that was my goal for me personally.

But in addition to that, the idea was to put that positivity out there, because again, put it out there and it comes back, whether that be me personally or for the college in general, because I do believe that is a great thing for the college to offer this as a platform for these nonprofits to help them get the word out, something that is beyond the college.

And very often, even today, I had an interview with a young man who had such a beneficial experience at Lansing Community College that he would not probably be doing what he is doing. You'll have to wait for the episode. But he would not be doing what he is doing.

And he is working with youth and doing some wonderful things out there. So that's awesome.

Wow.

And that's the goal of Shining Stars.

Wow. That's a good premise.

Stinking thinking sometimes prevents you from doing a lot, reaching your goals and to have positivity in your life and how it can change it. It's a good goal for everybody.

Do you consider yourself automatically a positive thinker or. No, no. It's gonna become my show.

I know, right? No, I struggle with.

I think that, like you, my parents were really good people, but we had that work ethic and that you have to really make sure that you do this and have a contingency plan for that. And it was like, sometimes that takes out the fun of it. And so.

And I can even tell you that even, you know, originally I went to Michigan State University. That's where I got my first degree.

And when I went there, my parents, you know, again, God bless them, they're wonderful people, but they didn't instill in me the idea that you should do what you love. It was, you want something to go to school for, something that is going to be a safe bet where you're gonna make a good living at.

And that was because, you know, we didn't have a lot of money growing up, and I completely understood that. But they instilled that fear in me.

Right. Exactly.

Where, you know, everything is scarce and you need to make sure that you're covered. Whereas I feel like if they had pointed me in a different direction earlier in life, and I'm not by any means blaming them.

Oh, sure.

But it's one of those things where I wish they had told me, find something you're passionate about, something that you love. I probably would have been a little bit further down the road faster than I am now.

Whereas I feel like I've finally gotten to the point where I've almost figured out what I want to be when I grow up. Yeah.

But, I mean, I think you took that. That. The chance, right? You. I did several times outside of the comfort zone, and you.

You thought about what you wanted to do, and you made a plan to get there because you were passionate about it, and you've become successful at that because of your passion. And I know I told you how. I am amazed when I hear you on the radio. I'm like, this is for real, you know, like, your voice, of your training.

You know, this is a really serious craft for you, and you do it well.

And so I appreciate the.

Yeah. I'm just so glad that you stuck with it and didn't let. What people. Even our parents, even.

They love us, and they have good intention, and their experiences are different from ours, but you were still able to find and do what was meant for you and bless us all. So that's a great thing. But, you know, Dalian, I've heard a lot about what you do at LCC.

Do you mind telling me something that you're passionate about doing outside in your personal life?

Oh, I'm afraid it's probably gonna come back to LCC no matter what I do. Okay. The one thing that I. I probably should share more, and yet I don't. I'm not completely comfortable with it. And it's writing. I write poetry.

Oh, really?

I do. It's goofy poetry, though. Are you familiar with Shel Silverstein?

No.

Okay. Shel Silverstein was a writer. I think he goes all the way back to the late 60s. Anyway, he did. I'm trying to even think. See, this is the thing.

When I'm sitting in front of the mic and somebody's interviewing me, I have a hard time thinking for sure. Anyway, he did a number of wonderful poetry books that were more goofy poetry. And that's kind of what it Is that I do.

Beyond that, I write short stories. And this is the part that relates back to LCC. We used to do as LCC radio. We used to do these radio plays.

And I wrote, I want to say three of those from scratch, where it wasn't, you know. And I also did a number of adaptations. Like I did Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was a really terrible 60s movie. Are you familiar with it?

No, I'm not.

It was awful. So I rewrote it to be called Mar. Santa versus the Martians. So I did that one. I did a rewrite, a radio adaptation of Little Shop of horrors.

Not the 80s version, but the original, which is just an awful movie, too.

Wow.

But they are fun to rewrite and you can add your own humor into it.

And then I turned around and wrote the Great Christmas Caper, which was one of our radio plays, and one called Anti Claus, which was all about Santa Claus's. Wow.

Okay, now that's a different spin. I totally wasn't thinking. I don't know what I was thinking.

Well, I was thinking, like, Auntie Claus, like, not for Santa Claus, but you were thinking correctly.

It was. It was a play on words. So the idea was that she was up against Santa and trying to defeat Christmas, but at the same time, she was Santa's aunt.

Right. Oh, okay, cool. That's pretty sweet. That is a play on will, for sure. For sure. So, wow. It sounds like you have exciting career. Oh, golf.

Golf is the other thing I'm passionate about.

Okay, so are you good at golf?

No, I'm terrible, but I love it. Sorry, go ahead.

No, I mean, do you do it regularly? Like, are you every. Since the weather's breaking now. Are you looking forward to this? Like, is this something you got to do, or.

I am itching right now as we are getting a little bit warmer. And actually, I'm on the LCC golf league, too, so.

Oh, yeah, I've seen pictures. I've known a couple of people that have played on the golf league. I have not really had much experience playing golf.

It looks like it's fun when you go to the different holes and they have, oh, this beverage or this snack. That's the part that I'm looking at. I'm not really trying to walk around, and I want to come, but, yeah,.

The golf carts are fun. Always.

That's cool. Well, Dalian, I'm so glad that you took time today to come and talk with us. I think we've learned a lot about you.

It's exciting and is there anything else you want to say before we hit the road?

I don't know how you feeling about this? You think you're going to do the show on the reg?

Yeah, I think I can do it. I think with your help and people's grace, I'll be all right.

Then I think you got it down, Lisa. Thank you.

All right. Well, thank you.

You've been listening to who's that Star? I'm Lisa A. and you can listen to this episode of who's that Star and other shows from LCC Connect anytime online at LCCconnect.org thank you for listening. Catch me next time to find out Who's That Star.