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With his relaxed baritone voice, listeners might not believe that radio host Bradley George never lost his cool.

Not true.

As the host of "Triad Arts Up Close" on 88.5 FM WFDD, George was once caught up in the middle of a pledge drive and forgot he had scheduled an interview for his show.

"Our receptionist/business manager came up to me and said, 'Bradley, your guests are here,'" George says. "And I thought, 'Oh dear, who is this?'"

It was a pair of musicians from South America who play the charango, a small, oddly tuned lute made from an armadillo shell.

"I was terrified because I had forgot this was happening," George says.

But despite the terror and chaos involved, the interview went very well, so well that the radio host calls it one of his best.

The ability to handle such a situation calmly is but one of the talents George honed since he began working for WFDD in 2005.

Reflecting on his early days with the station, George describes himself as being unfocused and having no idea the job would reshape the course of his life.

But now that he's become a seasoned radio journalist, he'll be taking his talents with him as he leaves the station and his home state to work for WBHM, the home of NPR's Southern news bureau, in Birmingham, Ala. There he will be the local host for "All Things Considered" and work on the station's arts program, "Tapestry."

George's last day with WFDD will be Friday.

"I love the people I've worked with, and I've lived in this part of North Carolina my whole life, so I feel an affinity and a connection for this station and the area," George says, "But this just seemed like a really tremendous opportunity for me to flex all these different skills that I have acquired and really hone on my passion which, if you look at my body of work so far, has been arts journalism."

When George began working for WFDD part-time, he had recently graduated from Guilford College and was working at a bookstore.

He had some radio experience in his teens, working for WIFM in his hometown of Elkin, but majored in theater instead of journalism or communication.

"There are plenty of people who are working in journalism and public radio in particular who don't have journalism at least as their undergrad degrees," George says. "I guess in a roundabout way, it's always been what I wanted to do, but it took me a while to realize (it)."

After quickly turning his job to full-time with a hosting gig on "Triad Arts Up Close," George has had the opportunity to interview several national celebrities, including actresses Pam Grier and Amy Adams, singer/songwriter Judy Collins and author Daniel Wallace among others. However, his true passion lies in the interviews he did with Triad-based artists.

"The name of the show is 'Triad Arts Up Close,' so certainly I want to be talking about people in the community," George says. "And if you think about the show as an ice cream sundae, all the creative stuff going on around here is the ice cream, and the celebrities are the chocolate syrup and the cherry on top."

Denise Franklin, general manager of WFDD, says she is both sad and proud to see George go.

"I think our job as responsible managers in this size market is to contribute to the professional development to these young journalists; it's not to sit on them and say, 'I don't want you to leave,'" Franklin says. " I hate to see Bradley go, but it's also a source of pride that he was able to move on based on the experience he had here, and move on to a very good place."

Listeners who are fretting over George's departure need not worry. He plans to tape two or three weeks' worth of "Triad Arts Up Close" to tide the station over while it finds and hires his replacement.

"The last day I am working here is going to be the 13th, but you'll still hear my voice for a while," George says with a laugh.

Joe Scott is a freelance contributor. Contact him at movieshowjoe@gmail.com.

 

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