This article appeared in the June 24, 2005 Jewish Advocate.

Radio host tells graduates to “do good”

BY SUSIE DAVIDSON

Jordan Rich believes that it all starts from within.

“I live a very simple life,” says the late-night WBZ radio host. “I’m a guy who believes in the goodness of people and the potential for all to be better.”

On June 3, Rich delivered the commencement address at Massasoit Community College. He participates in a yearly recreation of ‘Radio Classics Live’ with the school’s theatre program, and has invited Massasoit students to the studio.

The speech, which alluded to Star Wars, Forrest Gump, Norma Rae, Brando and Casablanca, was not just for grads. “These words are also for everyone listening,” he said. “Parents, friends, teachers, administrators and maybe even your younger brothers, sisters and kids.”

“Being a talk show host,” he told them, “I’m often a lone voice in a sea of malcontents. I generally don’t cut people off or poke fun at someone because of their views or their physical or emotional state. But you hear it all the time these days on radio and television and let’s face it; we hear it in our daily lives,” he said. “We’re living in crass, often ugly times where cutting someone off, poking fun, cursing and acting superior seems to be so much more satisfying than the alternative - listening with your ears and your heart and perhaps exhibiting a little empathy now and then.”

He advised the crowd to get to know themselves, to ask for help and give it when needed, to show emotion, to look up and ahead. It was a reflection of personal philosophy. “The essence of what I said is what I do on the air,” he said this week from his MetroWest home. “In such a negative world, I believe we should try to be positive, and focus on the beauty of what we all have inside of us.”

“Deep into the morning, with mere seconds before the network news at 5 a.m.,” he told the Massasoit grads, “I bid the audience goodbye with these words, ‘Be Well, Do Good.’” He gave them the same signoff. “Be Well, treat your body with care and respect, and strive for excellent health, so you can Do Good - for yourself, your family, your friends and, of course, for the community…. We can all make a difference in the little world of our own lives.”

Rich grew up in Randolph and graduated from Temple Beth Am’s Hebrew School program. An entertainment buff, he DJ’d at USY dances and events. “I probably did about 1000 bar mitzvahs and weddings,” he recalled. While earning a communications degree from Curry College, a professor, who worked at RKO, helped bring him in as a weather reporter, broadcasting from the National Weather Bureau office at Logan Airport. But the station changed format, from music to all-talk. Rich next did AM talk radio in Lowell, moving to WSSH, their sister station, in 1983. There, he did mornings for almost 13 years, until they, too changed formats, leaving Rich in mid-air, so to speak. “I wasn’t able to score any other music-related gigs, because I was so associated with the old format,” he said.

After about eight months, Rich got a surprise call to fill in one night while 50-year WBZ veteran Norm Nathan took a very rare vacation. Although Rich had worked with Nathan at WRKO in the early 80s, it was the station’s assistant program director who made the call. A few months later, Nathan passed away. Various people filled in, including Rich, who had always been a faithful listener. “They were very big shoes to fill, but after two or three months, they gave me the shift,” he recalled.

Though it’s on late, the station is heard in 38 states and throughout Canada. WBZ is also now on the web; Rich noted responses from England and Scotland. Rich also runs Chart Productions, in the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston, which conducts narration and voice work, and creates promotional audio and visual tracks for clients who include Sullivan Tire, the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops.

Rich’s family, members of Temple Israel in Natick, keeps a Kosher home; his son will be bar mitzvahed this fall. “I have been a Conservative, relatively observant Jew my whole life; and on the program, I don’t hide the fact that I’m Jewish,” he says. He’s featured spiritual leaders from Rabbi Harold Kushner to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, and aired many shows on Jewish perspectives. “But it’s an ecumenical show; I invite priests, ministers as well,” he says.

Rich speaks at synagogues, senior citizen and other events, and at auctions and fundraisers for Jewish causes. At Massasoit, he cited the “For the Children” booklets he’s published with listener stories, recipes, poems and humor, with all proceeds benefiting Children’s Hospital. Treasure the small victories, he advised. “Most of us will miss out on the big prizes in life - the Pulitzer, the Nobel, the Academy Award, the Heisman,” he said. “But we’re all eligible for life’s small pleasures - a pat on the back, a kiss on the cheek, a full moon, a parking space by the front door, a great meal, hot soup, cold beer, a baby’s laughter.”

Although the show has untold numbers of devoted listeners, Rich personifies both host and audience member. “The program has helped me broaden my horizon simply by meeting so many amazing people, and by learning to really listen,” he says. “When you listen to people, you develop a greater sense of empathy and rapport.” Rich has learned that we’re all in the same boat, dealing with the same types of problems. “Doing for others, I think, is one of the greatest tenets of Judaism,” he says. “When you do for others, and you give back, you always help yourself.”

The Jordan Rich Show broadcasts Friday and Saturday, midnight-5 a.m., and Sunday, 10 p.m.-midnight. For more information, please visit www.JordanRich.com, which features a web log.