Even after my third visit, I’m still waiting for the opportunity to put the actual “disc jockey” into Magic 97.9’s guest deejay program.

I had the pleasure — but maybe displeasure for the listeners — to visit the Huntington radio station owned by Connoisseur Media last week as part of Ironton’s own J.B. Miller’s guest deejay program on Fridays.

It is always an enjoyable experience primarily driven by Miller’s passion for what he does for a living and his love for our communities.

Even if they won’t let me play the music I still feel this is a very cool show that benefits the Tri-State.

It offers the opportunity for someone like me to both promote our business and the organizations of which I am a part but also to see a different medium from another perspective.

Radio is an interesting animal to me in part because most of us grew up on it. I still remember as a kid sitting at our farm in Gallipolis trying to find just the perfect angle for the antenna so I could hear Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 countdown.

Even though the music may not always have been my favorite, it was very interesting to hear all the other things that were part of the show like the long distance dedications and just listen to Kasem’s iconic voice.

I also have some affinity with the radio industry because, being a newspaper man, I can relate because the naysayers have said much the same about both industries for years.

When television became the dominant medium everyone said that this new invention sounded the deathknell for radio.

Even after that didn’t happen, decades later, we all heard that iTunes, XM radio and programs like Pandora Internet radio were the final nails in the coffin.

Well, radio is still alive and kicking.

Huey Lewis and the News sang in the 1980s that “the heart of rock ‘n roll was still beating.”

I think the same can be said for the heart of radio.

Just like newspapers that continue to face a myriad of challenges including the growth of the Internet, 24-hour news cycles and “citizen journalism” through new technology like Facebook and Twitter, radio has to evolve and find its niche.

And, much like newspapers, that niche will likely be with a hyper-local approach that can’t be matched elsewhere.

My approach to The Tribune has always been to do what we can do better than anyone else and that is cover our local communities. We leave the national and world news to those who have more resources and more expertise.

Overall, I think this has served the paper well and addresses much of what readers say they want. Radio needs to continue to do the same thing.

If 97.9 can survive me and my southern Ohio accent being on the air three times, I am sure the industry can weather any new storms and come out sounding great.

Michael Caldwell is publisher of The Tribune. To reach him, call (740) 532-1445 ext. 24 or by e-mail at mike.caldwell@irontontribune.com.