A Deafening Silence

As I near my 60th birthday, I am still amazed at the impoliteness of some people.  A recent situation illustrates this frustration to the max.

I serve as the [unpaid volunteer] Production Manager for KOSW 91.3 FM in Ocean Shores, Washington.  We're always working to develop new ways to interact with our listeners and the overall community.  We held an event yesterday that accomplished these ends.

I hatched an idea to host a Chubby Bunny Challenge live on the radio.  I got the idea from Cassidy Quinn's vlog that I used to subscribe to.  She posted a video of her own Chubby Bunny Challenge versus her dad and it was funnier than hell!

Ms. Quinn is an Entertainment Reporter for KGW-TV (NBC affiliate) in Portland, Oregon.  As it so happens, Portland is 3 hours or less from Ocean Shores.  We got to thinking, "Why not invite Cassidy Quinn to take part in our event?"  It would represent a win-win situation: She would be put in the spotlight and, maybe, garner new YouTube subscribers and our radio station would get a little press from it ourselves.

We realized at the outset that getting Cassidy was a long shot.   KOSW is a small rural station and Ms. Quinn is a very busy young woman.  But heck, it was worth a shot.

And so, we started a very public campaign on our station's Facebook page.  We received a very enthusiastic response from our own deejays and the listening public at large.  Untold numbers of people emailed or texted her.  Invitations to come to Ocean Shores were left in the comments section of her YouTube vlog and on her Facebook page.

She did not respond to a single one of them!!  Not one.

This amazes me because she constantly invites people to contact or interact with her.  While many public figures hide their contact information, she provides a multitude of ways to get in touch with her.  And though we utilized most, if not all, of these avenues, all we received for our efforts was silence!

Near the end of the week, my wife sent her one more private email.  Della wrote that all we really wanted at this point was SOME acknowledgement.  Even telling us to go F... O.. would let us know that she had noticed the invites.

But no response was forthcoming.  Our opinions of her have changed due to this non-interaction.

It in no way dampened our Chubby Bunny Challenge.  We already had a contingency plan.  We blew up a picture of her face and affixed a stick to the back of it.  One of our DJs role-played Cassidy Quinn to the delight of those attending.  After watching hours upon hours of her videos and "borrowing" audio snippets from them, we conducted a live "interview" with Ms. Quinn that was absolutely hilarious.

We had great attendance and, because of the numbers, we ended holding one contest for adults and another for children.  The adult winner somehow stuffed 12 marshmallow peeps in her mouth and the kid's winner managed 7.  I got a stomachache simply calling the action!!

All in all, it was a great event and a great day.  

Still, I'm very peeved with one Cassidy Quinn!!  All she had to do was send one note stating something like, "Hey folks, I'm really flattered by all your positive attention, but I have plans for that weekend" and no one would have held it against her.

But she chose not to do that.  No, she chose to do nothing.  And that silence proved deafening.