Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Glenn Burns of WSB-TV. One of the things all of my listeners who are regular listeners have learned is that I am not at all impressed with people’s accomplishments as much as I am impressed about them as a person. This man is absolutely amazing. When I first met him, he was in the dining hall off to himself, and the first thought that crossed my mind was: Wow, that guy is very attractive. He has these incredible eyes. So I motion him over, and being my usually over excited self (along with a Vault, THANKS FWOD!!! I LOVE YA MAN!) He comes over and instantly, there is this incredible semblance of calm that comes over me. So I lead him to the radio station, holding my breath. I’m sure he thought it was because he’s this prestigious man, but no, it was because my feet hurt in the horrible shoes I was wearing.

I took him back to the studio, and upon entering the room, there was silence and everyone mellowed out. I have never experienced something so powerful in my life. He goes to sit down on the blue couch and I stare at him. He is a very quiet man off air. He sits down, very quiet, professional, cordial, old school. I’m just staring at him, studying this man, instantly understanding that NOTHING gets past this guy, and I’m in the presence of a very intelligent man. I turned to FWOD and ask him what do you say to a guy you’ve always admired? And FWOD takes over the conversation.

See Glenn Burns has always been a bit of an enigma to me. When I was a kid, we had a tornado jump over my house, and the first man I saw on air was Glenn Burns, so I have always instantly found this man to be someone worth looking up to. Not really respecting him for the credentials as much as it was the guy explained what was going on therefore, I was no longer scared.

So to be in the same room with a childhood hero, was very exciting. He was so quiet, but he’s a very direct man. You can sort of tell he doesn’t put up with nonsense. When I brought him on air, there was still that nervous awkward moment where I’m trying to let him get a sense of who I am, and I’m trying to read him. Just absorbing the non verbal cues were incredible. Of course I’m wondering, dear God this man is so quiet, how am I going to get him talking on air?

We go on air, and I can almost tell that he’s really holding out on me. Probably making sure I won’t jump him and beg for his autograph or some nonsense like that. I try to make him blush like I did with my other guests but I couldn’t. It was very strange because Mr. Burns seems to have this insane ability to not only bring calm to people but also make them loose their words.

So I start trying to figure out what makes the essence of this man and what makes him tick. That’s what my show is about. With John Pruitt, his love is History, with Kevin Lamb his love is Music, with Joel Foster, and his love is politics. Well, Glenn Burns really loves the weather and astronomy. He told me he loved the weather so we got right into that, and I have never EVER seen such a visual shift in a person. For a person who LOVES to write short stories, Glenn Burns is a dream come true. He literally went from this super quiet cordial man, to this excited (but still keeping that incredible semblance of calm about him) animated person.

He talked about the weather, space, Star Trek, snow, all the way up to global warming.

He said that it was one of the biggest hoaxes being put on by a guy who made a C- in science (IE: Al Gore to those of you who don’t know). Even though he made it very clear that he’s all about keeping the earth clean etc. But the way he explained it, made so much sense that it was fascinating.

The sense I got from Mr. Burns is that he is very no nonsense. I think just from hanging out with him that he is genuinely fascinated with the weather, space and is a very good teacher. He seems to have a good grip on reality, a sense of how people in general are (IE: Explain scary situations to people in a calm manner, probably won’t cause panic), and he’s very direct. He may be polite but he’ll give you his opinion on something. My favorite was the Global Warming (which by the way- for the record, I totally agree with him on.) and the National Weather Service issuing severe weather for penny size hail but not for 1000 lightening strikes in an hour.

What also impressed me about him is that he was able to back his opinions up through history and science.  He was adamant (and I encourage everyone to follow suit- I know I will!) to constantly learn, to constantly strive to be the best in your field. One of the most amazing things he noted- for COM majors (and I think other majors need to heed his advice) – that a “general” newsperson is a dime a dozen. Choose a specialty and do it well. IE: Glenn Burns is a meteorologist (Generic) but his specialty is Severe Weather. Therefore, he is more valuable to WSB-TV.

I think we traumatized him. I jest. I know he was in a rush to get out to test some equipment and stuff. He also is a pretty cool guy, he likes Eric Clapton.

I told him I had his comrade John Pruitt on the air not too long ago and accidently hung up on the poor guy 8 times. He told me how he has never seen Mr. Pruitt get mad.

I have to say that WSB-TV, the news anchors have been really good to me. I have had the two people on air that I can say I’ve always wanted to meet. The only way to describe Glenn Burns: pretty amazing.

Maybe now, Glenn Burns and John Pruitt can swap horror stories of being on my program now! (I TEASE!). All in all, if the truth be told, Glenn Burns remains an enigma to me, now I’m even more curious about him because…really, who else is cool enough to come on my show and talk about black holes, pulsars, white noise, and debunking Global Warming?! That guy just rocks!