Meet Ray Brown | Radio Show/Podcast Creator and Host

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ray Brown and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ray, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I didn’t really start the show from a business viewpoint, but rather as a response about the topic of birdwatching from a radio talk show audience. So, it began as a hobby, and then grew into a small business, although still with the main goal of promoting birding and conservation.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve been in the broadcast world for many decades now — mostly as a radio show host in formats ranging from rock, to classical, to talk. The radio business has given me many opportunities to branch out into other areas — as a host and participant in classical concert performances, as an interviewer, as a public speaker, as the English language narrator of the Pimsleur Language Program series for twenty-five years, and as a content producer for my current radio show.

I’m probably most proud of two very different accomplishments — one is as as the writer and performer of a novelty record called “Get Preppy (The Preppy Song),” which received substantial radio airplay in many major markets back when the Preppy phenomenon was huge in the eighties. And the other is as the creator of the Talkin’ Birds radio show and podcast, which I’ve been hosting now for seventeen years.

I’m really excited to have been able to synthesize my experience as a radio host with my passion for birds and environmental protection through my Talkin’ Birds program, which enjoys a loyal following from listeners all over the U.S., Canada, and beyond.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
It would be easy to provide lots of great experiences here in the city of Boston, and to “customize” an experience for visiting friends. For sports fans, the Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins are within walking distance of many parts of the city, and Gillette Stadium (for both the Patriots and the Revolution) is a fairly short drive south.

For art lovers, we have one of the great museums in the world in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, along with the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum, and many others. Boston boasts many great colleges and universities — Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and Boston College among them — and campus tours would surely interest many folks.

Boston is, of course, filled with history, and a walk or tour through the Freedom Trail highlights many sites of great significance to the history of our country.

As for eating and drinking, we have lots of terrific restaurants, especially here in the South End of the city, while the North End is justly famous for its Italian food.

When I take friends on tours of the city, I always try to include a cruise by (or in) the beautiful Charles River (once very polluted, now award-winningly clean), and to the spectacular Boston Harbor Islands, which now comprise a National Recreation Area. Both the river and the islands provide spectacular views of the city skyline.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate the shoutout to the sponsors — some new, and some longstanding — who’ve made it possible for our show to continue on — including the Bird Watchers’ General Store on Cape Cod, Birds & Beans coffee, Vortex Optics, Buteo Books, and Quest Nature Tours. All of these folks do good work in promoting the appreciation of birds and the importance of conservation.

I’d also like to recognize the wonderful birding and conservation organizations with whom we partner, including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon, the American Bird Conservancy, the American Birding Association, and BirdWatching Magazine.

Website: talkinbirds.com

Instagram: @talkinbirdsradioshow

Twitter: @talkinbirdsshow

Facebook: Talkinbirdsradioshow