Dead Air and the Empty Space Fiend

 

Back in another lifetime, I was an on-air personality when there only were record-spinning DJs at top-forty radio stations. Forget all the FCC licensure requirements, inputs of broadcast readings, or other technical duties, the greatest fear, I think, was that of having "dead air"—silence when there should have been sound waves emanating from our radio tower. That was the kind of technological nightmare which could awaken me in a cold sweat even years later—until I'd realize it was only a bad dream. Radio meant constant sound, whether talk or music. There was no room for silence.

Now that I recall those experiences, years later, I've realized one thing. Perhaps I was built for that: avoiding dead air. I'm learning to see patterns repeated in other areas of life. There was a time, for instance, when I took up painting floral designs. I'd put those designs on walls, furniture, book covers, coffee mugs—anywhere I found an empty space. I became the empty space fiend: have blank wall, will cover it.

Since I've turned to genealogical pursuits, I see that same drive to cover all bases reappearing as I build out a very bushy family tree. Not willing to let go of last month's research goal—finding those Townsend siblings for my third great-grandmother Delaney—I've continued building out those tentative Townsend lines of my DNA matches, even though I've moved on to another month's research goal. And Delaney's husband's Charles line? Same thing goes for that family, every time I realized I hadn't completely brought those lines of descent down to the present generation.

Small wonder, then, that in the past two weeks, I've added another 193 of those ancestral collateral lines—stragglers, mostly, from last month's research project. My project for this month—finding Alexander Boothe's parents—has slowed down that process considerably, so the next two weeks won't seem so robust, although I will, once again, look for DNA matches to augment speculation and theories. Sometimes the call to fill in the blanks brings us face to face with roadblocks, but eventually that drive to conquer empty space will overcome.