Monday, February 16, 2009
NERO FIDDLES WHILE DIALOUGUE BURNS
So Obama's in, and full control has been handed to the Democrats. Regardless of what you think of this most recent election and how it turned out, there may be a greater issue out there we're not dealing with. I've never seen so many strawmen set up and beaten down, so many false arguments and hypothesis, so much spin and re-positioning. The networks, the newspapers, the web and conversations in the hallway over the water cooler - there's no more dialogue between the right and the left, the religious and the secular, ownership and employees, or any other groups. No, we would all rather set'em up and knock'em down. Let me tell you my position, and the position of my rivals - who needs them? Then you can clearly see that I'm in the right, right? If you go and actually drag the other guy into the conversation it's possible my arguments won't win the day, and we can't have any of that. On the campuses of academic institutions founded by our forefathers, unpopular speakers are shouted down. The thinnest examples of hand-picked evidence are presented as proof of this or that position on cable news networks every night of the week. And any other cable network, or host, who disagrees, is clearly in bed with the other side. See, they're partisan, but I'm not. Sad, what's become of free speech, open-minded debate, and lively dialouge. It seems to be the unnoticed corpse lying in the gutter of our time.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
AT LEAST I KNOW WHAT I DON'T KNOW
I should probably be in bed and instead I'm sitting here in front of the laptop, with no clue what's going to come out of my head. Lately it seems the weekends are busier than the workweek - running kids around, odds and ends and errands, traveling out of town for various family things. What happened to rest and relaxation? I'm running a taxi service for a fifteen-year-old who doesn't tip well. (Who am I kidding, he doesn't tip at all) Meanwhile the kids get along like they were raised by wolves, giving my wife and I pause to question our parental competence. Maybe we don't know what we're doing. Maybe I'm off in never, never land, refusing to grow up.
In the meantime, we're re-doing the bathroom. By re-doing I mean paying someone to re-do the bathroom. Yeah, I'm aware of the whole do-it-yourself home repair movement and I've tried it. Really I have. And I've learned alot from these attempts, so they haven't been fruitless. Mainly I learned that when I do it myself, I'm going to spend a lot of time and a lot of money, and manage to pick up one or two unique physical injuries, so I can scream at the kids and mutter under my breath at my wife and bleed and apply band-aids and then, when I'm finally done, pay someone to come in and re-do the job I've just botched. So by cutting to the chase I figure I'm saving time, cash and heartache.
It's funny, but one thing I've learned in life is you're no idiot if you just know what you don't know. It's the guys who can't figure out what they don't know that create most of the problems. Limitations. We've all got'em. There are any number of things I'm pretty good at, and in some areas I excel. Home repair - not my bag. But at least I've figured it out. Now if I can just get a grip on this whole grown-up, parenting thing.
In the meantime, we're re-doing the bathroom. By re-doing I mean paying someone to re-do the bathroom. Yeah, I'm aware of the whole do-it-yourself home repair movement and I've tried it. Really I have. And I've learned alot from these attempts, so they haven't been fruitless. Mainly I learned that when I do it myself, I'm going to spend a lot of time and a lot of money, and manage to pick up one or two unique physical injuries, so I can scream at the kids and mutter under my breath at my wife and bleed and apply band-aids and then, when I'm finally done, pay someone to come in and re-do the job I've just botched. So by cutting to the chase I figure I'm saving time, cash and heartache.
It's funny, but one thing I've learned in life is you're no idiot if you just know what you don't know. It's the guys who can't figure out what they don't know that create most of the problems. Limitations. We've all got'em. There are any number of things I'm pretty good at, and in some areas I excel. Home repair - not my bag. But at least I've figured it out. Now if I can just get a grip on this whole grown-up, parenting thing.
Monday, February 2, 2009
BACK ON THE RADIO AGAIN (FOR ONE DAY ONLY!)
You forget how much fun it is. D.C. took a vacation day and I filled in on Rock 107. Funny, from the time I was 16 years old until just a couple years ago, I was on the radio all the time. I've been up and down half the eastern seaboard and all around the dial (both of 'em). It's easy to take it for granted. But I had a good time.
It got me to thinking about how far I'd come since I first made it on to the radio - back at 1260 WCDJ, a 1,000 watt daytime only AM station on Paradise Road (not aptly named) in Edenton, NC. I started there as the guy who mowed the lawn, hoping my proximity would somehow lead to my on-air debut. Inexplicably, this stupid plan worked, and the last two years of my high school career included getting out of school and dashing across town to the radio station, where I would play Barry Manilow and Ann Murray records until sunset.
I did some college radio, and spent six months working part-time at WKNS in Kinston, NC (home of Kings' Barbecue!). That was the voice of Kinston, a 5,000 AM that made me feel like I'd arrived until I landed a part-time job at the 100,000 watt FM blowtorch that was WSFL in New Bern, NC - the first station I worked at that I actually willingly listened to BEFORE becoming an employee. Worked with some great characters and jocks at 'SFL...Rick Stix, John Peace, Fast Eddie, Jim Starr, Smoke (who remains a cherished friend), Gary Lee.
Landed my first full time job when my friend, Steve Kirk, pitched the old Satellite Music Network service to a new class C FM that was about to sign on in Beaufort, NC. Ben Ball didn't want a satellite service, but asked Steve if he knew of any promising young radio people that would't cost much, but would bring some potential and Steve was kind enough to pitch me. That's how I became part of the original Z103 airstaff.
Three years later I was off to WHCN in Hartford, then WPLR in New Haven. After that, I went to Charlottesville, Virginia for my first programming job. Tom Evans from Harris & Associates gets the big assist for landing me at 3WV. An old competitor, Harve Alan, brought me back to Connecticut to handle operations and programming at I05 in Danbury. Then I returned to WHCN, where I had mixed feelings about flipping my old station to the River, although it was a most successful move. I tried getting out of the business after that, but "everytime I think I'm out they pull me back in". And here I sit, in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, programming Rock 107 and working with one of the finest teams I've ever had the pleasure to work with...and I've been blessed to work with good people most of my career! See what kind of memories five hours on the radio can dredge up?
Frequencies I have populated: 90.5, 95.1, 99.1, 103.3, 105.9 (twice-WHCN and Rock 107's Hazleton frequency), 106.5, 106.9; plus 960, 1260 and 1400 AM. Like the Kinks, I really have been "all around the dial".
It got me to thinking about how far I'd come since I first made it on to the radio - back at 1260 WCDJ, a 1,000 watt daytime only AM station on Paradise Road (not aptly named) in Edenton, NC. I started there as the guy who mowed the lawn, hoping my proximity would somehow lead to my on-air debut. Inexplicably, this stupid plan worked, and the last two years of my high school career included getting out of school and dashing across town to the radio station, where I would play Barry Manilow and Ann Murray records until sunset.
I did some college radio, and spent six months working part-time at WKNS in Kinston, NC (home of Kings' Barbecue!). That was the voice of Kinston, a 5,000 AM that made me feel like I'd arrived until I landed a part-time job at the 100,000 watt FM blowtorch that was WSFL in New Bern, NC - the first station I worked at that I actually willingly listened to BEFORE becoming an employee. Worked with some great characters and jocks at 'SFL...Rick Stix, John Peace, Fast Eddie, Jim Starr, Smoke (who remains a cherished friend), Gary Lee.
Landed my first full time job when my friend, Steve Kirk, pitched the old Satellite Music Network service to a new class C FM that was about to sign on in Beaufort, NC. Ben Ball didn't want a satellite service, but asked Steve if he knew of any promising young radio people that would't cost much, but would bring some potential and Steve was kind enough to pitch me. That's how I became part of the original Z103 airstaff.
Three years later I was off to WHCN in Hartford, then WPLR in New Haven. After that, I went to Charlottesville, Virginia for my first programming job. Tom Evans from Harris & Associates gets the big assist for landing me at 3WV. An old competitor, Harve Alan, brought me back to Connecticut to handle operations and programming at I05 in Danbury. Then I returned to WHCN, where I had mixed feelings about flipping my old station to the River, although it was a most successful move. I tried getting out of the business after that, but "everytime I think I'm out they pull me back in". And here I sit, in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, programming Rock 107 and working with one of the finest teams I've ever had the pleasure to work with...and I've been blessed to work with good people most of my career! See what kind of memories five hours on the radio can dredge up?
Frequencies I have populated: 90.5, 95.1, 99.1, 103.3, 105.9 (twice-WHCN and Rock 107's Hazleton frequency), 106.5, 106.9; plus 960, 1260 and 1400 AM. Like the Kinks, I really have been "all around the dial".
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