Until my 50th high school reunion came along, I'd never gone to any of them. That one though seemed significant, and Farm Boss and I attended his and mine. What I liked about doing it wasn't so much the reunion, which was fine; but it was reconnecting with friends from those years, some I'd known since childhood. In my mind, they were all still 18 until that September. To now see them as my age was very cool.
One of those was Jim Roberts. When I was a kid, with my mom, brother, and the neighbors, I picked beans and berries on the Roberts' farm. I have very vivid memories of being between the tall bean rows, eating a warm sack lunch when the break came, getting the beans weighed for how much I'd be making toward school clothes.
Jim and his wife Sally
At the reunion, I reconnected with several friends on Facebook and Jim was one. When I found out what he's been doing, I asked him to write a guest blog here because I thought others might find how public radio works and who does these shows to be of interest.
As a side note, it is also interesting what we can do, in our senior years, when the world might think we should be playing Bingo or sitting home watching TV. The following is from Jim:
***************************
Will start by saying I've known you since
we were kids in the same grade and riding the same school bus. You were
really quiet and studious and I was sort of the opposite! Fifty years
later I see you at the first hi school reunion I'd ever attended and
then connected through the magic of face book.
Don't know if this is
pertinent, but I have had a life long love of radio as a
means of learning things and enjoying music. I remember being a little
kid listening to my dad being interviewed on a Portland radio station
that had something to do with farming. Blessed to not have a TV until
maybe a junior in hi school so consequently listened to radio and read.
Same stuff I do to this day with the recent increase with radio
involvement.
We haven't had a TV since 1990 so know virtually nothing
about of the current menu on the tube.
Stumbled across KMUN shortly after moving to
Wahkiakum county from Anchorage. Had just retired from 19 years as a
staff RN at Providence Alaska Medical Center.
My wife Sally and I
arrived to the Columbia-Pacific in February, 2010. First thing that
caught our ears was The Ship Report at 8:49 each weekday morning unless
it's in 'dry dock', as the host and station manager Joanne Rideout
describes. NPR news and local interest programs mornings and evenings
interspersed with local news covering Oregon and Washington issues. And
then the music starts. Folk of one sort or another weekdays 10-noon
followed by Fresh Air and then, depending on the day, will be two or
three hours of music.
I was listening Joey's Blues in the Afternoon on a
Monday afternoon in September of 2012 when he announced that KMUN was
looking to train new programmers and to call the station if interested.
He hadn't hung up yet and I was on the phone!
Shortly an application
arrived in the mail and ultimate acceptance into the class of 5 that met
five consecutive Wednesdays from 4-5:30.
Elizabeth Menetrey is the
program director and taught us well. At the end of the five weeks each
person had to produce a five minute show with a beginning, two sets with
snippets of three tunes in each with a station break between and then
an ending to the 'show'.
A committee then decides if you are good to
go on air.
I was paired with Todd Lippold on a Saturday noon-2:00 show
called Cross Road. I remember the date, 11/10/2012 as it coincides with
the Marine Corps birthday.
Since then have hosted a variety of shows
including Lost Highway, Blues in the Afternoon, both on Mondays with
regular hosts John Stevenson and Joe Patenaude, Cross Roads, Stuck in
the Sixties and the Saturday night party from 8-10.
This all leads to the recent major winter
storm here with huge wind gusts and lots of rain. I was enjoying the 50
mile drive from Cathlamet to Astoria to do the Saturday night show
which I call The 420 Club/Trippin' with Jimmy when I host it.
I was
about half way across the Megler bridge and listening to KMUN programmer
Ellen playing her music on the Shady Grove program when there was white
noise for less than a minute before the signal was back.
Arrived at
the Tillicum house studio with my box of CD's for my program and found
that another programmer, Suzy McCleary, had already talked to Ellen. She asked me to call our engineer Terry Wilson and find out what
happened.
Turned out that Coast Radio was the only signal going out in
the local area. Both TV and radio stations had lost power and were just
gone.
The true beauty of our community radio is
that it's all volunteer programmers and community supported. This is
why we have the pledge drives and have a propane fired generator which
allows us to broadcast even when all else has failed. People do call
with updates on what is happening where they live.
Terry had just left
the air room after announcing that power had been restored to a
particular area and a person called and said not so. That's why we do
this and this is part of stated objective of serving our community;
Ask any of the other programmers and get the
same answer. It's one of the most fun things a person can do is to be
on the radio. Knowing that the entire planet most likely isn't
listening to you and your music but also knowing they could is really
cool.
Being able to play music recorded by friends of mine in addition
to music Sally and I have collected over our 25 years is also really
cool. But the very coolest thing of all is to be a part of this truly
amazing family and endeavor we call Coast Radio.
**************
And for me besides hearing an old friend on the radio, here is the cool part-- you can listen to this music and station from anywhere in the US. When I went on the trip down here to Tucson, all I had to do was click on the link and there it was coming through my computer. To hear music a friend has chosen, the kind you might not hear elsewhere, then it's on a station that is not tied to corporate masters, that's worth protecting, don't you think?
.jpg)
