Coming together

Our adventure in radio has been on the air almost two weeks.  So far, the response has been mostly positive.  Of course, that's coming from people inside the building because we really don't know how many folks are tuning us in on the radio dials.

I imagine some of our frequency's previous listeners got a rude awakening the day we took over.  The previous ownership was the ultra right-wing Christian American Family Association.  Turning on the radio one morning expecting to hear Donald Wildmon's boycott du jour and getting NPR instead might have been a shock to the system.

My morning cohorts are two very professional and personable guys.  Our host, Dan Bindert, is a veteran of Chicago Public Radio.  He has a pleasant on-air presence, has a pretty eclectic range of interests (which is good for our show), and is cool under pressure.  The latter was important last week when the computer that holds all of the station audio crashed during the 5 am hour.  Dan was able to rework some of the elements of the show so we could play some of the features from other locations in the building and still be able to sound seamless.

Our main news anchor is Ed Smaron.  Ed has a nose for news and you can tell he really enjoys being on the air.  He previously worked at Shadow Traffic in Chicago, but he lives in Lake County so he's liking being able to work closer to home.  It's a little known fact that Ed appeared in the movie "Let's Go to Prison".  (If you don't believe me, look him up at imdb.com).

Then there's me.  I'm the morning producer.  I'm the first man standing in the morning.  I make the beat calls, write the copy, brew the coffee, rewrite the weather forecast, download the features, and keep an ear to the scanners.   When we first signed on, my only on-air responsibility was an hourly business report at 13 past the hour.  However, as the show evolved, I was asked to come in again during the first three hours with some "hot topics" the three of us could talk about.  It requires a lot of walking around, but I'm sure I need it after the morning pop tarts out of the vending machine.  (I'm eating breakfast!  That's new to me.)

Of course, there are some challenges.  I have a good friend at the station who was told by a member of the board that my presentation was too dry.  I could tell he was a little uncomfortable telling me this because he's always been one of my biggest supporters.  But he was obligated to pass it along.  At first, I was a little dumbfounded because I was reading business news.  I really didn't want to sound too upbeat reading stories about companies laying off thousands of workers.  I joked that I could bring in a slide whistle sound effect to be played when I read the stock market reports.  But, as I looked at some of my reports, I saw they were a little too numbers oriented, so I took out some of technical jargon and that complaint doesn't seem to have resurfaced.

I went out chasing breaking news Monday.  I heard scanner traffic about a head-on crash involving a school bus near Gary.  After being unable to get information by phone, I decided to jump in the car and head up to the scene.  It turned out to be nothing serious, but I was able to get some sound and make contact with the chief of police in Lake Station, who was very accommodating.  (However, I'm rethinking my aversion to long underwear after that trip into the field.)

All in all, it's a good place.  Our news director is Leigh DeNoon, whose name you may recognize from WIBC.  She's done a great job putting together this news department from scratch.  Some of the technical challenges would have caused most people to throw up their hands, but she has taken everything in stride.  She also asks for input from each one of us about what we think can make our show better.  

So, maybe I'm here for the long haul....

On a personal note, my days of motel living are coming to an end.  Starting next week, I'll be living in a rented room in a house near Valparaiso.  I braved the lake effect snow tonight to go look at the place after seeing an ad on craigslist.  The guy who owns the house seems like a good guy and the rent is fair.  I get a big room for $375 a month which includes all utilities, use of the washer/dryer, and DirecTV.  For another $40 I get wireless internet.  Of course, there are some restrictions.  No smoking, no alcohol, no overnight guests.  I've always lived alone since the day I graduated college, so this might be an interesting challenge.  However, my working hours are atypical so I may not have much contact with my housemates.  But it's a step forward.  Don't get me wrong, the motel isn't bad.  But my hours means I'm always getting awakened by housekeeping trying to make the bed or the manager telling me to move my car because they're about to plow the parking lot.

And I won't have to spend weekends with my parents.  That's been the most humbling part of this move.  I left a job that paid me $62,000 a year with full benefits to take a part time job.  It pays pretty well, but not enough to stay in this hotel by the month.  So I went home to Anderson the last four weeks.  I did my laundry and played with the cat and generally moped around and felt sorry for myself.  Then I'd go drink a pitcher of beer on Saturday nights and feel sorry for myself some more.  And on Sunday, I'd sit around and maybe take a trip to Pay Less for the week's groceries, and go to sleep around 7 so I could be up at midnight to drive back to Merrillville in time for work on Monday.  Now, I won't have to do that.  Maybe I can establish some kind of normalcy again -- whatever that is.

Baby steps...