C91's blog

While I had told myself I wasn't going to post here again, I guess the dig at Red Brick Inn's sign was too tempting to pass up.  And in response to kpaul's question within that thread, here's the update.

The station is off to a slow start, much slower than some would like.  But we are starting to pick up some underwriters and hopefully, carrying the Gary SouthShore Railcats baseball games this season will expose the station to more listeners.

My drive back to Northwest Indiana yesterday afternoon started out like most of the others recently.  I was trying a new route and had just turned north on State Road 213 when my phone rang.  It was our station's program director.  He's a good friend of mine -- has been since I was in college.  He fought hard for me to get this job.  He's fought hard for me to keep this job.  He's put his heart and soul into making this station a going concern.

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.

We're on the air.  It's still a work in progress, but they decided to turn the transmitter on today for a "soft launch".

If you're in the greater Northwest Indiana area, you can tune in to 89.1 FM.

If you're not, we're online at http://www.thelakeshorefm.com.

You can hear me at various times between 5 and 9 am (CST).  I'd love to hear your feedback.

(Since I've been known to babble uncontrollably in the past, I made sure WorkingMom was okay with this before I posted.)

-----

I’m supposed to be strong. I’m supposed to be there. I’m supposed to give her space. I’m supposed to act like nothing is different.

Those are some of the answers I’ve found as I Googled for advice over the past couple of weeks. A woman that I love more than anyone I’ve ever loved before has been diagnosed with breast cancer. How do I, as her boyfriend, respond to it?

The alarm went off at 1:15 this morning.  Usually I would just be falling asleep at that time.  In actuality, I didn't really end up dozing off until 11.  I allowed myself about 30 minutes of snooze button time before I drug my ass out of bed, jumped in the shower, got dressed, and ventured out to my car.

It fired up on the first crank.  Slowly, but reliably.  The outside temperature gauge read -1.  If there's any positive to this weather, the snow brushes right off the windshield.  No scraping of ice necessary.

I can't believe I just set my alarm clock for 1:15 am.  Tomorrow, my new job starts for real...kind of.  While I'll be going through the motions of one of our typical broadcast days, we won't actually be broadcasting.  It's more of a dry run to make sure we know where all of the audio feeds are and we push the right buttons.

It couldn't come on a worse day, to be honest.  The forecast for this evening is calling for wind chills of 40 below.  I hope my car cranks.

A previous supervisor once told me I was poor at planning and excellent at execution.  That's a pretty accurate assessment of my style.  Perhaps it's starting to reach that point with my new employer.

I'm ready to get this on the air.  I'm ready for the planning to be over and the broadcasting to begin.  

Not because I want to get on the air.  Not because I love the sound of my own voice.  But because it's what I'm good at and truly enjoy.

After a weekend at home in Anderson, I made may way back to Merrillville for work this morning.  My boss asked that we come in at 8:30 this week, so that meant I had to be on the road at around 6:30.  My saving grace is the fact that I pick up an hour on the way up.  It was calm on the roads this morning.  Except for one nervous nelly on State Road 47, I made good time and rolled into the parking lot with 10 minutes to spare.  I-65 was smooth sailing all the way.

This morning took me to LaPorte for an interview at the INDOT district office.  It seemed like an out of the way place for a district that includes some of the state's largest cities, but it gave me a chance to see the area again.