Photo by Henry Domke (Prisma filter)
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Category Archives: Friends
Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park
Barb and some of her garden club buddies visited Elephant Rocks State Park and Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park (photos) last week. A good time was had.
Teaching Chinese
One morning I noticed a gentleman sitting on the other side of the coffee shop flipping through a big stack of 3×5 cards. It was obvious he was using them as flash cards so I took a peek and saw what I assumed were Chinese characters (pictographs?) I introduced myself and asked about the cards.
The man’s name is Landis Duffett and he teaches languages at one of the local high schools. Beginning this fall he will teach a couple of sections of Chinese and he’s using the cards to get ready.
A couple of days ago we chatted for a bit about how he got interested in teaching Chinese; how the language differs from others (Spanish, French, Germans, etc); and the growing influence of China in all areas. The video runs just over six minutes.
Radio 2018 (KWOS Morning Shift)
Best job (most fun) I ever had was working at my hometown radio station. I think half of the dozen years I worked there were on the morning shift. But it’s been years since I listened to “terrestrial” radio and wondered what it’s like in 2018. So I asked my friend John Marsh if I could sit in a corner of the KWOS studio and watch him (and Dick Aldrich) do the Morning NewsWatch. Very different from 1973. Tightly formatted. All digital and computer controlled.
Prairie Garden Trust – Spring 2018
Nice walk with Henry — and new pup, Katy — this morning. The bird song was gloriously deafening.
George Tergin YouTube how-to videos
There is a YouTube video showing how to do just about any task or repair. Some of these are very well done and some are not. Because it is so easy to record a video and upload it to YouTube, there are some really bad ones. The two videos below are excellent and all the more so because they are first time videos. The two-part video demonstrates how to rebuild the diesel injector for a Ford 7.3 liter engine.
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George Tergin is a local auto mechanic and businessman. He’s a regular at the coffee shop where I hang out and has been advising me on matters Land Rover related.
The production values in these videos are really good. The sound is perfect; lighting very good considering the video was recorded at a workbench in his shop; George’s presentation was clear, concise and easy-to-follow. Really hard to believe he has never done one of these. There were some nice small touches like speeding up screw tightening.
Rebuilding a diesel fuel injector seems pretty technical to me. Lots of little springs and rings and everything has to be put together just so. Making this seem simple in a how-to video is a very good trick. Especially on your first try. Bravo George. (And those who helped you)
Interviews
This is a little housekeeping post. A list of people with whom I have done interviews. A search by name should take you to these. This link will pull them all up.
2024-2014
- Wes Fewell’s Club Juana (2024)
- Wes Scott’s Speed Wagon (2024)
- Ron Bandelier (2019)
- Shawn Quinn: Keeping the ball in play (2019)
- Michael Mistler: Wind Sculptures (2018)
- Landis Duffett – Teaching Chinese in high school (2018)
- Ash Furrow – Mastodon (2017)
- Tom Boman – Learfield Sports (2017)
- Allen Hammock – Straylight (2017)
- David Brazeal – RepublicTigerSports.com (2017)
- David Gerstmann – Beginning of WireReady (2017)
- Gaylon Watson – KBOA (2014)
- Bob Priddy – His career at Learfield (2014)
2010-2009
- Jay Parks – Truck Drummer
- Keith Povall – UK buddy (2010)
- Matthew Howard – Photography (2009)
- Tony Messenger – Covering state capitol (2009)
- Tessie Hubbard – “Panty Mython” (2009)
- Clarence Lee Sherrill – Concrete Lawn Art (2009
- Paul Roe – British Ink (tattoos) (2009)
- Tim Robyn – State of Missouri websites (2009)
- Joe Bankhead – KBOA (interview by Jeff Wheeler) (2009)
- Jonathan Brownfield – Sports Photography (2009)
2008-2003
- Jason Rogers – Fez-O-Rama (2008)
- Mike Spooner – Animation (2008)
- Dave Shepherd – Radio (2007)
- Dan Shelley – WCBS-TV (2006)
- Ben Brogdon – Brushes with Near Greatness (2006)
- Dan Arnall – Journalism (2006)
- Kevin O’Keefe – Lawyer Blogs (2006)
- Dan Shelley – Radio/Journalism (2005)
- Mike McKean – Journalism (2005)
- Mary Quass – Radio (2003)
Miss Martha Turner
In 2009 Joe Bankhead retired — at the age of 92 — from a 60 year career in and around radio. One of the first things he did was bang out a 20 page history of his time at KBOA in Kennett, Missouri. It’s a long read. A twenty-page core dump of Joe’s recollections. He apologizes a couple of times for his rambling, haphazard style but Joe wrote exactly the way he talked. (Lots of exclamation marks!)
I don’t think Joe really expected anyone to read 20 pages of memories (nor do I) but there’s some good stuff, especially for anyone interested in the early days of radio. So I’m going to share some of those stories here from time to time.
“I’ve got to tell you about Miss Martha Turner. Martha was a clean cut black lady from Hayti who purchased a 15-minute segment to be aired each Saturday morning. On her program she would sing an a cappella song and read all the cards and letters she would receive during the week. She’d arrive at the station three or four hours before her airtime and type out her dialogue (word for word) that she’d recite while on the air I kept a copy of Martha’s script on hand for years and I’m sorry I can’t provide it for you now. That it was unique and entertaining is a huge understatement. Miss Martha Turner deserves her spot in the history of KBOA. I don’t recall her ever trying to sell anything, or ask for donations from listeners. It appears she just wanted to be on the air and accommodate her fans by reading their letters.”
Joe died in 2011 and took with him a lifetime of great memories. I’m still amazed at his ability to recall so much detail at the age of 92. Joe’s son, Jim Bankhead, was kind enough to let me include Joe’s history on KBOA383.com (as a PDF). I transcribed the original and added a few links. It’s also searchable.
RepublicTigerSports.com
During the early days of what we then called the “World Wide Web,” there was a mood of “digital entrepreneurism.” Anybody with a minimum of technical skills could create a website. Later, when blogs became a thing, it got even easier. You could start your own newspaper or magazine or — when the bandwidth got better and the tools easier — audio and video. Anyone could create their own “content” and do so for fun or profit. That was the dream and a few made it a reality.
One of those was my friend David Brazeal. David grew up in Republic, Missouri, a small town just outside of Springfield in the southwest corner of the state. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and then reported news at a radio station in Jefferson City, MO.
That’s where I met him and then worked with him at Learfield Communications. David started in the newsroom but migrated to some of Learfield’s early, digital businesses. He was very good at what he did but eventually grew restless and longed to strike out on his own. His idea was to create a website that covered high school sports in his hometown.
With his wife’s blessing, he quit his very good job at a very good company and started RepublicTigerSports.com in 2009. David has defied the odds and made his “micro-site” a critical and financial success. I think it’s safe to say he covers high schools sports in Republic better than any traditional media outlook could or would. The town does not have a radio or TV station but does have a weekly newspaper.
I don’t think I could begin to describe the breadth and depth of the content on his site. If you are even remotely interested in what he’s doing, spend 10 or 15 minutes on the website. If you’re still interested, you might enjoy listening to the interview below. Runs about 35 minutes.
Allan Johnson
September 1974. Church Street, Kennett, MO