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When I heard that James Arness had died my first thought was, “How could he still be alive?!” It’s just that Gunsmoke was so long ago.
So I dug out this photo taken when Craig Watson and I “interviewed” the popular TV actor when he appeared at the Sikeston Bootheel Rodeo. KBOA news guys John Reeder did the recording and Craig (on the right) and I asked some questions. Marshall Dillon signed my Fanner 50 holster.
A couple of nights ago I was browsing through some old Day-Timers (calendars) and came across a few memories from 1994:
April 26 – A meeting with some folks at MOREnet and the University of Missouri J-School. My first look at a web browser (Mosaic). I was blown away. The Internet was a very different creature before the browser.
June 20 – Sent check to someone named Bill Bahr a check for $1,700 for a used Toshiba notebook computer. Base price was $1,400 plus $300 for a fax/modem PCMCIA card.
I think it was this one. It was a heavy mother but I was giddy at the idea of being able to take a computer with me on the road.
Like many others, I followed news of the destruction of Joplin, Missouri, on Twitter. A tornado destroyed most of the southeast Missouri town and almost immediately videos and photos began showing up on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
It brought back memories of my radio days.
Our station had an old Army surplus radar that gave us something of a competitive edge when it came to storm coverage. We also relied on news from the National Weather Service that came in on a teletype. And the local weather spotters who radio’d eyeball reports in.
Then one night a big storm hit and I scurried out to the station only to discover power from the city was out. But we were able to broadcast thanks to a generator that just ran our transmitter and one studio. No radar, no teletype, zip.
So I started taking phone calls from listeners who described what was happening where they were. We did that for most of an hour.
Most old radio guys have lots of stories like that. Bad weather was radio’s time to shine.
When I started working for a statewide radio network in 1984, it was frustrating not to be able to talk directly to the listeners, especially when a big story –like a tornado– was breaking. We only got on the air if our affiliates chose to put us on the air.
Same deal for covering the story. If the story was hundreds of miles away, we had to rely on our affiliate stations to send us reports we then put on the statewide network. And many of them did/do a remarkable job.
Assuming the radio stations in Joplin are on the air, our newsroom was probably getting reports last night.
This is what I was thinking about last night as I watched my twitter feed fill up with links to video and photos and first-hand accounts of the “devastation” (a term that has now been used so many times as to be almost meaningless).
At least two of our reporters –one in Missouri and one in Wisconsin– were re-tweeting reports about the big storms in their respective states. I was glad to see that and not very worried about the accuracy. The sources they were re-tweeting were credible.
It reminded me of a story about the BBC which has “a special desk that sits in the middle of the newsroom and pulls in reports from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and anywhere else it can find information.”
Whatever the disaster… natural or man-made… someone is there with a video camera and within minutes the story is being “reported.” What this means for ‘traditional’ news organizations like ours is still being worked out but it’s clear it will never be like it was.
A life-long friend died today. I’ll post more when I think of something to say. This a photo of Joanne with her (twin) brother, Richard. It was taken at the old train station in Kennett, MO. Here are a few more photos.
Five years ago I used this elaborate timeline to illustrate where I saw myself in relation to others in terms of technology awareness. A little out front (at the time) of most of our company… waaay behind the Smart Kids.
For much of the past 15 years I’ve been annoying people (mostly at work) with the latest gadget or –more recently– app. There were early adopters like me; others who would get on board once they clearly saw some proven value to their current job; and still others who jammed their fingers in their ears, chanting “la la la la la la I can’t HEAR you!”
This group always referred to “the Internet thing,” and to this day think Twitter is about what you had for lunch.
But something has changed. People are starting stop by my office or my table at the Coffee Zone and ask for a crash course in all this stuff I’ve been yapping about. It’s as though they woke up one morning and realized, “Shit! I’m way behind!”
Let me hasten to add, there is NOTHING I know that any reasonably intelligent person can’t pick up. But just as you can learn to speek Italian from a series of CD’s, you won’t really understand the language until you live in Genoa for a few years. It’s a cultural thing.
If I had to guess at what has brought this on –if, indeed, something has changed– I’d say it’s the iPhone and the iPad. The web has moved from your desktop (which you leave behind every night at 5 o’clock) to your pocket.
These latter day Luddites are hearing more and more expressions (from customers!) the meaning of which they have only the vaguest idea.
I’m doing my best to purge any “I told you so” from my thinking, but the simple truth is, a lot of these folks won’t catch up. They’re trapped on the wrong side of the digital divide. By the time they scramble up and over… everyone will have moved on.
Ehi, aspetta per me voi ragazzi!
The recent death of Derry Brownfield, one of our company’s founders, stirred up lots of memories for those of us that have been with the company for a while. Reflections on how decisions that seemed minor at the time we made them turned out to be life-changers.
Long before blogs –or personal computers– I kept a journal (sporadically) and came across one while cleaning my home office last weekend. The entry for May 14, 1984, was written (on onion skin paper) after accepting a job at Learfield. For some reason I listed the reasons for taking the job.
1. A great career opportunity. LC is into satellites, communications, etc.
2. More money
3. Opportunity to grow in position and money
4. Get Barb off the highway and to a city where she’ll have more more professional opportunities
5. Jeff City is a city of 32,000 more or less. A good size
6. I won’t have to get up at 4am
7. I won’t have to work every weekend forever
8. I will be challenged more than spinning a feew 45s, reading the weather, and (writing) a couple of dozen commercials every day.
9. I will get off holidays from time to time.
10. I will have an opportunity to work with very talented people.
11. KBOA can only get worse and worse
I hope that last one isn’t painful for those who do or have worked at KBOA in the intervening years. It was just my opinion at the time.
Most of us wonder about the road not taken. Interesting to see my specific thinking from 27 years ago. Barb loves what she’s doing; I still get up at 4 a.m. but just to pee; holidays and weekends off, check; and lots of talented people. Good call 1984 Steve.
Joe Bankhead died this week. Not sure of his age but he was well into his 90’s. He was a good friend of my father’s and one of the original employees of KBOA, the radio station where they both worked. And I did a 12 year stint there many years ago. Joe was one of the most self-confident people I ever met. Part of his story is here.
Barb loves flowers. So I sent her flowers on Valentine’s Day. But the arrangement was so “cheezy,” she sent them back. How bad does a floral arrangement have to be for a woman to return it on Valentine’s Day.
Years ago I started buying flowers from Busch’s Florist here in Jefferson City. I’d send flowers on her birthday, our anniversary and sometime just because I had “a love attack.”
Money was no object. Busch’s had my credit card and I rarely asked “how much.” I frequently asked that the person doing the arrangement “swing for the fence.” Really get creative.
It was a nice arrangement (so to speak), for Busch’s and for me. They did a good job and then a couple of years ago they suggested I try their “special events” plan (not what they called it). I’d pick several special days throughout the year and they’re remember to send flowers. Probably good for cash flow.
Yes, I put my love on auto-pilot and today it bit me on the ass. Who knows what happened. The florist probably has some excuses ready for when they return my call cancelling the plan. Rushed. A newbie did the arrangement, blah blah blah.
Doesn’t matter. Florists sell hard the concept of “this special day.” And when you fuck up, you pay the consequences. That’s life. And business. They let flowers become a commodity. Good enough.
I probably averaged two or three hundred dollars a year with Busch’s Florist, going back a dozen years? And I would have spent that much each year for the next dozen years.
Tomorrow they’ll probably send Barb a really nice bunch of flowers, “on the house.” But tomorrow isn’t Valentine’s Day. That was today.
I’ll be auditioning florists in coming weeks and I’ll post photos and reviews here. You’ve just read my review of Busch’s.
Announced this event on Dec. 19th in church, put on facebook and a little article in paper. This is the result. No rehearsal. Accompaniment being played in mustang convertible with the top down. (Which turned out not to be loud enough for all to hear, thus we almost had a train wreck in the middle) But it turned out to be such fun. We are making this an annual event on December 23rd, 5:30 pm on court house steps. We will be better prepared next year. Louder sound system for accomp., lights and more music. (see the famous Crows on front row, 3 sharing the same book).
It was almost 40 years ago I got my first taste of being “on the radio.” It as a very little pond but I was happy fish. It was easy to convince yourself a lot of people were listening to you. Very ego gratifying. I marvel at the freedom we had.
