A Deafening Silence

As I near my 60th birthday, I am still amazed at the impoliteness of some people.  A recent situation illustrates this frustration to the max.

I serve as the [unpaid volunteer] Production Manager for KOSW 91.3 FM in Ocean Shores, Washington.  We're always working to develop new ways to interact with our listeners and the overall community.  We held an event yesterday that accomplished these ends.

I hatched an idea to host a Chubby Bunny Challenge live on the radio.  I got the idea from Cassidy Quinn's vlog that I used to subscribe to.  She posted a video of her own Chubby Bunny Challenge versus her dad and it was funnier than hell!

Ms. Quinn is an Entertainment Reporter for KGW-TV (NBC affiliate) in Portland, Oregon.  As it so happens, Portland is 3 hours or less from Ocean Shores.  We got to thinking, "Why not invite Cassidy Quinn to take part in our event?"  It would represent a win-win situation: She would be put in the spotlight and, maybe, garner new YouTube subscribers and our radio station would get a little press from it ourselves.

We realized at the outset that getting Cassidy was a long shot.   KOSW is a small rural station and Ms. Quinn is a very busy young woman.  But heck, it was worth a shot.

And so, we started a very public campaign on our station's Facebook page.  We received a very enthusiastic response from our own deejays and the listening public at large.  Untold numbers of people emailed or texted her.  Invitations to come to Ocean Shores were left in the comments section of her YouTube vlog and on her Facebook page.

She did not respond to a single one of them!!  Not one.

This amazes me because she constantly invites people to contact or interact with her.  While many public figures hide their contact information, she provides a multitude of ways to get in touch with her.  And though we utilized most, if not all, of these avenues, all we received for our efforts was silence!

Near the end of the week, my wife sent her one more private email.  Della wrote that all we really wanted at this point was SOME acknowledgement.  Even telling us to go F... O.. would let us know that she had noticed the invites.

But no response was forthcoming.  Our opinions of her have changed due to this non-interaction.

It in no way dampened our Chubby Bunny Challenge.  We already had a contingency plan.  We blew up a picture of her face and affixed a stick to the back of it.  One of our DJs role-played Cassidy Quinn to the delight of those attending.  After watching hours upon hours of her videos and "borrowing" audio snippets from them, we conducted a live "interview" with Ms. Quinn that was absolutely hilarious.

We had great attendance and, because of the numbers, we ended holding one contest for adults and another for children.  The adult winner somehow stuffed 12 marshmallow peeps in her mouth and the kid's winner managed 7.  I got a stomachache simply calling the action!!

All in all, it was a great event and a great day.  

Still, I'm very peeved with one Cassidy Quinn!!  All she had to do was send one note stating something like, "Hey folks, I'm really flattered by all your positive attention, but I have plans for that weekend" and no one would have held it against her.

But she chose not to do that.  No, she chose to do nothing.  And that silence proved deafening.

Sneaking Up From...

I had to go back to the radio station -- KOSW -- this early morning because of an internet streaming problem.  In trying to run down the problem, I came across the answer to a different streaming issue that has vexed us for months!

Mind you, the problem I am trying to solve now is elusive.  It doesn't make a lick of sense.  In fact, this problem contradicts the way we and/or I understood how this whole thing works.

But it goes to show that if one is open to possibilities, answers can be found.

I suppose I should wait for the next issue to arise, so my eyes will be open enough to solve the present one!

I'm Still Bopping Along

Gosh, it's been a long time since I've posted anything.  In fact, I posted nary a thing throughout the entirety of 2016!!

One of the reasons for my lack of writing on this blog is that a lot of the political stuff I used to write about I now broadcast on the radio.  I have a show on KOSW 91.3 FM -- The Left [Left] Coast -- that I do Monday - Friday from 10 - 11:20 pm Pacific Time. 

I'm a bit bushed right now.  With a sidekick, I broadcast tonight a doubleheader at North Beach High School (both the girls and boys teams lost) and then I had to high-tail it to the station to get ready for my show.

Anyhow, I am going to make an effort this year to post, at least, once per month.  We will see if I keep to this schedule.

Cock-A-Doodle Doo

The main reason I haven't posted to this blog in quite a while is illustrated below. Here is a clip of the morning radio show on KOSW-LP 91.3 FM.

Here, Gone, Back

Trey Smith

For 3 months, KOSW-LP was my second home. Then I was gone for about 2 1/2 weeks. I thought this experiment was over and finished. But then a funny thing happened. The two managers (volunteers just like everyone else up there) -- who had seemed to make it their sole purpose in life to hassle me and one other volunteer -- suddenly quit. Together they had precipitated a financial crisis and, rather than deal with the fallout they had created, both walked away to leave the mess for others to have to resolve.

With these two blokes out of the way, I was welcomed back into the fold. I picked up right where I left off. In fact, I am somewhat producing the new morning show. The only drawback is that I have to arrive at the station around 6 am each morning. It is not as bad as it sounds since I no longer seem to be a night owl anymore -- having two dogs that need to be walked early will do that to a fellow!

Sorry For the Gap

Trey Smith

I wrote a few days ago that I would try to keep Scott's posts coming and then there is this 3 day gap! Suffice it to say, that there has been a lot of turmoil in my life the last week or so. I had a fall and, on the some day, so did my 80 year old father. My fall wasn't that serious, but my dad broke his hip. It was surgically repaired this afternoon.

On top of that, there has been a lot of stress associated with my participation at the radio station. I remain on the Board of Directors of the station, but I am no longer part of the broadcast team.

A commenter on one of my recent posts noted that things seemed to be working out at the station and this proved that I was a malingerer, someone who could be working at a paying job. I didn't feel like getting into it at the time, but some aspects of the radio station weren't working out at all and it again has something to do -- I suppose -- with my deficit in the area of social skills. At some point, I may decide to share my perspective on this ongoing situation.

Houston, We Have a Problem

Trey Smith

For the past 4 years or so, my life has centered around this blog. Rarely would more than a few hours go by that I didn't check-in. I wrote loads and, even when I wasn't writing as much, I was busy formatting Scott's posts -- sometimes Ta-Wan's too -- as well as making sure the various ongoing series were kept up to date and on time.

As I'm sure regular readers have noticed, I have fallen down on the job big time in the last week or so. It seems that my new duties -- I have become the de facto News Director -- at KOSW-LP, 93.1FM are taking up most of my time. Before I joined this all-volunteer community radio station, very little emphasis was placed on providing news, weather and sports. To my way of thinking, providing valuable and timely information should be one of the number one goals of community radio and, since no one else was serving in this capacity (aside from the "morning guy"), I have stepped into the breach to fill this role.

As it currently stands, I go to the radio station a minimum of two times per day -- most days it's three or more times -- to record weather updates that play at the top of most hours. I also contribute a taped 10-15 minute newscast that plays three or four times each morning on the weekends and at least twice each weekday. I'm also working on learning the software program that we utilize to record all of the station's promotional announcements with the idea of taking over this function so that the fellow who has been doing it [reluctantly] can concentrate on what he really wants to do: programing.

If this weren't enough, I am giving strong consideration to hosting a weekend 10:00 pm - 12:00 am left-wing political news and talk show. Ya know, something right up my alley!

With all this going on, I simply haven't had the time to pay much attention to this blog...or even check my email in the past 3 days!

So, what does all this mean? Will I -- like countless people before me -- simply shutdown the blog and move forward to the next chapter of my life? Ultimately, that COULD be the answer. However, I'm not ready to make such a drastic move. There is an ebb and flow to each of our lives and I may end up flowing back this direction...or I may not. Time will tell.

I will make a few changes though. Scott has been writing up a storm lately of his usual fare of interesting and insightful posts. I will move his posts into the 9:45 am slot. If I have any observations to post, they most likely will go in the 6:30 pm time slot. I will try to keep the Golden Flower, Bit by Bit and Afternoon Matinee series going each day (though I'm already a few days behind) and will feature the Morning News a bit less often.

And then we will see how all this pans out.

False Teef

Trey Smith

I did something last night I almost never do: I glued in my upper dentures. Why? Because I was trying to record this morning's news show for our local radio station and I kept flubbing one story after another. I would do okay for a while, only for my upper denture to slip or develop some fluid underneath it. When one of those two things happened, I would end up slurring one or more words and, being something of a perfectionist, I would feel the need to start the recording all over again.

When I was in radio years ago, I didn't have such problems because I had teeth, not dentures. I could usually get through a 10 or 15 minute live newscast with minimal mistakes. But that was then and this is now. I have to deal with the now.

There is no great moral to this brief post...except that growing old is part of life. As we age, we slow down and gradually break down. There is little reason to lament this state of affairs because it happens to everyone and everything that has been granted the opportunity of some degree of longevity.

Consequently, though I certainly get frustrated, at times, I simply need to understand that my diction isn't what it used to be and to forgive myself if it sometimes sounds as if I'm saying false teef instead of false teeth.

On the FM Dial

Trey Smith

I have a confession to make. I haven't been as attentive to this blog over the past 2 or 3 weeks as is usual. I have been committing the barest amount of time to keep it humming along. The reason for this happenstance is that I have signed on to become part of the team for Ocean Shores' all-volunteer, community radio station, KSOW-LP, 91.3 FM. I have been appointed to the Radio Board and I'm in the process of trying to get the production protocol down so that I can assume the duties of the station's production manager.

I even have been on the radio itself a time or two. I'm starting out small by experimenting with taped weather forecasts and news reports. Once I become more comfortable, there are a good number of public affairs projects I hope to tackle.

This in no way means the end of this blog. Once I better understand the software I'm dealing with -- it's on a computer that runs (yuk!) Microsoft -- and I have settled into a routine, I'll have more time to write. In the meantime, if you want to listen to KOSW, here is the link to the stream.