Happy Father's Day Dad

My father turned 80 (80!) back in May and I wanted to post something about it, but life kind of gets in the way and I didn't have a solid internet connection in the trailer, but Angie and Noah have wi-fi, so I'm making up for it now.

We threw a reception for Dad at his hang-out, the Yakima VFW. The picture to the left on the table is a picture of just direct relations; Mom & Dad, us kids, spouses, their kids, and their kids' kids. There are about 30 of us.

Bill Kokenge, AKA The Kansas Cat, AKA Buckboard, AKA Sweet Willie, AKA Cob

John Gertsmar and Red Gress, and Wild Bill

It was a really nice time, there was lots of food and a bar. Good drinks and a lot of Dad's friends plus 6 of us 7 kids were there too.

Sorry I got to it a bit late, but at least I got a post up for Father's day. Happy Father's day!

First Week At The New Job

*First thing is that you may notice small changes on this blog. I changed the number of "Previous Posts" from the last 7 weeks to the last 7 posts. Also I changed how the comment screen pops up. It won't. Coho was telling me, some time ago, that he had to switch off the "pop up blocker" when he was going to comment on this blog. So you will now go to a comment web page instead of the pop-up. There will be more changes to this blog as I settle into this other phase of my life.

On with the show: I had a GREAT first week! If you are a constant reader you know that I really really wanted the NWPR radio gig, and that I GOT IT! Anyway, I work with some great people who seem very professional and smart. Damn smart people everywhere.

NWPR is on the 3rd floor of the Edward R. Murrow Building on the WSU campus.

I started on a Friday (my "regular" work days are begin Friday and have Wednesday and Thursday off) and worked my "regular" work days. The first day was very mentally taxing.

My office, with a door and everything, is on the 3rd floor, 2nd window from the left.

There is soooo much new stuff to learn and I want to learn it all as quickly as possible. But all I can do is make good notes, and try to suck up as much information and hold it in my pea sized brain the best that I can. It's not easy, but I can handle a steep learning curve. It seems most jobs I take are tech oriented and are difficult to learn. There is a lot of technical stuff to learn with NWPR.

Check out how many stations and translators there are for Northwest Public Radio: (It's nutty)

Stations	Translators
KFAE 89.1 FM Richland, Pasco, Kennewick, WA KRFA 91.7 FM Moscow ID/Pullman, WA KNWR 90.7 FM Ellensburg/Wenatchee/Moses Lake, WA KNWY 90.3 FM Yakima, WA KNWO 90.1 FM Cottonwood/Grangeville, ID KNWV 90.5 FM Clarkston, WA/Lewiston, ID KZAZ 91.7 FM Bellingham/Anacortes, WA KNWP 90.1 FM Port Angeles, WA / Victoria, BC KNWY 90.3 HD-1 Yakima, WA	Goldendale/The Dalles 90.5 FM Cashmere/Dryden 91.3 FM Chelan/Waterville 91.7 FM Ephrata 93.1 FM Wallowa Valley 100.9 FM Kamiah/Kooskia, ID 102.7 FM Orofino, ID 102.3 FM Forks 91.7 FM

Stations	Translators
KWSU 1250 AM Pullman, WA/Moscow, ID KLWS 91.5 FM Moses Lake/Ephrata, WA KWWS 89.7 FM Walla Walla/Tri-Cities, WA KQWS 90.1 FM Omak, WA KMWS 90.1 FM Mount Vernon, WA KNWY 90.3 HD-2 Yakima, WA	Pullman 89.9 FM Ellensburg 89.9 FM Wenatchee 90.3 FM

Not only are there this many stations & translators but it is run on a very tight budget. There are only 4 full time announcers. 3 announcers have shows on Monday through Friday and 1 (me) is on on the weekends and is the fill-in person when one of the other hosts won't be in for their regular shift. Plus we "Simul-cast", that is, we broadcast some programing to every station (like Morning Edition), but we split our services so that the Music stations get one type of programing and the News stations get a different type. That's the easy part.

I work here. Heh, heh.

You also, when simul-casting, have to check each "zone" of stations to make sure that the recorded announcements are playing the right underwriter, or promotion, or ID, at the right time and you have to make sure that the correct one is playing. In order to do that you have to hit a button labeled for each zone and listen to what is being broadcast in each zone and look on the log to make sure that what is playing is supposed to be playing. It is, as Gillian said "crazy making".

That all makes it sound like it's a bad gig, but it's not. It's an interesting jumble of tech work and artistry at the same time. It's great.

Downtown Pullman, WA.

By the time my work week was up.. oh did I mention that except for my first day I had to work at 05:30? So by the time my work week was up I was freaking exhausted. Sooo tired. After work on my Friday I decided to celebrate with a few drinks at Rico's public house, in Pullman. Mmmm beer. When I got home I went into my room and starting reading a comic book at about six P.M. The next thing I know is I'm awake, laying in bed with my clothes on, and it's one A.M. Man alive I really was tired. I couldn't quite go back to sleep but I finally succumbed to slumber land around 2, and then didn't get out of bed until 6:30 A.M. I was still feeling a bit drained that next so too.

To sum up, (so I can stop typing) it was a tough but great beginning to a new career in Public Radio. I should be on the air this Friday on the News side.