Unposted

Since about 2000 or so (maybe even sooner), there’s been a war of words that has spanned at least three (maybe four) message boards.  The back and forth is basically between where I work and a station in Sioux Falls.  The argument has evolved (de-evolved) over the years into a running rant about how everything we do is “wrong” or “stupid” and how I’m “brain dead”.  Others have risen up to defend our virtual honor, but I’ve tried to stay out of it all.  I have a registered name, and my identity is no big secret.  Actually, that’s what has pulled me back into actually thinking about the board wars again.  Somebody actually impersonated me.  Me?  I’ve never thought of myself as worthy of impersonation.

One of the popular arguments against how we do things relies on an argument that CHR radio is like McDonalds.  The argument goes that, while subtle differences might pop up, every McDonalds has a core menu and does the same thing.  Therefore, we’re doing it wrong because we have a slant that goes a bit alt-rock (maybe Rock 40 is a better format name?), and we’re doing it wrong because we spin more currents than some stations.  We also get it wrong because we tend to jump on some songs before they’re in the top 40 of the chart, and “making hits” is a right reserved for bigger stations.  On the basis of those criteria, we’d be guilty on all we’re accused of (with the exception of the Scissor Sisters…we’re continually accused of playing them even though we never have).

If they insist on running with the restaurant theme, I’ll meet them there.  Larger radio companies have strategies and consultants that give their stations a quality of sameness that is akin to a large, franchised burger joint.  Clear Channel might be your McDonalds, Cumulus might be your Burger King.  Us?  We’re consultant free, and we aren’t owned by a big time radio company.  If CHRs are audio burger joints, we’re like Marshall’s very own Mike’s Cafe.  They have some really nice burgers, but they also offer turkey commercials, a shrimp burger, and a variety of lunch items just to name a few things.  I’m not saying we’re better, but we’re just a different place with a different philosophy.

We’re also attacked for having no “direction” with our music.  For the better part of the last eight years we’ve had more of a direction than the station had before.  I’m not trying to knock KKCK’s “golden era”.  We had some great personalities, and some fun shows.  The music was a mishmash of rock, 80s, and AC-leaning CHR hits.  At one point our library had over 2,000 titles, where most CHRs have maybe a few hundred.  My predecessor came in and we trimmed the station down by almost 3/4ths.  Over the years, our gold library has grown a bit, but soon we’ll start weeding out the 90s music in chunks, leaving it to rest on our 90s noon show.  When new music is considered, the first thing checked is the current CHR chart.  After that, the alternative chart, rhythmic chart, mainstream rock chart, and urban charts are looked over for songs that are blowing up big and wouldn’t sound out of place on KKCK.  Notice I didn’t say a CHR.  KKCK has long been a station that wasn’t afraid to take a chance on a song, and that’s not something I was given this job to change.  My boss wants KKCK to be *the* new music source among our stations, and that means a more proactive than reactive approach to adding songs.  Do we occasionally add something that doesn’t pan out?  I’d be lying if I said no.  More often than not, we just end up adding a song that is a few weeks (months) from being a big crossover hit.

I’m not trying to rewrite the CHR manual with this job.  If a tight playlist and 70-80 spins a week work most places, that’s great.  What we do is what we do, and it works for us.  Our numbers are really good in our home area, and we have plenty of advertisers to pay the bills.  This leads me to the next part of the arguments involving us.  Apparently, after we get ourselves sounding like a McCHR, we should target Sioux Falls and take on their CHR.  We already reach Sioux Falls, and for a time they were a target during a four year stretch when there was no CHR station in Sioux Falls besides us.  Is Sioux Falls a tempting target?  Consider we’re a good 90 minute drive away, which means we’d probably have to hire salespeople in Sioux Falls and practically open up a branch office there.  We’re licensed as a Marshall station, and the bulk of what we do is in Marshall, for our listeners and advertisers in Marshall.  Sure, we have plenty of accounts in nearby towns, and even a few in South Dakota (mostly Brookings).  Maybe one of these days we’ll see about getting a few more Sioux Falls businesses on the air, but Marshall and the surrounding area is very good to us.  A side rant on these boards involves the Sioux Falls station sending salespeople to Marshall.  In theory, that might not be a bad idea.  Well, except that their station doesn’t come in very well at all (if at all) in Marshall, and there aren’t many people in a town over 100,000 that like to travel to a town of 12,000 because of a great sale (unless it’s a really great sale).  I think this argument probably comes from radio people in Sioux Falls who might be frustrated that our signal hits them, but their signals are cut off from us thanks to the Buffalo Ridge (our tower sits atop the ridge, hence our far reaching signal).

In the end, it’s an online argument that just isn’t worth it.  Back when this started, I’d stay late at work and type out the snarkiest comments I could to either put out a fire, or to stoke some flames.  I had the time and energy for it.  Now, I’d rather use my time and energy working on the station and my blogging, at least when I’m not spending time with my beautiful wife and super-happy-fun-time son.  Perhaps somebody I know who reads this will take the side of McCHR (and I do know one person who is quite a fan of arguing and fairly good at it) and a rational discussion can happen here.  Or, I’ll just let this one sit and call it like I called the subject line.

Unposted.

Still no direction

All because Mike threw the map in the river.

Can you believe the Blair Witch Project is ten years old this year?  I was in the camp of “scared of every noise at night for a good week” side of that argument.  I still want to know what the hell was happening in the ending.  Why was Mike just standing in the corner?

The weekend was nice.  I found a few keen G.I. Joe shirts at ShopKo of all places.  One is a nice black number that incorporates the cover of Marvel’s #22.  The only thing I’d never noticed about the cover was the Joe on the far left.  He has the arm and leg pads of Flash or Grand Slam, but the visor and torso of Short Fuse.  The issue is no help at all, as the main push of the cover/story is the funeral of General Flagg, and all the Joes are there.  I’ll just assume it’s Grand Slam, as he’s the 13th banana of the 13 original Joes.

If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to share a quick little kitchen recipe of sorts that has turned out to be a hit with the Mrs. and myself.  First off, get yourself some frozen chicken nuggets, but not ones that are pre-flavored.  You’ll also want to pick up some spaghetti or pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese if you don’t have any.  Next, follow the instructions for preparing the nuggets in the oven, and when they’re done take them out of said oven, but don’t turn the oven off.  Get a spoon and put a healthy dollop of pizza sauce (that’s what I use, but spaghetti sauce would work as well) on each nugget (I’d also recommend using parchment paper on the cookie sheet you baked the nuggets on, especially if you really healthily dollop).  Once dolloped, you put a good pinch of mozzarella cheese on each nugget.  Take the sheet of nuggets and put them back in the oven for about three or four minutes, or until the cheese is melted.  Once done, you’ll have a cookie sheet of mini chicken parmigianas.  I’m not sure why I thought to do this, but it works rather slick.

Is it possible to have a recurring villian in one’s dreams?  I’ve had the same mysterious villain twice now, in dreams about a week apart.  The only things I remember about him/her is that they have a large army, have never been defeated, and their advance is sounded by a pounding drum beat that can be heard hundreds of miles away.  I thought of a framework around a very ambitious novel that takes a lot from this, but I need to stop thinking of ideas for books and just start finishing books.  I’ve started three in my life, and I really need to finish one.

A few days ago I found some jeans by Ecko that retailed for $88 that were on clearance for about $20, and in my size.  I’ve never owned a pair of jeans that were worth that much, and many times I’ve scoffed at people who would pay that much for a pair of jeans.  In the past I’ve paid around $45 for Levi’s, but that was the extent of my jean spending.  Wrangler and whatever Target sells have been good enough for me for years.  While I’m not about to get all fashion crazy, I have to admit these might be the most comfortable jeans I’ve ever owned.  Here I thought people paid brand name prices for pants that were just pants.  I don’t know what the hell they do differently at Ecko, but I’m officially a fan.  Granted, wearing a Cobra hoodie probably negated any positive fashion impact.

I’m not going to say what inspired me to say it, but I had a reminder recently of my longstanding policy on blogging when it comes to blogging about other people.  I’ll type about me and my family and other random junk until my fingers hurt, but I have a policy about not saying anything online I wouldn’t say to someone’s face.  Sure, there are a few people I’d love to go off about, but most sleeping dogs are best left to rest.  I’m pretty sure there are a few blogs about me out there that aren’t friendly in the least, but that’s the writer’s right to write about.  There’s also a lot of jive talk about where I work on a message board, but it just isn’t worth getting into a verbal slap-fight with anonymous people who can’t even get some of the facts in the criticism right. 

I’ll keep my head up if you all will.  After all, the G.I. Joe movie is out in less than a month.

I had a great weekend, but a few things got stuck in my craw

First up, a potentially big story is developing in Pierre.  This is one to watch over the next few days.

The FCC is coming to South Dakota to discuss updating the info-infrastucture on reservations.

South Dakota’s DNA rules will not be changing.

One demographic that’s growing in South Dakota: rattlesnakes.

Balloons are going up to complain about how expensive clean air and water are, or something like that.

It’s always sad to read about another small town church closing down.

This is total late-night joke material: the town was so small the high speed chase was only two blocks.

Wind farms are about to start growing around Miller.

John Thune rises in the GOP ranks.

Rapid City students aren’t reading like they used to.

While discussing the need for security cameras, some vandals made it seem like an obvious decision.

All hail the new Miss South Dakota.

Tourists are still flocking to South Dakota.

Brookings is looking for help in finding a way to market the city.

Hey, let’s all protest something because it might be like something Europe or Canada has.  The insurance companies of America will probably print your signs for you if you ask them.  For frak’s sake, the system we have isn’t working properly.  If you’re going to bitch, come to the table with some ideas besides “whatever the Dems are doing is wrong”. 

I’m just going to lay it out here and now.  I was a Republican back in the early 90s.  I suppored Bob Dole in 1996.  However, somewhere along the line the Republican Party went off the rails hardcore.  I’m not a declared Democrat, but I might as well be.  These tea party fests and the crowd they attract sum up why I left. 

I don’t like to get too political on the web, since it usually leads to way too much arguing, but damn.  I can only take so much white noise these days.  I’ve already had my fill, thanks to spending a few hours with my mom, who I love dearly.  That being said, she’s always trying to steer a conversation towards something she saw on Fox News. 

On a non political and happier note, the Mrs. hit the ball out of the yard for my Father’s Day.  I’m now the owner of a Wii.  The weekend was so busy (and great) that I don’t even have it hooked up yet.  Hopefully I’ll be Wii-ing by Monday or Tuesday.

Delayed

Due to my late arrival back from Rochester Sunday night, along with throwing together a radio show, no blog tonight.  I’ll try and have something up tomorrow night.

Okay, a not so slight delay

Okay, so that break was a bit long.  My bad.

I can relate to these kids from Conde.  My class wasn’t the last in Veblen, but we could see the end on the horizon. 

The fight over/for Hyperion heads to Pierre.

The Corn Palace hopes to con more people into stopping draw more tourists this year.  I give the ol’ bird feeder a hard time, but I saw “Weird Al” there, so I’ll always have fond memories of the place.

KAUR is dropping the stick to go online only.

Madison’s school has a fairly tame discipline problem, if this is the biggest problem.

I had no idea first contact had already happened in Rapid City.

Governor Rounds sees his balance dropping in the future.  By “balance”, I mean “employment“.

Aberdeen has quite a few people in need.

South Dakota has its own surf-rock band?

USD will keep cranking out journalists.

The Brookings school board had some catering at their last meeting.

Brookings is starting to ponder the possibility of wind turbines in city limits.

A Sioux Falls business is going to run with a Deere.

What’s on the mind of our Washington brain-trust?  Electricity, ethanol, and the EPA.

Hey, how the heck are you?

Things have been pretty good in my hood of late.  We went to Sioux Falls to visit my niece on Saturday.  As an added bonus, Rainbow Comics had some of the 501st‘s Central Garrison on hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if those guys will find this post, but if they do I just want them to know they helped make this weekend 1000 times more awesome.  The pictures were good (Braeden wouldn’t quite smile, but to his credit he didn’t cry) and the troopers and I talked about G.I. Joe for about five minutes.  They tried to get me to join, or at least steer me towards a group like Cobra Cares.  We’ll see.  Other Sioux Falls highlights included seeing my hella cool niece, a decent meal at the Olive Garden (with a very good server named Tsega), finding the perfect b-day gift for a friend at Gordman’s, buying a cat tie at Target, and sampling some candy that should be illegal at the Northwoods Candy Company.  The one downer of the day was turning the corner at the Empire Mall only to find that Great Plains Coffee was gone.  I was denied a Black Tiger, so I made do with an iced mocha at Caribou Coffee.  I did some quick google research tonight, and it looks like GPC changed their name and moved out of the mall.  I didn’t see a menu on their website, so I don’t know if the Black Tiger is still on the menu.  I’ll stop in next time I’m in town and find out.

Since my last post, I’ve had some medical happenings.  I’ve been diagnosed with hypothyroidism.  In case you don’t know or want to look that up, it means my thyroid isn’t producing enough of what it’s supposed to.  The pills they gave me should return the balance to normal, and I’ve noticed that I seem a bit more “with it” and less foggy and depressed.  I didn’t even consider that could be wrong with me, but after reviewing the symptoms it looked pretty obvious.  Also, my mom and brother have it, so that just seals the deal.

Next weekend I’m off to Iowa, so the link roundup might get pushed back, again.  You can always check out my Wednesday blog if you’re so inclined.

Just when I don’t think about getting out, I pull myself back in

Just when I think I have time to do a proper update, something comes up.  I do have time for the links, thank goodness.

If the sign says “Road Closed”, take it seriously.

Woonsocket incumbent mayor socks it to the competition.

4-20 might be a stoner holiday, but 4-18 turned out to be this stoner’s least favorite day.

Hyperion won’t be slowed down by low oil prices or the foes of Squadron Supreme.

This doctor has a poor phone-side manner.

If you enjoy smoking, you probably won’t enjoy Meade County.

Go team…uh, whatever you call this team.

The liquor store in Miller is now serving breakfast?

There aren’t many details yet, but another South Dakota church went up in smoke, and this one in White.

Governor Rounds found a bit of money in the budget for a few local rail projects.

Clark County is being invaded by turkeys.

Sioux Falls has a mayor that will fight you, if you’re drunk at Minerva’s.

South Dakota remains #1 in Bison.

Spearfish is having trouble with a rowdy snowmobiler.

Bad news for fans of Mitchell area arts and music.

If not for KOTA, I would have no idea there was a season for dog bites.

Sioux Falls vs. Sioux City in a battle for baloney.

I went to school with this chap, so I know he’ll be good at any job that involves talking.

I take one week off, and the Brookings Register gets all serious.  Seriously guys, I need some funny headlines next week.

OD’d on Cadbury Creme Eggs again

Ugh.  Why do I do that to myself?

We’ll shoot for one later in the week.  In the meantime, I posted a lengthy top ten “albums that influenced me” here and here and here.  It’s the same no matter where you go, but at least you have options.

This week’s linkfest is not that inspiring

All they inspire is some “huh?” and “meh” and “wha!” and maybe a “d’oh” or two.

The Governor states the obvious.  I forgot “duh!” on my list of three-letter words.

Here’s a person not to loan your checkbook or wallet to.

The state smoking ban is slowly burning away.  What about a local ban?  Wait, where?  BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA.  Yeah, that will pass.  As long as they don’t include the bars.  I don’t know how the bars in Brookings operate without setting of the smoke alarms.

Here’s what’s up and down in South Dakota.  Vehicle tax revenue is down, Watertown Zoo attendance is down, and raw milk prices are down.  The one good down is in traffic fatalities. At least the prison population is up?

This is a good idea.  I doubt many people will look, but all it will take will a click from the right rabble-rouser.

Will praire dog hunts go the way of the prairie dog?

I was beginning to think I was a soda pop addict.  Now, I’m feeling a bit better because I’ve never done this.

Somebody in Mitchell thinks we haven’t heard the last of Tom Daschle.  Maybe South Dakotans haven’t, but most of the nation probably has.

The I-29 Initiative is teetering on the brink.

The fight for cage fighting in Brookings isn’t down for the count, but it isn’t looking good.

Video lottery won’t be learning any new math.

Tea is up to some Shenanigans.

The final score: Hunters 26, mountain lions 0.

Huron gets this week’s award for “story that really wasn’t necessary”.  I mean, who couldn’t have guessed this?

I could not find this story on KELO’s website, but I found it hereand on KSFY’s site.

So, this year the wife and I had a deal about Valentine’s Day.  We agreed to cap spending to five dollars for each other.  I knew she’d go over (she did, but barely) but I decided to see what I could do on a tight budget.  I don’t recommend shopping at Dollar Tree for Valentine’s Day, but here’s how I did just that, and how Kate had one of the best V-Days of her life.  Let’s recap every dollar.

1.  First up was a box of six votive candles.  A bit romantic, especially if you can find the right scent.

2. A bag of Valentine lollipops was next.  Each bag only had six, but they came with little tags that allowed me to use my six favorite pet-names for her.

3.  A bag of little heart figurines.  They were kind of unnecessary, but they helped with the final part of the plan.  They also kept the lollipops in place.

4. The big gift was a picture frame.  It had “I”, “U”, and a heart in-between where the picture goes.  Now to tie 3, 4 and 5 together.

5. One box of Hello Kitty Valentine cards.  Now, the Hello Kitty part is optional, but you need a box that has a lot of cards.  There were seven styles, and five of each.  I wrote five sentences of seven words each, then printed those out.  You’ll need print them big enough to easily read, but small enough so that you can affix them to the cards.  Next, on each card I wrote one thing I loved about her.  After that, I taped one word from my five hints on each card.  As she slept in on Saturday, I went downstairs and hid the picture frame in a place that the five sentences hinted at.  I then hid thirty of the thirty five cards all around the living room, dining room, and kitchen.  I sat the five valentines that had the taped-on words “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, and “why” on the half wall between the upstairs hall and the stairs (I kept them in place with the heart figurines mentioned earlier).  When she got up, she spotted them an asked what was going on.  I explained the rules, and she was off and hunting.  It may not be as dazzling as a diamond ring, but it got points for creativity and use of budget.  If you try this, make sure your significant other likes to play games like this.  It could work for a more expensive gift as well, and all it will cost you is the one dollar card set up.

I’ve had a problem latey with what to write after I look around what’s happening in South Dakota.  Most of the topics that come up are just things I’d like to talk about on Wednesday, on the MySpace/Verbiage Dump blog.  I’ve considered consolidating some of my blogs down, as I’m not usuing some of them as planned (some I’m not using until a later date, and some not at all).  With fewer and fewer MySpacers being regular posters, I’m feeling a bit lonely there.  The kick in the pants about that is that my MySpace blog has the most views per week by far.  Granted, that blog started in 2005, where I’m not even a year old yet here.  That date is coming up, so I’ll probably have a new theme here around March 1st or so.  I might open up my blog “13 Shots” to public, even though there is nothing there other than parts of a book I’m no longer in the right mental place to write.  I might use it to post a few things that don’t fit anywhere else.  The old place for those became my MySpace mirror.  One year into my wordpress life seems like a good time to think about things like that.

I just realized I forgot to do something I need to do, so that wraps this up.

Let’s hear it for honest criminals

After all, if it is your job why not list it?  Wow.

Do you miss election updates?  Well, mope no more!  The 2010 Governor’s race is already heating up!  By heating up, I mean I found a story or two.  That’s all.  The second article mentions ol’ Walter Dale Miller.  He’s a rancher?  I always thought he was a librarian or lawyer or semi-pro kinda-smart looking guy.

The case involved a strip search, but unless you were involved don’t expect to hear how it turned out.

For its 100th birthday, a Sioux Falls business is moving in with a relative.

The story is about potholes in Sioux Falls, so KDLT tries to find one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could be wrong, but I think they just went to the photo file.

Sioux Falls isn’t worried about the recession, thanks to the city sales tax.  Uh, guys?  About that…

Class B wrestling is wrestling with the end of districts.

The state senate takes a seat in the smoking section, but the state house sits in the non-smoking section.

Brookings is happy with one declining number.

The high cost of death in Sturgis just went up.

Never let it be said that South Dakota is immune from Interstate pile-ups.

I didn’t even know Tim Reid moved to South Dakota after “Simon and Simon” and “WKRP”.  Wait, Tim Reed?  Never-mind.

You had me at cheese expansion.

A legal drug is about to get the prefix “il”.

Brookings is about to get their own Qdoba, but Q*Bert is still a no show.

Huron is worried about security.  No, really.  Serious.  Stop it.

If you had the Pierre Cap-Journal with the Obama pun headline this week, collect your prize.

The senate shows some backbone to Governor Rounds.  Who saw that coming?

Bernie Madoff made off with some South Dakota money.  Seriously everyone, if someone’s name sounds like “made off”, do NOT give them your money. 

Jewel Cave has extra bats for the kids.  Or, maybe not for the kids..

More South Dakotans are too busy too read this blog.  This blog is my second job, but it so far isn’t paying very well.

We’ve been over this, but here’s one more Tom Daschle story.  Some say this was blown way out of proportion.  Even so, if you’re going to have the media and the opposing party crawling up  your butt, make sure they don’t find old unpaid tax bills.  I still say my biggest letdown of the mess is that Tom wasn’t as smart as I gave him credit for.  Oh well, at least we have some John Thune douchebaggery to look forward to (it begins at about 1:15 or so).

Saturday night I fired up the ol’ Firefox for a look at some news I might have missed.  As ESPN loaded I thought maybe there would be some Manny news.  Instead, I get the story about A-Rod, or as they call him in the NYC tabloids, A-Roid.  I’ve had little love for Alex since he left Seattle, and his signing with the Yankees only made me more indifferent.  This, however, is a news equivalent to a ground ball in the nuts that lets the go-ahead run score.  Almost every fan I know was rooting for A-Rod to pass Bonds so we’d have a clean record again, and now that’s just not going to happen, at least until another slugger comes up the ranks who can stay clean.  If he gets off to a slow start with the Yankees, the fans will eat him alive.  It could be a long summer for baseball, and I mean in the bad way.  Some wonder if baseball can recover from the steroid business.  We’re talking about a sport that cancelled a World Series and still got fans to come back.  This too, shall pass.  Major League Baseball gets one more scar, but the game will go on.

Blink 182 got back together.  I’m trying to keep an open mind, but the band reminds me of someone I’d rather never think about again, for reasons I won’t go into here or anywhere.  Let’s just say a line was crossed and certain things can’t be undone.  The band reminds me of that someone, but Blink 182 is also liked by my wife and several friends.  Without that someone to vent my anger and frustration towards (because I’ve cut off all communication), I’ve been taking it out on Blink 182.  I change the station when they come on, and I don’t think I’ve played a song of theirs in over a year.  Well, since they’re back together, and since it’s time to stop holding grudges against bands who don’t even know I exist, my Blink boycott is over.  

Ugh.  I’m getting a cold and feeling like a bucket of yuck. I wish you a better week than my Sunday night.

Daschle’s hopes dashed

Well, so much for having a South Dakotan in the cabinet.

I’d like to say I’m shocked, but Tom has been letting me down lately.  Maybe someday Tim or Stephanie can work their way into some part of the executive branch. 

This all ties into how Thune beat him.  He’s not a man of the people anymore, and he continues to not get it.  I’m not sure his political fortunes can be saved now.  When this all blows over, let’s try and remember some of the good things he did for South Dakota.

Crap, I can’t think of one off the top of my head.  I’m sure there are quite a few.  I’ll let any Daschle fans fill in that blank in the comments.