I'm Being Honoured

 

   The group, of which I was the Prairie Regional Director for Radio a few years back has bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Award on me, recognizing my nearly 45 years in the broadcast industry. To say I'm honoured is a huge understatement. The award is given annually to people who have worked in radio, T.V and digital news for at least 30 years.

   In my case, I've now been in the broadcast industry in 6 different decades, the 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's 10's and 20's. My very first job was in 1976 doing radio and T.V news in Red Deer, Alberta. And while I didn't last long, the bug bit hard, and I was back in the game in 1979.

   I've lived and worked in 6 different markets in 4 provinces, but have spent 28 years of my career in Saskatchewan.

   I'll not bore you with a highlight reel of the past 40+ years, but I will say the time has flown, and technology has changed the business in a mostly positive way.

   Am I thinking about hanging up the headphones? Not yet. I feel I still have  a few years of productivity left, and I do enjoy my job. But there will come a time when the mic will be clicked "off" for good.

   I will be receiving a nice plaque from the association commemorating the LAA, and we'll be heading to Toronto June 11th for the awards banquet.

   Once again, I'm honoured and humbled to get this prestigious award.

TTFN

Still Alive And Kicking

    No, I have not gone anywhere, and, yes, I've sort of ignored this for 2 months. But I'm still alive and kicking, with no thanks to this fur-baby.

   Recently, she decided that at 2:30 A.M, it'd be a real good idea to use my toes as playthings, which she hasn't done in at least 2 years. There's nothing like having a nearly 15 pound kitty cat pounce on your tootsies, with claws extended, at that hour. Making it even worse was it was a weekend morning, meaning I didn't need to get up at 03:15 to go to work.

   Maybe that was what she wanted, was to say "time to get up Daddy!" If so, I'll stick with my regular alarm clock. It's much less painful.

   And if you're wondering, no, she wasn't banished to the bathtub as any kind of punishment, although some very foul language was directed at her. For some reason, she actually likes the tub, even if it's still a bit wet.

TTFN

Okay, Sure!

    This popped up in my "junk" email folder this morning. I have no idea at all what to make of it. I've blacked out the senders name (a chap I worked with a long, long time ago in Regina). The only thing I can think of is someone's cat lay on the keyboard.

   At least it was good for s chuckle:

M****** H******* frilling Herminia toreutics taiga Silvano cabalistic marimbas disinheritance visage capsize purist affront rearming Clint inexpert Almach slavery's crapper Izanagi precisian deceptiveness's subapically remigrate egoist's bygones redye babbled Croce's Frost zooms Jaguar's Laocoon's brachycephaly laggard Nicolette backing griffe Ciliata gamic manioc Fourier's nanoseconds metabolised progressionist proselytizers Willi deriving still physiognomies summoning Aglaia nonintellectuals crabbily dint marshier vulturine misdiagnosis's conic's uncrushable propagate endomorph source's stutters endorsable disturbs leakage's jornada Bahrein histogenesis godliness misstatement's DeGeneres desisted ragouts inadequately unloosed codas tabooing luxuriance's nonfat homemaking Hanuka puller's backchat woof's abrogated shoer guaiacum smallholder doggie salinisation fingerboard folksinger disturbances leek script's subprogram lobotomizes flusters rending 

TTFN

This Is Ridiculous

    Bit if a rant here, so sorry. Got into our building today, and when I walked into out newsroom it was (and still is) cold. Not chilly, cold. Walk into the master control suite, and it's hot. Not just warm, hot. There has to be a 15 degree Celsius difference in temperature between the 2, which are less than 50 feet apart.

   I'm having to wear my big parka as I sit keyboarding this in, even though I've got the thermostat cranked to 34 C. Why? Why is there such a big difference in temperature? Turns out, 3 of the motors in the heating plant are shot, and they have to order new ones (it's an old building). How long it's going to take to get them replaced is anyone's guess. Compounding everything, I have a heating/cooling vent almost right over my head, which is now pumping cold air.

   What to do? Well, with a few exceptions of websites, I'm moving into the news booth for the rest of my shift. Not ideal, but certainly a damn-sight warmer than it is in the newsroom. I just hope they got this sorted out sooner, rather than later.

Rant over: TTFN

Happy Holidays

    Here's hoping you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Our household held a traditional low-key holiday once again, with our son coming up from Regina for Christmas dinner. With just the 3 of us, there was no big turkey dinner again this year. We simply opted for a roast chicken for my wife and myself, and a vegan entre for our son.

   New Years Eve was spent in front of my computer, and I called it a night just after 9:30. We don't bother ringing in the new year, and truthfully, we rarely do. Old age and weird hours are part of the reason. The other is we just don't care that much.

   About the only excitement over the past week was making sure my car would start. We had some bitterly cold temperatures (-37C0 and windchills of -47 to deal with. It meant I was out warming up the beast at least twice a day. She'd start the next morning, but didn't want to. And no, I don't have remote start, though I wish at times like this I did.

   I was also off last week, meaning there were no posts to wrap up 2021.

I wish everyone a safe, happy and healthy 2022.

TTFN

This Popped Up On Facebook

 

   And it was on a group I'm part of detailing the memories of Thunder Bay Ontario. The moderator has been running a series, "On The Air", featuring people who worked in media, mostly radio and T.V, on the Lakehead. I'll post the original caption, but there re some changes. True, I did do the last ever newscast on what was the CJLB in '95 or '96 when they shut the A.M transmitter off and went to F.M. But I didn't work there much until they amalgamated with CKPR Radio. I was with CKPR from 1989 to 97.

   Still, some 24 years after leaving, it's kinda nice to know I haven't been totally forgotten. Here's the original post:

In 1995, Craig Wallebeck does the last CJLB newscast before the station merges with CKPR. He is then on the air at CKPR as a broadcast journalist until 1997.

TTFN

Another Hearing Update

    Regular viewers will know I've been suffering hearing loss for some time, and a couple of years ago I got a hearing aid. After spending $1500.00 on it, I was less than impressed. so, back it went to the centre in Regina, where they persuaded me to spend another $1000.00 on an upgrade. That failed in July last year, but luckily it was under warranty, and they fixed it.

   Flash forward to last Friday (some 18 months later), and the damn thing died again! I think it's the same issue (the receiver), but it means another 4 hour round trip to spend 15 minutes or less in their office. I caught a break, though, as the thing is still under warranty until January. I also made sure to book a time on the same day I have to be in the Queen City for another appointment. The fly in the ointment is I'll need to make the trek again when it's fixed.

   So, why didn't I get one here in Yorkton to begin with? That's a long story, but the upshot is I eventually got it there. The thing still has feedback (eg: it whistles and screeches) from time to time, and honestly, I've been less than impressed with it from the get-go. So why put up with all the palaver? Because I've sunk $2500.00 into it. Had the thing not been under warranty, I think I would have pitched it in the garbage and got something from Amazon or another place. It's much, much cheaper, and the quality couldn't be that much worse than what I've had to put up with.

TTFN