Broadcasting in Traverse City

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Mike Dell's World, number four twenty two for

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11/16/2025.

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When I was a young boy,

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there wasn't any Internet.

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There There wasn't any World Wide Web.

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There wasn't any

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egghead sending me texts saying those are the

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same thing. You don't have to say Internet

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and World Wide Web. They're the same thing.

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There weren't any video games when I was

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a boy.

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Well, there was Pac Man.

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That was a game, I guess.

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And Asteroids,

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Wizard of War,

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Scramble. Defender was a hell of a lot

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of fun.

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Those were what we called

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video games.

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Did I say we didn't have video games?

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Because that would have been a mistake.

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But there is one thing you have now

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that we didn't have when I was a

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boy that I wish we did.

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Mike Dell's World.

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Of course, if you guys recognize

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the the voice there, that was, Brett Butt,

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who is

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a famous comedian in Canada and, also the

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creator of Corner Gas,

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which is a Canadian

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sitcom, which,

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was

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absolutely

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my favorite

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sitcom of all time. And,

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he did a podcast for a while, so

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I kinda,

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lifted his,

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intro,

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except for I

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finished the last with Mike Dole's world.

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Anyway

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so, yeah, today, we're gonna talk about

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radio,

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and I'm talking broadcast

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radio.

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And

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another nice thing about being up here in

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Northern Michigan is we don't really have

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big radio groups up here.

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You know, we don't have clear channel. We

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don't have

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you know I don't know. There's a whole

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bunch of different big

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conglomerate radio groups, but

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the vast majority of the radio stations around

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here are locally

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owned

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and locally operated.

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You know, they do play some syndicated

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shows,

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especially the talk stations.

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You know, they they play some

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some definite,

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syndicated stuff, but, there's also some

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local programming, which a lot of places don't

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have anymore.

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You know, at least not not any of

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the small town areas. I mean, I I

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would say I guess that's probably not true.

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There's probably

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at least one station everywhere, but, you know,

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all these radio groups up here are pretty,

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locally owned.

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The big one in town,

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WTCM,

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and, of course, the call sign stands for

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Traverse City, Michigan,

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WTCM

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AM five eighty, and FM one zero three

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point five with other translator stations,

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all over the place.

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And I won't go into the super geeky,

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details, but five eighty is a 50,000

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watt

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directional

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AM station that reduces power at night.

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So during the day, it's 50,000 watts, and

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its signal is directional towards the Northeast,

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which makes it

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kinda nice pretty much anywhere

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North of Traverse City,

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you know, and even into the Eastern Upper

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Peninsula,

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and I'm I'm assuming,

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Southern Ontario,

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you can listen to w c t yeah.

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WTCM.

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I'll I'll talk about another station here in

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town too. But,

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yeah, at night, they flip it down to

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1,100 watts so it doesn't,

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get out very,

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very far.

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That,

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four tower array that makes it directional

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is

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right, by my folks' place,

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at my mom's house.

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I remember when they were building that array.

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It was fun watching them build that.

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But, they've got four,

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I don't know how tall they are, a

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couple 100 feet, 300 foot towers, something like

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that.

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And,

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it's very distinctive,

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when you're driving around the area. You can

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see the

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the the box towers there,

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west of town,

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up on the hill. It's

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a little bit away from

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Green Hill.

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Green Hill is, like, the main big hill

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up on Silver Lake Road.

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And you get over that and pass the

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Crown Golf Course, turn up Secor Road,

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and that transmitter array is off on the

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right.

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The towers are probably a 100 yards apart,

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and there's four of them in kind of

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a box pattern. And,

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somehow that makes it directional.

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I don't know.

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I I I guess I do understand

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the theory behind it, but,

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it's,

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very techy geeky.

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But, yeah, you can, definitely, during the day,

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hear them, you know, just all the way

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up,

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you know, the Northern Half Of The Lower

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Peninsula and the Eastern Half Of The

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Upper Peninsula.

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And, yeah, it's,

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it's quite a station, and they play

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a lot of the syndicated stuff. They were

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the home of Rush Limbaugh.

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Now I don't know what they have on

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from twelve to to three.

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Haven't really listened

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too much, but they,

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you know, they had Dan Bongino

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on there until he became the

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assistant director of the FBI.

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And

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I forget who the other guys were they

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had on there that took over for Rush

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when Rush passed away.

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But, they had them on there for a

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while. But, you know, they have the usual,

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you know, conservative talk radio suspects in the

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afternoon. But in the morning, they have a

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local

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show, Ron Jolly show,

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and then, Vic McCarty

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show.

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And that goes basically from seven until noon,

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those two shows. And those are definitely local

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and

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very cool. And on the weekends, they have

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some some

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buy your time

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radio shows. You know? I don't know if

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you know in radio

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and some of the smaller stations, you can

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buy an hour or two

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on the weekends

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and, put on your own radio show. So

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there's a couple of those. I think there's,

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like, an estate planning show and

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some sort of automotive show. And, Leo LaPorte

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used to have,

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his syndicated

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talk,

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you know, his syndicated talk, the tech guy

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show.

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I think they have Kim Commando on there.

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She's a national talker,

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on the weekend.

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But, you know, kind of a interesting

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interesting

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setup.

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And and right now, they're on AM five

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eighty. Five eighty is an act you know,

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really good frequency on AM. The lower the

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frequency,

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the better.

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And so they're down at five eighty, but

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they started out in,

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1941.

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They were Traverse City's first commercial radio station,

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and they were on thirteen

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seventy.

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But that only lasted

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a little bit of time before they bumped

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to 1,400,

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kilohertz or 1.4

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megahertz.

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From 1941

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until 1982.

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I was in high school when they made

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the switch to five eighty.

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And at the time before the switch, they

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were simulcasting

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their FM signal. And

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WTCM

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FM is the big country station here in

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town,

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which is colocated,

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with the with WTCM

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AM in the Paul Bunyan Building,

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which is a

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kind of smallish looking building,

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right on Front Street, Traverse City.

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And

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also in that building is WKLT,

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the rock station.

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So and that's a a pretty recent thing,

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but I'll I'll get to that in a

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bit. But, TCM

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FM,

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when did that

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come in? I'm just looking through some of

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the my fact sheet here.

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I wanna say it was

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it was a little bit later on.

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Oh, 1975.

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There we go.

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I I believe that that started.

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And

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but another thing that, that company, it's Midwestern

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Broadcasting.

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That's a locally owned group by the Biederman's.

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Les Biederman started started the station, and then

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Ross Biederman took over. And I think he's

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retired now, and

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and somebody else is running it, but, it's

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still owned by the the family.

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And they also, you know, have WATT

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in Cadillac,

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WATZ

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in Alpena,

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WMBM

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in Petoskey where they started it, and then

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that that got switched. I'll tell you something

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cool about that too.

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But, you know, so they had quite a

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few

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stations. They also started the first TV station

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here in Traverse City, WPBM

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or PBN,

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channel seven. And my mother used to work

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there when she was in high school.

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She worked as a receptionist at the TV

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station up there, and then I worked at

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the TV station for a couple of years

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as a master control,

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guy on the weekends and evenings,

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you know, putting in the commercials and helping

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with the news

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and whatever.

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And

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but, that was all part of the Midwestern

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Broadcasting

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family. And here in the

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I forget when

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this happened.

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In fact, I'll have to look. WKLT,

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which was known as double rock KLT

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for a while because they had two,

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they had two transmitters,

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and

286
00:10:59,710 --> 00:11:01,950
they were owned by a a different group.

287
00:11:01,950 --> 00:11:02,450
But

288
00:11:03,629 --> 00:11:05,170
Ross bought them up

289
00:11:06,429 --> 00:11:07,570
a few years ago.

290
00:11:08,110 --> 00:11:09,809
A good friend of mine, Omelette

291
00:11:10,110 --> 00:11:11,649
is his name, Steve Nordsman,

292
00:11:12,509 --> 00:11:13,009
and

293
00:11:14,024 --> 00:11:15,485
omelette on the air.

294
00:11:15,865 --> 00:11:19,325
And, he he was working for KLT,

295
00:11:19,784 --> 00:11:20,284
and

296
00:11:20,745 --> 00:11:22,904
when they ran into hard times, he jumped

297
00:11:22,904 --> 00:11:24,985
over to another station owned by another friend

298
00:11:24,985 --> 00:11:25,565
of mine,

299
00:11:27,389 --> 00:11:28,129
the bear

300
00:11:28,429 --> 00:11:29,889
ninety eight one.

301
00:11:30,429 --> 00:11:30,929
And

302
00:11:31,470 --> 00:11:33,230
he was over there for a couple of

303
00:11:33,230 --> 00:11:35,649
years. And then when Midwestern bought,

304
00:11:36,429 --> 00:11:36,929
WKLT,

305
00:11:37,309 --> 00:11:38,610
they brought him back.

306
00:11:39,389 --> 00:11:41,569
And now he's teamed up with his former

307
00:11:43,815 --> 00:11:45,595
former morning show guy,

308
00:11:48,215 --> 00:11:50,534
Finster, I guess, is his name. Sean is

309
00:11:50,534 --> 00:11:52,615
his is his name. I haven't really met

310
00:11:52,615 --> 00:11:53,514
Sean, but,

311
00:11:54,294 --> 00:11:56,615
the omelette and Finster show, it's, you know,

312
00:11:56,615 --> 00:11:58,009
one of those rock

313
00:11:59,350 --> 00:12:02,309
station things. I've I've filled in, for the

314
00:12:02,309 --> 00:12:04,389
news guy a couple of times on his

315
00:12:04,389 --> 00:12:04,889
show

316
00:12:06,470 --> 00:12:08,889
just because. Why not? It's kind of fun.

317
00:12:09,509 --> 00:12:09,910
But,

318
00:12:10,914 --> 00:12:13,715
anyway, so KLT is now also in the

319
00:12:13,715 --> 00:12:17,095
Paul Bunyan Building, but Midwestern also has WCCW,

320
00:12:19,315 --> 00:12:22,274
which has two stations as well as an

321
00:12:22,274 --> 00:12:23,414
AM and an FM.

322
00:12:23,940 --> 00:12:24,440
WCCWAM

323
00:12:26,179 --> 00:12:29,000
was the ESPN Sports talker.

324
00:12:30,419 --> 00:12:31,879
They're at thirteen

325
00:12:32,660 --> 00:12:33,960
twenty, I think.

326
00:12:34,740 --> 00:12:36,759
And now they're, WTCM

327
00:12:37,299 --> 00:12:40,075
Gold. They play old country music on AM,

328
00:12:40,075 --> 00:12:42,174
which is kinda cool. You you you know,

329
00:12:42,235 --> 00:12:44,315
riding around in the car. I kinda like

330
00:12:44,315 --> 00:12:47,774
listening to that because it's, country music from

331
00:12:47,995 --> 00:12:49,615
the fifties, sixties, seventies.

332
00:12:50,589 --> 00:12:51,089
And,

333
00:12:52,269 --> 00:12:53,970
I guess it's going pretty good.

334
00:12:54,589 --> 00:12:55,409
Jack O'Malley,

335
00:12:55,789 --> 00:12:58,350
who was the morning guy on the country

336
00:12:58,350 --> 00:12:59,330
station for,

337
00:12:59,950 --> 00:13:02,690
well, at least twenty or thirty years,

338
00:13:03,004 --> 00:13:06,225
and then he became a congressman for

339
00:13:07,084 --> 00:13:07,825
two terms,

340
00:13:08,445 --> 00:13:09,424
down in Lansing,

341
00:13:10,365 --> 00:13:12,865
a state congressman or state,

342
00:13:13,485 --> 00:13:15,504
representative, I guess you'd call it,

343
00:13:15,830 --> 00:13:18,070
in the state house. And then, he came

344
00:13:18,070 --> 00:13:20,330
back, and now he's the morning show guy

345
00:13:20,389 --> 00:13:21,850
on WTCM Gold,

346
00:13:22,309 --> 00:13:23,289
which is CCWAM.

347
00:13:25,190 --> 00:13:26,250
And then CCW

348
00:13:26,870 --> 00:13:29,049
FM is the oldies station.

349
00:13:30,315 --> 00:13:32,634
And what's funny about that now is, I

350
00:13:32,634 --> 00:13:33,934
guess, I'm getting old.

351
00:13:35,195 --> 00:13:36,794
They're playing a lot of the stuff I

352
00:13:36,794 --> 00:13:38,894
remember as as current.

353
00:13:40,154 --> 00:13:41,615
The old joke with WCCW

354
00:13:42,554 --> 00:13:43,375
FM was

355
00:13:43,929 --> 00:13:46,350
they bought all their music in the seventies

356
00:13:46,809 --> 00:13:49,370
and then just, they don't change any of

357
00:13:49,370 --> 00:13:52,009
the music. They just change their what they

358
00:13:52,009 --> 00:13:52,990
call their format

359
00:13:53,850 --> 00:13:57,095
as it gets longer. You know? But, that's

360
00:13:57,095 --> 00:13:58,875
always funny. But, WCCW

361
00:13:59,495 --> 00:14:02,075
stands for Cherry Capital of the World.

362
00:14:03,414 --> 00:14:03,654
And,

363
00:14:04,855 --> 00:14:07,830
but, they're they're part of the Midwestern group,

364
00:14:08,149 --> 00:14:10,070
And I know there's at least a couple

365
00:14:10,070 --> 00:14:11,990
other stations. I by the way, this is

366
00:14:11,990 --> 00:14:13,910
not gonna be a comprehensive list. This is

367
00:14:13,910 --> 00:14:15,690
just gonna be what I know about.

368
00:14:17,509 --> 00:14:17,910
But,

369
00:14:18,629 --> 00:14:19,370
but WCCW,

370
00:14:19,990 --> 00:14:21,850
I the thing I remember is

371
00:14:22,824 --> 00:14:23,804
was a guy named

372
00:14:24,345 --> 00:14:25,164
Lynn McNett,

373
00:14:25,865 --> 00:14:26,684
and his,

374
00:14:29,544 --> 00:14:32,125
what was his on air name? I forget.

375
00:14:32,504 --> 00:14:35,384
Michael O'Shea. There we go. I remember him

376
00:14:35,384 --> 00:14:36,684
for the longest time.

377
00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:38,299
He was kind of

378
00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:39,820
the, the personality

379
00:14:40,759 --> 00:14:43,340
behind CCW. He's since passed away.

380
00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:44,620
But,

381
00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:47,639
yeah, I remember, remember him when I was

382
00:14:47,639 --> 00:14:50,125
a kid, listening to him. And there was

383
00:14:50,125 --> 00:14:53,424
a guy on w c TCM AM, Merlin

384
00:14:53,485 --> 00:14:53,985
Dummerow,

385
00:14:54,605 --> 00:14:56,544
and he was there right from the beginning.

386
00:14:56,605 --> 00:14:58,365
I think he was, like you know, he

387
00:14:58,365 --> 00:15:00,125
signed on in 1941,

388
00:15:00,524 --> 00:15:01,345
with the station,

389
00:15:02,199 --> 00:15:04,440
and he would do a thing called farm

390
00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:06,860
and orchard time every day at noon.

391
00:15:07,799 --> 00:15:08,379
And it

392
00:15:09,159 --> 00:15:10,620
reminded me of

393
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:12,779
the guy on

394
00:15:13,959 --> 00:15:14,459
w

395
00:15:15,264 --> 00:15:17,924
k r p in Cincinnati, the the

396
00:15:18,464 --> 00:15:20,084
the news guy. I

397
00:15:20,945 --> 00:15:22,704
can't think of his name right now, the

398
00:15:22,704 --> 00:15:24,164
one that had the fake walls

399
00:15:24,704 --> 00:15:25,684
in his office.

400
00:15:26,384 --> 00:15:29,664
But, anyway so Mer Merlin was kinda that

401
00:15:29,664 --> 00:15:30,884
way, but he was cooler.

402
00:15:31,559 --> 00:15:32,940
And, he retired

403
00:15:34,759 --> 00:15:36,779
probably at least ten years ago,

404
00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:38,700
and

405
00:15:39,639 --> 00:15:42,540
I went to school with his, his kid,

406
00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:43,100
Dale.

407
00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:44,620
And

408
00:15:45,715 --> 00:15:47,475
and my mom knew him when he, you

409
00:15:47,475 --> 00:15:49,475
know, when she worked at the TV station

410
00:15:49,475 --> 00:15:51,075
because he had something to do with that

411
00:15:51,075 --> 00:15:52,434
as well, and they used to call him

412
00:15:52,434 --> 00:15:52,934
Zeke.

413
00:15:54,034 --> 00:15:56,134
I don't know why he got that nickname.

414
00:15:57,740 --> 00:15:59,259
But, you know, there's a whole bunch of

415
00:15:59,259 --> 00:16:02,620
other stations. It's kind of crazy, you know,

416
00:16:02,620 --> 00:16:05,259
flipping through the the, AM band or the

417
00:16:05,259 --> 00:16:07,740
FM well, the AM band isn't that crowded.

418
00:16:07,740 --> 00:16:10,404
There's, like, four or five stations. But on

419
00:16:10,404 --> 00:16:13,205
the FM band, I swear it's, every little

420
00:16:13,205 --> 00:16:16,105
bit. There's also a couple of public radio

421
00:16:16,164 --> 00:16:17,304
stations here.

422
00:16:18,325 --> 00:16:21,365
There's, Interlochen public radio, which I had talked

423
00:16:21,365 --> 00:16:23,465
about in a previous episode, but

424
00:16:24,370 --> 00:16:27,409
its claim to fame was, Kate Patello's, their

425
00:16:27,409 --> 00:16:28,309
morning DJ

426
00:16:28,689 --> 00:16:30,149
on the classical station.

427
00:16:30,529 --> 00:16:32,769
They also have a news station, so they

428
00:16:32,769 --> 00:16:33,589
have two different

429
00:16:34,610 --> 00:16:36,149
frequencies. And then,

430
00:16:37,195 --> 00:16:37,695
WCMU,

431
00:16:39,355 --> 00:16:39,855
radio

432
00:16:40,394 --> 00:16:43,134
out of Mount Pleasant for Central Michigan University,

433
00:16:43,754 --> 00:16:45,534
they also have two stations,

434
00:16:46,235 --> 00:16:48,794
here. They got translators here. They're all over

435
00:16:48,794 --> 00:16:51,720
the state, but they have two translators here

436
00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:53,179
in Traverse City. One,

437
00:16:53,959 --> 00:16:57,000
is their news talk, NPR station, and then

438
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,079
the other one's another classical. So we have

439
00:16:59,079 --> 00:17:01,240
lots of classical, plus there's a whole bunch

440
00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,339
of religious broadcasting stations.

441
00:17:04,244 --> 00:17:05,605
The old 1,400

442
00:17:05,605 --> 00:17:06,105
frequency,

443
00:17:06,644 --> 00:17:07,785
that WTCM

444
00:17:08,085 --> 00:17:09,144
AM was on

445
00:17:09,845 --> 00:17:12,964
got sold to a religious broadcaster, and,

446
00:17:13,684 --> 00:17:15,205
I I don't know if it's the same

447
00:17:15,205 --> 00:17:17,625
transmitter, but it's the same antenna

448
00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:20,180
that they used way back in the day,

449
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:21,619
on that station.

450
00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:25,039
But, yeah, we have you know, if you're

451
00:17:25,039 --> 00:17:27,119
into listening to radio, there is a lot

452
00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:29,039
of radio around here, and some of it's

453
00:17:29,039 --> 00:17:29,940
even local.

454
00:17:30,494 --> 00:17:32,255
And that's, you know, kind of the problem

455
00:17:32,255 --> 00:17:33,634
with the radio business.

456
00:17:35,615 --> 00:17:38,095
Again, I've talked about this in, you know,

457
00:17:38,095 --> 00:17:40,835
long time ago in previous episodes, but,

458
00:17:41,375 --> 00:17:43,295
you know, a lot of it, they listen

459
00:17:43,295 --> 00:17:45,740
to the consultants and they have the playlists,

460
00:17:46,039 --> 00:17:47,500
and they're playing syndicated.

461
00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:50,359
Even the DJs. You know, around here, there

462
00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:52,279
are some DJs. Not a lot, but there

463
00:17:52,279 --> 00:17:52,940
are some.

464
00:17:53,559 --> 00:17:54,059
WKLT

465
00:17:54,519 --> 00:17:57,079
has live live DJs. I I know at

466
00:17:57,079 --> 00:17:58,859
least during most of the day.

467
00:17:59,315 --> 00:18:01,154
I don't know what they do at night.

468
00:18:01,474 --> 00:18:03,575
The country station has live DJs,

469
00:18:04,835 --> 00:18:05,974
throughout the day.

470
00:18:06,835 --> 00:18:09,315
The AM station, of course, you know, has

471
00:18:09,315 --> 00:18:09,815
live

472
00:18:10,194 --> 00:18:10,694
programming

473
00:18:11,075 --> 00:18:11,974
during the day,

474
00:18:12,835 --> 00:18:13,734
during the morning.

475
00:18:16,150 --> 00:18:18,309
But like I said, I'm not sure. You

476
00:18:18,309 --> 00:18:18,809
know?

477
00:18:19,190 --> 00:18:20,869
I frankly don't listen to a lot of

478
00:18:20,869 --> 00:18:22,710
it anymore. I get I get in the

479
00:18:22,710 --> 00:18:24,630
vehicle, and most of the time, it's a

480
00:18:24,630 --> 00:18:25,130
podcast.

481
00:18:30,305 --> 00:18:32,005
Sorry. I had to take a drink there.

482
00:18:32,384 --> 00:18:32,884
But,

483
00:18:34,465 --> 00:18:35,984
you know, most of the time when I'm

484
00:18:35,984 --> 00:18:37,904
driving around, it's that. But, like, you know,

485
00:18:37,904 --> 00:18:40,404
if I just wanna go for a ride,

486
00:18:40,465 --> 00:18:42,465
you know, and sometimes I'll just take the

487
00:18:42,465 --> 00:18:44,164
dog and just go

488
00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:46,619
drive around out in the woods and

489
00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:48,940
and then I'll put on WTCM

490
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:49,900
Gold

491
00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:52,599
and listen to Old Country. That's kind of

492
00:18:52,599 --> 00:18:54,680
fun and, you know, the the AM has

493
00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:57,000
a certain sound quality to it that,

494
00:18:57,559 --> 00:18:59,674
I I guess you wouldn't call it quality,

495
00:18:59,674 --> 00:19:01,695
but it's a it's an attribute

496
00:19:03,035 --> 00:19:03,535
that

497
00:19:03,914 --> 00:19:06,494
just sorta reminds me of the old days.

498
00:19:07,035 --> 00:19:07,535
And

499
00:19:07,914 --> 00:19:10,735
always wanted to get into antique radios.

500
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,599
There's an outfit around here that restores old

501
00:19:14,599 --> 00:19:17,000
radios, but I'd like to get one and

502
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,240
try to restore it myself. And I'd probably

503
00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:21,880
just put it on TCM Gold and and,

504
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:23,880
you know, that sound really cool on a

505
00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:27,134
nineteen forties four model radio of some sort.

506
00:19:27,695 --> 00:19:29,775
I do have a pretty cool radio I

507
00:19:29,775 --> 00:19:31,234
got from my grandfather,

508
00:19:33,214 --> 00:19:34,835
a Zenith Transoceanic.

509
00:19:35,695 --> 00:19:37,714
It's a shortwave AMFM

510
00:19:39,450 --> 00:19:41,529
radio, and it has a little thing that

511
00:19:41,529 --> 00:19:44,250
flips up. And there's a wheel there so

512
00:19:44,250 --> 00:19:46,589
you can figure out the time zones and

513
00:19:46,970 --> 00:19:47,450
and,

514
00:19:47,769 --> 00:19:49,929
a little map of of where the time

515
00:19:49,929 --> 00:19:53,134
zones are. So if you're listening to Radio

516
00:19:53,275 --> 00:19:55,515
Moscow, you can see what time zone they're

517
00:19:55,515 --> 00:19:58,075
in and whatever. It's kinda cool, but I

518
00:19:58,075 --> 00:20:00,315
don't know how much shortwave is even out

519
00:20:00,315 --> 00:20:01,535
there anymore either.

520
00:20:02,315 --> 00:20:04,815
Again, you know, radio is, you know,

521
00:20:05,179 --> 00:20:08,539
podcasting and YouTube and all this other stuff

522
00:20:08,539 --> 00:20:11,420
is sort of, eclipsing a lot of radio

523
00:20:11,420 --> 00:20:13,119
first for a lot of people.

524
00:20:14,059 --> 00:20:16,140
But you know? And I'm kind of one

525
00:20:16,140 --> 00:20:17,980
of them. I still, you know, love the

526
00:20:17,980 --> 00:20:19,039
magic of radio.

527
00:20:19,424 --> 00:20:21,025
And I am a ham radio operator. And,

528
00:20:21,025 --> 00:20:23,184
again, we're gonna have an episode about that

529
00:20:23,184 --> 00:20:23,924
coming up,

530
00:20:24,545 --> 00:20:26,705
but, you know, that's there's a little bit

531
00:20:26,705 --> 00:20:28,545
of difference. But, you know, even ham radio

532
00:20:28,545 --> 00:20:29,684
is kind of dying.

533
00:20:30,225 --> 00:20:31,845
A lot of the local VHF,

534
00:20:33,650 --> 00:20:36,150
repeaters and whatnot are pretty,

535
00:20:36,849 --> 00:20:37,349
well,

536
00:20:37,730 --> 00:20:40,130
not very busy anymore like they used to

537
00:20:40,130 --> 00:20:42,549
be in the in the eighties and nineties

538
00:20:43,250 --> 00:20:43,750
because

539
00:20:44,130 --> 00:20:47,044
everybody's got a pocket computer and

540
00:20:47,424 --> 00:20:49,605
can communicate with the entire world

541
00:20:50,384 --> 00:20:51,204
with their phone.

542
00:20:51,505 --> 00:20:54,065
You know? With and phone, I I use

543
00:20:54,065 --> 00:20:56,144
in air quotes because it's not really a

544
00:20:56,144 --> 00:20:58,144
phone. It's a pocket computer. It just happened

545
00:20:58,144 --> 00:21:00,884
to happens to have a phone function.

546
00:21:01,349 --> 00:21:01,849
But,

547
00:21:02,789 --> 00:21:03,849
yeah. So

548
00:21:04,230 --> 00:21:06,809
the world is changing, but, broadcasting

549
00:21:07,509 --> 00:21:08,410
in this area

550
00:21:09,190 --> 00:21:09,690
is

551
00:21:09,990 --> 00:21:11,849
seemingly alive and well.

552
00:21:13,269 --> 00:21:15,274
And, you know, back in the day,

553
00:21:15,815 --> 00:21:17,414
you know, when I worked at the TV

554
00:21:17,414 --> 00:21:19,815
station, they had to have somebody there twenty

555
00:21:19,815 --> 00:21:20,634
four seven.

556
00:21:21,174 --> 00:21:22,634
You know, even with automation,

557
00:21:23,014 --> 00:21:25,595
there was always at least the master control

558
00:21:25,654 --> 00:21:26,875
person in the station

559
00:21:27,254 --> 00:21:28,234
at night to

560
00:21:28,589 --> 00:21:29,650
monitor the transmitters.

561
00:21:30,029 --> 00:21:31,230
And, you know, we had to have a

562
00:21:31,230 --> 00:21:34,029
general radio telephone license, which wasn't hard to

563
00:21:34,029 --> 00:21:35,730
get. You just had to get one,

564
00:21:36,669 --> 00:21:39,230
you know, to operate the station and same

565
00:21:39,230 --> 00:21:41,250
thing with the with the, radios.

566
00:21:41,825 --> 00:21:43,204
But now there's

567
00:21:43,984 --> 00:21:45,204
all kinds of unattended

568
00:21:45,505 --> 00:21:47,845
transmitters all over the place and

569
00:21:48,785 --> 00:21:49,845
and master control

570
00:21:50,305 --> 00:21:51,924
for the TV stations.

571
00:21:52,625 --> 00:21:54,704
Well, at least the ones on the hill

572
00:21:54,704 --> 00:21:58,130
here because it's an ABC, NBC combined now.

573
00:21:58,589 --> 00:22:01,390
They do, they have two different stations out

574
00:22:01,390 --> 00:22:03,230
of there, but they have multiple channels. You

575
00:22:03,230 --> 00:22:05,470
know, with digital, they can have multiple channels

576
00:22:05,470 --> 00:22:06,609
on each of the transmitters.

577
00:22:07,630 --> 00:22:08,130
And

578
00:22:09,234 --> 00:22:11,234
I don't believe there's a person in the

579
00:22:11,234 --> 00:22:13,474
building after a certain hour. I think after

580
00:22:13,474 --> 00:22:16,294
the 11:00 news, it goes on automation,

581
00:22:17,315 --> 00:22:19,974
and, nobody's there until the morning news.

582
00:22:20,674 --> 00:22:22,835
So there's a few hours there where there's

583
00:22:22,835 --> 00:22:24,294
just nobody in the building.

584
00:22:24,829 --> 00:22:26,269
But I yeah. When I used to work

585
00:22:26,269 --> 00:22:28,430
there, I would work the overnight. So, you

586
00:22:28,430 --> 00:22:30,430
know, after the 11:00

587
00:22:30,430 --> 00:22:33,390
news, everybody left and it was just me

588
00:22:33,390 --> 00:22:36,690
in the building. I'd take hourly checks on

589
00:22:36,910 --> 00:22:37,890
the two transmitters

590
00:22:38,269 --> 00:22:41,075
that we had. They were both remote transmitters,

591
00:22:41,134 --> 00:22:43,394
but we had a remote control set up

592
00:22:44,335 --> 00:22:46,255
and and all that. So, you know, and

593
00:22:46,255 --> 00:22:48,515
and nowadays, I don't think they do that.

594
00:22:49,535 --> 00:22:52,194
And master control is no longer local.

595
00:22:52,679 --> 00:22:55,980
Their master control is in Flint, and, the

596
00:22:56,039 --> 00:22:58,220
person that's operating the station

597
00:22:59,559 --> 00:23:00,299
is operating

598
00:23:00,759 --> 00:23:02,299
10 or 12 stations

599
00:23:02,599 --> 00:23:03,500
around the state

600
00:23:04,039 --> 00:23:05,419
remotely from Flint.

601
00:23:05,799 --> 00:23:06,299
So

602
00:23:07,174 --> 00:23:09,414
way different than it used to be. I

603
00:23:09,414 --> 00:23:11,174
used to I used to enjoy that. It

604
00:23:11,174 --> 00:23:12,154
was kind of fun.

605
00:23:12,694 --> 00:23:14,454
Of course, we would play it in the

606
00:23:14,454 --> 00:23:17,035
middle of the night. They'd play this, news

607
00:23:17,335 --> 00:23:18,794
program from NBC,

608
00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:21,059
and it was

609
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:22,900
twenty five minutes

610
00:23:23,759 --> 00:23:26,400
of nothing for me to do every half

611
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:26,900
hour.

612
00:23:27,279 --> 00:23:29,759
And then I would run a, two minute

613
00:23:29,759 --> 00:23:30,660
local break

614
00:23:31,519 --> 00:23:33,380
and then go back to the network,

615
00:23:33,944 --> 00:23:35,944
and that's what I did most of the

616
00:23:35,944 --> 00:23:37,625
night. So a lot of the times, I

617
00:23:37,625 --> 00:23:38,365
was watching

618
00:23:39,224 --> 00:23:42,044
Star Trek next generation, which we had on

619
00:23:42,664 --> 00:23:43,164
videotape

620
00:23:44,585 --> 00:23:46,265
on one of the side monitors, and I'd

621
00:23:46,265 --> 00:23:48,044
be watching episodes of that

622
00:23:48,430 --> 00:23:50,109
except for, when I had to do a

623
00:23:50,109 --> 00:23:50,609
break

624
00:23:50,990 --> 00:23:52,750
and a little alarm clock that would go

625
00:23:52,750 --> 00:23:55,170
off about a minute before the break and

626
00:23:55,309 --> 00:23:57,089
and make sure I have all my commercials

627
00:23:57,309 --> 00:23:57,789
in and,

628
00:23:58,430 --> 00:24:00,769
you know, trigger the break, do the IDs,

629
00:24:00,990 --> 00:24:01,490
and

630
00:24:02,109 --> 00:24:03,490
send it back to the network.

631
00:24:04,184 --> 00:24:05,404
But I was there,

632
00:24:05,704 --> 00:24:06,924
and I looked at

633
00:24:07,544 --> 00:24:09,244
the looked at the, transmitters,

634
00:24:10,505 --> 00:24:12,664
and the lights. You you also had to

635
00:24:12,664 --> 00:24:15,244
monitor the lighting system. It was remote.

636
00:24:15,865 --> 00:24:17,565
But, you know, if one of the lights

637
00:24:17,625 --> 00:24:20,299
went out, it would indicate on the panel,

638
00:24:20,299 --> 00:24:22,700
and then I'd have I had a 800

639
00:24:22,700 --> 00:24:24,619
number to call the FAA to let them

640
00:24:24,619 --> 00:24:26,220
know that the light's out on the tower,

641
00:24:26,220 --> 00:24:28,460
and they'd put out a NOTAM for the

642
00:24:28,460 --> 00:24:28,960
airplanes

643
00:24:29,340 --> 00:24:31,740
to say, hey. Tower lights are out on

644
00:24:31,740 --> 00:24:33,279
this tower here. And,

645
00:24:33,924 --> 00:24:35,765
Yeah. It was a whole thing. But,

646
00:24:36,484 --> 00:24:38,105
one of the one of the cool stories,

647
00:24:38,404 --> 00:24:39,464
there there was this

648
00:24:40,644 --> 00:24:41,144
phenomenon

649
00:24:41,605 --> 00:24:44,244
because all these thing these remote transmitters were

650
00:24:44,244 --> 00:24:45,305
connected via

651
00:24:47,525 --> 00:24:48,025
microwave.

652
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,259
Yeah. That's just really super high frequency,

653
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:54,440
signals that went between towers. And there was,

654
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:55,419
like, three hops

655
00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:57,179
up to the Sheboygan

656
00:24:57,480 --> 00:24:59,799
transmitter, which was, you know, way up north

657
00:24:59,799 --> 00:25:00,619
by the UP.

658
00:25:01,559 --> 00:25:02,059
And

659
00:25:02,975 --> 00:25:06,015
so but from our tower at the station,

660
00:25:06,015 --> 00:25:06,994
we could watch

661
00:25:07,855 --> 00:25:10,734
channel four out of Sheboygan. We could see

662
00:25:10,734 --> 00:25:13,394
it off air because we had 500 foot

663
00:25:13,455 --> 00:25:13,955
tower.

664
00:25:14,670 --> 00:25:17,250
And then we'd also watch the channel seven

665
00:25:17,470 --> 00:25:19,330
transmitter, which was down in Harietta,

666
00:25:20,110 --> 00:25:22,769
you know, half hour south of Traverse City.

667
00:25:23,470 --> 00:25:25,410
So I had a monitor for each.

668
00:25:26,269 --> 00:25:26,769
And

669
00:25:27,744 --> 00:25:29,444
another interesting thing,

670
00:25:30,384 --> 00:25:31,125
side note,

671
00:25:31,744 --> 00:25:34,325
there's another channel four NBC

672
00:25:35,744 --> 00:25:37,444
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

673
00:25:38,384 --> 00:25:40,704
So that's why, you know, channel four was

674
00:25:40,704 --> 00:25:41,605
way up north

675
00:25:41,984 --> 00:25:43,044
because of that.

676
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,019
So I'm going into the, half hour break.

677
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:48,460
And

678
00:25:48,919 --> 00:25:50,380
when I went into the break,

679
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,039
channel seven was playing the commercials I was

680
00:25:54,039 --> 00:25:54,539
playing.

681
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:57,319
And then I looked up at the channel

682
00:25:57,319 --> 00:25:57,819
four

683
00:25:59,234 --> 00:26:02,134
monitor, and it was playing different commercials.

684
00:26:02,674 --> 00:26:04,755
Like, well, that's weird. How did they get

685
00:26:04,755 --> 00:26:05,654
different commercials?

686
00:26:06,355 --> 00:26:08,515
And then just about that same time, I

687
00:26:08,515 --> 00:26:10,615
still I got an alert that the transmitter

688
00:26:11,154 --> 00:26:11,894
in Sheboygan

689
00:26:12,434 --> 00:26:13,174
went down.

690
00:26:13,549 --> 00:26:14,750
And what had happened is they had a

691
00:26:14,750 --> 00:26:17,789
power outage, and the generator didn't kick on

692
00:26:17,789 --> 00:26:19,329
like it was supposed to.

693
00:26:19,710 --> 00:26:21,890
So they had a power outage up channel

694
00:26:22,029 --> 00:26:22,529
four,

695
00:26:22,990 --> 00:26:25,150
but I didn't notice it on air because

696
00:26:25,150 --> 00:26:27,409
I was picking up the Milwaukee station

697
00:26:28,115 --> 00:26:29,654
on the channel four monitor.

698
00:26:30,355 --> 00:26:30,855
And,

699
00:26:31,315 --> 00:26:33,715
like I said, I only noticed it because

700
00:26:33,715 --> 00:26:34,375
the commercials

701
00:26:34,674 --> 00:26:37,575
were different, and then the monitoring system finally

702
00:26:37,955 --> 00:26:40,434
caught up and told me the transmitter was

703
00:26:40,434 --> 00:26:41,154
down. But,

704
00:26:41,955 --> 00:26:42,615
that was

705
00:26:43,349 --> 00:26:44,569
that was quite entertaining.

706
00:26:44,950 --> 00:26:45,429
And,

707
00:26:45,829 --> 00:26:47,769
one other adventure in broadcasting,

708
00:26:50,150 --> 00:26:53,289
it was Christmas Eve, and I actually volunteered

709
00:26:53,509 --> 00:26:55,609
to do a shift on Christmas Eve,

710
00:26:56,305 --> 00:26:58,065
which was fine. We did our, you know,

711
00:26:58,065 --> 00:27:00,705
family Christmas on Christmas Eve, and then we

712
00:27:00,705 --> 00:27:02,964
had another one on Christmas day

713
00:27:03,345 --> 00:27:05,045
with the other side of the family.

714
00:27:05,825 --> 00:27:08,305
So, you know, me being up all night

715
00:27:08,305 --> 00:27:10,964
running a TV station won a huge deal.

716
00:27:11,190 --> 00:27:12,889
But I had missed the,

717
00:27:13,750 --> 00:27:15,990
there was this farm program that played at,

718
00:27:15,990 --> 00:27:18,069
like, 06:30 in the morning. So, you know,

719
00:27:18,069 --> 00:27:19,909
I'm just gonna be watching that at 06:30

720
00:27:19,909 --> 00:27:21,049
in the morning on

721
00:27:21,429 --> 00:27:21,929
on

722
00:27:23,509 --> 00:27:24,649
Christmas Day.

723
00:27:25,615 --> 00:27:27,454
But I had to record it off the

724
00:27:27,454 --> 00:27:27,954
satellite

725
00:27:28,654 --> 00:27:30,255
at you know, it was like two in

726
00:27:30,255 --> 00:27:31,375
the morning. So that was some of the

727
00:27:31,375 --> 00:27:32,815
other things we did is, you know, we

728
00:27:32,815 --> 00:27:33,954
would record syndicated

729
00:27:34,974 --> 00:27:35,474
programming.

730
00:27:36,255 --> 00:27:39,054
And this farm show was supposed to go.

731
00:27:39,054 --> 00:27:40,755
It was their holiday special,

732
00:27:41,460 --> 00:27:41,960
whatever,

733
00:27:43,220 --> 00:27:45,799
and I missed the recording somehow.

734
00:27:46,179 --> 00:27:48,339
So I didn't have anything to play from

735
00:27:48,339 --> 00:27:49,720
seven to eight in the morning.

736
00:27:50,740 --> 00:27:52,900
You know, I could've thrown anything in there,

737
00:27:52,900 --> 00:27:55,159
I guess, and nobody would've noticed. But

738
00:27:55,684 --> 00:27:57,384
I thought to myself, well,

739
00:27:57,765 --> 00:27:58,884
I don't know. Maybe,

740
00:27:59,365 --> 00:28:01,224
you know, let's see what other stations

741
00:28:01,845 --> 00:28:04,164
that program was on, and maybe I could

742
00:28:04,164 --> 00:28:05,785
get it from one of them somehow.

743
00:28:06,644 --> 00:28:08,505
And it turned out that WGN

744
00:28:09,285 --> 00:28:10,585
in, Chicago

745
00:28:11,740 --> 00:28:13,679
played it, and they played it an hour

746
00:28:13,740 --> 00:28:14,799
and a half early.

747
00:28:16,220 --> 00:28:18,380
Yeah. Hour and a half earlier. So I

748
00:28:18,380 --> 00:28:20,940
went into the production manager's office, and they

749
00:28:20,940 --> 00:28:23,039
had cable TV, and we had WGN

750
00:28:23,419 --> 00:28:26,059
on the cable. And at the appropriate time,

751
00:28:26,059 --> 00:28:26,799
I recorded

752
00:28:27,904 --> 00:28:29,284
their version of it.

753
00:28:29,744 --> 00:28:31,845
And then all I had to do was

754
00:28:32,865 --> 00:28:35,924
take their commercials out and, and put our

755
00:28:36,464 --> 00:28:39,525
station ID over top of their station ID.

756
00:28:40,304 --> 00:28:40,804
And

757
00:28:41,710 --> 00:28:43,869
I was able to pull that off. So

758
00:28:43,869 --> 00:28:45,789
I actually got to play the right program

759
00:28:45,789 --> 00:28:47,730
even though I missed the satellite feed.

760
00:28:48,670 --> 00:28:49,170
So,

761
00:28:49,710 --> 00:28:50,210
anyway

762
00:28:52,910 --> 00:28:55,070
okay. One more. Jeez. I'm on a roll

763
00:28:55,070 --> 00:28:55,570
here.

764
00:28:58,085 --> 00:28:59,045
Used to be that,

765
00:28:59,684 --> 00:29:00,184
Jeopardy

766
00:29:00,644 --> 00:29:03,144
would, come down in one bulk,

767
00:29:04,244 --> 00:29:05,305
satellite feed

768
00:29:05,605 --> 00:29:07,445
in real time, so we had to record

769
00:29:07,445 --> 00:29:09,285
it real time. It wasn't like a now

770
00:29:09,285 --> 00:29:10,825
they just send you a file.

771
00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:14,080
But back in the day, we had to

772
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,180
record it off the satellite in real time.

773
00:29:17,039 --> 00:29:17,940
And so

774
00:29:18,559 --> 00:29:20,640
I think that was, like, Friday night or

775
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:21,140
Saturday

776
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:23,440
in the middle of the night or something.

777
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:25,575
I I don't remember exactly when it was,

778
00:29:25,575 --> 00:29:27,015
but it was, you know, two and a

779
00:29:27,015 --> 00:29:27,755
half hours

780
00:29:28,375 --> 00:29:29,195
of recording

781
00:29:29,815 --> 00:29:32,055
for Jeopardy for the week. And then, you

782
00:29:32,055 --> 00:29:34,154
know, the editors would cut it apart

783
00:29:35,015 --> 00:29:35,515
and,

784
00:29:36,630 --> 00:29:39,190
you know, get it ready for broadcast, you

785
00:29:39,190 --> 00:29:40,009
know, every

786
00:29:40,470 --> 00:29:40,970
evening.

787
00:29:41,990 --> 00:29:42,890
And so

788
00:29:43,349 --> 00:29:45,849
I recorded, you know, the jeopardy,

789
00:29:46,150 --> 00:29:47,750
and I knew I was gonna be out

790
00:29:47,750 --> 00:29:48,970
at my dad's house,

791
00:29:49,750 --> 00:29:51,130
and he loved jeopardy.

792
00:29:51,884 --> 00:29:53,484
And I knew I was gonna be up

793
00:29:53,484 --> 00:29:55,724
out there while he was watching Jeopardy. And

794
00:29:55,724 --> 00:29:57,964
you don't you're disturbing. You watch it with

795
00:29:57,964 --> 00:29:58,464
him.

796
00:29:59,164 --> 00:30:01,585
So, anyway, I watched that

797
00:30:02,205 --> 00:30:02,705
Jeopardy

798
00:30:03,900 --> 00:30:05,440
six or seven times

799
00:30:05,980 --> 00:30:07,920
just so that I had all the answers.

800
00:30:08,779 --> 00:30:10,559
I mean, all the answers

801
00:30:11,259 --> 00:30:13,500
for that one that was gonna play on

802
00:30:13,500 --> 00:30:15,019
the night I was gonna be at dad's

803
00:30:15,019 --> 00:30:15,519
house.

804
00:30:16,755 --> 00:30:19,555
And, anyway, so we played that, you know

805
00:30:19,875 --> 00:30:22,115
or they played that while I'm sitting there.

806
00:30:22,115 --> 00:30:24,355
Dad's watching Jeopardy, and I call out the

807
00:30:24,355 --> 00:30:25,955
answer. Call out the answer. Call out the

808
00:30:25,955 --> 00:30:27,475
answer. And I did that for the whole

809
00:30:27,475 --> 00:30:28,215
half hour,

810
00:30:29,039 --> 00:30:31,680
and he thought I was a genius until

811
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:32,980
I told him what I did.

812
00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:35,880
I couldn't couldn't but it was funny while

813
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,720
it was going on. Alright. Enough of that.

814
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:39,220
So

815
00:30:41,654 --> 00:30:42,154
tomorrow

816
00:30:42,615 --> 00:30:44,394
what am I gonna talk about tomorrow?

817
00:30:45,414 --> 00:30:47,195
Let me look at my little master

818
00:30:48,134 --> 00:30:50,695
list. Oh, yeah. We're gonna talk about heating

819
00:30:50,695 --> 00:30:51,515
with wood.

820
00:30:52,455 --> 00:30:53,734
I don't know if any of you guys

821
00:30:53,734 --> 00:30:54,960
ever did that, but,

822
00:30:55,519 --> 00:30:56,960
when I the whole time I was growing

823
00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:58,500
up, I didn't even know the furnace

824
00:30:58,960 --> 00:30:59,460
worked

825
00:30:59,919 --> 00:31:02,319
because we never used it. We heated with

826
00:31:02,319 --> 00:31:05,299
wood and the wood stoves. We had two,

827
00:31:05,599 --> 00:31:07,785
one in the one downstairs and one up

828
00:31:07,865 --> 00:31:09,465
stairs. The only time we ran the one

829
00:31:09,465 --> 00:31:11,224
downstairs is, you know, when it got real

830
00:31:11,224 --> 00:31:12,664
cold or if we wanna go down there

831
00:31:12,664 --> 00:31:14,684
and do something, we'd fire it up. But,

832
00:31:15,065 --> 00:31:17,465
yeah, we heated with wood the whole time

833
00:31:17,465 --> 00:31:19,244
I was growing up. So

834
00:31:19,785 --> 00:31:21,404
let's talk about that.

835
00:31:21,959 --> 00:31:22,779
Anyway, catch

836
00:31:23,239 --> 00:31:23,979
me tomorrow.