It's Another HUGE Thank You!!!

In don't know if you saw it or not, but we (KZIQ) were awarded a special award from the Kern Council Of Governments for journalism for our community broadcasting. It is truly an honor to win, and first I want to thank Chip for MAKING me enter and to Steven Morgan for his support too. For us its validation for a year's hard work, but ultimately we want to share this award with our listeners. I know that sounds corny and maybe a tad cliche, but it's true. It was constant feedback from a lot of people all year long. Suggestions. Ideas. Wow....and while I would like to take credit as a radio programming genius, I just can't do it. Thanks to all of ya'll!

Still off the air until Tuesday as far as the Big Show goes, but we will be hitting it hard with a year in review the first couple of days back. I'm expecting Fritz to be around more than not for the BS II also. It's the Friday the 29th and we're hanging out late tonight to get stuff done for one last bit of work One last programming note...we are airing a Top 100 for the year starting Saturday evening.

Happy New Year!

Well Christmas is HERE!

It's Christmas Eve Eve here at the radio ranch and Kim and I are here working like fiends so we can take Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day off. We have had such a hectic, yet wonderful stretch leading to Christmas. Great parties. Great Friends.

You know actually, it is amazing all of the new friends we have made this year. We also rekindled some relationships. Doing radio the way we have been doing it means you have to get out and see people and be active in the community. Through that time we found more people to help out on our air waves. We just plugged along all year and did it sort of matter of fact. I didn't realize how much we have done until the Christmas cards came rolling in. Wow. We did a lot. We will continue to do that next year and forever more. The success of this station depends on it.

I just wanted to take a minute and thank everyone who has stopped by the station, the web site, or the blog and gave us a shout out.

We also made a spur of the moment programming decision and switched to continuous Christmas music at 6pm tonight (Saturday). Merry Christmas to all!!!

An Update on our drive...

As you've heard on our news today, the community came through once again. This is such a special place to live. I'm sure there are a lot of compassionate small towns out there, but they would have to go away to catch up with town's unquestionable loyalty.

There were a couple of posts here in the comments section about the family. I have closed the comments for now and here's why. We knew some of the "stories" of the grown ups and it didn't matter. We wanted to make sure the children were provided for, especially during the holidays. I would not air anything about that because....we want to help the children.

I would like to thank everyone again and we will be sending out more on-air thanks.

We hope to have an Audra update for you here shortly as well.

We Need Your Help!

Let's see if it's true....that the IWV works best at the last minute....we are doing a drive out front of the building ALL DAY tomorrow for the Shields family, who lost EVERYTHING in a house fire this past weekend. We are zeroing in on the kids and the 18 year old who starts a job at Big 5 this week. The list is on our web site at kziq.com

They are also looking for household items like silverware, cookware, towels etc.

That's Wednesday (12-13) in front of our place in Old Towne!

Thanks!

Happy Birthday to......US!!!

It was one year ago today we stepped into the spacious facilities that is now Sunset Media KZIQ/KWDJ. What a wild ride it's been! We have so much to be thankful for. All of the help from the community. All of the well wishers, the hard workers, the volunteers. We have a nice little family here now and I want to be a little self indulgent an thank some of them right now. I will probably re-visit this post several times before we get it right, but here goes...

The Madman...dude...I could NOT have done this without you. You know this, yet you don't rub it in. You da man.

Mr. Watters....thanks for taking the plunge. Local news from Texas....and still kicks everyone's ass. LOL

Al Huey...You have been here almost from the beginning. You wanted a show. Little did you know what it would cost you. I thank you for all of the talks, the site....(yikes), and the great show you have turned Community Spin into. This town needs that kind of banter.

CoyoteTech Keith....my computers are stuck up....they will only talk to you. Whas up with that?

Brian Mather...our utility man. Need a voice in a pinch? Need the word on the street? Brother, you work way too cheap. For this I am grateful.

Shyla....where do I start? You are the bright light in our office. I have been able to do so much more because of all of the work you do. You are awesome! You help us remember to breathe....and LAUGH!

The Unknown Engineer...you know who you are. Just for you and I to be able to vent would have been enough....but you had to go and fix things...and make us sound better.

The Security Engineering Crew....John and crew, you are my ears sometimes...I'm thankful for that. The work you did at the site will stand the test of time (and sound hopefully)

Annie...our newest staff member....one day and you changed the world. Our world. You're on a roll! This was a very serendipitous partnership.

Chip...oh yeah....you're in here too. Your counsel has been such a huge help. The laughs help too. And I don't mean council meetings.

Eric Bruen.....I stopped spending. I swear. We love you. You know this.

Last and definitely NOT least....My bride Kim. The jokes on everyone isn't it. Little did they know I married a Trump. You did the whole deal!!! Glad you took me with you. LOL. I will never be able to thank you enough. I know...jewelry works. I love you.

There will be more....if you're not here...keep checking back. Have to scoot.

Most of all though....thank you IWV for not letting me down. I knew this would work.

Merrry Christmas....I mean Happy Hollidays...I mean...

We are pretty much toe-ing the Merry Christmas line this year. It was nice to see some retail finally figuring out that Christmas is a holiday unto itself that brings joy to many people. The other holidays? Well those are okay too. Just don't lump us all together. Everyone deserves respect for theirs too.

For country music AND talk radio? Oh yeah baby....it's Christmas time!

A Community Spin Christmas?

We've got some cool plans in the coming days for Christmas. The Big Show Christmas Show will be on Friday the 22nd, BUT, Al and Gary and a cast of hundreds will be doing a live Christmas eve show that will probably be simulcast on BOTH stations. These will include live reports from NORAD about the jolly ones trek across the globe, the meanings of Christmas and how it's celebrated around the world, and some very excellent Christmas music of all kinds. We are proud to bring this to you and hopefully it will become a new tradition.

We tried that Christmas light thing on the web site, but let's face it....seeing them in person is the BEST way to do it. We'll be passing along info from the D.I. about the best places.

The AM is Still A Work In Progress....

As you may have heard, we have encountered several problems and we certainly appreciate your patience. We have John Gibson for an extra hour from 6p-7p, then Alan Colmes and then (hold your applause) Coast to Coast starts at its regular time, 10pm. There are still a few programming adjustments we would like to make in the meantime. One addition starts this Saturday with Bob Costas and his new show going from 4p-7p on Saturday.

Something else new for our AM listeners is the new and improved web site. We're still working on that as well, but hope to have it finished by the end of the weekend. The end result will be a great resource for the talk AND sports fans.

Tomorrow we'll talk about our Coyote party!

Let's Talk About The Troops...

Thanks to Trudy, we're back in full swing with our IWV Cares program. We're getting a lot of donations of cash and goodies to send to the troops. But we can always use more help. The cash is for postage and the goodies are for the troops. There are folks over there fighting and in harms way every day some of which don't have much family. They are so thrilled when they get something from the U.S., even if it's from a total stranger. So if you get a chance, drop by something from the list

We'll be doing a couple of bigger drives soon, so watch for that!

All The Turkey Leftovers Are Gone...

And I need a nap! The week ahead will be fairly calm (as weeks around here go anyway). Gearing up for our next Road Show Stop on Saturday at Santa's Art Shop. We had a blast at Bud Eyre for the pancake breakfast. It's always great to be out and visiting with folks.

People are asking about Ray. He is well, however, he has some stuff to tend to in Texas so Bud Klamt will be doing some fill in work and when he can't do it, I will. This is typically a quiet time for news, which is scary because that's usually when something happens. We have some Christmas goodies planned for the coming weeks so stay tuned for that.

Over on our AM station we have been chasing down several problems. This most important announcement would be having Coast to Coast on the air on time at 10PM! Alan Colmes is on from 7p-10p. Starting this Saturday at 4pm we'll have a new show from Bob Costas. Costas on the Radio. Bob will also have a daily feature on the AM and even one on the FM.

Speaking of features on the FM, we're sad to learn that Bob Kingsley's Music Makers heard weekday mornings at 7:35 is no more. Bob will still be around with his Country Top 40 on Sundays.

Happy Turkey Day!

We're taking the day off on Thanksgiving, but we're resting up for Friday. WHAT A DAY! We'll start off in the studio for an hour, then it's off to Bud Eyre for their first (we hope annual) "Back At You" Pancake breakfast. It's free and their chance to thank you for their success. They are doing a great job at taking care of the Valley with their great Toyota and GM cars, trucks and SUV's, but there is nary a string attached as the breakfast is free and espcecially for those early morning shoppers. So stop by, have a byte and check out the new Coyote Wagon. Then at 11 we'll scoot over to Sears of Ridgecrest for their big holiday kickoff sale. Definitely worth scoping out. I'm already salivating over the electronics!

We will be easing into the Christmas music on Friday. Of course it was almost a year ago we stepped into our little radio hovel here and we'll be talking more about the year that was here real soon.

If you are a regular visitor to the blog but not the site, you should check out the new site. We scaled it back on graphics and increased the info. It's a work in progress but since I'm a DIY guy on this, please let me know what else you would like on it. When I'm done, I'll be doing similar work on the AM site. Speaking of the AM...

More trials and tribulations for the wary workhorse that is our AM. An STL is what sends the on air sound from our studios to the transmitter site. We had not only our NEW STL croak, but also our backup! Thanks to the "unknown" engineer, we're back on the air and sounding mighty good. We do have some more work to do. As a matter of fact there will be a couple of major projects to embark on before the end of the year to get us back up to snuff.

We'll be back...I promise! In the meantime, don't let the tryptophan get the best of you and (sorry Cowboy haters) Go Cowboys!!!

-Eric

Another Busy Saturday Coming Up!

Even before that on Friday we have the Freedom Rally, to kickoff this year's Community Dinner. We're hoping a lunch crowd will turn out since it starts at Noon. We'll only keep you for about 50 minutes or so. You will hear from some great speakers including newly elected Sheriff Donny Youngblood. The Farris Family Singers will be singing some great patriotic tunes and the Habitat for Humanity Barbecue Team will be cooking up their famous tri-tip!

Saturday, The Fritzer will be broadcasting from the Local F-32 Firefighters fund raiser car wash and bake sale. It goes from 8:30 am till 5 and benefits the families of the lost firefighters in the Esperanza fire last month. That's 5 families we need to help! We'll be broadcasting from 10 until 2, also covering the BHS All Class Reunion event at T.J. Frisbee's. The at 6, we'll be having the next West Ridgecrest Blvd. Wine Walk that goes until 8. Another great weekend of plenty to do in Ridgecrest!

We're so proud to be from the IWV!!

We were so excited about the turnout yesterday. I don't think our eyes were deceiving us. At the Kerr McGee Center from 5 until closing hundreds of people were waiting (most patiently) for their turn to cast their ballot. I swear I will get pictures up. I need to go buy batteries for my camera!

We set out to do a job in April. I talked to Chip and then we talked to Al Huey and put a plan in motion to set new records in voter turnout in the IWV. I would like to thank everyone who came through our door, or to our live broadcasts to register to vote, or pick up a voter guide, or even chime in on the state of affairs in our wonderful home town. We all did it together. Next up, waiting for the actually percentage of turnout and then increase it every election by 10 percent.

I'm about to add some off election season stuff to the web site for voter registration and such. Feel free to spread the word.

Our Weekend Adventures (Part 298)

What a weekend! Thursday night, in front of a limted crowd, we still managed to have a great time. Friday was a better crowd, but threatening weather made for a little lighter crowd, Saturday afternoon we batlled the rain, but Saturday night we, well, battled the rain and the wind. Sunday was SO nice, we stayed longer. It was great. All in all, we have away a bunch of t-shirts, stickers and, a first ever (or in a long long time) gave away REAL money! $92.70 x 4. Congrats to all of our winners.

The SCE lamp exchange went very well, and they even gave us some extra lamps to give away at the fair!

Needless to say, by the end of the weekend we were pretty beat, but defintely felt good connecting with everyone that came out. We're on the move again this weekend with the still to be disclosed Fri-Sun Fair Grounds remote and coverage of Maturango Junction. The Junction is a great event and you should make it out to Jackson Park.

We're also hoping folks will come out for the Political Forums we're doing with the Chamber, the Swap Sheet and the DI. Keep listening for dates and times.

We'll always have stickers and a few t-shirts too!

-Eric

Slacking again??

No, not really. Wre've just been so busy here. Okay, we did manage to take a three day weekend but it was to get ready for the next stretch of road show stops. We work every day until the 22nd. Yikes! But it's all good, because we get to be out and about with everyone. Keep listening because we are going to do something un-heard of during the Desert Empire Fair. More on that later.

The other thing we'll be doing is taking pocket change (or more) for Operation IWV Cares. We're gearing up again with the new name but same dedication for the Troops and for Long Beach, Mississippi. We want to make Christmas special for all of them.

Come by and see us!

-Eric

WTG IWV!

They had the fundraiser dinner last night at Charley's and it was a huge success. They were able to donate $800 and Chip gave another $150 to the families of the accident victims. It's another example of the great work this community does. Speaking of...

We had a blast Friday night at the USO fundraiser. We raised almost $6000 form that including the wonderful $2600 that Peggy from the Swap Sheet donated to have Chip mow her yard. She threw him a curve however, by annoucning that as a taxpayer, the football field belongs to her and Chip would have to mow that!

That USO building project is really taking off. They raised over $12k on window sponsorships and we understad the new roof is going on soon. It is going to be the crowned jewel of Old Towne. Spekaing of...

We have a Wine Walk Thursday night on West Ridgecrest Blvd. We will be broadcasting that and we'llo be broadcasting live from the Swap Sheet to celebrate 60 years for that publication. We enjoy a great parntershiop with Peggy and crew. We're working on the Old Towne Fall Festival together as we speak!

-Eric

Busy, Busy, Busy....

We finish and unwind from the Road Rally weekend. Great job, Southern Sierra Boys and Girls Club. Also, great job from Habitat for Humanity! We were absolutely amazed they framed an entire house in a day and a half. It's on it's way to the devestated Gulf Coast. We watched the unveiling of the all new Superdome last night and on one hand it was amazing they got that done in a year and certainly had reason to celebrate. But I still worry that the rest of the Gulf is forgotten.

We're reviving High Desert Cares, but we're calling it IWV Cares. After all, let's face it, it was the IWV carrying that program anyway right? So we'll be doing a Christmas push for both the troops and the folks in Long Beach. Keep listening for details.

So THIS weekend we'll be at the Family Fun Fair for the United Way. That's from 10-3, after the Kiwanis Walk A Thon. The Grand Prix is also this weekend. Keep listening to the station for traffic changes.

And finally, go to Lugo's Saturday morning between 9-11 and you'll see a genuine talk show live and in person. Al and Gary are doing their show there with Water Board candidates. We also have tentative dates set for Candidate forums we will be sponsoring with the Daily Indpendent, the Chamber of Commerce and The Swap Sheet. We're hoping to carry these live on the Coyote too!

-Eric

About That Gasoline....

So after talking to our financial guru, Andy Barkate, he suggested we were going about this high gas price thing all wrong. He suggested we through out an offer for a free advertising package for a place willing to lower the price a substantial amount per gallon. In this case it was ten cents a gallon and someone took us up on it. It was One Stop Market on China Lake Blvd. They dropped the price of regular to $2.75 a gallon. That's a full ten cents below the current lowest price which is $2.85.

If you haven't heard, the price of gas, the SAME gas, 120 miles north of us in Bishop is as low as $2.61. We're still scratching our head about that. We were hoping this might inspire a friendly gas price war, but so far, no deal.

I would like to thank One Stop for stepping up though. AND we will be visiting them soon to put together a nice advertising campaign.

I wouldn't say this was a total bust, because a lot of people saved some bucks on gas.

We'll keep pluggin' away.

-Eric

Some Website Changes...

We finally have some stuff on the Podcast page. There are links to podcasts and videocasts for Access Hollywood and The Final Lap (our new NASCAR feature!) plus you can download the last weeks worth of The Coyote Report (Ray's News), The Coyote Calendar and Joy Grdnic. Now the big challenge....can I keep them updated? LOL.

We'll see.

This weekend we'll be mobile during the Boys and Girls Club Road Rally Scavenger Hunt. Friday I think Fritz will do some drops from Habitat's big weekend project at Home Depot. They will be there Friday and Saturday framing a house for the Gulf Coast. They are taking donations of purchased tools (there's a list on location) and the frame and sending it on. The coast is still ravaged and again the entire Mississippi coastline is a mess, with most of the attention still going to New Orleans. That's why...

Operation High Desert Cares is back and better than ever with it's new name, IWV Cares. We'll still be working on supporting the troops, helping out our adopted city on the Gulf Coast, Long Beach Mississippi, and we are talking about developing a local scholarship. You can make donations at Searles Lake Community Federal Credit Union on Balsam.

More latah!

-Eric

Here's a Heads Up or Two....

First, on the web site, click on that Sara Evans button! It's your chance to score a trip to L.A. to meet Sara Evans and catch Dancin' With The Stars. I heard she didn't do to well, but she could fall down several times and I would STILL think she looks good! :p

Hope to see you at the Women's Center Concert Friday night. It's for a great cause and we're going to have a lot of fun. I'm a little worried about the wind though. The new forecast says 25-45 MPH. We'll see.

Now, finally we have the new NASCAR programming! Every weekday afternoon we'll have The Final Lap with Kerry Murphey. It'll be on at 4:15 pm. Not sure where Back In The Pits will be, but we're keeping that one too! More NASCAR, on Friday nights from 7-9pm it's Thunder Road. What's Thunder Road?

Thunder Road combines powerful production, hit music, and the most credible correspondents in Nextel Cup coverage.

The hottest stars in country music along with top drivers sharing the microphone. This is the perfect way for your listeners to keep up with two of their favorite pastimes.

Timely delivery to reflect weekly race results!

Hosted by WYAY / Atlanta personality Steve Mitch

It's country music at 200 mph. I know it's the end of the season, but this will be good for people to follow things in the off season and in January we'll be ready to kick some butt!

-Eric

August was GREMLIN month!

Well obviously. The gremlins got into absolutely EVERYTHING. So now September is here and we have lots to talk about. Today was our 9-11 tribute, in the morning. I didn't get to do eveyrthing I wanted to do, but we still had a nice program. I'm still trying to get ahold of Glenn Beck's last segment from today. It gave me goose bumps. He is an incredible radio talent and I am very proud to have him on our AM station KWDJ.

Little by little we are chasing away the gremlins. Peggy from the Swap Sheet suggested we have an exorcism put on by listeners. What a great idea!

We'll see how long till we need to haul that one out. I'm beginning to think our AM station is haunted. Maybe? Nah.

We are looking for a sales person. We just need one and it should be fairly easy for someone who is organized and self driven. I do know we have a good product and I also know that it's working for our advertisers. I don't remember being this validated down the street.

The Coyote parties have been a blast. We'll be having another one in October. Not sure when yet. We have a very busy several weeks with:

The All American Barbecue Grand Opening this Saturday. That night the Women's Center Concert. Next weekend it's the Boys and Girls Club Road Rally. The next weekend it's the Walk A Thon and Family Fun Fair, the next weekend it's the Relay for Life, the next weekend is the Desert Empire Fair and I think the next weekend is Maturango Junction.

Now I'm tired.

Be back later! I promise!!!

-Eric

It Was A Hot Hit!

Yeah, it was toasty...and considering all of mother nature's challenges, it was a great event. Of course I am talking about the Small Business Expo, put on by the Swap Sheet, the Ridgecrest Chamber and Hometown Radio 92-7 The Coyote! There were over 100 vendors sweating it out and I'm not sure of the total head count for attendance but we had a lot of folks brave the icky, steamy halls to check out what Ridgecrest has to offer in small businesses.

I'm SO glad we did it and can't wait to do it again. We are working on trying to find either a way to cool it off at the halls there or find a cooler place. The only thing that makes that tough? It's been great for the small businesses so we need a place air conditioned and big enough to hold over 100 vendors. We'll get it figured out so that we can raise attendance even more.

From noon til 3 Sara was down at Ashley Furniture Homestore, giving away another $2500 in furniture and this week it's the big finale with $5,000 in furniture. The cool technical part of that is that we were doing two remotes simultaneously! Cellular technology rocks for radio.

A couple of last notes as we get our noses back to the grindstone...one I would like to throw out a giant shout out to John at I-Rock for bringing us a present, or make that two presents....so that little power surges like we had this morning won't take us off the air. I-Rock? Nope, John YOU rock.

AND, we would like to welcome our newest staff members. Shila, our intern extrordinaire and Dave Larson our new Sales Executive. He's coming soon to a business near you. Dave is very active in the community including being on the Lions Club Board.

More later!

-Eric

Are We There Yet?

One of our goals, when we came over here, was to eventual make everyone say, "man you guys are everywhere!". Not sure if we are there yet, but we have something going on almost every single weekend from now through October here in the Valley, and our plan is to be there. To sweeten the pot a little is being an Old Towne Ridgecrest business. The difference between working for a regional station and actually being here is that we participate in these events at no cost to the merchants here because, simply, we are one of them. I have to tell you, that during the Summer Stroll, we haven't felt that validated as a community radio station as we did that night. Not monetarily, but just on a community basis. A lot of small market owners would say we are nuts by not attaching strings that would make us money, but my philosophy has always been to by intertwining yourself in the community gets you two things. First more listeners, because they will always want to know what's going on, and then of course advertisers will follow because you are a happening place that people tune into for the community.

The final part of this radio equation is that you can actually do things like get normal people who might not participate in the activities of BEING a small community interested in something to better the community. Everyone wins. This is not, I repeat, NOT a theory. I have seen it work. Back in Texas, and yes, here in Ridgecrest. I think if there was one thing I missed being down the street, over the last several years was not keeping this plan in motion. And worst of all about that, was that it is not just possible in one community, but in all that you cover. Is it hard work? Damn right it is. Is it rewarding? You bet.

convoluted and wordy as it was, I am hoping that the community that is the Indian Wells Valley will get out and support the Small Business Expo this weekend. It will validate you as a member of the community and validate the people who make this place tick everyday. Whether we actually see it in action or not.

Plus you can win some cool prizes. (ok....I will appeal to a different sensibility if the other stuff didn't work)

-Eric

I'm Ready To Kick This Thing In The Butt...

Well, not that we don't try to kick butt daily here, but you know you've been there too. A little complacency sets in. The whole fat and happy thing. You drop off your game a little. It's amazing, doing this "boutique" style (as they say in L.A.) the domino effect that happens when you kick it in gear. The Small Business Expo is a perfect example. We have come through many crossroads on our little radio adventure, and so far, mostly correct turns. This was certainly one of them. I was proud when Peggy, who owns the Swap Sheet asked us to join in. It's our first year, and I don't know necessarily that we pulled our weight, but we're trying. But it has been not just an business opportunity but has openend up new lines of communication. Not with just the goal of making more money, but for us to become a better business at meeting the needs of the community. All of the small business owners giving us feedback about THEIR businesses. We're all fighting together.

You know, I have been accused on occasion of having a "Pollyana-esk" view on things when it comes to small town life, but I really believe a community, or groups within a community are capable of working together and doing great things. This expo is a perfect example of that. The Old Towne Stroll was that way. By the way, Old Towne is really buzzing these days. Again, the domino effect. The turnout that night was nice enough, but the impression it has left with the public in Ridgecrest, is that it is becoming a "happening" place.

Onto our powerful and efficient AM station. Foxtalk 1360 has finally entrenched itself as a radio staple for TalkRadio fans here in the IWV. Our outside the Valley coverage has been a real plus. We're doing a little more technical work right now so we are covering a little more than the Valley, but when we get things back up to snuff, our daytime coverage is Lone Pine to Palmdale, Tehachapi to Barstow and Victorville. I have been astonished. Bottom line? We will STILL only cater to the IWV. Local local local. Well and Rush Limbaugh doesn't hurt.

We hit a little speed bump with our sports coverage. We are taking a pass on BHS football. We had big plans, but the school wouldn't (or couldn't) go with one station, so we took the high road, for our advertisers. That is such a limited audience, it is just not fair to divide that up. It would have meant a premium price for limited reach. It was borderline that way anyway. Two radio stations would have really watered it down. I'm at peace with our decision. Kim and I talked a long time about this. I couldn't let ego get in the way of smart business and looking out for our clients.

Speaking of which. I plan a long winded diatribe about why radio is different (and in some ways more difficult) because we have two uniquely different customer bases.

More on that later. I'm activating the cooling center in my brain now.

-Eric

Celebrate your Liberty

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

On Tuesday we will celebrate our Nations Birthday. In July 1776 the Continental Congress courageously voted to declare independence from Great Britain.
The "Declaration of Independence" not only declared our freedom from English rule but it also set fourth many of the ideals important to our nation today.

The Fourth of July for me is a celebration of Patriotism as well as a celebration of everything that is summer. Coney Island will host the 91st "Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest." Major League, Minor League and backyard baseball games will be played, fireworks will light up the sky and many sunburns will be earned. In Ridgecrest we are fortunate to have a community celebration at the Desert Empire Fairgrounds. Each year the Lions Club and Knights of Columbus work together to bring our Valley a fantastic fireworks show funded by donations from businesses, individuals and service groups. There will be great food, live music and games from the Southern Sierra Boys and Girls Club. Eric has produced the background music for the fireworks and you can hear it live at the fairgrounds or on your FM dial at 92.7, beginning at about 9pm. Fritz and I will be live at the fairgrounds so I encourage you to come out and enjoy the festivities.

As we celebrate our Nation's Birth, we should also take a moment to reflect on the brave men and women who have fought and died to protect the liberty our fore fathers worked so hard for. Please remember their families as you celebrate with yours.

~Sara

We're not Slacking!

I promise! Things here at the Coyote and Fox Talk have been going great. We are so pleased with the response we've had to Fox Talk. We are also happy that this month we could celebrate 6 months of service to this community! This week we started "The Big Show Part 2!" It airs afternoons from 3pm to 6pm. It's a continuation of our morning program and it's pretty cool!

Tonight we have another chance to support our community as we broadcast live from the new and improved "Olde Towne Ridgecrest." It's a great chance to spend a Friday night getting to know all of these wonderful businesses and their owners as well as your friends and neighbors. There will be live music, great food and specials from your local merchants. Olde Towne Ridgecrest doesn't only include Balsam Street but it also includes businesses on the side streets and Ridgecrest Boulevard. Some come out and spend a great evening!

We have some great things planned over the next few months including a huge drive to "Get Out The Vote." We want a lot of registered, well informed voters in this community! Stay tuned!

Election Day Is Here!

It has been a long haul for the candidates AND for the radio station. We have tried to present all candidates. Some of them have declined to be on the air. I'm not sure what that's about, unless it is a carry over from an ongoing reputation that the media has in being somewhat of a sabateur. We certainly don't do that here, allowing an open forum for the candidates to get their message out. We'll be doing election returns tonight, a tradition we staretd down the street. The politically active and politically curious usually stop by as we watch the numbers on the big board. The big board now being the internet. Ray will actually be taking part from Texas courtesy of the internet too.

We have tried so hard to be the community's radio station. Not just politics, but events and organizations. I am glad the listeners have not only indulged us in this, but embraced and encouraged it. We have talked about it before here, but this is what a community radio station is supposed to do. It is so lost on all of the corporate radio stations. Oh, okay, no rant here. For now.

The AM is humming along and I was suprised to learn (on a little road trip yesterday) just how extensive our caverage is. We were pretty solid to Adelanto. Wow. Of course at night we reduce power to just the IWV, but it's great during the day for the talk show fans who have to travel. For those that don't know, the talk radio fans had a real problem when KLOA switched their format, but were able to listen to some of the hosts they like on KFI. That is until December of 2004 http://www.earthsignals.com/images/kfi/ when a plane plowed into the tower. Now we have come to the rescue with Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura who were mid-day staples to the KFI lineup. Add the Angels and the Chargers and Fox Sports on the weekend and I think the AM is here to stay. Also, I don't want to sell short our local talk show. Al and Gary are doing an EXCELLENT job and did their show this last weekend at Lugo's . It was a great show with a nice turnout. Way to go guys!

-Eric

It's Friday!

A week ago we learned a fast and furious lesson in emergency preparedness when the entire city went 7 hours without power. It also put a halt to the grand weekend plans several of us had so we are hoping to resume those plans this weekend. Yay!! TGIF!!!

All in all it was a pretty quiet week around here. Everyday we fine tune the AM logs a little more. It's the same process we went through when we the FM came online. I'm really excited by our programming on 1360. I've never been one to listen to talk radio or even AM radio but the guys Eric has lined up are great! John Gibson is especially entertaining in the late afternoon early evening. He gets really fired up about the issues. The best thing I like about our talk line up is that while you may not agree with everything the hosts say they definitely get you thinking.

Election Day is a little over two weeks away. Please vote. Voting is the best way for you to make your voice heard. We have several important issues on the ballot including Measure A. Now is a great time to take a moment to do some research on the candidates and the issues. Make your voice heard, VOTE! Apply for an absentee ballot if you can't make it to the polls. Our website is a great resource for information on our local government and elected officials and since it has been revamped, that information is even easier to locate!

Have a great weekend everyone and we'll see you here next week, Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel!


~Sara

If You Blink You'll Miss It

So all this time, I have whined about not having routine. Well duh! It's exactly what I have been going through. It IS routine to have some technical problems. It IS routine for the show to feel a little different every day. It IS routine that the competition is going to do stuff to piss me off. It IS routine that the power goes off....oh wait, well that one maybe not so much. It's just me trying to come to grips on a couple of things...first, being the operator of two radio stations is different than being "the dude in the back". Next is reminding myself, that if all of my work is done at 4pm, go home! We've done that the last couple of days and that's when it dawned on me that the routine I have been craving is right in front of me.

I can't remember if I have talked about this (yes I think my short term memory is going), but there is going to be a boost to the downtown renaissance. "Old Town Ridgecrest" is what it will be called. There will be signs and even more events. We are SO proud to be downtown. There is so much history here. A little bit of it is either gone (The Card Room-Bamboo Club next door) and of course the whole Rite Aid deal across the street. So we need to really support and take note of the whole rejuvenation in downtown Ridgecrest. There are some great folks doing wonderful things. There are some upcoming events and I hope everyone will come out and support them. We'll be broadcasting live at least the first couple of hours of these events.

Meanwhile, I'm going back to my "routine".

-Eric

That Incident Number Is Closed...

That's what Edison has told us. Everything has been repaired and anything new that happens would be a new incident. Huh? Well I suppose there is some comfort in that. I was outside a little bit ago and a raven landed close by. I looked at him and yelled "stay away from the @#$%^&*&@ power!". By the end, at around 7pm Friday when all of the power returned, we all knew that we weren't as prepared for an emergency as we thought. I will say the City of Ridgecrest did a fine job in managing information and traffic. We know now what we have to do and by the end of the week, we'll have phase one of that in place.

As always, with any Sunset Media effort, the community stepped up and helped us where we were lacking and Marcus, who owns Ridgecrest Taxi and his boys, AND Chuck Griffin and the Salvation Army (Donna and Charles) made it happen for us. It was primitive at best but we made it work. John from I-Rock also was a class act. We're proud to be a part of the radio community with them.

My buddy Scott has a blog http://www.vastmoderateconspiracy.com/ and he captured a moment when we were out front entertaining motorists driving down Ridgecrest Blvd.

One other note....please tell your school kids, armed with cell phones, when they get sprung from school on a day like that...try to stay off the phone. I don't think it was a coincidence that when ALL of the schools got out the cell system locked up.

I had my Monday on Tuesday...

A few programming issues, a couple of technical bugs, and our former boss reared his head. I guess it galls him that we're even still in business. I'm certain that this feeling is closely tied to the fact that he would always talk to me like I didn't know what I was doing. Sour grapes from me? Yeah, but the blog is also here for some occasional venting. After hearing their AM station I am pretty sure they are using parts of this blog as a programming reference. It's not rocket science guys. But shhh....don't tell anyone our main trade secret. It's blood, sweat and tears. Elbow grease. TLC and a strong spirit of community and co-operation. No one with an individual agenda. Selflessness. It's not all about the money. Certainly not the quick buck. Commitment. Courage. Perseverance.

Rambling Thoughts and a To Do List...It Must Be Monday

So we're now beginning week two removed from the madness of the Fair, the NAB and the big car sale. My mind is full of thousands of little things to do to get both stations totally up to snuff. I guess the biggest thing si to whip both web sites into shape. Yup, there is an AM web site at http://www.foxtalk1360.com . Right now it's just our weekday lineup. I'm still a firm believer that if you have fresh content on your site every day people will come. I know, practice what I preach and post more on the blog.

I am working on getting more RSS feeds on our site. Not sure what everyone wants though. I had a service, but if you went to the site about a week ago, you know it went kaput because it hung up the page. It's a work in progress and as I get it to work on the FM site, I will be expanding the AM site.

I'm still in search of a routine. This has been one big roller coaster ride since we came ove rin December. Now a lot of the madness has stopped so I need some routine. Now this job is hardly routine, and there is a fine line between routine and a "rut".

-Eric

The AM is on (and other matters)

We finally did it! It's on the air. There were a few programming issues, what with Mr. Snow taking the White House gig, but it's going very well. So well, in fact, that when the Angels pre-empted Rush yesterday, we received a lot of phone calls. That's a good news, bad news deal. I don't like anyone to be unhappy, but it was nice to know we had that many listeners. This has not been easy. Here's a short list of some of the stuff we have endured to get this baby up and running:

New Transmitter
New STL (that's the thing that sends the signal from here to there)
Had to remove AM and FM STL antennas from the tower.
New electrical work at the site
Wiring of all of the closures (this tells my computer what to do)
Install computer for automation of channel changes.

In the process of all of that, on one windy day, our big door to the transmitter building blew off.

So it was the usual suspects helping out (thanks Steve and Keith!) but the amount of help and hours worked from other folks really helped. Starting with John at Security Engineering and his staff. They made a doorway and put in a very nice foor. Al Huey, and his crew for teh electrical work, and then a special one to Al for his complete overhaul of the building. It's a Taj Mahal now. Steve again for the rush on the STL and Nick (my son) and his friend James for getting the antenna pointed in the right direction and a very windy and cold day. And last but NOT least, or engineer (who's shall remain nameless for his own preotction, since our compeition are jerks and can't mind their own business) who put in our transmitter and processor and made the station sound "Major Market".

We're off and running and we have listeners already. How do I know this? An Angel game pre-empted Rush yesterday and boy did we get some angry calls. We're talking about recording Rush on those days and playing him back after the game. We'll see.

What a week!

I've said this before but it happens a lot around here. "What a Week!" We started off the week nice and calm and ended in a pattern of immeasurable, but controlled, chaos. You put 4 people into a studio and the energy is out of control! It was so much fun! I got a lot of positive feedback from our listeners about the four of us in the studio Thursday and Friday. We have worked really hard to be the morning show you can't wait to turn on.

Our week got really crazy starting Thursday with a visit from our Newsperson Ray Watters. Ray and I went to Change of Command at China Lake NAWS on Thursday morning. Then we went to lunch with Nathan and Kyle from the DI. The day ended with us preparing for the Auto Sale.

Friday found Eric, Ray, Fritz and Myself back in the studio together. What a time we had! Eric and Ray then headed out to the fairgrounds for our live broadcast. I brought them lunch and stayed out for a few drops before heading back to the station. I got to work finishing things up on my end for our trip to Las Vegas. That's right,we're spending some time in "Sin City" for the National Association of Broadcasters conference. This is my first one so I'm pretty excited. We get to look at the new technology coming out and we get to speak first hand to the makers of the programs we use. Plus, it's Las Vegas. Who can't have fun there?

When we get back you'll find us at the Spring Festival. We'll also be fine tuning our AM station which officially goes on May 1st!

The past weeks have been insane and there are so many people who have dug in with both hands. Eric was talking about small town Radio the other day and he, Kim and I agree that it's the town that makes us who we are. This town is full of people with special talents who run under the radar until someone needs their help. THANK YOU! You make us 100% Hometown Radio for the Indian Wells Valley!!

~Sara

What I was REALLY Saying...

...was, I need DOUGHNUTS! Remember, I'm leaving the hot country in a couple of hours for the cool IWV and need all the fuel I can get!

Ray

I think what Ray was trying to say...

Is, we need your donuts please. Am I right? You should plan to stop by and say hello to Ray either here or at the remotes, which by the way will be at the Fair Grounds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11-2.

-Eric

Well...This is Also a First

Our Radio Life

After a few months of broadcasting the news daily, I finally get to visit the station for the first time! Looking forward to being on the air with Eric on Thursday and Friday of this week (April 20 and 21).

Ray

Well This is a First!

This is my 14th year in the IWV and we have gone through several programming changes over there and of course changing from Adult Contemporary to Country here. We put an ad in the paper this week for the AM (the transmitter is here!). It was just a general "heads up" for the talk fans out there. This is the first time I have EVER gotten a complaint call BEFORE we've gone on the air.

Today-two calls....Caller one-female:

Caller: I am calling to complain about an article in the paper.

Me: Ummm...okay go ahead (thinking I can call Nathan at the DI and give him a good razzing)

Caller: I would like to know WHY you are putting Rush Limbaugh on the air.

Me: Well ma'am, it's because he is very popular.

Caller: Well I don't like him.

Me: Okay, well I understand he's an acquired taste...not for everyone.

Caller: Yes, but he got into all of that trouble a couple of years ago.

Me: I know, but he is STILL the most popular radio talk show host in America.

Caller: I don't care, I won't listen.

Me: I understand. I appreciate your input though.

Caller: Well I didn't like that you changed the format on that FM station either.

Me: Well thank you for calling. Have a nice weekend. Bye bye.

A few seconds pass, and the phone rings again. My caller ID says it's from the same phone. I answer and this time it is a male voice.

Caller: Yes, I'm calling to complain about you carrying Rush Limbaugh. That man is an idiot.

Me: I appreciate your feedback. I just reminded someone that that is why it is great to live in America, because we have choices.

Caller: I understand that, but it's just not right. You should have someone more helpful, like Dr. Phil.

Me: No sir, THAT man is an idiot. Thanks for calling and have a great weekend.

Sheesh.

I am most certain that when we get this baby up and running, it will inspire a ton of calls to us. My favorite ones are from armchair programmers. With tin foil hats.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

-Eric

The Most Important Thing....

Day to day business clouds the mind somewhat and keeps me from keeping my eye on the big picture, but the last couple of days with all of the phone calls during the Big Show and watching the daily web hits grow, and an increase in e-mails, it has reminded me to remind you that if you live in the Indian Wells Valley, this is YOUR radio station. We take several calls a day from people with ideas and suggestions and a whole lot of them have been institued on the air. We're proud of that. For those of you taking a more passive role in all of this, jump in the water's fine! As a matter of fact, it's great! We're all having a blast! Wanna stick your head in the door and get a quick tour? No problem. Ever wondered how a radio station works? We'll be glad to show you. This truly has been, and is currently a labor of love and community commitment.

Everybody has made me so proud to call the IWV home.

-Eric

We're Interactive!

So this morning we're trying to take listener calls. Our question of the day? What is your favorite Crime Forensics show? We're slowly but surely getting calls. This has been my goal the whole time and we most certainly will be taking on more heady issues, but today, we'll just get the bugs out. Fritz is the call taker and he is editing the calls down for airplay. But our bottom line and what has always been radios strong point has been the ability to be interactive, before interactive was cool. On top of that we are totally internet friendly too, with this blog, our new message board, the ability to e-mail requests and contest entries as well as calendar submissions and now our online poll. We are hoping that everyone who listens every day will not only "feel" a part of this station, but BE a part of this station.

Stay tuned.

-Eric

Another AM Update

Well, the trials and tribulations continute, but we are getting so close to getting this done. Also, there have been some changes to the lineup. I will keep it a secret for now, but most of the names remain intact (inclusing Rush-you ditto heads) but we have a pretty dynamic guy opening for him in the mornings. It's all coming down just like I thought. All at the last minute. We are expecting our new transmitter this week, as well as a new remote control untit, a new STL, a new pole to mount the anntena on and all of our Angels gear. No sweat right? It's all supposed to be here before the end of the week, and we HAVE to get it on next week. Sheesh. It's going to be great when it's done and we're already receiving a ton of calls asking about it, even though we haven't really put much word out on the street about the Talk station.

We finally have our message board setup. It's a good one too. So, I am looking forward to getting feedback for the station and we'll post some topics for your consideration about community issues.

Speaking of community issues....we are looking for 8-10 folks to be on our Community Issues Committee. You would be responsible for helping us keep the most important topics front and center in front of the community. If you are interested you can e-mail me at eric@kziq.com .

Have a great week!!!

-Eric

The Coyote's Name is........

Ziq, pronounced Zeke! Brian M. came up with this name first so he dinner for two at the IWV Lodge! If you'll notice Ziq is the last three letters of our call sign. Plus you can't get anymore country than Ziq! Congratulations Brian, and thanks to all the entries we received. There were so many great ones submitted! We plan to announce some of the entries we got over the next week so you can hear just how hard it was to decide!

We have several Coyote road stops planned in the next few weeks. Stay tuned to hear where we are each weekend. If you stop by you might even win a prize and I guarantee you'll have a great time.

~Sara

Time for an update!

If you've noticed a lack of updates here and on the website it's a sign of just how busy we have been. We are hard at work on the AM station and every day get just a little farther with it. I am really excited by the programming we have scheduled. Just hang in there a bit longer and I promise we will blow you away.

How do you like the morning show? I am so excited that it's been extended an hour. This means more time for interviews, David Letterman's Top 10 and anything else we can cram in an extra hour!

Tomorrow is the day we "Name the Coyote." It was so hard to pick just one name. There were a ton of entries and everyone was so great! So make sure to listen tomorrow at 9:15am. I will post it here on the blog soon after.

It's Follies Week!

Mixed emotions this week. It's the final week of preparations for the Ridgecrest Chamber's Star Follies. 65 of us, usually have a blast on show night. I'm not sure if eveyrone realizes it, but we spend many hours over about a month and a half, preparing our "numbers". No matter how much we doubt ourselves, the show always comes together on show night and we have a blast. The concept of the show was for people who don't normally work together to get a chance to know each other and work together and in fact it does work that way. The one major way we're validated is for the seats to be full and to see the audience have a good time. We haven't been let down yet. Neither has the audience. We're hoping we get even more people than we have ever had. Tickets are available at Hallmark (General admission) and the Chamber office (reserved). Please come out and be a part of the fun and what is now a Ridgecrest institution. This year will also feature a bite to eat from the Habitat for Humanity barbecue team so come hungry!

Myself and Ron K. will be working out at Mesquite Hall this week, doing our chores. Draping the stage and putting the finishing touches on. Thursday night we show Don our songs, put up the lights and sound and we'll be going over the video shoot and camera angeles. Betcha didn't know about all that stuff huh? As a matter of fact, every year our video has gotten better and for the last few years, the video is available on DVD. Instead of telling your friends about a certain number that was shocking or extremely funny (can you say Full Monty?) buy the DVD and show them.

Now, on to the AM. We're plugging along. There has been a little drama and we are running a little behind, but The Madman got the ball rolling and by the end of the week we'll probably have some programming on. This is a heads up ONLY here on the BLOG. We're planning on getting Tony Snow and Rush on the air by weeks end. We won't be seriously promoting FoxTalk 1360 until we're all done, but we will definately be up and running for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

It never rains in Southern California

Rain finally has made it's way into our valley. Thank goodness because I don't know about you but this dry winter is killing me! Sitting here at my desk I can hear the cars drive through the puddles and out of the corner of my eye I can see the headlights of cars. A much different scene than where we previously worked. It's a warm rain too. It's not the cold rain that leaves you shivering all afternoon. Blend that together with my chai drink and it makes for a cozy afternoon.

We had a remote on Saturday at the new Ashley Furniture Homestore. It went great and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. We gave away goodies and had a great time. We got tons of great feedback from everyone who was there. I look forward to more remotes.

Sunday afternoon found us with a computer glich. Our automation program hiccuped and shut down. I came up to the station and with the help of Eric on the phone got it back up and running. We also had another glich today at 3:45pm. It's one we have been having regularly and keep trying to fix. We have requests into tech support and hope to resolve it very soon.

Eric's show extended this morning by one more hour. He is now on from 6am to 10am (PST). We have added more features and ways to win. It's never dull around here and we make sure of that. ;)

I think that wraps up things around here. Today I did billing and using my program only, I got it done in half the time of my previous runs. Even the legal stuff went smoother this time. Yes, that sums it up for me. Keep listening and keep giving us your thoughts. Oh and name the Coyote....it ends tomorrow. Get your name in!!!

-Sara

Rambling Thoughts....

Had a somewhat successful day at the transmitter site yesterday. I will say the AM is progressing and now we look set for a mid-March startup. Sorry for the delay, but we will NOT cut any corners with this project. I plan to get some info on the AM website soon. There's just a splash page there now at http://www.foxtalk1360.com .

On the FM side, we picked up s station vehicle yesterday. It's funny. It's a Volvo station wagon. Looks a little like a European hearse. Ralph has put some logo work on it. It will work just fine for hauling our stuff around and except for the partially smashed windshield is ready for public display. We have so much community info now, we have had to go to two differenet 90 second recorded Coyote Calendars (they run throughout the day) to just cover the week ahead. This, as you will read below, is key to our success and it was one of my concerns. People already know this is a place they can drop off thier announcements, have them heard on-air AND not be charged for them.

Back on the AM for a second, don't forget to tell your friends, if you like sports, we will be filling the talk show blanks with Fox Sports, plus we'll have the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (LOL) and the San Diego Chargers.

More latah!

-Eric

I'm Back...I think

I have to say I am surprised at the number of people who are reading this. I only know this because of all of the comments about a previous post, and the fact that I haven't posted much lately. As we get further into the day to day here of running a radio station some of the luster has worn off. Or at least that "new radio smell". Regardless, this has still been a daily joy and I hope it shows in what we do on-air. Business is looking up and community involvement, a real key to our success, has been picking up as well. I want to take a bit of space here to talk about the radio industry in general and what it's up against these days. Over the past 20 years, radio stations have been striving to bring you what are now being matched by CD players and the new satellite companies are doing. Playing lots of music. Now, don't get me wrong, playing music is still important, but what has been lost over the last 20 years has been the connection to community. Bigger companies know this, but it's hard for them to make their shareholders happy when you have to spend so much money in pure man hours to get that particular job done. So, you sponsor big events. You get stadiums named after your company. You do big radiothons raising money for national charities. At the end of the day it still falls considerably short of what the original concept of local radio was.

So now what? Well radio's very survival is directly tied to what it does for and IN a community. We have to provide information that is pertinent to citizens of our community. Satellite can't do that, in fact they know this now and are trying to make that happen. Oh but wait, then the FCC says they can have control over them. Well I guess that's not cool. This localism is what separates us from the other stations AND most certainly from the satellite companies. To that end, in our informal questioning of folks around here I am surprised to learn that we have given them reason to keep their satellite receivers off in their cars, when they are in their hometown. It certainly gives me hope that this formula works.

When you get a chance, try to find some material on HD Radio. It's coming. We were in L.A. this weekend and there are already some stations making a go of it there. It is going to be amazing and will rejuvenate this business like nothing has in the last 50 years.

If you are reading this from another place and you happen across someone that works in radio, ask them about their local commitment. If you live here, don't hesitate to call me out on something. We are absolutely committed to this. It's radio's last lifeline.

Great to be back!

Hi everyone,

It's Fritz here. I just wanted to stop in and throw in my two cents worth on being a part of KZIQ. First off, it's been very cool for me to be working with Eric again! When Pony and I left Ridgecrest to do Radio in other towns my biggest regret was not only leaving a town I really love but not working with Eric anymore. To not only be working with Eric again but helping to build a station for our community from the scratch is very exciting. It's a chance that very few DJs ever get to do. Eric, Kim and Sara are a great crew and I'm looking foreward to plenty of fun times ahead for all of us. I'll try to fill you all in on my side of starting a new station and it's great to be in Ridgecrest. Thanks again for bringing me back Eric.

Much to Young to feel this damn old!

I am a morning person. I'm up on the weekends by 6 or 7am and during the week I'm up at 5am. Late nights kill me. Last night the station was invited to the VIP night at the new nightclub in town, "Club U" or "Club Unicorn". The festivities began at 8pm and we got home just after midnight. What made it so exhausting is that we decided to spend the day in Lancaster/Palmdale first. My husband, sister and I went and we sat with some of the other young proffesionals. Having 2 little ones at home as well as a husband who works odd hours and switches shifts at a moments notice; he and I relish these opportunities to get out, get dressed up and have a good time. We had a fabulous time! First we where in good company, and second it was a nice place to go. We shaked our tail feathers, enjoyed adult beverages and relaxed in the atmosphere of a place usually found in the bigger cities. I am looking forward to "Club U's" contribution to our community!

Our tower climber came up yesterday and Eric had a long rough day. It went well but I'll let him blog about everything that happened.

This week had it's challenges like every week does. We just want to do what we do, the best we can. We saw a niche in the community that wasn't being filled and we sought to fill it. It's ruffled a few feathers and we expected that. As we have said time after time on this blog, it's the love, support and faith we receive each day that keeps us going. From the e-mails, to the sweet treats dropped by the station or the positive re-enforcement from a friend. The honking of you, the listeners, as you drive by the station, the calls for our contests and promotions to our Advertisers. March 9th marks our 90 days in business. It is you, Ridgecrest, that makes it possible for us to continue our success. We are happy to be here and can't wait to see what the next 90 days bring!


-Sara

Just A Couple Of Things...

We just got home from Follies rehearsal. We'll talk plenty about that coming up. A couple of things though. First, I am posting with my PSP. This little device allows me to go online, check my e-mail, play Madden Football, and listen to tunes. Cool huh? Next, I just want to thank the HUNDREDS of people who write e-mails, call in, or stop by. This has been the single most rewarding job I have ever had. We have already far surpassed all of my expectations! That would be on every level.

About The Worm

It is unfortunate that there are people in this world so jealous of someone's entrepreneurial spirit that they must do what they can to quash that.

Eric, continue to expect this to happen. Sad little people will try what they can to not allow your success. Just be happy that these people are in a very very small minority. The majority of the Indian Wells Valley supports your station!

Ray

Well The Worm Turns....

If you are a regular visitor to the blog, you know a couple of things already. First of all, after a pretty emotional ending where we used to work, and getting everything together here, it's been very nice to just worry about OUR business and not so much what's going on down the street. Until now. This blog was for listeners and family who wanted a little insight as to what was up around here. There certainly have been no real trade secrets here and we have been quick to edit out anything that may have crossed the line.

Until now....

All I have to say to the little man printing these items to fire up our former boss is, you are a sad pathetic individual. How your life took this road is beyond me. But you should certainly be ashamed to have become the bitter, troublemaking person you have become.

Pitiful.

Scary...Scary

Ok, so Kim and I are leaving town today. Part business, part pleasure. We're leaving our baby in the hands of the very capable Sara. This is a huge step because if something happens I won't be within blocks to fix it. Not that I can fix everything.

We now have a very viable (and affordable) plan to get the AM up before baseball season. There's your heads up Ditto Heads.

Fritz has been by this week. Eventually he will be my fill-in when I'm gone. He LOVES this town and he has been a driving force with some great imaging ideas. (Get a rope!)

More latah! Oh and before I forget, for posterity's sake, I would like to wish my beautiful bride a very happy anniversary. You made my dreams come true!

It's alive!

One month ago if someone had asked me if I would know our traffic and billing software as well as I do now, I would have laughed for a good five minutes. I've got it down. We have been using it faithfully for the past week and even sent out bills from it. Our weekend shows ran pretty smooth and everyday we find something that may need to be edited a little differently. It's all part of the learning process. Now it takes me two seconds to enter an account and schedule it where as before it was more like 10-15 minutes. Friday was a bit of a mess as we tried to figure out how to enter in our shows like Bob Kingsley and Inspirational Country. We got it down though and I got more practice editing and making log templates. Next I need to do a template for when Eric isn't able to do "The Big Show."

Some of the neat things about working in Radio are media previews and media access. We were invited to the VIP night at Ashley Furniture and I can tell you we are in for a treat Ridgecrest. You can not believe that the building used to be the old DART Thrift Store! It's amazing the change. We also have media access to cover tomorrows Economic Outlook Conference. Listen for Ray Watters Coyote Report Friday for information on how it went.

As I typed this I've finished my cup of coffee and it's time to get the day started. Carpe Diem!

-Sara

Streaming Server Update

The streaming server was updated this past monday, it was operating at 40kbps, the upgrade brought the stream up to 56kbps which allows users on dial-up to still recieve the stream with little or no buffering, plans for a possible broadband server is in the works. Which will operate at 192kbps giving listeners CD quality audio. Details will be posted when the service becomes availiable.
For now the current server will stay as is, any disruption in service is not planned but it is possible that sometimes the stream gets disrupted due to operator error or a fault in our DSL provider.

Another Week!

So much to do this week. As a matter of fact, it is becoming mind boggling. I have Microsoft Outlook and other tools to keep myself organized, but there are so many BIG projects to do, I feel like I'm chasing my tail every day. We have an engineer coming by this week to get a snapshot of the various projects he needs to oversee and I think Kim and I are going to try to head out of town for a day or two, to get our bearings back.

The remote this weekend ended up going well. Not very well attended, but it was a flex weekend, so there weren't many people in town. However, they sold 4 cars so that was very good. The crew there was great and Brad, who runs the place, is really helping us get the town pumped up. He is a one man PR machine for us. We have several others who are out and about every day and this word of mouth is invaluable.

The web site is doing steady business. I have an update to post but for some reason our ftp service is down today. Could make things interesting later in the week.

I am going to try to post at least another time this week!

Yeah sure...maybe Outlook will remind me.

Notes from a rambling mind....

Several things to cover this morning...

First, I left a couple of thank yous out and they were pretty big. Thanks to Sam and Trudy. They were such a big help in the first scary days. Sam was funny asking the girls to step aside, while he single handedly painted the front office. We have some furniture too. Trudy is and has always been a huge supporter with her kickass talks and of course all of the High Desert Cares stuff. She's even out beating the streets helping us drum up business.

Also a big thank you to Bill Folden who helped us get our back room sheet rocked and made Kim a special birthday dinner. He IS the man. The beautiful thing about Bill is he wants nothing in return and usually is uncomfortable with even a thank you.

The AM is coming together and the lineup is starting to come together too! Here's an early look:

Tony Snow 6-9A
Rush Limbaugh 9-12p
Ed Shultz 12p-3p
John Gibson 3p-5p
Michael Savage 5p-8p

More is coming and for those of you wondering why all the conservative hosts? Not neccisarily the reflection of management here, but the common thread that runs through our little valley. Plus, we'll also be carrying the L.A. Angels, the San Diego Chargers and a ton of local sports. The Champion Burros will be heard on the FM though. Those kids and their coaches have worked hard the last few years. We're going to try to put together a nice broadcast too. Also on the way at least one LOCAL talk show on the weekends. Also, if you live in Ridgecrest, drop me a line and let me know what else you might like to hear, especially on the weekends. The only weekend show lineup is on Sunday night....the Drudge Report.

Wrap up for the week

Wow! What a great week. Eric had several guests this week in regards to the Larkspur Apartment Complex, Mr. IWV, Operation High Desert Cares and more! Senator Ray Ashburn stopped by yesterday morning and we broke into our regular program to bring our listeners answers about BRAC. We really are bringing back local radio to Ridgecrest.

On Tuesday we hosted our Ribbon Cutting for the Chamber of Commerce. If you weren't there you can stop by the station to see our photograph of the event. The photo was taken by Gary Nordvall and is already framed and hung on our wall. Thank you to our Chamber Ambassadors!

My trials and tribulations with our traffic and billing software are almost at the end. I had some problems on Thursday when I tried to send the logs to the computer that plays our music (the automation computer). After some calls to support and some more fine tuning we got it fixed and now the computer can read the logs. I will do some final editing Monday and we should have it going by Tuesday! The best thing about the software we are using is that it really is user friendly. I had only seen Eric import the log a few times and when I went to do it myself it was very simple!

It really was a great week. Eric will be working over the weekend as well as strutting his stuff in the Mr. IWV pageant tonight. If you get a chance you should go. If you don't....hopefully I can post pictures next week.



Thought for the Week: If it didn't belong to you; no one can steal it from you.

It's Thank You Time...

Watching the Golden Globes last night, it reminded me that I need to do some thank you's, and I will do these on the air too.

To Sara and Kim for all of their work making this place look liveable and a special one to Kim for putting up with me saying, "I'll be right home". Plus there'll be more thank you's to them because they have a LOT of cool things planned!

Glenn....there really isn't a grunt job you won't do is there? I mean really, even the toilet??? Thanks man- Your work is MUCH appreciated!

To Steve and Keith...Holy Moly....you're work has been invaluable. The wiring, the networking....as they say on the net OMG! Your guys are true professionals even pulling all-nighters!

Ray W....News God. You are one of the reasons we have so many listeners right now. I know that. The check's not in the mail, but maybe some more equipment is?

Chip and Lynn....your words of encouragement have meant much. I look forward to working with you guys and finally making my permanent place in the Valley.

Traci and Hans....Thanks for the goodies and being the first to bring donuts to the place.

Ron K....you KNOW this wouldn't have happened without you. You're place in C.I.A. history is etched in stone. (Sharon- thanks to you too! You always keep me "honest")

Eric B....Our voice of reason. Stopping by the remote Saturday was perfect timing. I needed that.

Janis....the SASS to Coyote intercom works fine! (They holler down the street "PICK UP THE PHONE!")

The News Review Gang....I'm lovin' our weekly lunches.

Peggy at the Swap Sheet...You are my hero! Thanks for raising the bar on being everything that is "community".

Bad Andy....our weekly visits finish off my week.

David E. You newshound you!

Karen @ the D.I.....I think we need to start calling this place "Little Texas".

Gloria L. ...I know our contests are going to be great!

Steve B....My ears!

Nick @ Nickoletti's....you rock dude. Small business RULES.

Pete and Gail @ Bud Eyre and Brad @ Diamond Motors....Here's to selling a lot of cars to valley residents! The AV dealers suck!

Last but not least...

Fritz and Robert...Fritz you are an IDEA MACHINE! For those that don't know, there is a familiar voice on the air with us. Remember Fritz and Pony from KRAJ a few years back? Well he's a Ridgecrest boy and proud of where he lives. He's going to be doing a lot with us. Robert is our one and only intern. He knocked me out by knocking out a ton of work on the music library. He loves this town too, which I think may be an important qualification to work here.

These folks are just the tip of the iceberg. It has been awesome already. Like the guy who drove by in the red Chevy dually. He sticks his head out the window and shouts "You guys rock!!".

Wow.

The Ribbon Cutting

The big day is here, in just about 10 hours the ribbon cutting in front of the station is about to happen and i'm excited.
Steve and I have been busy from 10am to 7 pm re-arranging the studio, wires and all.
We've had lots of visiters coming in giving their appreciation in Eric's endeavor in bringing the IWV a local station, Let me say thank you to everyone listening, and visiting the website.
We're not through yet though, we still have a lot of new things coming and surprises.
Also we may be doing a LIVE broadcast of the event, everyone is invited to come to the station and join in on the fun, we might even do a tour of the new studio !!!

Keith

Gremlins?

OK, Eric...Keith...I'm thinking you guys have been working too hard lately. You're beginning to hallucinate. Wires dancing across the desk...honestly! You should see the wires in the Texas Newsroom. They don't dance around. They can't. There's too many of them. It's crowded. Although, when I'm listening to the station over the net, I swear my modem and router lights are keeping beat to that country music. As a matter-of-fact, I'm sure they are!

That's it. I'm going no further with this.

Ray

The Revenge of the Gremlins

Eric has been trying to rid the automation system of a nagging unknown glitch, so far it has happened everyday at the same time, but the system logs don't show what is causing the problem. I'm guessing that there is a corrupted file that may be the root of the problem, coming up with a solution is going to be interesting because we don't want to take the system down and re-enter everything by hand again.
I would also like to make a note that we might have a poltergeist in the building, Late at night Steve and I have heard things like doors closing and strange voices, which I think was caused by all the electrical equipment.
Now i'm not superstitious but today I saw a headset cord moving on the workstation, Eric was sitting next to me and when I got his attention the cord slowed then stopped moving.
If we do have a ghost I think i'll name him George, as in Curious George. Because everything that has been happening is like a child's curiosity. That or it's the ghost of our ex-resident Mickey.


Keith

The Heartbeat of the Coyote

A lot of exciting stuff is happening as we get closer to the weekend, we have a live remote coming up this Saturday, which will be my first.
Eric will be adding Podcast to the website soon which will be neat to go with everything that is there.
I also got a peek at the window/bumper stickers, they look awesome!

**NOTICE**
There will be a major upgrade to the Shoutcast server soon, right now it has been running at bare minimum specs which is ok, the new upgrade will hopefully improve on performance.
Yes there is a small delay, thats caused by the nature of the internet.
We send the stream from the studio to Shoutcast, which has to "hop" many servers to get there first.
Then in turn, the stream has to "hop" servers back to the listener, all those "hops" create the delay, which can be as much from 30 seconds up to a minute or longer.
The New server will have more feeds availiable, right now we are doing 64 feeds.
Another new piece of equipment (actually several) is coming soon, but I can't say anything about it yet, so for now it's a secret.

I am grateful to be a part of the Coyote Gang and honored to contribute to our town.
All of this would not be possible if it wasn't for the listener's, without all of you we wouldn't have a true "local" radio station serving our community.

Keith

What a week.

As we start a new week I think it's time to reflect on the past week and what a great one it's been! Only 4 days and we have been busy! We started the week off with our sign and banner being mounted on the building. Thank you to all of you who honked! We heard you! Be on the lookout for the new Coyote Decals coming to a vehicle near you! There will be more information coming on how to get your own. Again, thank you to Ralph at A to Z Custom Graphics for a Fantastic Job!!!

Also, Thank You to Gary for taking the time to repair our back door! It works great now! I also have to thank my husband Glenn our resident handyman. He went in yesterday and installed another light fixture and did some other odd jobs yesterday. Also a Thank You to Keith and "The Madman." These two guys make things work! Each week our office gets a little nicer and a little smaller. We are out growing our space fast. I'll take it as a sure sign of success!

I still don't have our Traffic and Billing software at 100% yet. I am getting a little farther everyday. This week I am really going to work on the clock. We also had a hard drive problem with the computer and that set things back a little bit too.

Eric is at the station this morning watching the automation computer to make sure our 2 new shows fire off correctly. Mike Lemming is hosting Inspirational Country from 8-9am and we have Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 from 9 to 1pm. It's a hoppin' Sunday at The Coyote!

Keep listening for more great giveaways, surprises and great Country Music. If you have any comments feel free to leave them in the comment section of this blog or email them to us. Have a great week!!

-Sara

The New Apartment Complex....

Where do I start with this? Okay, there is a new apartmenet complex possibly coming to town. The folks who live near this proposed property are pretty upset because it is going to change the whole dynamic of their mostly quiet neighborhood. Well, lets face it. Most neighborhoods in the Valley are quiet. Adding hundreds of residents in a couple of large lots is a pretty drastic change. There are two things at work here. One, the proposed complex is supposed to be "affordable" housing. Now evidenlty you can't challenge this based on that. The neighborhood folks are challenging it on the basis of inadequate studies ahead of time. Like traffic. It's a pretty bogus deal that they did a traffic study in August. That's when the population of this place is at its smallest. A lot of folks on the last minute vacations. No school. There are a couple of schools near this area. So it wasn't a "peak" situation.

So we're having those people on the air to talk about it. Now I want to afford all parties equal time. It's what we're supposed to do and I think it makes for compelling radio. Problem is, my friends at the city CAN'T take sides. They have to remain objective and take all things into account. So I'm trying to track down the developer. No luck yet. However, his reputation isn't exactly shiney. After talking with one city official though, the "affordabe" (read low cost) part may not be what it's supposed to be because it's based on median income. Ridgecrest has a pretty healthy median income because of all of the D.O.D. jobs in town. Stay tuned.

-Eric

It's Here!

For the past week and a half we have had a banner hanging on our building to let everyone know where we are. We have been waiting for this day from day one. Our sign is here!! Yay!!! It is awesome! Ralph did a superb job and I just can't say enough about it! It should be up tomorrow sometime. Look for it and when you drive by and see it give us a honk to let us know! We sure would appreciate it!!

I've been working on the software that schedules our commercials and does our billing for the past couple of weeks. I would compare it to immersing yourself in a foreign language. It's something I've never done before so it has been learn as I go. Even "Google" can't help me this time. Tomorrow I have a training time set up with the company who distributes the software. I want to go over some of the things I don't quite understand. I'm hoping by the end of the week to have it up and running 100%. (Did I say this before?) Eric has been great to punch in our commercials one by one each day and not complain! There are 24 hours in a day and each one of those hours has a number of breaks that are around 3 minutes long. Commercials are usually 30 seconds sometimes 60 seconds. There are approximately 6 commercials in each break. It's a lot of data to enter! Steve was telling me that there was a time when this was always done by hand. Yes Virginia, there was a day before Radio was automated.

In the sales area it was fruitful. A lot of people are back in the office after a long winter break. So Kim and I are back making appointments getting some sales. Our week is off to a nice start and I am very optimistic that it will continue.

There are so many people that we want to thank for their time, support, hard work and belief in us. I hope that our success is their reward.

-Sara

Happy New Year!

I actually took a day off yesterday (New Year's Day). Unbelievable. Of course I felt guilty. For a minute. I think the true testimony to the teamwork around here, is that after a week this baby will run on cruise control. I updated the weater twice on Saturday and we're on top of it today. It's raining like a big dog! Ridgecrest Blvd. has about a foot of water running in the gutters. Wow. In case you don't know, the desert is not very water resistent. Or wait, maybe it's too water resistent. Steve is putting EOM's on songs and Keith is networking the computers. Anything else I tell you, I would have to shoot you first, or Sara and Kim would shoot me. Trade secrets you know.

-Eric