Both Web Sites...NEW and IMPROVED!

After too many bids for TOO much money....I decided to just re-do the web sites again...myself. I'm pretty proud of these too. I still await the ever important feedback from folks who use them everyday, but I accomplished my goals of:

1. Loading faster.
2. All of our programming represented.
3. Access to all of our folks.
   
4. Mp3 downloads and live streams.

Now the AM stream situation is still tenuous at best. Almost all of the hosts charge extra for that through a subscription but I found John Gibson and Alan Colmes available for free. There won't be anything local on the streams but they are there. Also technical info to help folks with downloads and such. So there it is... let me know at eric@kziq.com .

-Eric

Multi-Tasking in the Studio

Wild day today (Saturday). We had Al and Gary's show this morning with live reports from the Home and Leisure Show and the April Fool's Classic Car Show in Old Towne. Then after that Fritz went live from Old Towne on the FM and then over to the Home Show. We got dug in for all of that and the Madman showed up to put on Cerro Coso Basball right next to me on the AM board. We have been doing a live broadcast on both stations at the same time. I won't bore you with all of the technical details, but with two small boards, purchased at Guitar Center and two phones bought at Wal Mart we had two quality broadcasts going on four feet apart!

If we had used "real" radio equipment, it owuld have set us back thousands of dollars.

It's small market and we have to do what we have to do.

-Eric

One Web Site Down...

And one to go. We're real happy with the results so far on the KZIQ.COM web site. It has all kinds of new goodies and the only delay in loading it up would be the rss headline feeds from the DI and Fox News. There is more content on the Big Show page and the mp3 podcasting files are easier to find as is the live stream. We also have some FAQ's for the technical stuff. There are more goodies on the way like Vegas and So-Cal concert schedules and some discounts. We also have better sponsor presence and the first Ridgecrest Online Auto Mall. Check it out here.

On the way, we'll go to work on the FoxTalk 1360 web site. We have loads of new content for that one. Sports schedules, new lineup info, links to hosts webcasts and podcasts and much more.

You know as always we love input. We want to have the very best for you online. Feel free to send an e-mail from the web sites and we will get back to you.

-Eric

FoxTalk Sports Update....

While we spend a lot of the 168 hours of the week on talk radio, we're very proud of our sports lineup. We've added Cerro Coso Baseball this season (thanks Coach Adams!) and we may throw in a few BHS baseball games. Next season we'll have BHS basketball (boys and girls) and we are working on first ever broadcasts of Cerro Coso women's basketball. BHS football? Well that will be on 92-7 The Coyote. More on that later.

Baseball season is cranking up and again we'll have Angels baseball. We'll stay on the Ducks as well and early on in the season the Ducks will take priority over the Angels because of their playoff drive. I would also like to announce that we signed a new deal with the Chargers and will have their games for the next couple of seasons. The one thing we have been waiting on has been some basketball coverage. I have several ways to go, but the magic scenario is that my satellite provider I use picks up the L.A. Clippers. They ave been working on that for a while now. The Clippers popularity has never been high and it would be awesome for them to put together a radio network.

As always, we start each morning at 5am with Fox Sports talk and have several hours of Fox Sports talk on weekend, evenings.

We are always open to suggestions. Just ask the Leo Leporte fans!

-Eric

What, 4th Of July Already??

I sit here two day, of course being Monday and all, with sauce from the new Buffalo chicken sandwich from Carl's Jr. on my San Diego Chargers shirt. Yup...Monday.

But...I have made my own day by starting to wade through the 3,000 or so 4th of July music cuts I have collected over the last 6 years. I am stoked already and putting together the first batch of tunes. That's what I do. I make a playlist folder and put in about 100 tunes that I want to work with this year. In a couple of weeks, I will then beging to piece those together in three basic movements. No trade secret here, because I would love the help! I usually start with a movie open, into some music to reflect awe. Then I move into what I call the Pop section, which includes a little of every popular style, and then finally the big Patriotic finish.

One thing is for sure. With my continued use of cinematic music I have expanded my already huge regard for the composers who score movies. I wouldn't even be able to pick my favorite, but I love the work of Randy Newman, Hans Zimmer, Michael Kamen and Thomas Newman.

There is a channel on our DirecTv that has nothing but movie music. I make notes from that. You can ask Kim, this is a year round obsession for me. We'll be driving around in L.A. and something will play on the radio and I have her write it down.

I'll keep you posted on the progress here. But I am excited!

GPAC Rocks!

But I am very proud of this one. It is the GPAC Committee who will be helping develop a new general plan for the future of Ridgecrest and the IWV. Thanks to Nellavan for asking me!

We had the Kern COG blueprint meeting last night and I have to tell you, if you missed it, you missed out. This one was for anyone to attend. There will be others. This really is an opportunity to be in on the ground floor to help plan this community's future. I will keep you posted on the air and will try to here on the blog.

It's everything from preventing urban sprawl, to meeting our water needs. From diversifying the economy to the simple "we need a Long John Silvers!". Kern COG will be back in about 6 weeks, but I also believe that the City may be doing some workshops like this as well. Here is the Kern COG web site where they can keep you posted and as they told us last night you can always leave feedback re: the planning anytime you want.

We learned a lot about how the population is going to grow between L.A. and San Francisco. I'm still not real sure how much of that is going to make it into our little corner of Kern County, but we will be getting more folks here and we need to be ready.

I found a web site about futuristic travel today too. You should really watch this video. If not for anything else, at least for the computer animation. I feel like we would be affected by this, not directly, but with hopefully a train to the A.V. and then onto this bad boy.

The Follies are over!

So now I have some time to blog. There is probably a similar post from this time last year...but I just wanted everyone to understand how many hours the cast and crew put in for this fund raising efforts. Each song that a person is in practices 10-15 hours between February and March. Most people are in at least two numbers and there are many with three. Now add in the 3 plus hours on the first full cast rehearsals and then an additional 15 or so the two days prior to the Saturday night show and finally it's about a 10 hour commitment on show night.

On the crew, they do all of that AND put in 30-50 hours each the week and a half prior to the show. The committee, also in the show (about 10 strong) work almost year around with regular meetings to plan and cast the show.

That's why it is so rewarding to see Mesquite Hall filled to capacity on show night.

The Chamber is working harder and harder every year to make attending the show an even better experience.

Thanks to all who came this year and if you didn't you missed a great time! Just ask someone who went!!

Okay....so spank me...

It has been on my calendar. It has been on numerous to-do lists. So today I FINALLY am going to post something. It's been part because of being hectic and part laziness and part trying to figure out the direction I want to take this blog. I now see why so many blogs I visit have gaps in dates of entries. So here I am with plenty to talk about.

The AM has some changes, including the addition of Cerro Coso baseball. We'll have around 20 games on the air. Some home, some away. I would like to thank Dick Adams for the vote of confidence. I would also like to thank, in advance, The Madman, Bud, Shyla, and Nic for volunteering to help make sure the games get on the air. (for the EDD- they WILL be paid).

I also made a decision about the AM to not replace Alan Colmes. We were looking at doing something different but with baseball season approaching, if I make a big deal out of evening programming and then yank the rug out from under it for a ball game, it only makes people mad. Ultimately, that's what Alan is for anyway. We have an almost exclusive conservative lineup and Alan is the little bit of balance that we have. For those that don't know that's 7-10pm weeknights.

Also, time flew by without me getting sufficient notice out for a little weekend change. We have Bob Coasts on Saturdays from 4 to 6, American View now airs at 6pm and Al and Gary's Community Spin has been expanded to 3 hours from 8 to 11 am.

More on sports...we are looking to add USC football and or an NCAA game of the week package and also we're working on Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night NFL football. That package also guarantees the playoffs. We're keeping the Chargers.

Over on the FM side...small changes here and there. We added New Music Weekly on Friday nights after Thunder Road at 9pm. It's a co-promotion we do with Wal mart and features all of the new songs. Don't worry, the wheels move a little slower on the FM, but we're eying some cool additions for the weekends. Also, this fall we WILL be carrying BHS football. It will be on the FM and we are going to be offering some pretty unique and comprehensive coverage.

As far as community stuff, we continue to support the USO project and many others too. Kim and I are buried in Follies rehearsals. The show is coming up March 10th at Mesquite Hall and I would like to salute all of our fellow cast members for taking part in this.

Maybe this will get me writing again!

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.