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.