Ashes to Ashes

Today is Ash Wednesday.
It is the first of 40-days leading up to Easter, a period during which many religious persons contemplate their mortality, mindful of the curse ascribed to mankind by God in Genesis—the dust to dust cycle. You’ll see folks wearing a dark smudge on their forehead, and giving up some favorite something in observation of Lent.

I suppose contemplating one’s mortality is a helpful exercise, if you’re obsessed with the notion you’re never going to die, believe you will remain eternally youthful, and are basically bullet-proof. Personally, I face reminders of my mortality during the other 325-days of the year, too. Every morning I awaken with a breathing tube strapped to my grille so I don’t suffocate from sleep apnea. I used to worry about hair turning grey. That was before most of if all turned loose.

I am a walking poster-boy, proof-positive that we’re all going to die, and that date with destiny is one day closer than it was yesterday.
Don’t despair—clean house!
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and a Swifter from stem to stern.

By the way, this Easter thing is a wonderful celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I fully believe it, along with His suspension of the laws of the universe, and the Virgin Birth.

(That birth event, by the way was like any other; the conception was the miraculous part. Similarly, I believe His death, while quite brutal, was essentially the same experience we will al one day have--a separation of our spirit from our body. The point of Jesus was His coming back to life as a human being, before being transfigured into Heaven.)

I also believe He left an example that His death and resurrection should be commemorated, respected, and kept close each first day of the week, not just at Easter time.

So you won’t find smudges on my face today, but if you look closely you may catch the remnants of a CPAP imprint.
What am I giving up for Lent?
Dryer filters.

Phat Tuesday

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
Unknown
It’s Fat Tuesday.
It’s also Super Tuesday, on which date two dozen states are holding preliminary elections for their choice of candidates to run for the Presidency. If you’re a winning politician, perhaps it’s Phat Tuesday.

New York is still basking in the afterglow of Sunday’s Superbowl win. The oft-fabled “Superbowl Indicator” on Wall Street, however, was debunked in short order by yesterday's 108-point bust in the Dow.

Roger Clemens steps up to a different mound today, giving a sworn deposition to attorneys for Congress…they should have sold tickets to that. His comments are sure to be impassioned, if nothing else. Maybe Roger the Rocket will be inspired to make a pitch for a Congressional seat.

Bobby Knight is leaving Texas Tech…going to open a furniture store in Lubbock. specializing in lite-weight chairs… Not.

Farmers, State Farm, and All State want to raise your auto insurance up to 12%...based upon anticipated losses. That’s a little bass-ackwards. Try asking your boss for a raise based upon anticipated additional expenditures you’d like to make…

Meanwhile, we continue to become acclimated to our new surroundings at The BizRadio Broadcasting Complex & Deli.


Buddy looks like he’s settled in pretty well.

If you missed it, in Houston we’re now found at 1110 on the AM-dial.
Still getting calls from people wondering “where we went.”
Maybe we'll send Bobby Knight over to retune your Radio!

KTEK High-Tech

“Where are you?” the caller asks.
I can hear tires singing against the grooves in the pavement in the background.
Sounds like a tollway.
He’s in Houston.
“I’m in Houston, and I can’t hear you,” he says, a touch of anxiety in his voice.

It’s a quarter to 7 in the morning, and our new transmitter at 1110am is precluded from powering-up until the sun rises. In February, the FCC has determined the sun comes up at 7am.

“We’ll be on in just a few minutes,” I reassure him. “You can’t hear us until we sign-on in Houston,” I explain. (Or unless you log-on to the internet and catch our stream.)

It’s one of those arcane necessities in the Radio world, dictated by the physics of geography and dial position, and merely managed by the Federal Communications Commission.

In Houston, our new dial position, 1110am, is shared by several other stations in the country. The closest is in Shreveport. There’s another one in Mexico, best I can tell, based upon the programming I can hear skipping through the atmosphere before sunrise.

We knew this would be the case when The BizRadio Network acquired KTEK-AM. We ran across this hurdle when we were running our business-talk programming a few years back on that CBS Radio station, also a “daytimer.”

Funny thing is, the harder it was to pick us up, the more popular we became. Have become, too, if these calls are any indication.

The first few days in our new facilities have not been without challenges. The best-laid plans of mice and men should always have a back-up, and a Plan-C in some cases.

Fortunately, we do.

No one is going to mistake us for MSNBC.

I doubt you’ll confuse my studio with Howard Stern’s (and how would you know??) But it is serviceable, and we believe, for the temporary tabernacle that it is, it sounds pretty decent.

Can’t wait to show you the permanent studios we’re planning. More about that in the Spring.

See you in the morning on the Radio…

Jack Warkenthien broadcasts from The BizRadio Network Broadcasting Complex & Deli