My car has a large and new dent and it appears a blessed event.  A friend called me Saturday and mentioned he was going to church Saturday evening.  I was planning a 7:30 service Sunday but decided I wanted to see the man and his wife.  Her sister died last week and I just believed I needed to see them in person this week.  When I arrived at church I backed into a parking space.  My first inkling was to pull directly into the space but backing out can only subject someone to possibly piling into me.  This place is crawling with tourists and I offer witness to the strange driving habits of cars tagged New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  Then, again, my back bumper is scraped from contact last summer with a bolder and as I’m considering trading the car for a new Civic Hybrid or Prius maybe somebody should pile into my car’s rear end.  The bumper would be replaced and perhaps help at trade in. 

Shoulda, woulda, coulda.  After church I visited with Rich and his wife and also with the Principal from a local school.  The man has dropped 67 pounds over 9 months and we compared weight loss notes.

In the parking lot a crowd gathered.  When I walked from the church some folks approached.  “A woman backed into your car”, a fellow said.  There is now a grapefruit sized dent on the forward bumper and it’s dislodged just below the front left headlamp. 

The woman was parked nearby.  She was most remorseful and in 50 years of driving this is her first fender-bender.  God bless her.  I must have had my first before 50 days as a licensed driver.  The woman has already notified her insurer and next week I’ll get an estimate.

Why do I get into these entanglements with the nearly sainted?  I bought my car when it was still on the delivery truck.  It never made the showroom floor.  Seven months later I was parked at work and the Chief Engineer walked into the broadcast booth to inform me he had backed into my still shining new vehicle.  A week later it came out of the repair shop and looked great.  One week later I was stopped at the end of an off ramp when a harried pizza delivery man plowed into my car.  More replacement parts followed.  It should be made clear the engineer and the pizza shop owner were very, very nice people.  You would welcome them as neighbors.  I find I feel worse for these people than I feel for my car or myself. 

It leads me to an ever growing belief that many good people have the occasional bad day behind the wheel.  Maybe even a great many bad days behind wheels and we can examine our own consciences and remember some very close calls.  Think about it the next time someone cuts you off at the grocery parking lot.  Before you make the obscene gesture you might consider that in the previous week you cut off someone else. 

I’ve been looking at photographs of shiny new cars this week and then I look at my dented and nicked and reliable form of transportation.  It’s frustrating but I can’t be angry with these other folks.  Darn.

Just think, next year at Independence Day we’ll all be riding bicycles, Vespas and horses.  Then about which what will we complain?

This might be worth checking out if you are looking for ways to save on groceries:

http://grocerysavingtips.com/

Online coupons are also available at this link:

http://coupons.smartsource.com/Web/index.aspx?Link=YUYHAVQJ5PCUY

House Resolution number 75 has passed the House here on the last night of the 144th General Assembly Session. Several people here were requesting a copy of this resolution as it is of great interest to them. This resolution establishes protections for mentally disabled people in the State of Delaware including Lauren Richardson, who WGMD reported on back in the spring. Here is a quote from House Resolution 75:

“The impetus for this Resolution comes from the case of Lauren Richardson, a 24-year old Delaware woman who, after suffering brain injuries and impaired consciousness, now faces the possible removal of her nutrition and hydration, despite the absence of her clearly specified and legal consent to any such a course of action. The State of Delaware has, through recent legislation prompted by the abuses at the Delaware Psychiatric Center, endeavored to protect the rights of mentally disabled patients in the First State. Lauren, as a mentally disabled person, is enumerated those same protection and rights.”

The Resolution further adds:

“Be it Resolved by the House of Representatives of the 144th General Assembly of the State of Delaware that it is against the public policy of this State and this State’s interest in life, health and safety, for hydration and nutrition that is not harming a patient to be involuntarily removed from a non-terminal, apparently brain-incapacitated patient if doing so will cause the individual’s death. Furthermore, such withholding of hydration and nutrition without: 1. Clear written direction from a legally competent patient or, 2. A valid written advance health-care directive that was previously executed by a patient who is now incapacitated and that either allows such withholding under such circumstances or grants an agent authority to make that decision by an incapacitated patient is also against the public policy of the State of Delaware.”

For more on the story of Lauren Richardson, which is similar to the Terry Schiavo case, go to www.lifeforlauren.org.

I graduated Temple University on February 1, 2008, thinking that people would come clamoring for me and want me to work for their radio station.  I have been wanting to work in radio ever since my first year at Temple and I was chomping at the bit to get going.  The phone didn’t ring, no real e-mails, a few rather dismal interviews, and 4 months later I was beginning to loose faith that I would be able to start my dream right out of college.  And then out of thin air I got an e-mail from Dan Gaffney from WGMD in Delaware asking for an interview.  I had told myself that if I didn’t get the job there then I was done with radio for a while and I would try to find some other job in the media.  The interview went well, and I kept my fingers crossed.  Finally I got the call that I had been waiting for for 4 months!  I would be a reporter and manager of the board from 7:00 to 12:00.  Couldn’t really ask for much more.  In a flurry of packing, finding a place to live, and getting everything set up, in a week and a half I had packed my whole life, left everything I knew and was in a little house in Delaware figuring out where my couch would go in the family room.  It wasn’t a perfect transition, but it was pretty darn close.  I won’t deny that there were many, MANY tears involved when I had to say goodbye to my parents and my boyfriend of 5 years (who is trying to find a job so he can move down with me).  The next day I started my new job at WGMD.  I was relieved to find that everyone here was friendly and always willing to help if I asked.  There was (and still isn’t) no such thing as a stupid question, I learned an extreme amount in only a week, the later hours weren’t bad at all, and thankfully no major disasters while I have been in charge.  But yet I was still unsure of myself and how I was doing.  I was still extremely homesick, my boyfriend was here for the whole week, but he was leaving soon, and I just didn’t feel like at my job I was making much of a difference.  Then two things happened in the span of two days.  On Friday night after I had made my last newscast of the night at midnight, I saw that there was a call coming in.  It was an older woman, who has been a long time listener, and she wanted to call and tell me that she really liked my stories and liked that there was a late night newscast.  She welcomed me to the area and told me she would be tuning in from now on late at night to hear me.  That five minute phone call meant more to me than anyone could imagine.  I drove home with a smile on my face that night that’s for sure.  Then last night, as my boyfriend and I were watching the sunset from a section of beach only 10 minutes away from the house, I got this overwhelming feeling, that I had made the right decision, that things would be easier in time, and that Sussex County was the place for me.  I look forward to getting more accustomed with the people and the area as time passes and after all my boxes are unpacked and my house looks less like Hurricane Andrew made a visit.  Thank you to the crew at WGMD for making me feel welcome, the woman who inadvertently gave me a boost to my spirit, and even to the beach for calming my spirit.  Until next time!

Often I’m reminded of how unique and rare WGMD radio is in the broadcast universe. In recent weeks many large companies have conducted the latest round of staff purges. One of the saddest was at a news/talk station in Washington. The station’s ratings weren’t what parent company Citadel wanted and apparently nobody at corporate blames previous blood lettings for the decline. The nation’s capitol has dozens of radio stations but in a one industry town there is very little radio coverage of the daily business of the country.

My first broadcast paycheck came from a small radio station in the little town of Wellsville, New York. The station was housed in a pole barn and across from a rail yard. Back in 1986 the industry was already through its first major round of downsizing, which came as Wall Street discovered in the early 80s that broadcast properties could return 40 cents on the dollar. As competition from cable and later the internet mushroomed the goal of achieving a 40 percent return required whittling away at the product. I’ve been on the receiving end of the whittling and it wasn’t personal. In 1989 a small radio station told me I was getting the hatchet and had 3 weeks to search for a new line of work. Minutes after I was notified I received a telephone call offering me a job at one of the best radio station’s in the country. Sometimes we get lucky. The station that hired me that day had an enormous staff and news cruisers and a mobile studio. These were expensive to maintain but the station was number one in its market, a rarity for AM radio, and had a wide lead over the competition. It was only years later and after two ownership changes and after repeated cuts that ratings plummeted.

A few weeks ago two television stations in my former hometown of Syracuse suffered another round of layoffs. Profit margins must be down to 30 cents on the dollar. At one of the stations 13 people were fired and not long afterward management rented the city’s convention center and tossed a party for the station’s weather cat. I’m told this morning the story was at the top of the newscast. It’s actually the third weather cat. This all got started a little more than ten years ago when a cat started showing up at the station’s outdoor weather set. Apparently it was attracted by the lights. The lack wit doing the weather made a couple of jokes about the “weather cat”. The promotions department then got involved and a contest was created to try and find a name for the cat. “Doppler” was the winner. Shortly thereafter the stray cat was found in the street, crushed by a passing motorist. Then it dawned on station management that strays made poor mascots. A staffer was detailed to the ASPCA and returned with a reasonable facsimile. “Doppler” number two was provided with an office and while shy could still be carried to the set each day. When number two was called home to kitty heaven another trip to the pound occurred and the Chief Meteorologist had it written into his contract that he would be the only member of the staff handing the cat, however. Cat number three has anxiety issues. A pet psychiatrist has been hired and now each day leashes “Doppler” and walks it a few more feet in the direction of the weather set.

The party must have done skittish kitty wonders! As for the TV station it still wallows in the ratings basement and the weather forecasting is about the same as it was ten to twelve years ago. Fewer stories are getting covered, unless of course you consider the stories about the weather cat, and the public must not notice the overall decline in quality. Or perhaps management is deluded and blames competition from cable and the internet for declines in local TV viewing. Because after all it wouldn’t be the geniuses making decisions about renting convention halls for parties for stray cats. The place must have been packed by people not interested in rising gas and food prices. Not interested in government spending and not interested in any efforts to reduce street crime. Thousands, I’m sure, set alarms to rise early this morning to see coverage of a cat’s birthday party. Oh, and can we slash another 13 jobs before Christmas? Kitty wants a lot of presents.

Yesterday on my program someone called regarding the Didgeridoo (based on, I guess, a network Radio Shack commercial featuring said instrument.) — Here’s an e-mail I got from KJ from Longneck complete with a photo of his very own Didgeridoo.

Here’s a picture of my, “Didgeridoo”, complete with instruction book and an Australian Kangaroo whip that I acquired on one of my past trips to Australia.

The Didgeridoo was and still is used by the tribes of the northern Territorial Aborigines. It is made from branches that have been hollowed out by termites. The length is usually about three feet long. The branch is tapered the small end being the mouth piece. Bark is stripped and the wood is smoothed. The wood is then stained and then decorated with tribal images.

I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately for past shows I’ve done or to post certain audio or for CDs of shows and segments. Well, we don’t really provide CDs but, most of the segments are taped and available online. Lately, we’ve been going through some web admin changes and the posting of audio on our pod casts have not been available for quite some time. I’m just writing a quick post to mention that the feed of my show is back up and running. You can get the audio in one of three places. We keep about a 7 show archive on the Web site and it stretches a little further back on the xml feed.

First, you can manually download the files on our audio to go page.

You can subscribe to the xml feed on your rss reader or feed reader.

Or you can subscribe via iTunes by clicking advanced on your iTunes menu bar, click on “Subscrie to podcast” and copy and paste this url http://www.jared-morris.com/radio.xml

iTunes is a little glitchy with podcasts sometimes, but, if you use the above procedure, it should always be up to date. Although sometimes it will take a few days to get the show online and some shows because of techinal difficulties will not be able to be uploaded at times.

As you’ve notices, I’ve also been dealing with videos a lot lately. In the current feed, I’ve posted an older video from the program in mp4 format. That’s the iPod ready format. It’s really one of the only video formats that you can use with your iPod and iTunes. If you don’t have iTunes, windows media player and/or Quicktime will allow you to open the video. I’ll be working with video more in the future, but, for now, consider this a test.

So, the Podcast is up to date and will continue to be for a while. We are still going through some changes on the Web side, so some of the other podcasts will resume when certain changes are made. I will keep you all updated on the blog when those pod casts are available. For individual shows, audio requests and information, please ask the host of that show if you have questions about the audio.

Podcasting

Is there anyone out there that knows of any good Pod casts? I thought I’d start a blog post and ask people to either respond below or e-mail me at jared@wgmd.com if you know of any. I’ve been finding myself listening to more Podcasts lately, but, mostly because I’ve been obsessed with the TV show LOST latley… ABC does a great podcast of lost featuring the show’s creators available here http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/podcastRSS?feedPublishKey=3421 — I also like the Ryan and Jen LOST podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/elostcast — Are you guys at all into Podcasting? I’m thinking of doing a PODCAST about a single topic like that, like the LOST podcast and trying to get a few friends into PODCASTING… So if you have any favorite Podcasts that you’d like to share with us, let me know below or through e-mail.. I’ll tell you what I’m kind of looking for… Nothing radio related… If I wanted to listed to radio podcasts, I could find them on my own.. No screwball podcasts… Not just people messing around… I’m looking for something informative, interesting and something that’ll keep me tuning in on my iPod… I wonder why there are no really good Delaware related Podcasts apart from broadcast based podcasting.. Well, that’s it for now.

JMX

Here is a recap of Tuesday’s hearing:

Arguments in favor of a gas station:

1. It would be a great enhancement to the community.

2. It would generate business which would help the community.

3. It would be convenient to have a gas station within walking distance.

4. Traffic is there to stay with or without a gas station.

5. No one will be coming into the community to buy cheap gas, because there is no cheap gas!

6. Nobody is going to come to Ocean View from 15 minutes away to buy gas and thus increasing traffic congestion.

7. It has not been proven with other gas stations that there is a traffic increase.

Arguments in opposition to the proposed gas station:

1. There are three other gas stations in the area within two miles.

2. There would be an increase in traffic.

3. There would be an increase in noise.

4. There is a health and safety risk to the public–from gas fires, gas spills, etc…

5. It would generate very little revenue for the town.

6.  There would be environmental risks.

7. A gas station in that location does not meet ordinance standards and is in an inappopriate location.

Those who are neutral on the issue say:

Take it to a referendum and let the people decide.

Just about every town has at least one gas station. So to me it isn’t a big deal. I agree that with or without a gas station, traffic is going to be heavy through that area, and it would be convenient to have one there. Perhaps they could put this gas station in a different location–maybe closer to the Food Lion on Route 26?

Ocean City, MD Mayor Rick Meehan has the following alert regarding the evaporation of the ocean due to environmental causes and urges citizens to visit Ocean City before it is too late!; from youtube.com: A RECENT STUDY PUBLISHED in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society predicts the planet’s oceans will evaporate in just one billion years. This is not the result of global warming, but rather, the natural effect of our planet being pulled toward an increasingly large sun.

Check out the video of Meehan’s PSA here.

Update: On a side note… this video kind of reminds me of a Dharma Orientation Video… View Here…

On today’s Radio program Current Sussex County Clerk of the Peace, George Parish (above: far left), announced that he will be seeking re-election to the office of Clerk of the Peace. For more information of the Clerk of the Peace visit http://www.sussexcountyde.gov/dept/cop/

here’s is the announcement segment on today’s Jared Morris Radio show: (mp3 4:53)