Nice, crisp greenbacks

Dave Kusiak

Mystery Packers fan

"Toll Road" Tom and Matt Reardon

It's the day after Christmas and time to drive down to the station to do a few hours of radio. It's not that the station ever really got away the past 36 hours. That's not how it works. On Christmas Eve I was there tip 5pm reworking some logs so that the station would play on autopilot at least until Christmas morning. And then yesterday we had a power blip and that threw off the computer somehow so instead of time at the kitchen table had to zip down Indianapolis Boulevard to reset things. 
   On the day after Christmas in the past I wouldn't do a radio show. I'd have someone else come in. Preserve the creativity, the freshness, try to be on the air only when the most people are listening.
   But then again it's not just the morning radio show anymore. The morning show is just the start of things. There's a ton more attached to it and this blog is just one of them. Besides, what the hell else would I do this morning? When you really think about it, I've got the best job in America, as one of the callers said on Christmas Eve. Can't remember who, but she's right. It's not really work to turn on your own radio station and just start talking to people.
   Besides, we have the best callers in America. On Christmas Eve, in response to my comment that I couldn't think what to give my daughters, caller Walt - "nice, crisp greenbacks." Typically, I don't listen to Walt's advice. But this Christmas I wound up giving both my college-age daughters "nice, crisp greenbacks."
   A new caller named Abe from South Dearing on the Illinois said, "I found you guys 3-4 months ago. Thank you, thank you... It's Christmas, time to forget all the murders and strife and think about peace and love."
   Susan, Carl, MadMac, Dave from Crown Point, Manny ("Merry Christmas to Atlanta"). Yes, that was funny. At about 7:30, right after I interviewed attorney general Greg Zoeller, the switcher inadvertently kicked in and a station out of Atlanta came on the air in the middle of my traffic and weather segment. Surreal. There I am doing the traffic - "Bishop Ford looks fine, so does the Chicago Skyway..." and all the sudden a woman takes over the station and starts doing the traffic for the Atlanta metro area. 
    That was my fault, of course, in that I'm working with the trigger sets for our new Arrakis automation system, and since it was ME then we could laugh it off. If it had been Ryan or Debbie or Angel or Chuck or someone else, then it probably wouldn't have been as funny.
   Mikey G, Granola Bob, Will from the southeast side. Will said live on WJOB - "What is the reasoning that people perpetuate this lie about Santa Claus. He's a folk tale and nothing more yet we lie to our children." Yikes. Lori ("I believe in Santa Claus), Joe ("So do I"), Carl 2 ("the word is 'giving'"), Sue 2, ("it's about the birth of Christ"), Spike, Mary, etc.
   Yes, I do believe that we have the best callers in America. Perhaps the saddest was Elephant. "It's my first bad Christmas in 85 years," he said. "My first without her." His wife died this year. Yikes. 
   Kusiak came in to do his paid show and he too was missing someone. His mom died not too long ago. "Socks and underwear, every Christmas that's what she gave me." After the show some guy in a Green Bay Packers van showed up. "I heard someone mentioned my van on the air. Here it is." Time to leave now to do it all over again.
   Today, however, I won't embarrass myself by singing "Silent Night." At least not until the caffeine kicks in.