10:38pm on a Saturday night. Halloween. Twenty-seven years ago today my mom died, which to think about is always a bummer. But I do have this hold: on Thursday and Friday of this week, we did local radio how it should be done. And that means something. 

7:16am. Bishop Noll volleyball coach Dave Rodriguez called in to preview the Warriors semi-state match vs. Wapahani. 

Gregg sat in studio and told, in an inimitable Southern twang, why he should be our next governor. I told him that I'm skeptical about a couple of things, including his insistence on the "Aw shucks" campaign. "I know that you are," he said. Gregg is much more refined, less country bumpkin than he was the last time he ran against Mike Pence. Will it work? I don't know. Let's just say I'm still a bit, hmmm, skeptical.

Earlier this week, caller Dave became surprisingly angry. Two days later came this email. All I could email back was - "Dude, my sincere condolences."

I define the tasks of my radio life in terms of "movements." They're events, happenings, radio shows, client meetings, lunch appointments, grand openings, etc. On Friday, I had three movements, so I shaved, trimmed my facial scruff, and donned a clean shirt and sweater.

As you probably know, Haven House for victims of domestic abuse is the station's chosen charity. That's mostly because wife Alexis has been on the board for a long time. The sad truth is that way more than we want to admit guys beat their wives and girlfriends. Often there's kids involved, so Alexis and I were proud to rattle the tin cup as hard as we could for 90 minutes to help ensure that these fractured families have a safe place to go. The WJOB community stepped up and in 90 minutes we raised 18 grand. Thank you, everyone who donated.

Purdue Calumet (soon to be "Purdue Northwest") holds a special place in my heart. My family came to the area where the campus now sits in 1871 following the Chicago fire. My dad played basketball for Purdue Cal in the late 1950s. I hung out here as a child with my now-deceased uncle Dennis as he and his friends smoked weed on the lawn outside of the Anderson Building. Alexis did her undergrad here while pregnant - twice. And now we're proud to locate our new studios in the Purdue Commercialization Center. 

The bloodlines with Purdue Cal run deep... but perhaps the thing that gets me most excited about the University is the new baseball, soccer and softball fields.. and a new tennis complex... that the city of Hammond built (along with help from the local business community). This changes everything. It's only a matter of time before we're going to Dowling Park on a Saturday afternoon for an NCAA div. II football game. 

See, I told you that the bloodlines run deep with Purdue Cal. Thirty years ago, Purdue Cal's Wes Lukoshus and John Friend (my high school football coach) walked in to the old WJOB studios and started doing a radio show.... and Wes has been doing the show at 5:30 pm every Friday since. We've checked around... and "Sports Insights" is one the longest-running shows of the same name in the same time-slot with the same host in America.

I was there that first day 30 years ago. So was Purdue vice-chancellor Regina Biddings Muro, pictured below. We were, as Regina says, "newbie" reporters. We sat in the WJOB newsroom and paid little attention as Wes and coach Friend walked in to the studio to do their first show. Thirty years later, I was proud to sit with Wes for an hour long tribute shownwhile Alexis hosted a little party on the other side of the glass. Great night, great dude... Wes Lukoshus.