How many hyphens can one put into the blog headline? (See above)
It was Memorial Day 2006, the long time host of mornings on WHCU had just stepped down. Now it was my turn. Only one of a handful of hosts in the 80-plus years of WHCU. The sweat pooled on my forehead as I cracked open the microphone and said “Good Morning, it’s 6:14 on this Memorial Day 2006, welcome to the Morning Newswatch–I’m Dave Vieser.”
Unlike so many hosts, I actually got a chance to get my feet wet with talk radio and WHCU by doing the Saturday edition of the Morning Newswatch from its inception in July, 2005 until and long after I started the weekday job.
Someone recently asked me what it is like to “be a morning person”; lamenting that they never seem to want to get out of bed before noon, and they struggle to make it to work at 9 AM. The truth, I am still not a true-blue morning person. Sure, I have adjusted well to the schedule, but I still think of myself as a late-night type of guy. The only problem, my late nights are any minute I am awake after 9PM.
The morning shift is a special one in radio. First, it is our “drive-time”; our “prime-time”. Secondly, it is a time when people are paying the most attention to what you say–I think this is why people connect so personally with morning drive personality, in any radio format. Thirdly, for talk radio, especially local shows, you have a chance to “set the news agenda”. In smaller markets this can be a major responsibility, and a powerful political position. Since I am moderate politically, I see it with less of a political benefit, and more of a community service.
Before I worked at Cayuga Radio Group, I thought my jobs in TV at NBC and The Weather Channel were pretty “weighty” in the world of broadcasting–but let me tell you–hosting a morning talk show on a legendary flagship AM radio station takes the cake–it is fun, it is challenging, and it is an education for me and the listeners every single day–even for a guy who is not a “morning person.”
Four years and going strong. The day hosting morning talk is no longer fun and challenging is the day I look at a new career, but I hope to retire long before then.
Well, it is about time I spend a few minutes updating my blog. Sorry, this sometimes falls through the cracks among many other duties, and then there is Twitter, Facebook, and other web items to do. I have not been diligent with this blog, and for that I am sorry.
This is the time of year when Ithaca goes through an amazing annual ritual, where the “townies” feel like they get their city back for 2 short months in the summer. It is a time when the traffic is a little bit lighter, the weather is generally beautiful, and the average age of an Ithaca jumps from 22 to 32.
Still, the images of a semester gone by remain with us. On the bridges over the gorges which make Ithaca famous, you find a patchwork of fencing–designed to prevent suicides of students–most of whom have gone back home. At Ithaca College, the temporary residence hall remains next to the Terraces–a reminder of the extra freshman who will return as sophmores next year.
Cayuga Lake becomes a focal point now, as will the area’s golf courses, the wineries, hotels, and restaurants. Many alumni will return to celebrate their Ithaca memories in June. July will bring special worldwide conferences to Cornell and Ithaca College. The NY Jets football team will tackle life in Cortland in August.
Before you know it–we will be welcoming back those returning students, and the freshman class of 2015. Till then, its summertime in Ithaca–so enjoy!!
I got a link to this from our friends at TCAT, the bus service for Tompkins County. It was done as a parody of a song called “I’m on a boat” by T-Pain. (Must be one we air on Hits 103.3).
They did a great job on this–awesome lighting, sound, and more–these Ithaca College students really got it right. Check it out.
For several hours on Sunday, two Cornell teams were on national television playing in their respective NCAA tournaments. The women’s hockey team played the longest game in championship history, falling just short near the end of a triple overtime; and the men’s basketball team was making history going to the Sweet 16 in Syracuse this week. You can hear my podcast with Steve Donahue from this morning’s website here.
There has never been a time quite like this in Ithaca. Never, Period. Along with these two great teams, you have the men’s hockey team winning the ECAC Championship, and the wrestling team ranking 2nd in the nation at the NCAA championship. Amazing stuff.
All this comes just a week after Cornell made national news, and our show made CBS News on the Hour with the terrible suicides. So–like the warm breath of spring in the air; this sports nirvana weekend was a welcome change for Ithaca.
Ironically, the Ivy-League students are taking this week to sun themselves, visit family, and de-stress from the prelims or last week, so the place is unusually quiet. Saturday night, it seemed like a ghost-town around here, since Ithaca College was also on break–although they are now back in session.
We may never see a time like this again, as few universities or colleges ever have multiple sports champion teams in the same year, or almost never have all of them playing on the same weekend…but it happened, right here in beautiful, remote, isolated, unique Ithaca, New York–the home of some real champions, both academic and athletic, on both hills surrounding the city.
”Ithaca may be Gorges” but “Ithaca is also the home of winners”!!!!
It is a subject few in our town like to address. They happened like clockwork each year, usually one or two students, perhaps troubled by classes, personal issues, a financial crisis–or who knows what.
This year, the ivy-league University has lost three students in a month, two in just one week.
As I drove through the city Saturday night, you could see people staged at the bridges in the city–EMS, volunteers, police, a person there to prevent yet another tragedy. It was a sight I have never seen in my years here. I also wondered how long that could last.
This morning, just moments ago, a very comprehensive article about this sensitive issue was posted to the Huffington Post.
As we wrap up a truly bizzare week in this state, and in DC–I leave you with this wonderful segment from Jon Stewart on the Daily Show from Comedy Central. It is a classic. Enjoy!
I really have no excuse for not updating my blog–other than a busy winter so far at work and even away from work. It has been nearly two months since I last wrote on this blog, and I realize that isn’t very good.
So–I am back. Tiger is sorry, the USA rules in the Olympics, Washington DC is the new snow capitol of the East, and Governor Paterson wants to spend another four years in the Executive Mansion in Albany.
One cool thing we’ll have to keep an eye on is local celebrity Aaron Kelly, who has performed at our fireworks show, and many other events around our listening area. He is now one of the top 24 on American Idol. In case you missed it–here is a clip of his time in Hollywood–hope he remembers the words from now on!!
Its another day of searching and rescuing people in Haiti. The magnitude of the earthquake is now just starting to come into view. Up to 50,000 dead, the current estimate from the Red Cross–some say it could actually be closer to half-a-million. Either way, it is a mind-blowing amount of death and destruction. We will be covering it in the news for much of this upcoming decade.
I had many requests to share the blog entry I read on the air Wednesday morning, when we were getting most of our information off the websites, and little from so-called “Mainstream Media” (silly term). So–here is that audio, I am unable to clip it, so you’ll hear a bit of the TCAT transit report before I get into the blog…sorry, it is the way our computers record the station anytime we “open the microphone”.
Video now–the scene as the earthquake happened, courtesy CBS News.
Please go to redcross.org today and make any kind of contribution you can to help. They have raised some $3-million dollars already, but so much more will be needed. Thank you!
It is a picture I will never forget, just like watching the Twin Towers collapse in New York nearly 9 years ago. I am talking about the first still picture of the destruction of the Palace (The Haitian White House) juxtaposed next to a “before the earthquake” picture.
Imagine this scene in America, The White House flattened by an earthquake. Not to mention all of the other buildings that have been destroyed, the homes, the hospitals, the schools, the stores, the lives. We do not yet know how many are dead…and the fear is that the number may end up with four zeros behind it (10,000+) This video is a short essay of what we have seen in the past 20 hours. Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers, and give blood or money to our American Red Cross to help.
Hi all– Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I have been working a lot behind the scenes at WHCU and WNYY making sure all of our digital programming is working right, and that is quite the adventure. Anyway, thought I would share big blooper #1 from this morning’s show.
I was doing the sports…listen carefully what I say when I get to the story about Pete Carroll taking the job with the Seahawks. This is right off the on-air skimmer, so the quality may not be great…and as you will hear, it was near impossible to get through the rest of that report.
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