This week’s North Country Notebook features Duane Vaughn and Bob Kellogg from Wait House, talking about the non-profit organization’s efforts to help homeless youth in the region find housing, learn life skills and reunite with their families where appropriate.
Click here to listen to or download North Country Notebook Podcast #011 (May 20th, 2013).
In this edition of Real Possibilities with AARP, guest host David McNally talks to Warren County Office for the Aging Director Kristy Sabo to talk about what services are available for North Country seniors.
Click here to listen to or download Real Possibilities with AARP Podcast #008 (May 22nd, 2013).
Erin Mitchell welcomes Harvey Noordsy from Aging in Place Glens Falls to talk about efforts to keep seniors in their community.
Click here to listen to or download Real Possibilities with AARP Podcast #007 (May 8th, 2013).
On this edition of Real Possibilities with AARP, host Erin Mitchell welcomes guests to talk about the cost of utilities for seniors and what help is available to make sure utility bills don’t overwhelm your finances.
Click here to listen to or download Real Possibilities with AARP Podcast #006 (May 15th, 2013).
Dan Miner is Station Manager of TALK 1450 WWSC. Miner Notes is his blog about local events and happenings.
The tornadoes that hit Oklahoma on Sunday and Monday were devastating. The damage to the people. The loss of life. Lives ruined.
Broadcasting during disasters is what we, as broadcasters, are supposed to do. We, the radio stations under the authority of the FCC, operate in the public’s interest. Not when it is convenient.
I know of what I am writing about. For some time around the Radio Ranch, I was known as Disaster Dan. If there was an emergency, disaster or any other dangerous situation, I was the one on the air. I have been on for floods, tornadoes, blizzards, massive power outages, national emergencies and more.
To get through the broadcast, you must stay in the moment. Remove your own personal issues with the emergency. Relay the information that you know is true and inform the listeners. It sounds simple but it is anything but easy. You need to put your needs aside. I hope that my fellow broadcasters never need to know what it’s like. I know that not all broadcasters can do it. It doesn’t make them bad broadcasters. They are just human.
I will admit to being human, but during those times, I have the ability to go into a different mode. I think it’s the same mode that fireman, I was one for some time, policemen, EMTs and others have. The instinct to run into the mess instead of running away from it. I have always admired those that can do it.
I will relay what I believe to be the worst day I have ever been on the air.
September 11, 2001. I don’t need to go into all the details of the day. We all lived it. Almost all of us. From the time of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center until 7pm that night, I didn’t live it. I was able to put my own concerns for family, friends and other Americans on hold. I needed to be the voice of calm and reason. I was.
I went home after 7 that night. I was alone. I broke down. My wife Lisa and I, just came home from picking our daughter up outside of Washington, DC. We had mentioned on our way back through Pennsylvania that we needed to go to the World Trade Center. I had been to the top numerous times. Lisa never had been to the top. My brother Joe, was and still is in the service and I was concerned about what this was going to mean to him.
I cried. I shook. I couldn’t believe what had happened.
There is no training for what those heroic people did that day. The hugeness of it is overwhelming. What I needed to do was nothing even close to what they had to do. I still shake my head over the whole experience.
For the past two days, I have been thinking about those that put others ahead of themselves. The firemen, policemen, EMTs and other emergency workers that were there to help others, Thank You. To my fellow broadcasters in Oklahoma, Thank You. Job well done.
To my fellow broadcasters that haven’t had the opportunity to broadcast an emergency like this, I hope you never need to.
In the latest North Country Notebook podcast, Alan Doane talks to Neil Woodworth, Executive Director of the Adirondack Mountain Club, about conservation, recreation, and protecting the Adirondacks.
Click here to listen to or download North Country Notebook Podcast #010 (May 6th, 2013).
Hi there. Hope you’re enjoying the nice weather. After seeing what Denver and Minneapolis and other parts of the midwest got recently, I was wondering when we were gonna see late April-early May storm that would drop a foot of wet snow here in the Adirondacks. I’m not complaining though.
So the garden is looking good as it’s getting-the-soil-ready-for-the-plants time. The indoor veggies I’ve started are looking real good, but I wish the pepper plants would grow a little more. One thing, who would have though that 32-foot long, 6-inch wide and 4-inch deep area of dirt would be such a pain in the tuchis to clear and move. I took out this area behind the home to widen the path so a car or small truck could drive up to our garage which is off the back of the house. The good part was that the soil is going into the potato bags.
Rain or shine, the Kentucky Derby will always be a must watch for me. One thing I found fascinating is how few starts many of these horses have going into the Derby. The horse I was rooting for, Verrazano, never ran as a 2 year old. Winning the Triple Crown is harder and harder. It’s a tough six week stretch with three races of three different distances. The money is now in stud fees. If a two year old or even a three year old wins a couple of Grade 1 stakes races, cha-ching, off to the courting barn, turn up the Marvin Gaye and start making future champs!
My boycott of the NHL has officially ended and there’s nothing better than the Stanley Cup play-offs.
I made it through the year without seeing the Phantoms play. For this hardcore hockey fan I go to watch the game. The other activities I have no interest in. Bringing in some guy to make a fool of himself, dancing and throwing t-shirts to everyone in attendance is not my idea of a good time. It makes it even more painful to go when the team isn’t competitive. I understand that not every team will be a winner on the ice, but if you show that extra effort fans in this town will show up and watch. Glens Falls is so desperate for play-off hockey and the one thing the Icehawks/Frostbite could never do was win a play-off series.
Like my garden, the golf game is being worked into shape for the year. Hit a couple of buckets of balls. I wish I had an answer for the hook I have off the tee, though. Can’t figure out why I’m closing the club face on impact.
Sunday, I went into Lake George dressed like an eskimo compared to everyone else who with long pants and a windbreaker on and met some friends at SJ Garcia’s for a Cinco De Mayo-type get together. I’m stealing this one and making it for myself at home. I had this seafood quesadilla that had shrimp, crab, and talapia in it. It was scary delicious! I even channeled Mike DuBray and was dropping habanero hot sauce on it.
I had my Bizarre Foods, Andrew Zimmern moment Saturday when a co-worker made chili with the family jewels from a cow in it. It was good and if I hadn’t known what was in it, I would have never guessed what that was. It reminded me of the time I went to the Bahamas and had Conch chowder. I wasn’t a spicy food fan at that point in my like and my Dad got a laugh out of that one. I thought it was gonna be like a New England clam chowder. Boy was I wrong.
One more thing before I end this entry I want to mention that I joined a new gym. I felt right at home when I stepped on a treadmill for that first 20-minute workout. Sending out the freak love…Leccese out.
The focus is on hunger in the latest Real Possibilities with AARP podcast, as host Erin Mitchell welcomes guests to talk about how hunger affects those 50+ and what options there are to help make ends meet in households facing food uncertainty.
Click here to listen to or download Real Possibilities with AARP Podcast #005 (May 1st, 2013).
Dan Miner is Station Manager of TALK 1450 WWSC. Miner Notes is his blog about local events and happenings.
It’s springtime and believe it or not, some hockey fans are watching playoff hockey. Around here, we talk about hockey this time of year. For those that don’t know, I have been covering hockey since 1985 and I have been working for The Red Wings, IceHawks, Frostbite and Phantoms since 1990.
The fans of Adirondack hockey haven’t smelled the playoffs since the opening weekend of the first season of the Phantoms in Glens Falls. That might sound harsh. It is. I put none of the blame on the current dry spell of non-playoff hockey on the Brooks Brothers. Rob and Jim own the team but don’t hire the players. That’s a Philadelphia thing.
Anyone that casually follows the hockey team has one question for me. “Dan, who’s coming to play at the Glens Falls Civic Center after the Phantoms leave?”
My answer is always, “I don’t know.” I don’t know if I would want to know. What I do know is, the Phantoms will be back for one more season before heading to Allentown. That I am grateful for. The Brooks Brothers could have just as easily taken next year’s team and put it Atlantic City or Trenton and sold a bunch of tickets, more than at the GFCC, to the hockey-crazed Philadelphia fans.
They have stayed true to their word. They will be back next season. That’s good news.
What’s next for the future of Adirondack hockey? I am out of the loop just as much as you on this. There has been much speculation as to who may be coming in. That’s all it can be at this point. Speculation.
The fans of hockey in the area, in my opinion, will be left wondering if/when/who is coming to town. Being a die-hard New York Rangers fan, I would have loved to have seen them come to town. That’s not happening.
As for fans of Adirondack hockey, one more season of the Phantoms. Maybe after opening weekend of the 2013-2014 season, fans will get a whiff of something that has not been smelled in sometime, the playoffs.
For now, like Sergeant Schultz used to say on Hogan’s Heroes, “I know nothing!”
The spotlight is on the Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch in the latest I’m In with the ARCC podcast, as Greg and Peter welcome Robin DeMattos to talk about the Lake Luzerne-based organization founded by Charles R. Wood and Paul Newman.
Click here to listen to or download I’m In with the ARCC Podcast # (May 3rd, 2013).