Nice Rink!

Just a few thoughts regarding the new arena:

1) After being at three events there in three days, I'm still having difficulty actually believing that it's here. I caught myself on each of the three days thinking "wow, this is really Kingston!" It's an awesome facility, with a very motivated and energetic staff. Even the Fronts have taken their game up several notches.

2) Kingston people have needed the ability to drink beer at their seats for sporting events and concerts for far too long. At the Hip show on Saturday, one could hardly get to one's gate for the long lines of thirsty music fans waiting in line to buy beer. During the show, people in our row kept going back for more. At five bucks a cup, it's not only one of the best prices downtown, but it's also going to dig a huge chunk out of what we owe for making this place.

3) The Fronts games will slowly become better-attended. The thousands of faithful who said they'd never go "all the way downtown" for a game? Well they came. Hundreds more were at their first OHL game in a long time (or ever), and they'll come back. It's excellent hockey, and it's cheap!

4) The people who cried about how the parking was going to be a disaster have gone back to complaining about other things such as expensive gasoline and the fact that they'll never stop using the word "township" to describe parts of our city. At the end of the Bulls-Fronts game Friday, I waited at my seat for about 15 minutes to let the crowd die down, fully expecting the streets to be crazy with people. They weren't. I was home in the west end just 15 minutes later. It was even more efficient after the Hip concert Saturday. Sunday was even better. The arena will not be the source of traffic headaches. CFB Kingston/RMC/every government office, all spilling out at exactly the same time will continue to be a far bigger problem. This is where I could tell you to use Kingston transit, but I get the feeling you're just not listening when I say how easy, cheap and efficient it's become.

5) Downtown bars, restaurants and shops are LOVING the response to having an arena downtown! Even after the game on Sunday afternoon, it was tough to get seated in some places. The best thing that could happen is more great restaurants, bars and shops opening to take advantage. Perhaps our old derelict Police Station would be the anchor in a block of cool new places running down Queen from King Street.

6) Wolfe Island people will love how easy it is to get to and from the arena. In the summer, Marysville residents won't even need to take their cars! However, they'll be unhappy that some will continue to park on the ferry dock instead of paying for the incredibly cheap parking that's available.

7) It still needs a name. Maybe the Drivec? I'll keep working on that.

Did we lose a bet or something?

My first impulse was to puke.

After getting up at 3:20am to work myself through a 65 minute bike spin in my basement, the last thing I needed was to see a note from my wife saying "Are you ready for ten years of The K-Rock Centre?"...gag!!!" At first I thought she was doing that thing she does. You know, keeping me on edge, so I don't let down my guard for the inevitable bad news that could come at any time. (she feels that perhaps I tend to react in a rather sagiune way, and need the occasional SCARE)

But she woke up at 4:30 to tell me that it was indeed true, that K-Rock had been declared the sponsor of the new downtown arena. She and my politically savvy daughter stayed up ridiculously late to watch city council make the declaration live on channel 13. Both of them found the news disturbing, off-putting, even creepy. My daughter's instant concern was that NONE of the groups she'd go to see would ever come to Kingston now. We eventually calmed her down.

When I got to work, it was obviously even worse. Our morning staff were reeling over the news, and the notion that we had to deliver it in some way that a) informed our listeners, yet b) didn't give a competitor any publicity. Second-guessing, speculation and rage dominated our off-air activities. We put our GM Greg Hinton on the air to give the company line, and got our fair share of indignant emails from our audience, slamming city council, the mayor, the arena management group and just about anyone else involved for making such a stupid decision.

As for me (glad you asked), well, it was a challenge. First off, a lot of my friends know that my easy-going, sometimes stoic demeanor is a total fabrication. My temper is so quick that it catches me off guard sometimes. But, I work hard at "not letting things get to me." When I do my "who gives a crap" schtick, it's usually in an attempt to hide my feelings of "who can I strangle?"

So, at work I was the most peaceful, objective, even thoughtful person for most of the morning. I slipped a couple of times on the air, but it was barely noticable. Then I eventually went home, and thought about the whole thing some more.

I watched John Wright on the CKWS 6 o'clock news. He said that this would be "good for the city, and good for everyone" which I guess means: "screw all the other media, I got the rights, too bad for you." Mayor Rosen told us it was time to "move forward" though I'm sure what he wanted to say was "where were the rest of you cheap bastards when your buddy Johnny here came to us with some real hard cash?"

And that's when I started to see things as they truly are.

Is having to deal with the major sports and entertainment venue being branded with our direct competitor's name for ten years going to be challenging? Yes.

Did city council make a bad decision? Yes, but they had guns held to their heads, and would have been just as wrong if they'd turned it down too. These people made the best choice humanly possible under very very diffcult circumstances.

Does anyone care about the impact of other media pulling some of their support for events at the new arena? Probably. But I'm not 100% convinced that is ever going to happen.

Our radio business is not easy to understand from the outside. We're constantly defending our brands, while changing our product to attract more listeners, more clients and more money. We live and die by ratings, which are driven by how successfully we get our name recalled by as many people in the listening area as possible. It doesn't necessarily mean they listen to us, just that they remember us. By which we can prove ourselves an efficient and economical vehicle to get our clients' products and services recalled by these people. Which means we have a steady revenue stream to afford us the resources to do it all over again.

Spending huge piles of money is rare in this biz. It's even rarer in a market this size.

The fact that a national arena management firm, a very thoughtful and skeptical city council and a non-network owner all came together to create a radio sponsorship on a 42 million dollar project, means our business is still for real.

No internet station...no TV network...no satellite "radio" provider has of yet been named as sponsor on a valid entertainment venue.

Thanks to John Wright and whatever means he had to use to get this to happen, everyone in our business feels just a little bit more valid today.

Get Me Outta Here!

Some time after Christmas it started. The first thing I noticed was how difficult it was to get going after napping (when you get up at 3:30am, napping is normal...try it). Then workouts were getting "missed." Cooking started to become a chore, and the very thought of leaving the house after coming home each afternoon was, well, appalling.

All that should have added up to "something's wrong" but I still didn't get it. It wasn't until I found myself one Friday night on the couch, watching TV (no not a show, just something on the tube) that I realised what was going on. I was getting depressed!

For weeks the newspapers and TV have been filled with stories about SAD. When the daylight wanes, and the fun of Christmas is long past, our bodies naturally react by going into a kind of light hybernation. I can't remember it ever getting to me before now, but then again, I've always been either too busy with work, or too lazy to work out, so there was no opportunity to actually sit motionless and feel totally bummed.

That awful Friday night, I ripped myself off the couch, put on my stuff, and did a 45 minute spin on my bike. It wasn't great. I was still stuck in the basement, sweating like crazy, and going nowhere, but at least I was getting out some agression.

Last week it started getting to me again. The crazy snowstorms and flash freezes didn't help, as they gave me just another reason to put off going to the pool, riding my bike or going for a run.

So I did something about it.

My son and I piled a couple of shovels in the car, and headed for my sister's place. We spent over an hour and a half digging out an enormous pile of snow from her drive. It was hard. It was cold. It was wet. In fact it was potentially the least pleasant thing either of us could think of doing at that time.

It was brilliant!

Three important pieces of my life came together: vigourous exercise; a team-oriented task to accomplish and being outdoors! By the time we were done, both of us had pulled outselves out of the SAD doldrums, and were ready to sleep like dogs.

I applied my new-found psychological knowledge the next day by going for a run in the snow with a good friend who was also feeling seasonally down and out. The holy trinity of movement, accomplishment and outdoors came together, creating...two bummed out listless individuals.

Stupid psycho-crap.

I'll try again tomorrow, but right now I just need a nap.

Knock Knock!

You'd think that someone who does what I do for a living, would have no trouble walking up to people's doors and talking to them about important social issues.

You'd think.

For most of my life, I've spoken out of turn, been asked to "keep it down," said inappropriate things at even less appropriate times, and generally not really concerned myself with the consequences.

I've also been able to do a job where I get to speak out and speak up every day. Issues and events that are important to me and my friends and family get aired to a large audience, and I get to be the person delivering the message.

So when March of Dimes called a couple of months back to see if I'd be interested in canvassing our neighborhood for their annual fundraising drive, my first thought was "are you frickin' nuts?"

Going door, to door in the suburbs? These are people with names like: "Mr. Accurate," "The crazy chick who drives too fast," "Mr. Bi-polar," "Cellphone-guy," "Witness-protection-couple" and so on. Then there's "I should know her name because I talk to her quite a lot but I don't," and "woman who calls me by name and gets me to donate to the heart and stroke people every year."

I'm the worst neighbor in the world. It's taken me years to even start shovelling the other side of our shared driveway. It finally sunk in that it didn't matter why it wasn't shovelled, or that they never really did my side. What did matter was how much of an ass I looked like by only doing my side.

So after about ten seconds of dead air, I responded to the March of Dimes recruiter with a hearty "sure!" I almost barfed. I can't knock on these people's doors and ask for money. What the hell have I done?

So in a couple of days, I'll take my little kit around, wearing my MOD pin and my best smile. I'll knock on doors of people who know who I am, some of whom I'll be seeing for the first time ever. I'll cheerfully extol the virtues of this important organization for which I've spoken so eloquently on the air. I'll ask for donations, and happily answer questions. I may get turned down. I may get surprised by some people's generosity.

This is so far out of my comfort zone, you can't even imagine how stressed out I'm getting.

And yet...

There are so many decisions we make every day based on how we feel we could benefit. Life is a competition. Whomever ends up with the best and most, wins.

Too bad life doesn't work like that.

We can only grow by trying new and scary things. That which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger (that was my dad's best line).

No, door to door canvassing will be a big, scary, learn-as-you-go challenge. Which is what makes it worth so much.

Because the challenge, is the reward.

Work-life Balance

Being a radio guy can be pretty exciting. I for example, get up at a crazy time of day to come in here, play some awesome songs, talk to listeners about stuff, and make wisecracks about whatever I feel.

I get to go to great shows. I meet people who I'd normally never get to know. I get news releases from people and organizations that normally wouldn't give me the time of day.

My workday isn't quite as long as most.

Like most folks in my business, I seek out things to feel that I'm earning my keep. I'm on two or three boards of local community groups. The Kingston Half Marathon and Beat Beethoven put up with me as one of their co-directors, and I'm always ready to take on whatever community challenge comes my way. That stuff's easy. I'd do it anyway.

Back before I had kids, I decided that I needed to play hockey, baseball, golf, Frisbee golf, ski...whatever else I could find to keep moving. I got pulled into running by a couple of bad friends of mine, which lead to more bad friends who pulled me even further off the couch and into triathlon. After much failed protest, I'm now training to race in an Ironman triathlon, which is only exciting and interesting to the other fools who do this sport, so I won't bore you any more with details.

I read books. Lots of books. Always have, and always will.

There are some great TV shows that need to be watched, and not just the NHL, NFL, Olympics, World Cup Soccer and occasional F1 race, and every minute of the Tour de France.

Anyone who knows me knows that I eat. I eat a lot.

And there's sleep, commuting to and from work, and my freelance voice and pr work.

Leaving me with, what?

Sleep.

But last night, I was vegging on the couch with my son and daughter. We were mocking Access Hollywood or some other lame waste of TV...referencing our favorite out-there TV shows and movies and talking about music. There was no format, structure, expectation, deadline, cause, politics, demanding client or any of the other things I deal with all day. Just the three of us, together, having a laugh, and using our brains.

One quality hour with the family makes all the rest seem like I'm just filling time.

Now its a Wally and Joe Show

A few years ago, I was managing two radio stations here in Kingston. Every day, people would just drop in for whatever reason. Some were looking for jobs. Others were trying to sell us stuff. There were people who just kind of showed up to make complaints about our stations, city council or the state of the youth of our nation.

But one day, a friend of mine showed up carrying a pair of signed drum sticks. He was obviously upset, and needed to talk to someone immediately.

It was Wally High.

Wally has helped promote live music in Kingston since forever. He was the energy and effort behind A Joe Show, which raised money for the local Music Lending Library in memory of the great Joe Chithalen.

One of his biggest Joe Shows ever featured the Doobie Brothers, and the day Wally came in, he'd just got news that their long time drummer Keith Knudsen had died of pneumonia. Wally, it seems, knew everyone in the music business. And they knew Wally.

After I talked to him for awhile, he handed me the drum sticks, and asked that I do something with them in Keith's memory.

That's what I remember most about Wally High. Not the Ackroyd-Stones-Bill Murray connections. Not the third-hand stories about him. Just a guy who felt so badly about losing someone dear to him that he had to find a way to get the rest of us to remember that person.

Wally was a poet. He was a musician. A biker.

He was Wally.

I saw him last October at the Brew Pub. It was one of those oh no-Wally-wants-an-interview moments. We talked for a few short minutes, and I invited him to come on the air at FLY FM with me to promote his new cd release. Then days, weeks and months passed, with not a word from him. There was also no Wally High CD to be seen or heard anywhere.

A few weeks ago I heard that he was having that long-awaited party. I came up with the usual excuses, blaming the fact that I have no car, can't stay up late and/or have something "family" to do that night. Then to my shock, found out that I may have missed my last opportunity to see the guy. Wally was dying of inoperable cancer. Crap!

A very good friend of mine was there. She said it was an amazing night. Wally performed with some of Kingston's best musicians, and the mood of the night was light. There was even talk that he was looking better than anyone expected.

Two days ago, the show was over. Wally died.

Kingston is not limestone. It's not just Queen's and RMC. It's more than the prisons, the lake and the quirky little stores downtown. Kingston is a collection of some of the most interesting characters outside of a novel by Dickens or Irving. Wally was one of the last of that bunch.

I'm sure he and Joe are putting a band together, wherever they are.

Just Don't Wake Me Up!

Have you heard it yet?

There's something new and very very different in Kingston. I know, I know, Kingston has a built-in resistance to "very very different," and "new" is anything that's been here for less than 50 years.

I was skeptical too. When my bosses at FLY FM approached me last fall to see if I was interested in having a show on their new station, my first thought was "wow, a job! My family will not starve...my kids can go to University some day...I can order new bike gear!" But, when they described this new station, I wasn't so sure.

They drew a picture of an alternative music station, aimed solely at Kingston. This station would do things quite unlike anything else on the air. The music. The news. The people talking. All would be as un-radio (if it's not a word, put in in Wiki for me). As I sat listening, all thoughts of the groceries, the tuition and the hot new bike clothing faded away.

I was obviously no longer able to distinguish reality from my vivid fantasy world. The hallucination was so strong, that actual people were now speaking words I'd imagined.

After asking the right questions like: "are you kidding me?", and "who are you people?", I started to believe that this was really going to happen.

By mid-December, the station was on the air and there I was getting to play awesome music, spout off about whatever and get paid for doing it!

By late December, we had callers...real, living, job-holding callers who wanted to help us build this into something special.

Now here it is January 2008. We've made it one month without the parent company so much as making a peep about what we play, what we say or anything else we do.

If you haven't heard it yet, please try it. 98.9 The Drive. Our signal is pretty small, but our techies will have us up loud and strong in a few weeks. Meanwhile, we're live on the web too at 989.fm.

Listen to it. Do what you do best, think. Then let us know what's right, what's wrong and what needs to be done. We've got an anonymous line for you to call at 613 433 1380 ext. 320, or you can call us on the air at 5440 98 9.

I think this just might work!