Thunderstorms, Horses and Cooter

It's nice to work at a station that rarely suffers debilitating technical problems. Last night I had a small issue, and it was fixed promptly. If we're off the air for a significant period of time, streets are likely flooded and trees have likely crashed through homes.

That hasn't always been the case. At a previous radio station I once was knocked off air for 3 hours because a horse needed to scratch an itch. Our tower - like most radio towers - was off in some field, and a farmer took to letting his horses graze nearby. One horse liked to use a post supporting an important wire as a back scratcher. Over time he wore the wire then, and eventually shorted a 50,000 watt radio station.

Once while interviewing Cooter from the "Dukes of Hazzard," I blew a tube and killed the station for a morning. If that happens in Raleigh, we have a contingency plan and Cooter never knows the difference.

I once resorted to fixing a piece of on site broadcast equipment with electric tape and a plastic spoon. It held for my two hour broadcast, and I reported it. Weeks later I embarked on another on site broadcast and found my spoon, still taped to the antenna.

If QDR is off air for longer than 90 seconds, run for the hills.