Obscure lyrics…FTW!
The other night, we were knocked off the air for a grand total of 7 hours. You see, a sub-transformer caught on fire and that sort of, kind of knocked everything off power wise, including the radio station.
Fortunately, it didn’t knock off the phone lines! Which means people called the radio station.
These calls, which did not stop until the power was back on, can be broken down into three basic categories.
1. The “Is school closed”? call.
Very basic, but nonetheless frustrating. The schools here apparently don’t have a way to contact the fine people in their district. So, if there’s inclement weather or, in this case, a power outage, people call the radio station. This leads to some conversations…
Me: WJBD, This is Alan
Caller: I was wondering if there’s any cancellations for tomorrow?
Me: South Central is the only one.
(NOTE: notice the word only. There are no other cancellations)
Caller: What about Salem?
Me: No.
Caller: Centralia?
Me: (wondering why someone wants to know about Salem AND Centralia) No.
Caller: Ok…
The best variation of the theme on this was the person who called in and started with a singular school, then the entire Centralia school district, and then asked “how about Clinton County Schools?” as if this were a fun game of “guess the vague area of cancellations.”
Of course, there was the woman who could not believe that with clear roads and projected 40 degrees that there would be school tomorrow, and said, “Well, Salem’s always the last to cancel.” For the record, Salem did have school today, but let out early due to the power outage we had today.
However, the call of the night came from some boy. He obviously had a vested interest in school being cancelled, since he called at 11:00. This is, what the NCAAA calls, a “lack of institutional control” but at a small level.
Me: WJBDthisisALAN (no spaces…I was tired, and my words sort of ran together)
Him: Is there school in Central City tomorrow?
Me: As far as I know there is, they haven’t called.
Him: So, they haven’t cancelled?
Me: No.
(…long pause…)
HIM:CRAP!
I then hung up. As if sitting in a dark, cold FM studio wasn’t enough, I got to listen to an 8-year old swear. Keep in mind that the weather today was predicted to be, and was, wonderful. The lack of school cancellations should not have been shocking.
2. “What about the power?”
I don’t fault the people for calling and asking about this. After all, we are a source of news, and possibly have this sort of information. But, when people call you over and over andoverandoverandoverandover again….ugh.
Me: WJBD, this is Alan
Caller: What’s the word on the power?
Me: They’re working on it, thats all I know. (There was more detail to it, but I’m not typing it all)
Caller: So, any timetable?
Me: Not that I know of.
Repeat 100 times. However, there were some fun variations on this theme. Oh yes. The ever popular person calling in from a place with power.
Me: WJBD, this is Alan
Caller: Did you know you guys are off the air?
So…
Me: Yes, the power is off and knocked us off the air.
Caller: Oh is that so? We have power here.
I know that if I were the caller, I’d open a beer in celebration there and claim my victory over the 4th Estate. Not that I would have anything against the radio station, but if I’m online and they aren’t…I win. I’m just saying, there would be some high fives involved here.
Special props go out to the guy who told me the crews were going home and not going to work through the night. Ten minutes later we received word that there were nine trucks at the transformer with people working on the problem. His source: the grapevine. Ours: Seeing it with our own eyes. So, at the end of 1, we have WJBD 1 Dude with power 1
3. The “other” calls
The most prevelent of these were the Birthday calls. We read off birthdays in the morning, and if you’re lucky, you get picked to win donuts from the IGA. So, people call in with birthdays. Imagine if you will, a world where the power has just gone out. People are calling in, doing their freak out thing, when all of a sudden…
“Yes, John Smith has a birthday tomorrow!”
Wait, what?
I guess there is no better time then the present. It was really nice when a person from Florida called in with a birthday. She was, obviously unaware that we were powerless.
Also in this category, the funeral home director who didn’t know why the obit he faxed wasn’t coming over. I do want to seriously thank the person who called in to ask for election results. That was kind of cool. Luckily, thanks to Internetphone, I was able to inform them of what I knew at the time.
Finally, at about 12:30 the power was restored, we got on air, and I went home. But not before having a few adventures with listeners.
Well, you told me about nowhere
well it sounds like someplace I’d like to go,
Alan
Sounds like an adventure indeed!
I SO would have said “Nah, we’re just playing static tonight.” even if it got me in trouble. I wouldn’t be able to resist, I really wouldn’t!
I came to work one day during our last deadline cycle to find my boss and our graphic designer loading their computers into the back of their cars. Apparently an old guy smashed into the power pole down the road and knocked out out power….on the day we’re supposed to send the paper to the press. (Why does that always happen?) Thankfully the power came back right then and I didn’t have to work from home, which would have consisted of me feeling like I should be working but not actually working.
Anyway, nobody calls the BBJ when the power goes out. And if they did, I would tell them that I was writing my stories by hand by the light of a cigarette, like they used to do back in the day.
Use a cigar, get better light that way!