Television Part 1

…..BACK IN THE DAY


SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY ONE NIGHT WHILE I WAS ALSLEEP TELEVISION WENT NUTS. OK MAYBE IT DIDN’T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT….IT JUST SEEMS THAT WAY TO ME.

REMEMBER “OLD TELEVISION?” YOU HAD 3 NETWORKS (IF YOU WERE LUCKY)….AN ANTENNA ON YOUR ROOF TO “IMPROVE” RECEPTION AND TELEVISIONS THAT WERE MORE FURNITURE THAN PICTURE. ALL THE STATIONS WENT OFF THE AIR AT NIGHT …. I ACTUALLY REMEMBER STARING AT THE TEST PATTERN WAITING FOR A STATION TO COME ON THE AIR IN THE MORNING…..(STARING AT THE TEST PATTERN TO MUCH MAY EXPLAIN WHY I AM A LITTLE RIGHT OF CENTER)

THE DAY STARTED AND ENDED WITH THE NATIONAL ANTHEM USUALLY FOLLOWED BY KIDS PROGRAMS.. I AM JUST OLD ENOUGH TO SORT OF REMEMBER “HOWDY DOODY”….HE WAS A PUPPET AND BELIEVE ME ON “OLD TELEVISION” THEY MADE NO ATTEMPT TO HIDE THE STRINGS….OR ANYTHING ELSE FOR THAT MATTER…………..IT WAS “LIVE” AND YOU PRETTY MUCH GOT WHAT YOU GOT. BUT SOMEHOW WE DIDN’T CARE. NETWORK TV BACK THEN WAS SOAPS IN THE AFTERNOON AND REGULAR EVENING PROGRAMMING KICKED IN AT 730 AND RAN TILL 1100PM. YES THEY THREW A LITTLE NEWS IN FROM TIME TO TIME.

THE NATIONAL NEWS WAS ON AT 630 AND IT WAS THE ONLY NATIONAL NEWS YOU GOT EVERY DAY AND IT WAS ON ALL 3 NETWORKS…………SO WE WATCHED……………WE WOULD HAVE WATCHED PAINT DRY IF SOMEONE HAD BROADCAST IT………….MY PARENTS WATCHED THE HUNTLEY-BRINKLEY REPORT ON NBC…..LATER AFTER CHET HUNTLEY DIED, MY DAD SWTICHED TO WALTER CRONKITE…………..I GUESS HE DIDN’T LIKE DAVID BRINKLEY…………….

“OLD TELEVISION” WAS NOT SLICK AND “PACKAGED” LIKE TODAY……BUT THE SHOWS WERE GREAT! REMEMBER…………QUEEN FOR A DAY , CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU?, GUNSMOKE, RAWHIDE, DOBIE GILLIS, AND A ZILLION MORE? AND THE COMMERCIALS????? OUTRAGIOUS……THESE THEY FILMED….BUT IT DIDN’T MATTER THEY WERE STILL GREAT…………..I ALWAYS LOVED THE FOOD ADS……….DIDN’T CARE WHAT THE PRODUCT WAS….BECASUE SOMEONE WAS ALWAYS EATING IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME……AND IT LOOKED GOOD………AND I WANTED IT….

AND ALL BROADCAST IN GLORIOUS BLACK AND WHITE….COLOR? COLOR????? THAT DIDN’T SHOW UP IN MY HOUSE TILL THE MID 60’S AND BAD COLOR AT THAT …………..BUT WE ACTUALLY THOUGHT THE SHOWS WOULD BE DIFFERENT IN COLOR……………SO AGAIN WE WATCHED……..

I COULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT THIS BUT I AM NOT HERE TO TELL YOU ABOUT HOW THOSE WERE THE “GOOD OLD DAYS”… YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE WHEN I WAS A KID MY PARENTS WERE BUSY TELLING ME THAT THE 1920’S WERE THE “GOOD OLD DAYS”………..I CAME TO THE SAD CONCLUSION THAT EVERYONE HAS THEIR VERSION OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS AND FOR SOME……THE GOOD OLD DAYS ARE TODAY…………………

BEFORE I GET OFF MY SOAPBOX TODAY I HAVE TO PUT IN ONE MORE WORD…………….CAPTAIN KANGAROO…………..BEST KIDS SHOW EVER………………

OK, SO NOW WE KNOW WHERE I CAME FROM, TELEVISON-WISE……NEXT TIME WHERE TELEVISIION LANDED AT LEAST ACCORDING TO ME.

AND SO IT GOES

The Scale, the Diet and Hillybilly Days

Interesting title.....sounds like a children's Nursery Rhyme or an answer on Jeopardy.......Well, its none of the above....but thanks for dropping by......


I made a serious mistake 2 weeks ago....I weighed myself...In the immortal words of Forrest Gump " I may not be a smart man...." but I know what fat is and right now I am heading towards overweight on a greased twinkee......

At first I was in denial and did what anyone in my position would do.....I threw out the scale......then in a moment of remorse...I bought a new one....Surely it was the scale.........Surely NOT.........sadly for me the "new kid on the block" reconfirmed my worst fears....I was overweight AND out $40.00 for the scale......

Next came the day I learned about calories............apparently I had been throwing a lot of those bad boys down my neck......can you say ...binge eating????....I was one of those people who could "eat the fridge" back to the light.....sound familiar????

So....now i had a choice.....I could go on eating like a herd of locusts......and eventually would find myself at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.............as a FLOAT......or I could face the awful spectre of DOING EXERCISE.........I live in an apartment complex that has an exercise room full of awful looking machines that make me sweat...when I walk by them.......But I overcame my fear of them and tried a few machines....a little at a time and began to ( dare I say it.....) work out a bit....

Back to the diet......I had been on a diet previously.....It was a sea-food diet.........I SAW food....I ATE food......

So now I am trying to eat healthy. The other night for dinner I had a sweet potato ( no butter ) and fresh pineapple chucks.......that was all........not my usual....36 Hot Dogs and 36 buns.....

I have even stopped the "pull a chair with wheels up to the fridge and inhale" late night food-a-thons.......now I treadmill, use an elliptical machine, and even gone so far as to chase a tennis ball for an hour or so....and I have roller skated twice.....( those skates are heavy )

As for the new scale, it has stopped asking one of me to get off ever time I stop by to see where the biggest part of me is going.......I will report back on my diet adventure in 90 days......celery stick anyone?????

NOTES

Hillybilly DAYS will be here in a few weeks and this will be the first one I have missed since 1999. I applaud the Shriner's and all the work they do.......And to my man Jimmy I can only say......"I still have the hat...and will wear it proudly on Hillbilly days weekend"

Happy HDB3208.....That's Hillbilly Days number 32, 2008

New Years Resolutions and Other Stuff

Ok, its finally 2008 and a new start for everyone.....even me. And just like I do every year, I have made a list of "resolutions" that I HOPE I can keep :) .

I really want to learn to play the piano......guess that means I better get a piano.......

I want to act in a play.....Hey Jenny Wiley.....are you listening?????

I want to speak less and listen more.......people are treasures and each should be "panned" for their gold.

I need to lose 10 pounds......that's right, all you "all you can eat" places, stay away from my door!

Don't laugh but I really want to learn to dance......Partners???? Partners????

I want everyone I know to experience good health, happiness and fufillment in 2008.

I will check back with you on the resolutions in February......

IN OTHER NOTES;

WDHR and all of East Kentucky Broadcasting is now on the internet.......Wait.....that means the AM Asylum can be heard all over the world....

Heaven Help us!!!!!!

Happy 2008 everyone......

Why I Hate Christmas.....

Well now that I have your attention, and before you gather stones to throw at me...let me add that....I also love Christmas......but I do hate it....and if you honest with yourself....you hate it a little also.

This "Gift Giving" thing has gotten way WAY out of control...Seems like you are buying something for everyone you know.....or.....your not buying anything for anyone.....Of course I don't really mean that you are buying a Christmas gift for EVERYONE...you would go nuts....But just try to slide thru the holiday and buy nothing.....you won't live to see New Years!

So like everyone else you start buying stuff.....one friend of mine goes to a bunch of stores and buy a lot of generic stuff......books, candy, puzzles, teas and the like.... Then he goes home and bunches stuff together and makes gifts.....He is not sure what goes where sometimes, he's just trying to get by......

Now, do you really think I am the ONLY one who hates the gift thing??? Look around at your fellow shoppers in line with you.....see any smiles???? How about some Yuletide Cheer??? I don't think so.......All you see are people who are tired and feel rushed and who can not wait for this ordeal to be over........

How foolish has the gift giving gotten??? (say that 3 times fast)....Most people can not tell you what they "got" for Christmas last year......

And if I may let me also say that I am tired of mixing the religious and the secular holidays.... What I mean by that is having Santa in a church to give out gifts........

So whats my solution?????? I don't have one....We've allowed this to happen to us and now we are stuck with it......We've spoiled our children rotten by getting them things they really don't need because we don't want to disappoint them.....I am sorry to tell you that disappointment is a part of life.....Grow up everyone.....

Maybe if we cut it down to ONE gift per person................at least the lines AFTER Christmas would be shorter....

Christmas is about Home and Hugs and Handshakes and fires and caroling.......and of course the baby in the stable. Now that I think about it.....the wise men brought the baby gifts.....they did not exchange gifts themselves.

And to all a good night......

Peter Girouard

Miss Lucy

In the summer of 2003 I had just come aboard the good ship "East Kentucky Broadcasting". I did not know Lucille Smith from the ladies who clean the studios. Maybe it was better that way.
When I was handed the job of engineering "The Personal Touch" I had no idea what I was in for.
(If you listen closely now, you will hear laughter from Heaven).

But I had heard the stories.... Lucille Smith WAS Pikeville, she knew everyone who was anyone and what she didn't know....was not worth knowing.....So to say the least I was a bit intimidated by her "rep"......

So we began "our" journey, a journey that Lucy had already been on for 37 1/2 years. Every day rain or shine, hot or cold, in season and out.....she was there at the microphone.

I did not even know how to address her. My parents had raised me never to call anyone older than myself by their first name ( wasn't proper I was told ). So I couldn't call her Lucy...and my moms name was Lucille, so she wasn't getting THAT one either... Mrs Smith???...no that was to formal ( radio people are very informal ). So I came up with Miss Lucy.......and you know what???? She liked it!

And I, like the rest of Pikeville and Eastern Kentucky....fell in love with Miss Lucy......We had a time she and I every day from 5:00pm to 5:30pm. (actually most afternoons Miss Lucy came in around 4:45 and went over her notes......yep she kept notes on everything.....( sometimes she would lose a note while on the air.............i hear laughter from Heaven again ).

What I came to discover was that Miss Lucy was in fact, Pikeville Kentuckys very own time capsule.....She chronicled the births, deaths and everything in-betweens that went on in this lovely place tucked into the mountains.

We actually had more fun off the air than on the air ( radio people are crazy) we sometimes got to "carrying on" and would come back either laughing or late from a commercial....

Lucille Smith taught me the value of every single person.....She touched everyone and made them better for it. To say I will miss her does not begin to fill the void of her absence.

The last time I spoke to her I told her that we were going to have a Christmas toast together....She responded by reminding me that her doctors would not let her....( she was most disheartened by that rule ).....

Pikeville lost its shining light on November 6th, 2007. But if you look up in the night sky and strain a bit.....she it still watching over us.....

I love you Lucy.....

Notes From the Attic

Question.....What happens to people when they decide to go into public office???? All of a sudden they start "watching what they say".....They seem to forget that their job is not to be re-elected but rather to make a difference. Maybe a good way to cure that would be to let them only run once......just a though....

Brother Randy spoke out on the de-Englishification (made it up) of our country....If there is any room for me on your soap box....I am with you.....

How much have we ruined the spirit of Christmas???? This year try NOT giving a gift...When something is expected....it loses it meaning.....

Thanksgiving remains my favorite holiday.....and with the exception of a few football games and parades ( both are ok ) it remains pretty much as it was intended way back when in the "colonies".....people gathering just to gather and"be" together.... When I lived in Pikeville and the Holidays came around I always tried to work for people who had families. Not because I am so special....far from it. I did it because it was the only small way I could "say thanks". It always made me feel warm and fuzzy. And the turkey was just as good the next day.

Take care gentle readers.

Life in the Cit-tay

Be careful what you wish for dear readers.....you may end up with it......

Well here I am 2 months along in my "adventure in New England" After spending a balmy 8 years haunting the streets of Pikeville, KY, I decided it was time to " go east young man....go east"

I have spend a trillion dollars on gas , been stuck in the most God-awful traffic jams in the history of the automobile and stood in lines that could streach across Pike County......

Still its not a bad place......once you get used to the people. And that is true everywhere you go. I said it in a posting on this very site back in the spring......we are all really alike...we just live in different places......

I have been lucky enough to find a job here but the catch was that it is a long way from where I am currently staying ( about 60 miles each way daily). The good news for me is that my company is moving south of where they are now and I am relocating very close to them in September.....The bad news is....I have to live in Mass.

Rhode Islands sales tax is 7% ( Yikes) Mass. sales tax is 5% ( Better ). Both states are really like big cities. Rhode Island would fit nicely in Pike County.....Just add a few million people to Pike County and there you go.......

I have been on the road since June15th when I said good by to all my friends in Pike County. I came back in late July for a wedding and am returning in late August for a seminar. I consider Pike County to be home now so I will come back as often as I can.

The thing I like least about Cit-Tay life is the rushing around like crazy......Man these people move fast.......and you better not git in there way.....

Oh one more thing.....if you like Italian food you would LOVE it here.......Oh my but the food is very very good....

I know it has been very hot in Eastern KY lately.....I am wearing a jacket as we speak....the high temperature here today was 70.....I am going to be frozen stiff by Halloween.....

Until next time dear Reader......I remain

Your Eastern Kentucky Yankee....