Being 35 years old, there have been many adjustments in life that one makes. Getting used to being in school as a child is one. Making the jump into marriage and fatherhood is one that has happened to me over the past few years.
Another such change happened to me over the past month. As many know, a chapter of my life came to an end with the decision by the owners to close WDKN. After eighteen years at one place, it's quite different to realize that you are a free agent. It's scary, and to an extent, heartbreaking----but also kind of exciting.
It has been a month, and I am still looking for a full-time opportunity, but thankfully, the Lord has provided me with some work. I have been doing a lot of writing for the DICKSON HERALD, as well as a few music sites, and am in the process of pitching stories to some other magazines and periodicals. So...I am staying busy.
One of the best things that has happened to me is my association with WNKX / Kix 96 in Centerville. Since I first met Steve Turner back in 1993, I have had a tremendous amount of respect for him. One of my friends, Mickey Bunn, has been there since about that same time, so I have known about the station and liked them for some time. Mickey's wife "Sheila B After 3" has also been a longtime friend. Steve has always been someone that I would have liked to work for. It has just so happened that if he was looking to hire....I was satisfied where I was, and if I was looking...he was full of people on air.
To make a long story short. As I was loading all the CD's I had kept at WDKN into the house, it occurred to me. "What am I going to do with my THE BEST OF FERLIN HUSKY CD?....After all, there's not enough time to listen to everything I had in my collection." So, I contacted Kix 96 about doing an Country oldies show for them. Steve literally made me feel like a member of the WNKX family by inviting me in.
My first show was April 9, and the listeners have responded well. I have had a few of the former Dickson listeners call in, and I will be honest when I say that it feels good to have someone excited about having you as a part of their team. Granted, it's just a weekly two-hour show (for now, but I could see it expanding very soon!), but the people in Centerville have been really nice.
The change in radio stations leads me to something that anyone who has ever worked at more than one station will identify with---call letters. If you have any experience in radio, you know that when you turn the microphone on.....you will say the call letters of your station quite often. For me, it was at the beginning of every song....(That's something I learned from Ken Loggains, a former co-worker and a better friend...also one of the best radio voices you will ever hear!) I still remember giving the call letters of WDKN, as well as the phone number when I was doing overnights on the Interstate Radio Network a few years back....
Well, it's been three weeks, and so far I haven't uttered my old call letters into the microphone.....though I about gave out the WDKN phone number out last week. You know what Hank Williams, Jr. said about "Old Habits." Well;, let me tell you it's the truth!
In any case, I invite you to tune in this Thursday from 1-3 on WNKX / Kix 96.7 FM. We'll be celebrating the upcoming 50th birthday of Randy Travis, and playing quite a few of (hopefully) your all-time favorites....on W....I mean, Kix 96!.....(Keeping the streak alive!)
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Feels Like School Spirit
This past weekend found my wife and I in Chattanooga Friday afternoon. I will admit that the trip was mostly pleasure, a chance to see my brother for the first time since Thanksgiving. At the same time, it was also work-related, as I was down there on assignment for THE DICKSON HERALD, covering Lady Cougars Softball for the newspaper.
Over the past three years, I have lost count as to how many athletic contests or scholarship signings that I have covered for the newspaper----not to mention the thirteen years of covering sports for WDKN, the former "Voice Of The Cougars." It's something that I have enjoyed a lot over the years.
You might think that Dickson County High School holds a special place in my heart, and you would be right. Though, I will have to admit to you----the amount of school spirit that runs through my veins over the years has increased over time.
I won't say that my High School years were the worst of my life. They weren't. But basically, the only proof that I was a student at the school from 1989-1992 is my name on a diploma. I just wasn't that interested in school for the most part---unless you count those members of the opposite sex that I never had a chance with! By the middle of my junior year, I was already employed at the radio station, and that was the part of life I was concentrating on.
Then, in 1996, I began to cover sports broadcasts at the school, and it quickly became one of my favorite parts of the job. I became amazed that the same teachers that I thought were so different as a student were actually....human! I remember one night, I was interviewing Coach Eve Hamilton at a ballgame on a night where inclement weather was about to move in. I asked her at the end of the interview, "I bet you're not hoping for snow tonight, are you?" I was serious. She was too, when she said "Are you kidding? We want out as much as the students." I guess people over the age of 18 actually like sleeping in on cold mornings as well.
Now, I know better.....and becoming friends with people like Coach Eve, Kevin Tuck, Bobby Burgess, Jackie Bledsoe, Dennis Fussell, Shelby Rye, Jerry Pearson, and my last broadcasting partner for Basketball at WDKN, Jay Powlas....is something that I feel blessed for. Shane Buchanan, softball coach on Cougar Hill, told me this afternoon when I was interviewing him for Wednesday's HERALD how much he and Coach Newberry appreciated me being there to cover the tournament. That meant a lot, but....Coach Buck....The pleasure was all mine!
I say all this because I want to say "Thanks" to everyone at Dickson County High School. Over the past thirteen years, I have made some of the most cherished friendships of my life with many of you, as well as many of the parents and grandparents over the years! You have made me feel like family, which is exactly what a graduate of a High School should feel like....except try telling that to an eighteen year old! Now, if only I could earn a letter jacket.....
Over the past three years, I have lost count as to how many athletic contests or scholarship signings that I have covered for the newspaper----not to mention the thirteen years of covering sports for WDKN, the former "Voice Of The Cougars." It's something that I have enjoyed a lot over the years.
You might think that Dickson County High School holds a special place in my heart, and you would be right. Though, I will have to admit to you----the amount of school spirit that runs through my veins over the years has increased over time.
I won't say that my High School years were the worst of my life. They weren't. But basically, the only proof that I was a student at the school from 1989-1992 is my name on a diploma. I just wasn't that interested in school for the most part---unless you count those members of the opposite sex that I never had a chance with! By the middle of my junior year, I was already employed at the radio station, and that was the part of life I was concentrating on.
Then, in 1996, I began to cover sports broadcasts at the school, and it quickly became one of my favorite parts of the job. I became amazed that the same teachers that I thought were so different as a student were actually....human! I remember one night, I was interviewing Coach Eve Hamilton at a ballgame on a night where inclement weather was about to move in. I asked her at the end of the interview, "I bet you're not hoping for snow tonight, are you?" I was serious. She was too, when she said "Are you kidding? We want out as much as the students." I guess people over the age of 18 actually like sleeping in on cold mornings as well.
Now, I know better.....and becoming friends with people like Coach Eve, Kevin Tuck, Bobby Burgess, Jackie Bledsoe, Dennis Fussell, Shelby Rye, Jerry Pearson, and my last broadcasting partner for Basketball at WDKN, Jay Powlas....is something that I feel blessed for. Shane Buchanan, softball coach on Cougar Hill, told me this afternoon when I was interviewing him for Wednesday's HERALD how much he and Coach Newberry appreciated me being there to cover the tournament. That meant a lot, but....Coach Buck....The pleasure was all mine!
I say all this because I want to say "Thanks" to everyone at Dickson County High School. Over the past thirteen years, I have made some of the most cherished friendships of my life with many of you, as well as many of the parents and grandparents over the years! You have made me feel like family, which is exactly what a graduate of a High School should feel like....except try telling that to an eighteen year old! Now, if only I could earn a letter jacket.....
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Farewell To A Friend I Never Met
One of my good friends, former Dickson County Cougars football coach Jerry Pearson, once told me that there was no good reason for the phone to ring late at night. I have found that to be a fact that rings very much true. Last Thursday, April 9, was one of those mornings. Though the kids were already on the school bus, 7:30 is not the time of day when the phone typically rings around the Dauphin household.
I answered the phone and it was one of my friends, Bo. He asked me if I had heard who had passed away. Working in morning radio for the bulk of eighteen years, I was always on top of these stories, and as morbid as it might sound to some....you kind of have a list as to who you might expect to pass away----it's never that way. I asked "Who," thinking that I would hear the name of a Country Music star, and he told me "Dan Miller." Needless to say, there was a wave of shock that still is running through me....five days later.
Dan Miller, for those that don't know, was one of two dominant news anchors in Nashville during the past four decades, with the other being Channel 5's Chris Clark. Back in the days when Middle Tennesseans only had three television channels, Miller was one of the biggest stars in local TV. His low-key, relaxing way of giving viewers the news made him one of Nashville's most beloved public figures. Though I will admit to being a Channel 5 viewer more than Channel 4 growing up, "The Scene At Six" was must-see TV, long before NBC coined the phrase. Whether it was talking about the issues of the day, or cutting up with fellow personalites like weatherman Bill Hall or sports anchor Rudy Kalis, he was always a joy to watch.
In reading many of the tributes to Miller over the past few days, many have brought up his Sunday night program MILLER AND COMPANY. Each week, he would interview a local celebrity, whether it was a music star or a local legend, like Nashville's "Mr. Television," Jud Collins. That same style of anchoring also led to some of the more memorable interviews I watched anyone do growing up. He brought that same format to TNN for a time in the 1990s, as well.
In 1986, after seventeen years, Miller accepted a job with a station in Los Angeles. You would have thought people had lost a son or a brother. A few years later though, he was back---staying until passing away from a heart attack last week in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia--while showing longtime friend Kalis his stomping ground growing up.
For a lot of reasons, his passing has affected me very much. There's people that you take for granted----that they will always be there. I felt very much the same way when Conway Twitty or Waylon Jennings died. A few years ago, I had the idea to invite all three of Nashville's top anchors on my radio show----but I simply lost the nerve. "Why would Chris Clark or Dan Miller want to talk to me," I reckoned. Even though I had interviewed many Hall Of Fame members or Entertainers Of The Year....these men were stars...that came into my home every night, like they did yours.
With that said, I never met Dan Miller--though I did see him one time. I was eating lunch at the Pie Wagon, close to Music Row. He came in with his wife for lunch that day. Even without meeting him, you just could sense the kind of person he was----which is why so many Middle Tennesseans have been hit hard by his passing.
I close this introductory blog by inviting readers to log on to his blog:
http://www.wsmv.com/danmillersnotebook/index.html.
Many times I have read and been entertained by reading his thoughts about random subjects....though it will be with somewhat a tinge of sadness. Hopefully, Channel 4 will keep it up as a tribute to the man who helped to define the station since arriving there in 1969. Dan Miller was 67 years old, which I'm quickly finding isn't as old as it used to sound......
I answered the phone and it was one of my friends, Bo. He asked me if I had heard who had passed away. Working in morning radio for the bulk of eighteen years, I was always on top of these stories, and as morbid as it might sound to some....you kind of have a list as to who you might expect to pass away----it's never that way. I asked "Who," thinking that I would hear the name of a Country Music star, and he told me "Dan Miller." Needless to say, there was a wave of shock that still is running through me....five days later.
Dan Miller, for those that don't know, was one of two dominant news anchors in Nashville during the past four decades, with the other being Channel 5's Chris Clark. Back in the days when Middle Tennesseans only had three television channels, Miller was one of the biggest stars in local TV. His low-key, relaxing way of giving viewers the news made him one of Nashville's most beloved public figures. Though I will admit to being a Channel 5 viewer more than Channel 4 growing up, "The Scene At Six" was must-see TV, long before NBC coined the phrase. Whether it was talking about the issues of the day, or cutting up with fellow personalites like weatherman Bill Hall or sports anchor Rudy Kalis, he was always a joy to watch.
In reading many of the tributes to Miller over the past few days, many have brought up his Sunday night program MILLER AND COMPANY. Each week, he would interview a local celebrity, whether it was a music star or a local legend, like Nashville's "Mr. Television," Jud Collins. That same style of anchoring also led to some of the more memorable interviews I watched anyone do growing up. He brought that same format to TNN for a time in the 1990s, as well.
In 1986, after seventeen years, Miller accepted a job with a station in Los Angeles. You would have thought people had lost a son or a brother. A few years later though, he was back---staying until passing away from a heart attack last week in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia--while showing longtime friend Kalis his stomping ground growing up.
For a lot of reasons, his passing has affected me very much. There's people that you take for granted----that they will always be there. I felt very much the same way when Conway Twitty or Waylon Jennings died. A few years ago, I had the idea to invite all three of Nashville's top anchors on my radio show----but I simply lost the nerve. "Why would Chris Clark or Dan Miller want to talk to me," I reckoned. Even though I had interviewed many Hall Of Fame members or Entertainers Of The Year....these men were stars...that came into my home every night, like they did yours.
With that said, I never met Dan Miller--though I did see him one time. I was eating lunch at the Pie Wagon, close to Music Row. He came in with his wife for lunch that day. Even without meeting him, you just could sense the kind of person he was----which is why so many Middle Tennesseans have been hit hard by his passing.
I close this introductory blog by inviting readers to log on to his blog:
http://www.wsmv.com/danmillersnotebook/index.html.
Many times I have read and been entertained by reading his thoughts about random subjects....though it will be with somewhat a tinge of sadness. Hopefully, Channel 4 will keep it up as a tribute to the man who helped to define the station since arriving there in 1969. Dan Miller was 67 years old, which I'm quickly finding isn't as old as it used to sound......
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