Happy Holidays!

I took this picture next to the Grand Marais Harbor (Minnesota) on Sunday.  The wind was such that the large waves made it into the harbor, and were spraying down the shrugs and trees along the shore.  This shrub was entirely encased in ice.
 

The bright light on top of the picture is the Grand Marais lighthouse.  In order to get a picture while it is illuminated, you have to wait 5 seconds between bursts of light.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Journey of Life

 

Life is about the journey.  It is like a ship crossing the Great Lakes.  Sometimes it is calm, beautiful sailing.  Other times, it is like a storm in which you don't know your next stage of existence or when it will find you.  It is a journey in which you may or may not know your destination, but you look forward to getting there.

Boundary Waters Fires and the Gunflint Trail

*Please note that this article is not updated regularly.  For up to date information, go to https://inciweb.nwcg.gov, https://www.wtip.org, https://www.boreal.org, and https://www.fs.usda.gov/superior.

 The Gunflint Trail is currently on high alert due to the numerous wildfires in the area.  Today is calm and relatively humid, which makes for slow fire growth.  However, we have had a lot of wind in recent weeks coupled with our extreme drought contributing to massive fire growth of the somewhat nearby Ontario fires, the distant Greenwood Fire, and the nearby (10 - 15 miles) John Ek Fire.  Other smaller fires are also present.

Due to the firefighting resources being stretched thin over the region (and nation), the Forest Service has made the unprecedented decision to close the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to all visitors.  This was a very difficult decision for them to make, but one which was necessary for the safety of everyone.  They are re-evaluating the closure frequently, and hope to have at least part of the Boundary Waters open again as soon as it is safe to do.  

All public lands from the west-end of Poplar Lake to the end of the Gunflint Trail have also been closed to recreation.  Every road is still open, and you can still recreate on private lands and lakes outside of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  Resorts and private campgrounds remain open.  The Iron Lake and Trail's End Campgrounds have been temporarily closed.

Earlier this week, a Type 3 team came in to take over command of the John Ek and nearby fires.  Their incident command post is at GTVFD Hall 3 on Seagull Lake near the end of the Gunflint Trail.  A Type 1 team (highest level) has taken over command of the Greenwood Fire.  Due to the size of the fire, and the immediate threat to structures, the Greenwood Lake Fire has higher priority for resources.  There is not immediate threat to structures on the Gunflint Trail, but that could change soon.

The Cook County Sheriff's Department and the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department knocked on doors Monday evening from Loon Lake to the end of the Gunflint Trail informing residents and visitors of a pre-evacuation.  We told people to be ready to evacuated, but that we were not yet issuing an evacuation order.  After returning home, I starting gathering my irreplaceable things together, and getting my pets ready in case of evacuation.

The Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department has implemented two evacuations in my time on the department.  In 2006, we evacuated for the East Zone Complex Fires, and in 2007, we evacuated for the Ham Lake Fire.  No structures were lost in 2006, and roughly 147 structures were lost in the Ham Lake Fire of 2007.

We have some advantages this time, especially the time to do a pre-evacuation notice.  The Ham Lake Fire came in very fast, and was ignited close to the Gunflint Trail, so instead of "ready set go" we just had "go" for a significant part of the Gunflint Trail.  We are currently at "ready" and hope to stay at that level and soon return to normal functioning of the Gunflint Trail.  As we have been telling people, this is the time to prepare, and not panic.  

Residents are being told to run their sprinklers, but to be sure to leave at least one 50 lb. propane cylinder full, in case of the burn over.  It is recommended that you have two smaller tanks to run the pumps before the fire arrives. This makes the property significantly more resistant to fire.  While no property is fire proof, it will be a lot more likely to avoid damage if the plants are still green and full of moisture.  It also shows that the pump is functioning well.  If you have questions, it is a good idea to contact the company that installed your system.  In the event of an evacuation, you should start your pump before departing since the priority of firefighters is to get everyone out alive, then worry about structures.

Here are some pictures from the last week:

Smoke plume seen from Gunflint Lake High Cliffs on Monday.

Smoke plume from Gunflint Lake Lookout Point on Monday.

Smoke plume from Lookout Point on Monday.

Ellie on High Cliffs with smoke plume from John Ek fire in background.

Ellie on Gunflint Lake High Cliffs with smoke from Ontario fires in background.

Gunflint Trail Fire Department Hall 2 with smoke last night.

Gunflint Lake with smokey air and falling ashes yesterday around 7:00 PM.

Live on the Air!

 

View from Studio B

This past Thursday, June 3, 2021, I got to do a live show for the first time in over a year!  My Thirsty Boots show was the second volunteer hosted show to be hosted live since March 2020.  In the intervening time, many of the hosts have been recording shows at home, and sending them in.  Sterling took the shows and put them on the air, while a few dedicated staff would come on every hour to do the weather and station identification.

Some advantages of recording at home are being able to edit, and being able to hear my shows over the radio.  Both those things have made me a better radio host, since I was able to critique my shows once while doing the recording, and once while listening to the show.  When broadcasting live, I can hear my show over the headphones, but it is not the same as hearing it coming out of the radio.

There are many advantages of broadcasting live.  Biggest on the list is the extra energy I feel going live over the air.  There is a little more pressure to get everything done in a smooth and timely manner when the biggest (and often times only) mistake that listeners will notice is dead air.

I missed the music library at the station.  While I had plenty of music for Classic County, Thirsty Boots, and the various mix shows, I do not have a huge polka collection at home.  It is quite difficult to find Polka Music in the form of CDs, so it felt like each show was very similar to the others.  When I do my first Polka Show on the third Sunday of the month, I look forward to playing some music I have not been able to play for over a year.

Another advantage of live broadcasts is the full board.  It gives me a lot more capability than recording a show on a computer.  I’m still able to most of the same things, but it is a lot easier on the board.

Sterling met me well before last week’s Thirsty Boots to go over the board and computers.  Since I had hosted shows for eleven years before the pandemic, it all came back quickly.  The only changes were the individual microphone cover (pictured above), the plexiglass shield between the microphones, some new cleaning procedures, and the change in position of the Enco computer, which puts out the programming when no one is at the station.

I had plenty of time to practice with the board, and reorient myself to everything in the station before my show began.  Sterling was nice enough to stay around until my show started to make sure everything went smoothly.

It was wonderful to be welcomed back into the WTIP studios.  Sterling did a great job making sure I was comfortable with the operations again.  Jana, who has done an amazing job sending me my underwriters throughout the pandemic, left a nice welcome back note on the underwriters list too.

Broadcasting live out the WTIP studio again was like returning home.  I hope I’m able to continue to broadcast from that station for many more years.

Producing Radio Shows from Home

 Preparing to Record from Home:

We have all had to make a lot of adjustments in our life due to the pandemic.  One of the biggest changes I had to adapt to is where I produce my radio shows.  For more than ten years, I broadcast live out of the WTIP studios at 1712 West Highway 61 in Grand Marais.  Over time, I have produced several pre-recorded shows, but that was also out of the WTIP studios.

In the last few months, many of the hosts have adapted to working out of home.  We bought our own equipment, learned how to work with recording programs such as Garage Band, and shared the knowledge with our fellow hosts.

Since I am in the Apple Verse, I had to learn Garage Band.  I was given hints by many of the other hosts.  One of the most helpful hints was the links to certain YouTube videos that taught me the basics of recording and editing.  A few months after starting to record the shows, Garage Band went through a major upgrade, and I had to learn a lot of it again.

One of my biggest challenges was digitizing my CD collection.  It is a lot faster to do a show when you can just drag the song into the project, instead of having to pull songs off CDs every time.  I've accumulated a lot of CDs over the years, and the process of putting them into Apple Music one by one took several weeks.  When I'm doing mix shows, I still have to upload CDs from time to time.

Preparing for the Show:

The first step is to sign up for the show.  It is done on a web site called SignUpGenius.  I sign in, and can look at any of the shows that I host for WTIP.  When I see an open show I would like to host, I put down any notes about the show and click on the button to sign up.  For instance, I put down "Celtic Music" when I signed up for the Musical Chairs show which broadcast earlier this month.

Some hosts use a stage name, but I prefer to use my own name.  My shows aren't controversial, so I am not worried about listeners knowing who I am.  I find it can be a great ice breaker when I meet a new person, and they tell me my voice sounds familiar.

Jana sends me my underwriters more than a week before the show is set to air.  I print them out, and review them before recording.  Any new underwriters I read out loud before recording them.  I plan which underwriters are going to be read at the top of the hour, 20 minutes into the hour, and 40 minutes into the hour before I start the show.

As far as the music, I write down some sets before the show (especially if is significant to that day).  I know where the show needs to go, but I do not have every second of the show planned.  For me, hosting a show is a bit like writing.  It is fun to enjoy the creative journey.

Recording the Show:

It is important to have a meaningful first song and set.  When I record Thirsty Boots and Classic Country, I use theme songs (A Calling On Song, and You're Looking at Country respectively).  On my other shows, I usually record the initial announcements followed by the first set.  Both approaches can be used effectively.

As when writing a paper, transitions are important.  That includes transitions from one show to another, and transitions from one set to another.  Everything has to flow smoothly.

My first full set of Classic Country is always a Country dance set to transition from my Polka Time show.  The final set of Classic Country is always a Country Gospel set used to transition into the Sounds of the Spirit show which follows me.

Picking out the music is only part of the show.  Announcements have to be well executed too.

Between sets, I back announce the songs that have just played.  If it is time to read the underwriters, I read them next, and follow with announcing the first songs or artist of the next set.  In a live set, it is a bit risky to forward announce songs, because sometimes the wrong song will play on a CD.  However, this is not an issue when you are recording in advance.

One thing that is important during a radio show is to give information about the artists and songs.  This can be found in books, or on reliable online sources.  The information you give is often the difference between people listening to the radio, or a music streaming service.

Music selection can be a challenge.  When I do Polka Time, Classic Country, Thirsty Boots, or Women in Music, I need to stay within a genre.  The Monday Night Mix, Saturday Night Mix, and Musical Chairs shows only require that I do not play anything offensive and/or with bad words.

If it is a new song, I listen to the entire song before it is included in the show to make sure it stays within F.C.C. guidelines.  There are also the options of looking for the lyrics in the CD cover, or looking for the lyrics online.  Musicians, you are more likely to have your music included in a radio show if you list both the length of song and the lyrics.

Picking out all the music for a long radio show is a bit like flying to the Moon.  The first part of the journey is uphill (gravity of Earth), and the second part of the journey is downhill (gravity of the Moon).  At the beginning of the show, I often times feel like I'm having to work harder to put together the sets of music.  By the end of the show, I usually feel like I have so many sets that I could go another couple of hours.

One big difference between live and prerecorded programming is the ability to edit.  If I don't like the way my announcements sounded, I go back and edit them.  It is relatively easy to cut out a section if dialog, and replace it with something better.  The trickiest part is making sure the old and new dialogs match with volume and flow.  I might record same dialog up to three times before I am satisfied.

I also edit songs to a small extent.  Sometimes a song does not match a set as well as I had hoped, and it needs to be eliminated.  More often, there is a bit of dead air at the beginning or end of the song which needs to be edited out.

The editing takes more time, but has helped me to be a better radio host.  I am less likely to make an error again that I have already had to edit in a previous show.

When I complete each hour of a show, I share it over email with Sterling at the radio station.  He puts it in the system, and is generally the one to do the weather and announcements at the top of each hour.  When I record the show, I make each "hour" of the show about 59 minutes, so Sterling has time to do the announcements before the next hour or show.

Sterling sends me a message when he receives the show, and then puts it on the air.

The Broadcast

When I am broadcasting live out of the WTIP studios, I can hear myself and the songs over my headphones.  It is not the same as listening from the other side of the radio.

Since I am recording from home, I am able to listen to my shows.  Most often, I am sitting at home, sometimes I'm in the car, and sometimes I hear my shows going out over the speakers at local businesses. Last month, I was in Subway, and heard my show on the speakers.  I was happy to hear that the locals were listening to WTIP, and that I was contributing to their enjoyment.

When I'm recording the show, I don't always listen to the whole song if I have heard it before.  It takes on average about an hour and a half to record one hour of programming, and would take much longer if I listened to every song.  When I listen to it from the other side of the radio, I get to hear every song in its entirety.

Listening to my shows, I also have the chance to critique my performance, and learn things that make my future shows better.  Even before the pandemic, the station would give us recordings of our shows from time to time, and have us use those recordings to critique ourselves.

I miss the energy of a live broadcast.  There is more pressure on a live program since the mic is live and you can't have dead air.  I work well under pressure, and feel like that extra energy can come out over the airwaves.

Another thing that is enjoyable about live broadcasts is to get phone calls from the listeners.  It is fun to talk to them when I am broadcasting, and can be a nice challenge to find their requests.  The station does pass on any emails, and listeners can still communicate with us in that way.

On the other hand, I don't have two or more hours of driving to do a show when recording from home (which I am grateful for in bad weather).  It is also nice to be able to listen to my shows from the other side of the radio.