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Tag: K95FM

Remembering the Race: Kentucky Derby Daze.

May 7, 2011 / / 0 Comments

I remember how proud I was my first Kentucky Derby, my son dressed in his finery, on the back of the horse in front of so many people, the crowd abuzz in anticipation of the start of the ‘Run for the Roses.’

Of course, we were nowhere near the racetrack.

My boss, Lee Masters, Tulsa radio station K95FM’s manager – who later went on to even greater fame and fortune with MTV and the E! television network – was staging a Derby watch-party at his grand home near Utica Square in Tulsa. His wife hailed from Louisville, and as a result, the Kentucky Derby was celebrated with all the passion of St. Patrick’s Day in New York City.

He had hired a fellow to bring along a small-sized horse for pony rides. I thought it made for a wonderful surprise.

Having grown up with neighbors who owned horses, I had plenty of chances as a kid to hop on the bare back of a big horse, grab a handful of its mane, and hang on for dear life while it ran around the pasture. My children, on the other hand, were strictly suburb-dwellers. There was more concrete than bermuda grass in our neighborhood cul-de-sac.

All in all, the ride could not have been too exciting. Maybe the stature of the horse compared to the tiny size of my two young would-be jockeys provided them a little adrenaline. I know the actual race which we saw, crowded around Lee’s television set, was more fun for the adults than the children.

I’ve not been to another Derby Day watch-party since, but I’ve seen a few on television and as those beautiful horses round the corner for the finish at Churchill Downs, I always recall the pleasant afternoon on the quiet Kentucky-like estate of Mr and Mrs Lee Masters, with my children taking turns in their ‘Walk for the Roses.’

And they’re off!

Ghost in the Machine?

October 21, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I was standing at the counter behind the cash register. “Hello?” someone said. It startled me, I’m not ashamed to say. I knew no one was in the store.

It was assumed that no one was under the counter. That’s where the voice came from. I looked down.

“Hello?” I replied, after some hesitation.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“I’m here,” I answered. “Where are you?”

“Here.”

Good thing we got that settled. Except it wasn’t really. Where was here? The voice was coming from under the cash register, down with the boxes and bags and stuff. It seemed to come from the paper shredder and I thought of K95FM.

When I worked there, the transmitter, all 100,000 watts of it, was on the top floor of the Liberty Towers condos. People who lived there could pick up their favorite country hits on their toaster, dishwasher, or electric toothbrush. The condo-owners sued. The transmitter got moved. Maybe it had been moved again – to somewhere near my shredder.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Trying to find you,” I answered. “Keep talking.”

“Have you lost your phone or something?”

The phone. I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t know why not, really. At the moment, I was trusting my ears and the probability that her voice was rising up out of the paper shredder. Come to think of it, where is that darn cellphone?

It wasn’t in any of the regular spots, and as I made myself lower to get better reception on the shredder, my hand bumped the front of my pants. The phone was in my pocket. Ah, I thought, the phone has gone sentient. Calling people on its own now.

I finished the conversation out, speaker-phone style – since I don’t know how to change it without hanging up, or clicking off, or whatever it’s called these days. Disconnecting, I guess. I’m disconnecting now, I said, frivolously.

Time to read the manual and figure out how the phone sends its voice through the paper shredder.

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