I was walking out of Appleton Area Health Services to my car in the parking lot when I was overcome with emotion. It came out of nowhere, and it caught me by surprise. I had just completed interviews with professional health care officials where we talked about mental health issues. I started thinking about how lucky I am to have a job where every day is so different and how much I have learned from visiting with so many different people. One day I am interviewing doctors and the next day I am visiting with a 4-year-old on the radio. In a weeks’ time I have talked to farmers, teachers, main street business owners, law enforcement, coaches, musicians, student/athletes, an author, and politicians. I look forward to my work day at the radio station.
Let me take you through a couple of my days in the past week. Tuesday mornings are my recording days with a number of different people. It starts early in the morning with me recording my local sports report, which is gathering the high school scores from the night before, along with some statistics to pass along. The superintendent at LQPV Greg Schmidt comes to the studio to tell us what is happening at Lac qui Parle Valley high school. After Greg is gone, I record over the phone, the Pioneer Seed update with Matt Wilson or Clyde Tiffany territory managers for Pioneer Seeds. Then the Appleton and Madison library shows with Cindy Hendrickx and Lydia Rebehn, they rotate every week. Before noon, my good friends John and Theresa Witte walk down from their Madison main street business to the studio to do the Rural Solutions Technology Show. One of my favorite shows, talking computers and computer problems.
All that before noon on Tuesdays, so you can see all the different kinds of subjects and issues I get to deal with. It is challenging but so much fun at the same time. Maynard was gone one day, so I did his morning shift. That morning shift consists of programming the computer, calling Mike to do the Appleton news and Terry calls in for the Dawson news, keeping things up to date with weather and news. I took some time to run over to the National Guard Armory to set up the KLQP radio booth for AG Day! I did a few interviews with the Cargill people to talk Agriculture.
On another day, I drove over to Dawson to interview Tom and Delite Ludvigson of T&D Barnwood Rustics. Tom and Delite are amazing people and very talented at what they do. Tom takes wood from old barns and makes it into beautiful furniture and his wife, Delite is a home interior designer. I spent over a hour with them learning about what they do. The next day I’m in the studio interviewing a guy who jumped off the Golden State bridge in 2001 and lived to tell about it. He is in the area this week talking in schools about suicide and how to get help. Charlie Roth a Madison native and musician stopped in the studio to give us his new CD. It’s always nice to visit with Charlie, I enjoy listening to his stories and music.
Can you see why I got so emotional walking to my car in Appleton that day? I have a job that screams variety! Something different every hour of the day! I have gotten quite the education with this job, learning about farming, learning about mental illness, learning about carpentry, the list is very long. Did you know my main job at the radio station is sales and covering high school sports! I love sales and visiting with my clients. My passion is broadcasting high school sports and I spend most of my time being the Sports Director at KLQP. Put all these things together and it is my dream job and for that I am very thankful.
Raymo's Ramblings 