Dear readers,

As I peddled my Schwinn out Morristown Road to the headquarters of the Shelby County Post, thoughts were racing through my mind faster than I could peddle. 

The Shelby County Post is affiliated with local radio station Giant FM, and it is in the same building I toured as a Cub Scout in the early 1960s.  In those days, the radio station was known as WSVL, the Giant of the Blue River Valley.

I woke up every morning in my youth to the sound of WSVL. In my mind, I can still hear the broadcast from those days as clear as I can hear country music great Henson Cargill’s hit song “Skip A Rope” playing in my head. I can even hear the advertisement jingles from “who turned on the lights in the county REMC” to the ad for Tippecanoe Press, “Tippecanoe and Typewriters Too.”

In the late 1990s, I was a frequent guest on Mark Gravely’s radio program. Every Saturday morning I did my best Casey Kasem impersonation. Local attorney Mark McNeely called in every week and asked for a long-distance dedication for someone in Waldron or Boggstown. Mark always requested the same song, “Gimme Three Steps” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The station was known as WOOO in those days, and Tom Hession was managing the station. 

Tom had a good sense of humor, but occasionally, he would tell us to tone it down a bit. One of my favorite memories is a time when we accidently broadcast a word that can’t be said on radio.

The “bad word” incident happened early one morning. Sometimes when no one was calling the station with requests, we would call regular listeners who were our friends and ask them if they had any requests.  Dale Kesterman was one of those people.

Dale was the produce manager at Mickey’s T-Mart. He had been a guest on the program in the past. Dale was well known in Shelbyville and seemed to always enjoy playing along as Gravely asked a few stupid questions along the line of, “Do you have Prince Albert in a can? If so, better let him out!”

We were already on the air when Dale answered the phone. Gravely asked Dale a question about the local candy corn harvest. Dale didn’t realize he was on the radio and said a word that shouldn’t go out over the public air waves. Without missing a beat, Gravely said, “Oops, there goes our FCC license.”

It turned out to be our lucky day. When Hession came in the station, he didn’t say anything. No one ever complained and we lived to broadcast another day.

As I peddled into the parking lot, I noticed a sign on one of the parking spots, “Schwinn Parking Only.” Johnny McCrory met me at the door with a gift basket that included an unopened package of No. 2 Ticonderoga pencils. 

Sitting down at my desk, I heard a familiar sound. Someone had thoughtfully placed a whoopee cushion on my chair. The place was exactly how I remembered it. It felt good to be home.

Recently my wife, Sandy, ran across a box of our son Trent’s papers from when he was in middle school. In one of those papers from over 20 years ago, Trent described activities that he and his dad enjoyed. In part he wrote as follows:

I enjoy playing video games. My dad prefers to play Trivial Pursuit. While I enjoy listening to the radio, dad likes to be on the radio. In his spare time my dad drinks martinis and writes a column.

It is amazing how some things never change. As for me, my new home here at Giant FM/Shelby County Post is a great start for 2023. Now if I can just find someone to buy me a martini.

See you all next week, same Schwinn time, same Schwinn channel.

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