Winning and Losing, what's the point?

2009-08-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

As a sports nut and KILR's Sports Director I get asked plenty of questions concerning sports programs. Sometimes I am simply amazed by what people think sports are supposed to be about. It is my belief that the number one thing sports should teach a student-athlete is life skills such as discipline, hard work, ability to obey rules, trust in self and teammates, and many, many more. Notice I said student-athlete, not athlete-student. Extra curricular activities are a privilege, not a right! One thing is for certain, school sports are not the place for Mommy and Daddy to live their dreams through their child. It is the child who must make the dream they wish for come true. I've never had much success chasing someone else's dream. So what is the parents role? Be a parent, be supportive, help them chase their dream, not yours, and praise them when they do well. Not false praise, when they have had a terrible game, don't say great game, that's a lie, and they know that. That's the time to say, rough night, but you know what, I still think you're an awesome kid, and I love you like crazy. So, how important is winning and losing? Now remember, I'm old school, I think having the opportunity to succeed is pretty important. As long as they keep score, I think it's important. When they quit keeping score, it won't be important at all. When they quit grading test scores, tests won't be important either, so the need to study will become obsolete! Sound ridiculous? It is, so why would anyone think just because you are out for an extra curricular activity that you will be treated the same as someone who has put in hours upon hours of practice to get better at their activity? Just like life, in most places of employment, the harder you work the better your chances for a promotion or a pay raise! It would be crazy if a poor employee made the same as a great employee wouldn't it? So for me wins and losses are near the top of the list, but learning life skills is easily #1. If you are lucky enough to have good teachers, coaches and mentors like I've had through the years, when the years pass, you'll have to go to the record book to look up the old score you are wondering about, but that great teacher, coach, or mentor will have made such a big impact on you, your memory bank will easily recall the lesson taught, and you won't need a book to look it up! Winning is good, but good life skills are the best!

1st Blog Entry Ever!! - A little about RADIO

2009-08-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

It's time to enter the blogosphere! I thought this was radio? Well, times have changed.

I gave some thought on what I wanted my first blog entry to be about? A.I.G., the economy, politics, family, friends, sports, all very worthy topics and I'm sure we'll touch on all of those at some point, but this is RADIO all be it via the world wide web. So what would you, our listeners find interesting about radio? The fact is that when I began in radio, we didn't even have the internet, matter of fact, I don't think I even had a computer. We had an associated press wire service where we would rip the paper off and read it to our listeners. It was called the fine art of rip and read! I could tell you about the times we strung hundreds of feet of telephone wire so that we could broadcast a ball gameto you, once even plugging into a really nice guy's home phone jack in Fonda then stringing the phone line to the football field to bring you playoff football. Ah, those were the days, but they are probably behind us now. What used to fill a good sized car trunk, now fits in a bag or two, making it possible to broadcast from nearly anywhere at any time. So what has stayed the same? You, our faithful listeners! While most in our industry have gone to cost cutting satellite programming, we have remained loyal to local news, weather, sports, lost dogs, used lawn mowers for sale, birthdays, church news, weather related announcements, and so on. The good news for us, it seems to be working! The last several ratings sheets have shown us that you're listening, our audience continues to grow, and some other station managers must be scratching their heads wondering what in the world is going on at KILR. It's pretty simple it's You, our valued listeners, neighbors, and friends. We just sit down and have a little chat and spin some country tunes throughout the day. I recently visited with our legendary broadcasting friend Frosty Mitchell who winters in Florida, and I asked him what was new in radio in Florida? His answer was quite simple, yet quite amazing, he told us, "local radio was gone." Well not here, not yet, and hopefully not for a very long time will that happen here! There could not be a better time to be working for a family owned business, or I'm sure local radio would be on the decline here too. The other thing we are most proud of, radio remains FREE! While each month you get a cable bill, maybe a newspaper bill, you won't find a radio bill in your mailbox. We have tremendous advertisers, who rely on us to deliver their message to you our valued listeners, so you can enjoy their product or service to make your life better. When you do business with our advertisers, all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. So a great big thank you to you our listeners, friends, neighbors, and advertisers. You are what make local radio what it is, and I can't possibly thank you enough for allowing me to chat with you each day!

kilr sports clubhouse

Winning and Losing, what's the point?

1st Blog Entry Ever!! - A little about RADIO