There are so many unsung heroes at The Bay 88.7 and it never ceases to amaze me how many volunteers at Hunters Bay Radio selflessly devote their time and services to make this radio station run smoothly. Especially, in these days of isolation, when so many of us feel shut in and closed off from the rest of the world, it is comforting to hear the voice of a fellow volunteer on the radio. It makes me feel a little more connected. Indeed, as this pandemic continues to lock all of us out of our “normal” lives, it is often those small connections that might make that small difference to keep us from losing our minds. Of course, there is the skeleton crew of over-worked and underpaid staff who keep the lights on, led by our inimitable and vastly under-compensated Managing Director, Jeff Carter. As well, there are about 60 unpaid volunteers who do everything from answer phones on Bingo night to host talk and music shows throughout the week, design and post show graphics on Facebook, etc. Shauna calls it our “88.7 FMily”. This week, I’d like to show my appreciation for one of our more under-recognized and hardest working volunteer talk radio hosts.
Every weekday
morning, after the 10 O’clock news, Hunters Bay Radio features a segment called
Tech 5, hosted by my octogenarian friend Ben Harrison. The segment typically runs
about 5 minutes and covers a wide spectrum of interesting subjects, from space
exploration to the latest development in artificial intelligence, or even the origins
of a holiday tradition. No matter whether the subject is the puzzling migration
of the “polar vortex”, or the science of flatulence, Ben always has something informative
and interesting to impart. Shauna and I have been listening to Ben’s daily
musings for 5 years now, and in this household, everything stops when Tech 5 comes
on. The last guy who so regularly captured my attention was Andy Rooney on his “60
Minutes” segment, and Andy was only on once a week. Because I have the
attention span of a 3-month-old puppy (shout out Leni, the recent addition to
the Nickalls family), it is notable that I follow any show that consistently.
Perhaps the
thing I appreciate most about Tech 5 is the amount of preparation it takes to
put a segment like that together. I write this one-page report weekly, and if I
am discussing something that requires research, I might spend hours looking for
what I need. Then, I might spend another hour trying to condense and communicate
that information clearly in my report. When I produce a LYRICAL WORKERS show,
especially one dealing with a new songwriter, I often spend hours reading up on
the subject, simply to talk about it for thirty seconds. Ben does that every weekday, often siting the
many sources of his research, and then delivers his condensed, 5ish-minutes
segment with the professionalism of a seasoned anchorman. I appreciate the amount of effort it takes to
produce one of these shows.
By the way, Ben
also regularly announces the afternoon news and his voice can be heard in
various radio commercials advertising our local sponsors.
This morning on Tech
5, Ben was discussing the factors which affect our memory. Well into the third
trimester of my life, memory is a sore subject with me. I have grown to respect
those of my elders who exercise their brains and exhibit a healthy thirst for
knowledge. I see the results of that love for learning in the intelligence of my
wife Shauna’s 96 year-old mom “E.T.” and I hear it every weekday morning in the
broadcast of Tech 5 by Ben Harrison. Thanks Ben, for being one of the unsung
heroes here at The Bay 88.7 FM. Keep entertaining the masses and know that you
are appreciated! Written by Jamie
Oppenheimer ©2021 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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