Free Dinner



It is Friday.  Just a few quick updates on the show today.  First I wanted to thank Scott Henkle for advising me on how to get my UFO Podcast show in the air.  Scott put up a post on a social media site we both use, mentioning that he works for Westwood One.  I thought he would be a good person to reach out to for some advice.  Even though he is about half my age he could still be a good resource for information.


I noticed Scott and I were connected to some of the same people so under that context I reached out to him and introduced myself.  Scott was receptive to my message and we chatted about building my brand.  He suggested I start out by trying to buy some air time on a local radio station, which he called brokered programming.  I had never heard the term, though I was familiar with the concept.  I do not know if that was what planted the seed for me to go to WVOX and check out the station but I am sure it was in the back of my mind when I whipped into their parking lot a couple weeks ago.  So thank you Scott.

Plattsburgh State Homecoming


I left things off with Scott saying that I owed him a beer at Homecoming.  I was hoping I would run into him somewhere but we never made plans to meet up.  Then, really weird coincidence, I decided this would be the year that I would attend some on-campus functions.  I do not know how many Homecomings I have been to but if you count my undergrad years it has to be 10-15.  Every time, I have always gone to my fraternity house and hung out with brothers from my era, while getting to know some of the newer members.  The undergrads always show us old guys a great time and it is a thrill to be back in a frat house for a few hours, like it was still 1995.


This year I actually read the email about the on-campus events for the first time and decided I would check some of them out.  Maybe it is a sign of age but some of the events actually sounded like fun.  One of them was a dinner sponsored by a group I had been a member of for a year, before pledging the fraternity and getting involved in that.  I thought, "free dinner."  What could be bad about that?  Even though I do not get out much I am a very social person and enjoy meeting people.  This sounded like it could be a good time.


I left the fraternity house and drove over to the school.  I had an eerie feeling walking through the building everyone uses as a shortcut to get to the College Center building.  It has been decades since I was in there.  Memories rushed back to me, like I had just been there days before.


I arrived at the room where the dinner was and I recognized it as the room where I went to my first Rush  (recruiting) meeting for my fraternity.  I can still picture some of the guys, like the fraternity president, and remember some of the conversations I had with them.  I introduced myself to the women who were standing by the door and made my way into the room.  I then introduced myself to only guy in the room and he said he knew me.  I leaned back, took a hard look at him, and realized it was none other than Scott Henkle.  Wow!  Weird.

WPLT / WQKE
John and Mike, in background, Me and Scott in foreground
I took a seat next to Scott and we talked for most of the dinner.  He is a good guy and has a lot of knowledge about radio broadcasting.  I told him about the old radio station that was at the school, the one I worked at, and some of its history.  He gave me some updated history on the new station and told me it was right downstairs.  He offered to bring me down and give me a tour and I said it sounded like fun.

WPLT / WQKE


We went downstairs and there were a couple guys in there, doing a broadcast.  They invited us in and we sat in on their show for about ten minutes.  Good guys and good times.  The rest of the station tour was anti-climactic.  It is much smaller now than when I was there.  Although they do have a cooler lounge than we did.


The other quick update is, I was on my way in to New Rochelle yesterday, to the college I teach at, and I pulled up behind my brother in-law.  It reminded me that I wanted to reach out to him to see if he would do a sketch of the spaceship I saw so I can put it on some merch on my website.  I sent him a text later on and we spoke on my way home.  He said he would give it a shot.  He is a great artist and this kind of thing is right up his alley so I am sure he will come up with something really cool.


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If you have seen an alien spaceship or any type of unidentified flying object (UFO) contact me using the Contact form on this page.  You may remain anonymous if you want.  I will not ridicule you or try to tell you why you are wrong.  I get it, I saw one too.

Thank you for reading and keep an eye on the sky.

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