Xmas Songs Give WRCH Ratings Win

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

(In a former life, and for more than a dozen years back on the ’70s and ’80s before getting into TV news, I wrote about TV and radio as a columnist for The Arizona Republic in Phoenix and The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio.  Given that background, it’s only natural that this space should begin focusing on Media Matters.)

Hartford radio ratings for Holiday 2010 are out and the No. 1 station was no surprise - adult contemporary WRCH – “Lite 100.5.” Arbitron reports that the station’s wall-to-wall Christmas music during December lured a 16.0 percent share of audience. That was more than double the audience of the runner-up station, talker WTIC, which had a 7.8 share. 

Rounding out the Top 5 stations were country outlet WWYZ with a 7.7 share, classic hits WHCN - “The River” with a 6.6 share and rhythmic CHR WZMX - “Hot 93.7″ with a 6.2. The next five stations were oldies WDRC-FM (5.6 share), hot AC WTIC-FM (5.5), CHR WKSS (5.4 share), NPR outlet WPKT (3.7 share) and rocker WPLR (3.3).

A notable loser was talker WDRC, which finished in 28th place with a 0.5 share. It finished behind two New York stations – sports outlet WFAN and news station WCBS, both of which had 0.6 shares. 

While WRCH reached 535,200 listeners each week in December and WTIC reached 222,200, WDRC only attracted 23,000.

And the Password Is…

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

Have you hit the irritating state of password overload yet? Just wondering. Spent part of the weekend trying to clean and organize my office – the desktop remains messy, but the computer has been cleaned up a bit – and decided to compile a full list of the log-ins/passwords that are necessary to live my life.  I didn’t realize there were so many, and so many different ones.

There are five financial passwords: two banks, credit card company, stock brokerage account and retirement fund.

There are three utility passwords for online bill pay: electric, cable and mobile phone. The landline went away years ago.

There are three newspaper/blog passwords: for uploading pictures to “The Republican-American” for my columns and stories, and for my RIDE-CT.com website and this blog

That’s 11 separate log-ins/passwords so far.

There are five passwords for motorcycle manufacturer press sites that I often use, one more for a website that offer news about radio as well as ones for eBay and Facebook.

The total is now 19.

There’s a password for Kodak Gallery, which I use to have prints made of digital images, and one for access to an out-of-state newspaper.

That’s 21 different log-ins/passwords.

In looking at the list yesterday, it dawned on me that it was missing the most obvious ones? My two email accounts. That brings the total to 23, and you can double the number because a log-in and password are separate entities.

There’s no way to remember so many different log-ins and passwords, although many are similar. A log-in one place might be a password somewhere else and vice versa. It gets so confusing. I suspect I am not alone in having this problem. And there’s no solution, is there?   

I now have my passwords printed on a sheet of paper and it’s tucked in a plastic sleeve. Went to look for it this morning, though, and my messy desk had swallowed it. It was back to quesswork.

Falls Village Inn Beckons Again

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

Remember the scene in the movie “You’ve Got Mail” when Meg Ryan’s character closes the children’s bookstore that her mother had started decades earlier? Before shutting the front door for the final time, she looks back wistfully into the empty shop with its barren bookcases. A dancing image of her mother and her childhood self appears; one last happy if hazy memory to briefly savor before sadly moving on with life.

Stepping into the closed and equally empty dining room at The Falls Village Inn on the afternoon of Christmas Eve provided a similar experience for me. I didn’t notice the lack of tables and chairs, the exposed rafters and dangling insulation or any of the debris left by contractors from ongoing reconstruction as much as I felt the warmth and cheer of the room as it appeared decades ago when my parents would go there occasionally with friends to dine, taking me along. Times were more formal then. It was always jackets and ties for men, young men included, and dresses for women.

Wandering alone inside the chilly dining room, it almost felt disrespectful to be wearing grungy jeans and a red flannel shirt. My attire was definitely more suitable for the inn’s Tap Room across the central hall that bisects the first floor. I had dined with friends of my own five days earlier, enjoying some robust macaroni and cheese and the best carrot cake in memory, made by Irene Hurlburt of Hautboy Hill Farm in Cornwall Hollow.

That tasty meal had brought me back to learn more about the latest incarnation of the 177-year-old structure at 33 Railroad Street, across from Jacobs Garage and next door to the Falls Village Volunteer Fire Department. I mention them as points of reference because the sign hanging in front of the inn isn’t that eye-catching from the street, especially at night, although the white building dominates downtown.

The Falls Village Inn has only been open for a month, but it’s not too early to declare it a smashing success on several levels – from the quality of the comfort food and the cozy feel found in the Tap Room and the top to bottom design work of Bunny Williams to the inviting presence of owners Susan Sweetapple and Colin Chambers. Residents of the immediate area have certainly embraced it. “The response has been overwhelming; the repeat business,” said Sweetapple. Added Chambers, “We didn’t know how important the inn was to the community.”

At present, The Falls Village Inn is open for dining Thursday through Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m.  Bar hours are from 4 to 10 p.m. those days. While Sweetapple and Chambers expected foot traffic on Friday and Saturday, they’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover that “Thursday and Sunday are just as busy.” The owners are now hoping to expand the operation to seven days a week in spring.

As is to be expected, the Tap Room serves such pub fare as mac and cheese, chicken pot pie with a flakey phyllo crust and shepherd’s pie as well as burgers, soups and salads, but there are also more substantive daily entrees. The menu will be expanded once the dining room gets completed, the target being mid-February. The bar features a nice range of draught beer, too, but the liquor array perhaps needs to be expanded.   

Décor-wise, the Tap Room celebrates the racing history of nearby Lime Rock Park. Framed programs and pictures, including one of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, decorate the walls. One frame, though, contains a memento from Alexander’s Village Inn, the incarnation of the inn that I remember. “The inn has always been the heart of Falls Village. It’s just in our hands at the moment,” noted Chambers.

Being an inn, The Falls Village Inn also has rooms for overnight guests. There are four at the moment, with two more slated to be available by late May. “They have to be finished by Memorial Day because they’re already rented,” said Sweetapple. That just happens to be the weekend of the season’s first races at Lime Rock Park. Chambers also owns The Chambers Group advertising agency in Greenwich. Lime Rock Park is a client, which gives the inn an inside track to getting guests when races are being run.

Add the race track participants and spectators to the local residents and the rest of us from northwestern Connecticut as potential patrons and the road to success for The Falls Village Inn seems pretty smooth. Add the 40-seat dining room to the more casual Tap Room and you’ve got a facility that can cater to any type of clientele. “The idea was to have really broad appeal,” said Chambers.

There a sense in talking with Sweetapple and Chambers that the inn’s acceptance in a matter of a few weeks is a bit of a surprise, if only because they didn’t know what to expect and because the costs that have to be managed for the inn to be profitable have received their attention. “We probably would be (profitable) if the ice machine didn’t break; if the dishwasher didn’t break,” Sweetapple reported. Said Chambers, “The plan was long-term, so immediate results weren’t part of the plan.”

The first chapter in what is now The Falls Village Inn – or maybe that should be the first lap – is now complete. Lap two begins with the opening of the dining room. While my own memories of dining there may be fuzzy in retrospect, and I wasn’t even old enough to drink at the time, I’m thinking that perhaps it may be time to bring out some gray flannel pants, a white shirt, rep tie and a herringbone jacket for another visit in late February. Between now and then, jeans will have to suffice. I’ll deal with the guilt.

(Originally published in “The Republican-American” on January 5, 2011.)

News 8 Ousts Fox – Typical TV

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

Longtime Channel 8 weather guy Geoff Fox reported being “shell-shocked” after being told yesterday that he wouldn’t be offered a new contract to replace the one that expires at the end of February. “I’m disappointed,” he told “The New Haven Register.”

No kidding.  But that’s the way TV and much of the working world operates. Employees aren’t people as much as disposable, replaceable cogs. The betting line here is that Fox simply made too much money and the prudent bottom-line decision was to find someone cheaper.

What News 8 loses, though, is a popular personality with 26 years of market experience; someone who actually knows where the towns in CT are located. That’s crucial for a weather person.  How many times have you heard an imported TV news person or radio announcer say “BerLIN” instead of “BERlin” or some other faux pas and immediately dismissed them?

In cases like this, management always bets that viewers have short memories and, usually, that’s the case. Seldom is the case that the loss of a key player on a TV newscast cripples the ratings because – hard as it might be for some who work in TV news to acknowledge - watching the news just isn’t an important element in people’s lives. It’s simply a habit.

Having had the same experience when working in TV news in Phoenix – my contract wasn’t renewed after eight years with a station – I can sympathize with what Fox is feeling emotionally at the moment. The best reaction is simply to say thanks and move on. We’re all replaceable.

Too Bad Train Station Wasn’t Saved

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

At 57, I’m too young to remember when the train station in Torrington was open for business, but I still feel sadness over its razing and outrage over the fact it wasn’t preserved and repurposed. Given its location, a stone’s throw from Christmas Village and a short walk from the YMCA, there no reason (except lack of foresight) that it couldn’t have been turned into a cornerstone in the revival of downtown Torrington.  

A fond memory from childhood actually involves riding a train in Torrington. My father’s company, the mechanical contracting business T.A. Walker, backed up to the tracks just north of Church Street and freight trains would occasionally stop.  One day, a train was parked behind the building and my father convinced the engineer to take me for a quick ride. I scrambled up into the cab of the locomotive and off we went. I don’t recall how far we traveled but it may have been as far as the Newfield Road. It certainly was fun.

Demolishing the train station serves no purpose except to rid the town of an eyesore. I suspect the same fate might have happened to the train station in Cold Spring, N.Y., which sits on the Hudson River. Instead of a becoming decaying shell awaiting a wrecking ball, the train station there was preserved and converted into a pub and restaurant, Cold Spring Depot, complete with an outdoor patio where bands play on the weekend.

Cold Spring Depot is a tourist destination; a downtown jewel that recalls the town’s history. All Torrington will have now is a patch of dirt.

Dick Robinson Opens “GAS” Station

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

Hartford radio legend and Connecticut School of Broadcasting owner Dick Robinson marks the arrival of 2011 by launching “The Original GAS Station.” It’s a new Internet radio station devoted solely to the Great American Songbook – hence the “GAS” label. The station has been in testing mode for a week or so and officially kicks off at midnight with the sounds of Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Nat King Cole. Current artists such as Michal Buble, Jane Monheit and Rod Stewart are also featured. 

So many over-the-air standards stations have disappeared in recent years that the time seems ripe for this non-commercial Internet endeavor. It used to be that Hartford’s WDRC, Milwaukee’s WOKY, San Francisco’s KABL, Detroit’s CKWW and countless other stations played big band and standards but that’s not the case now. That’s why The Original GAS Station was created. To hear it, visit theoriginalgasstation.com.

A Lesson for Newspapers…

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

Buried in Michael Wilbon’s farewell column in “The Washington Post” on Tuesday was a brief observation that smacked me. Wilbon, who left the newspaper after more than 31 years for a fulltime gig doing “Pardon The Interruption” and other work for ESPN, noted that it never dawned on him when he started there just how many major sporting events he would get to cover or that his role would “evolve to the point where the editors of this newspaper would trust me to lead the daily discussion about the news of the day and the changing cultural landscape as it all related to sports.” 

Once upon a time, sports coverage was limited to “inside the lines.” That hasn’t been the case for years. Mention the names Mark McGwire, Michael Vick, Tiger Woods, Brett Favre,  Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens and what first comes to mind isn’t necessarily athletic prowess. Well, maybe in the case of Tiger if you’re keeping a scorecard of sexual conquests, but you get the point. Sports isn’t just games; it’s hard news. It’s what everyone – not just sports fans – talk about.

Celebrity foibles, political wrangles, business shenanigans and just about everything else is “hard news” these days as well, yet newspapers don’t “lead the daily discussion,” as Wilbon phrased it, as often as they should. Maybe it’s because they’ve been decimated by downsizing or lack the insitutional knowledge, but isn’t atrophied thinking a contributing factor, too?  

The “voices” of today that lead the discussion are found on the tube. Whether it be Tony Kornheiser and Wilbon on ESPN, Glenn Beck on Fox, Keith Olbermann on MSNBC – or even the non-news characters found on such shows as “Deadliest Catch,” “Pawn Stars,” “Ice Road Truckers” or “American Pickers” – they all project personality. And they tell good stories.

Where is the personality and storytelling in print? Where are the experienced “voices” to lead the local discussion? Sitting at home blogging? Where are the new “voices” that will bring in a new generation of customers? Where’s the competitive attitude that once gave citizens as reason to read newspapers?

The print product may be evolving into a shallow afterthought in a digital world, but online requires the same ”voices” if it is to thrive, grow and produce revenue. Traditional thinking and failing to “lead the discussion” just won’t cut it. All too often newspapers have shed their voices and accompanying attitude, while failing to invest for the future. The same is true of radio, but that’s a rant for another day.

Two Kinds of Tips at Newsroom Cafe?

(Motorcycle news from Connecticut is now posted at RIDE-CT.com)

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

HARWINTON, Conn. — Lost somewhere here in the house, perhaps even in a drawer in my office desk, is a key that I’ve had for more than 33 years. It was given to me when I became a paid summer intern in 1974 at “The Torrington Register” in Torrington, Conn. between my junior and senior year at Ohio Wesleyan University. It fit the side door that reporters and editors used to access the newsroom in the newspaper building on Water Street. For all I know, if I could find it, it might still work – at least until the “Newsroom Cafe” opens at 59 Field St. later this month.

As the now “Register-Citizen” has been hyping this week, its newsroom is moving into the Newsroom Cafe, a leather-couch lounge that will mix news gathering with lattes. Would you like a biscotti with that obit? Readers will be able to browse the archives of the “Register-Citizen” and its predecessor newspapers, sip coffee and munch on crullers, and interact with the reporters and editors as they work at their desks.

My initial reaction was that while it’s easy to tell a person on the phone that “I’m on deadline and can’t talk,” telling a person to bugger off to their face will be a little more difficult. That’s the “newsosaur” talking. The reality of a 24/7 approach to news is that deadlines don’t mean what they once did, except for the shirt-tail print version of the product. Now, a story gets written, edited and posted on a website. If there’s an error, it gets fixed and reposted. 

The newspaper’s publisher, Matt DeRienzo, reports that workspace in the Newsroom Cafe will be set aside for “local bloggers and citizen journalists” to work. They’ll be ”reporting news about their hobby, organization or neighborhood” with the content being linked so that the newspaper’s “significant online readership can explore this new network of  hyperlocal news.”

While the newsosaur snorts “How dare they let an amateur do the job of a trained, experienced journalist,” the curious scribe relents with the realization that this approach is wise on two levels: It will provide tips for news stories that might otherwise go unreported because it literally brings the community into the news-gathering process and it provides content for free.

This is what the news business has become. It’s no longer about covering news – digging into corruption at city hall, discovering wasteful use of taxpayer dollars or helping those who are powerless to help themselves - but about providing content. It doesn’t matter that the content’s largely filler and fluff, poorly written and with gaping holes. All that matters is that the website’s frequently updated with “fresh content” that’s often flawed and incomplete. 

Who needs a trained, experienced journalist or artful storyteller?

“The Torrington Register” was a splendid place for an eventual newsosaur - kudos to Alan D. Mutter for popularizing the word – to learn the basics. That experience later helped him succeed at “The Columbus Dispatch,” ”The Arizona Republic” and, currently, at the “Register-Citizen’s” larger, regional rival “The Republican-American”  in Waterbury, Conn.

The “Register-Citizen” continues to be a training ground, with low-paid reporters sticking around long enough to get enough experience to get out of T’town. It’s also a newspaper largely bereft of institutional knowledge. But institutional knowledge is a pricey commodity that’s not affordable. What is important is inventing a new business model. Given the right blend (pun intended), sales of coffee and bagels in the Newsroom Cafe might someday surpass print revenue. 

As someone who worked as a reporter in the soon-to-close newsroom more than three decades ago, here’s some unsolicited advice to those who work there now - get some truly useful experience in the Newsroom Cafe. Divide your time by becoming a journalist and barista. It’s always wise to have a skill to fall back on if you lose your job. If you’re lucky, maybe management will ignore the normal ethics of journalism by letting you keep the tips. The ones on the glass jar on the front counter.

(Bud Wilkinson may be heard weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m. on Hartford’s WJMJ – FM 88.9 and online at wjmj.org. He also writes the RIDE-CT motorcycle column on Saturdays in “The Republican-American” newspaper and has the website ride-ct.com.)

Outdoor Cuisine Fuels Harwinton Couple

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

It was a quest to get back to “simpler times” that resulted in Cheryl and Brian Dunbar finding a home by the range outside of their house in Harwinton. RIDE-CT came upon them “Along the Road” one recent Saturday evening. Brian was standing outside the garage and making sweet potato chips on a cast iron griddle atop a hot wood stove. His wife had sliced the sweet potatoes and assembled the sesame chicken that was to go on the stove shortly, the main course for dinner that night. Brian had earlier loaded the century-old kitchen stove and gotten the logs burning in preparation for the feast.    

Cooking outside, using wood instead of electricity or gas, has become a habit at the Dunbar household since the couple acquired the Crawford Fortress stove back in mid-summer and set it up in an open shed at the top of their driveway. “It had a dual purpose. We wanted to cook outside and have a place to hang out with the neighbors, and to do all the canning outside,” explained Brian, who searched Craigslist and found the stove in New Hartford. The price was only $200; a true steal considering that dealers in antique stoves now sell the model for $2,695 to $4,850. “A gentleman was selling his house and had to move – needed it out asap,” Brian recalled.

After bringing the disassembled stove home, he restored its luster. “It had a light coat of rust. It hadn’t seen use in a while,” he reported. After cleaning it up and putting the pieces together, he “gave it a nice oil finish” by simply spraying it with Pam. The cooking then commenced, and the results have been extraordinary – from fresh bread and garlic knots to spicy shrimp and homemade pizza.

“It’s the infused flavor,” said Cheryl when asked what’s so appealing about food cooked on the wood stove. “There’s something about the flavor and texture.” Brian then interjected, “Your state of mind adds to the flavor.”

Whichever the case, improved taste or improved perception, the Crawford Fortress has already produced some memorable meals as well as some nibbles. “It brings a new excitement to cooking because we want to keep trying things out,” said Cheryl.  “The garlic knots are our favorite. Sweet potato chips probably second.” The plain potato chips are good, too.

As an experiment one night, Cheryl took some kale from her garden, drizzled olive oil on the leaves, sprinkled on some salt and pepper and baked them in the oven at 325 degrees for 10 minutes until they were crunchy.  The result was a tasty if somewhat wispy treat. For drinks, Cheryl and Brian have made mulled cider and lemon grass tea from grass culled from their backyard.

During the week, Cheryl is a buyer for White Flower Farm while Brian is a home inspector and trainer of home inspectors. During the growing season, on weekends, they farm some of nearby property owned by Cheryl’s father, Andy Kasznay. The results of that toil can be seen the dozens of jars of supplies put up for the winter from the harvest.

There are 30 jars of grape juice (with grapes included), 24 jars of grape jelly, 12 jars of peach jam, 12 jars of raspberry jam, 36 quarts of dilly beans, four jars of pickle slices, 12 jars of apple sauce, 12 jars of apple butter, 8 jars of ketchup and 30 jars of tomato sauce – all prepared on the wood stove.

The stove dates back about 100 years. It was built by Walker & Pratt Mfg. Co. in Boston and is made of heavy duty cast iron. A firebox is on the upper left, with two burners above it. Four more burners are found to the right as well as an oven below. There are warming shelves, too. “The shelves are useful because they keep the food hot without cooking it more,” said Cheryl.

Besides having the outdoor stove for cooking, the Dunbars also heat their home with an indoor wood stove. However, a  wood-burning cook stove can also be used for both cooking and heating. “Anyone who is familiar with wood will tell how cozy and nice a wood stove is and anyone who has cooked on one will tell you how much better the food tastes, so why not do both at once,” suggested Sarah Mallary, who owns Sarah’s Antique Stoves (sarahsantiquestoves.com) in Orford, N.H.

“There is some work in it but it is well worth it. Many of these antique stoves are over 100 years old and, once restored, can be safely used without much maintenance for another 50 years,” reported Mallary, who has a Village Crawford Royal in her own home for cooking three seasons of the year. “It just takes a little practice, but anyone who likes to cook will find it fun and satisfying.”

As hoped, the stove at the Dunbars became a magnet for neighbors this autumn. They often brought their own culinary creations on Saturday nights with appetizers designed for grazing. “We do tend to use it when we have more time on weekends,” said Cheryl. “Our goal is to relax and eat food we enjoy. It’s good because it has made us more social. It’s something fun and utilitarian.”

(Originally published in “The Republican-American” on Nov. 17, 2010)

RIDE-CT.com Back, New Blog Coming

RIDE-CT.com is back! While the design of the website is still evolving, all of the blog postings that have appeared here since August have now moved to RIDE-CT.com. All new motorcycle posts will appear at RIDE-CT.com. Meanwhile, as the revised banner at the top suggests, this blog will soon take a new form. Check back soon to see what’s up.