Carlsbad Radio Blog

I wanted to tell you all this story of something that happened to me at the Welcome Home Tuesday.  I waited until now because I was not sure I could tell it without tearing up.  I am still not sure if I can do this but this is a story that makes Tuesday just that much better.  Here goes.

I was taking photos at the mall and one of the bikers walked up to me and was talking to me.  It was not someone I had ever seen before and so I was polite and just chatted.  He informed me that he had been living here for a short time,  1 ½ years.  Told me he had always been a biker and had just recently gotten involved with a local group.  He stopped and looked around and softly said “This is a great thing for the community to do”.  I agreed and he walked off.  He was on my mind because there was just something.  You know,  you can tell.

Anyway, things moved on and the day moved on.  Now we are downtown and I see him ride past and he waves.  I smile and wave back.  The Ceremony starts and photos got taken, Video got taken.  Do not really see him again but I am a little busy.  As I start to get ready to leave I check on Don and head back over to say Goodbye to some friends.

As I am looking for a friend I see my new buddy standing off by himself.  I’m friendly so I want to say bye and give him a card so he can see the photos.

I walk over and he looks up and I see tears in his eyes.  Being concerned I ask him if he is ok and this is what he says to me.

“ There was a time in life that this type of event would not happen.  I have lived in a lot of places over the last 30 odd years and this is the first time I have seen this outpouring of love.  You and all those who did this, did a wonderful thing.”

I said “We didn’t do anything more than should have been done for every military person who has come home”

He looked at me and said “When I came home I got spit on, yelled at, and had food thrown at me.  On that day the soldier in me got back on that plane.  That part of me could not live in a place that responded as the people here did.  You have no idea what this means to a guy like me.  Because of what you did the 22 year old soldier, that young kid who wanted nothing more than to come home, that kid from 30 odd years ago finally got to come home. He finally step off that plane to a community that loves him.  Thank you for helping to get that guy, this guy, home. For the first time since the war, I don’t have to look over my shoulder.  I can breathe… I am home.”  By this time tears were rolling down his face as well as mine.

I did the only thing I could do.  I wrapped my arms around him and said “Welcome home soldier and thank you for all that you did and for all that you do.”

Now I know this was long and drawn out but this is one of those stories I had to share with you. There are a lot of soldiers that came home for the first time yesterday and all of you were part of that.  So from me Thank you.  Thank you for your love and hard work and for bringing so many home.

Ruthie Porter is a long time friend of Carlsbad Radio and some of Don and Ruthie’s posts can be seen at http://desertphotos.net/home/.

One of the things that school sports teach us is that the choices you make and the actions you take make a difference. If you choose to invest yourself, to develop teamwork and to persevere, you can reach goals. Bigger goals require more work and working smarter. Besides that, it can be a lot of fun.

I am feeling a bit sensitive about this at the moment partly because of the news passed on by Woods Houghton who forwarded us and folks on his mailing list the disturbing news about heroin use in Albuquerque. Before you and I start shaking our heads about how bad it is in Albuquerque, let’s think about it.

If it is happening in Albuquerque, it is just as likely to be happening here.

Let’s agree to make the right choices. Let’s support the student athletes in the State district baseball and softball playoffs in Carlsbad and Loving. Let’s support them now because they are making the healthy choice to be active in athletics.

My choices and my actions make a difference.

So do yours.

See you at the games.

Jerry Flores
Sales Representative
Jerry[at]carlsbadradio[dot]com
Phone (575) 887-7563
Fax (575) 887-7000
Carlsbad Radio
1609 Radio Blvd
Carlsbad, NM 88220

When the doctor says you need to lose weight the nurse gives you some sheets of paper. It may go on at length but it basically tells you eat good food with fewer calories, get plenty of sleep, get some exercise everyday and drink enough water.

If you go on one of those diets the stars talk about on the cover of chat magazines, you can boil the entire thing down to: get enough nutrition but fewer calories, sleep enough, drink enough and exercise enough. Oh, and pay the company a bunch of money.

Whenever you read about some region in the world someplace where everybody seems to be healthier than us… it’s those same four things again. Turns out, they eat good food, sleep enough, drink enough water and exercise regularly.

Hey. That’s all stuff my mom told me when I was a kid. The kind of thing your grandmother probably knew.

I’m betting that any program that works has the same ingredients. I’m betting that anytime you lost weight in a healthy way it was with the “Big Four”.

As a matter of fact, I think we can probably take any successful program and find these four basics there. Let me just take one at random and see if it fits.

I know, how about the First Lady’s new anti-obesity program for example. Let’s see how it compares.

Here is a description of the program from the First Lady’s web page:

“The Let’s Move campaign will combat the epidemic of childhood obesity through a comprehensive approach that builds on effective strategies, and mobilizes public and private sector resources.”

Hmmmm.

Well.

Maybe that works just as good.

I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I heard that Joe the plumber is coming to town. I have been keeping a look-out, and I have seen lots of new faces in town, but I can’t pick out Joe the plumber. What I do realize is that he would be hard to identify alongside all the dent fixers and roof repairers who showed up here after the hail storm the other day.

Is Joe the plumber another one of those itinerate handymen who chase fleeting opportunities like whimsy across the country?

If these auto body “dink” repair guys are bringing some skills or technology or speedy response we wouldn’t have otherwise, then more power to them. If a roof repair guy keeps my newly leaking room from damaging the structure of my home then I am all for them.

If these “ride in on a storm, go away like a breeze” opportunists are hurting our local businesses and are going to leave us in a bind after they are gone, we need to think about what they are offering.

If Joe the plumber is not going to fix my slow drain, but is going to get me and my neighbors talking about what government services you and I should be paying for and alternatively what you and I have no right to expect our neighbors across the street to have to help pay for, then what’s wrong with that?

The most important question could be; can any of these gypsies tell our fortune while they’re here?

Don Hughes
General Manager
don[at]carlsbadradio[dot]com
Phone (575) 887-7563
Fax (575) 887-7000
Carlsbad Radio
1609 Radio Blvd
Carlsbad, NM 8822

Guys know why the symbol of the holiday is an arrow piercing a human heart. It’s not a metaphor. It’s a clinical description. It’s what the experience of venturing into a world where you don’t belong feels like.

Kim over at Gossett’s Jewelry has probably talked more husbands off a ledge around Valentine’s Day than anybody you know. She says that when men walk in and see the “bling” it is exactly the same effect as when a deer on the highway looks dead on into your headlights. Any rational thinking is gone.

Panic reins.

There are, I am assured, life saving measures that can be taken. I defer here to humanitarian workers in this field. Kim says for one thing, men should ask.

Yeah. I can see that happening.

She also says women should hint.

Now we’re talking. Make them big hints. Including make, model, price, color, size and a description of where it is in the store and what the box looks like.

Better yet, tell Kim and then hint that we should ask her.

Hey! That piercing sharp pain is starting to ease a little.

Don Hughes
General Manager
don[at]carlsbadradio[dot]com
Phone (575) 887-7563
Fax (575) 887-7000
Carlsbad Radio
1609 Radio Blvd
Carlsbad, NM 88220

I find that occupying a workspace 300 feet above the ground, tied off to one of our broadcast towers is a great place to get work done. It has such great advantages.

Let me give you a bird’s eye view of what I mean.

On the ground, some new task is always running over the one I am currently undertaking.  One job is never finished before the next one demands attention.

Rule number one on the tower is: no multitasking. Well, not exactly. The first rule actually is: No falling off.  I feel a real personal attachment to that one, so, let’s call no multi-tasking a solid number two.

Still, there is a serenity derived from performing one task at a time. Like a real human being taking real human pride in their work.

On the ground one can be constantly interrupted by the telephone, cell phone, text message, pager or intercom.

Up on the tower, my safety rule regarding interruptions is: hand delivered notes only.

I don’t get many.

The view is nice too.

See?

Advantages.

Frank A. Nymeyer, CE
frank[at]carlsbadradio[dot]com
Phone (575) 887-7563
Fax (575) 887-7000
Carlsbad Radio
1609 Radio Blvd
Carlsbad, NM 88220

All the candidates who are running are now  declared for municipal elections March 2^nd. It is surprising, but also rewarding to see how many people feel strongly enough about our town to put themselves forward as candidates. Even in a local election it can be hard to learn exactly what the issues are that a particular candidate is running on and if you feel they are worthy of your vote.

To that end, we are inviting all candidates for the upcoming municipal elections to express themselves here in this blog on February 15^th. We are not charging anything, it is a free and level playing field  that we hope will help develop each candidate’s personality for you.

Stay tuned.

To the candidates: Thank you for your interest and participation in the future of our city. Carlsbad Radio would like to offer you a free forum to talk about your candidacy on our blog.

Your article should be between 150 and 300 words and accompanied by a picture or graphic you would like to use.

Please bring your material to our studios at 1609 Radio Blvd any week day between 9:00AM and 4:00PM or call 887-7563 and speak with Don Hughes, Jerry Flores or Lisa Adair. Feel free to call with any questions.

Starting February 15^th, we will be posting entries from all candidates for municipal elections here on this site.

We deeply appreciate the time, effort and passion you bring to the election and hope we can help you reach every voter with your message.

Don Hughes
General Manager
don[at]carlsbadradio[dot]com
Phone (575) 887-7563
Fax (575) 887-7000
Carlsbad Radio
1609 Radio Blvd
Carlsbad, NM 88220

I have been tasked this last year with making some improvements happen on the Carlsbad Radio remote events van.

I like big, bright and flashy.

The management here at the station likes “affordable.”

I really like the result so far, but there have been some differences of opinion.

I was inspired by a show I saw about NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal’s customized Navigator. It’s the car he uses to cart his kids around. It has a 3500 watt sound system in it. When they open the back lift gate and turn up the volume, you need to hang onto something.

That’s what I want.

When Ben Przeslak, our remote broadcast technician, drives across town, he should have to wear industrial grade hearing protection. When we get to a site, I want the van to deploy like Transformer Optimus Prime.

The new wheels and tires should be here in a day or so. They are going to look great.

I’m already working on my pitch to management for a new sound system.

Big sound.

4000 watts should be enough.

Forget the Shaq attack. Here comes Jerry’s Jams!

Yeah. Jerry’s Jams.

I like the sound of it already.

Jerry Flores
Sales Representative
Jerry[at]carlsbadradio[dot]com
Phone (575) 887-7563
Fax (575) 887-7000
Carlsbad Radio
1609 Radio Blvd
Carlsbad, NM 88220

Employment in the area is on a slow increase. But, at the same time, jobs are going unfilled. I am told this is because too many of our neighbors can’t pass a drug test. It makes me wonder. I wonder why people who can’t pass a drug test are listed as “unemployed”. Shouldn’t they be listed as “high”? In this time of drug testing, nobody is likely to hire them. Will “unemployed” become a euphemism for “addicted”?

It’s like when movie and rock stars are put in the hospital for “dehydration.” It means they were too drunk or too drugged for too long to perform.

The problems with not admitting that there are different circumstances are obvious. There are people who cannot find work and people who because of alcohol or other substance problems are a danger to have in the workplace.

If you don’t draw a distinction, you can’t look for ways to help those who want help. If you don’t draw a distinction, you don’t have a real picture of what state the economy is in.

If the problem is that we don’t want to admit the growing problem, maybe the idea should be floated to the state legislature that we could restructure the reporting in a socially sensitive way. I would like to suggest that the current categories of employed and unemployed be supplemented with “dehydrated”.

Don Hughes
General Manager
don[at]carlsbadradio[dot]com
Phone (575) 887-7563
Fax (575) 887-7000
Carlsbad Radio
1609 Radio Blvd
Carlsbad, NM 88220

I just read an email that reminded me that life is unpredictable and so are the sorrows that it causes.  Christmas time is here and yet, why is it that people do not look as if they remember what Christmas is all about?  Instead you see the looks of disappointment, frustration and panic.

I had a small conversation at the store last night with a cashier, who paid all of her bills and now cannot afford to buy a single gift for her children.  Ironically though, she can still give a genuine smile and say the words “its ok, we’re fine and we have far much more than others.” Isn’t that amazing!   In life we want far more than what is already in front of us.  And because of that we make ourselves unhappy.  This Christmas remember those who are right in front of you.  Hug them and tell them how much they mean to you and worry no more for the things that aren’t just right at this moment.  If we spend a lifetime trying to make everything right, then what time do we really have left for ourselves or our family?  Life is on a loan for all of us and I can’t help but believe that God would want us not to make it the best possible life within our own abilities and leave the rest up to him.

I know this year alone I have several things to be thankful for in my own life and even in the lives of others.  You see happiness is not measured in a box with pretty wrappings or in a billfold with green paper.  It is in your hearts and all those around you.  You can buy another gift, you can earn another dollar but you can never earn another chance at someone’s life.  Your smile and your hug can change someone’s heart just because you cared.  People are in all colors: black, white, green, blue and who knows what other colors.  But all our hearts beat the same, our blood runs red and sometimes fire-engine red at that!  The point is, past the color of our skin is a beautiful heart of gold inside all of us.  Some of us, we literally have to needle-nose the chains off and THEN, THERE IT IS “A HEART OF GOLD.”

Back to the cashier,  she knows financially she cannot give more to her children than what she has already provided:  a home full of mommys love, the electricity that she gives when she hugs her children and the warmth that fills her home right from her heart.  Money doesn’t have to be it all.  Yes, it helps but love goes so much further.   A small ten year old girl last night started a chat with me at soccer practice and reminded me that wierdos are in the vicinity but she cannot live in fear.  She knew the teenage boy that was murdered and set on fire some time ago, she sat and explained to me that life must go on and we learn from the past.  Wow, a ten year old girl!   She had seen hurt and knows hurt but yet she had so much kindness in her eyes as we spoke.  Life itself feels like a lifetime war if we allow it.  We have the power in our words to make things different.  Speak a word of kindness to one another, better yet tell someone else about some act of kindness done to you by another caring person.  And when all conversation fails,  tell them about the awesome God that has made a difference in your life.  My God just did!!!!

Patsy Calderon
Public Service Director
Carlsbad Radio, Inc

psa[at]carlsbadradio[dot]com