KNOCKIN' OUT WALLS

The renovations at LIFE 100.3 continue.  And it's exciting!

On the first day, the wall between our suite and next door (109) came down. In fact, the floor and walls in 109 disappeared on the first day!

New Reception and waiting area

We brought in Laurie Lamb our decorator to show us colour scheme options. Laurie is fabulous!  When you visit LIFE, all the decorations - wallpaper, paint colours, most of the lighting - everything but the funky red carpet - that's all Laurie's vision. She's so good that Janice and I have used her at home for every room we decorate.

This week we are waiting on tile flooring and new carpet for 109, some of which extends into our 111 suite.

The purpose of all of this is to develop our Video Department. You may have noticed that we post videos on facebook of events we've been to and to promote upcoming events. We've also posted devotionals by our DJs. It's all going well, so the next step is to devote a large room to the making of videos, headed up by Evan Duran. That requires some movement of offices.

Here's a bit of what's happening.

• Me - I move into the former promotions office.
• Promotions - moving into the former sales office.
• Sales - moving into Suite 109, with workstations for other sales people, too.
• Bookkeeping - moving into 109.
• Ministry Relations moving into former bookkeeping
• Other offices - programming, news and the studios all stay in place.

The biggest move is our reception area which moves next door into Suite 109. With Laurie's help, the new waiting area should really pop!

The former reception area is being transformed into a "café" for staff, clients and visitors and our famed "dome ceiling" will remain.

It should all be open and ready by the end of May and we'll rename Suite 109, 111, for consistency.

GOODBYE MR. WONDERDOG (cue howl....)

I’d like to share some memories of our beloved Wonderdog.


Mr. Wonderdog has hosted our morning show for about a year a half and in that time he has cemented his own branding in the community. Everyone who knows LIFE, knows the Wonderdog. He’s a local high-profile personality.

Many years ago, back in 2000, I was told by the professor of the radio course at Humber College that there was a Christian guy named AJ Martin who would be a great addition to LIFE. I interviewed the skinny blonde Estonian who seemed more interested in talking about baseball than radio. (And we all know how much I love talking about baseball.) Thus, AJ didn’t get the job. I believe he applied to be the host of 3SN. Instead, he played summer ball for the Barrie Baycats.

After Humber, AJ hooked up with JOY 1250 located in Oakville, doing their evening show. He became "AJ the DJ" - possibly the corniest on-air radio name I’ve ever heard, and I vowed to never let that name be heard on LIFE.

Over the next year or so, AJ and I became friends, biking together, hanging out, me visiting him in Mississauga, and listening to his JOY 1250 shows. It was my hope that when LIFE had the next on-air opening, AJ would be our guy.

Slammin’ Christian Hits on LIFE 100.3 was vacated by Jammin’ Jeff, who had hosted it for nearly five years. At last AJ the DJ where he could take on a new identity. But he had big shoes to fill. We got welcome greetings from artists, and mayors of cities and other people. We got him his own jingle, and imaging, a photo shoot, and special graphics for the website, all announcing "the Wonderdog Show is coming!"

AJ said to me, "I can’t live up to all of this!" That made me happy. I had a humble guy, with tons of potential.

"Do I have to bring my own CDs for the show?" he asked me. "No, did you have to do that at JOY", "Yes" he said. "No, we provide the music."

On his first night, he played the new release by Thousand Foot Krutch, over and over, back to back, solid - for an hour. It was the only song he played - 15 times in a row! The phones rang. The Wonderdog is crazy. The Wonderdog is gonna get fired. It was a great prank, and helped to brand his name on LIFE.

Also on his first night he managed to give out the JOY 1250 request line, and identify himself as "AJ the DJ." I phoned him on the Batphone - "You won’t be saying that anymore. That guy is dead." Gotcha.

The Wonderdog Show hit the air and over the years, it transitioned several times with modifications to music selections and listener features, most of which were AJ’s ideas.

AJ spent a weekend or two on a Ferris wheel at the Barrie fair. He’s interviewed almost everyone in Christian music, and since taking over the morning show, he’s interviewed probably every author.

Off the air he worked in fundraising, started the ball rolling in our video development, booked the Street Team, and he was the voice of the nationally syndicated countdown show CT-20 for nearly 400 shows. Through it all, he even managed to marry the boss’s daughter. Maybe, that was the plan all along.

I’d say that’s pretty good 9-year journey.

AJ - thank you for being on the LIFE 100.3 team. I hope many good memories will haunt you over the years. The microphone is always open should you want to visit.

Congratulations and best wishes in your pursuit of firefighting.

DISABLED

It's been a week since I was prescribed meds by the doctor for my back and leg pain. It's been 12 days since the excruciating pain in my leg kicked in. It's been 4 weeks since my back started to act up.

I'm icing it, heating it, soaking it, taking Tylenol and Advil, acupuncture, physio, chiro and the meds. People are giving me their own remedies - some I've tried to no avail.

I also went to a healer at church - nothing changed. (As a Christian I'm supposed to do Christian stuff.)

The doctor said I'm not a candidate for surgery - it's not like that. He said it would take six weeks to heal. I figured he was exaggerating and I'd be taking the dog for a walk before the end of the week. Nope.  Both the doc, chiro and physio said, "walk on it and keep moving, unless the pain is too much."

Today, the pain hasn't lessened but I think my tolerance has.

I can only do so much work from home. We have major renovations going on in the radio station - knocking out the wall between our suite and next door and I like to see the progress. I have an employee departing this week and another starting. I want to work.

This is no fun.  And to make things even worse - -
Judge Judy is in reruns!

AIR RAID 23

Air Raid 23 was this weekend (April 11, 12 and 13) in three locations - Newmarket, Barrie and Huntsville.  (I don't think Huntsville got the memo, though. Hello?)

I enjoyed hanging out with the We Are Leo guys, talking shop and having fun. A good relationship was established. Watch facebook for band photos, tomorrow/Monday.

Here's their video for Supernova Sunrise.

THERE'S A HOLE IN THE WALL

Today, the demolition began!  The landlord gave us the key to Suite 109 and our contractor Cecil Cockram and his wrecking crew busted down the wall between our present office and next door. BAM!

In less than 6 hours, Suite 109 was demolished. One office gone and the framework for our new reception area began. There's a 4-foot round window in the Office Manager's office that looks into reception. Janice will love that!

Our decorator Laurie Lamb looked over the various ideas for the lobby - a funky ceiling grid in the waiting area, a black and white wall that is too hard to describe but the draft looks amazing, and we have a café replacing the old reception area!  Gonna be great!

Meantime, back in the old section, we'll be flipping offices around; moving personnel to more suitable size-offices, with a fresh coat of paint and maybe a new desk or two.

By August, when we're celebrating our 15th anniversary, we hope to have an open house and invite listeners in for a tour!