My Favorite Song?

Yes, I've heard it a million times. Yes, there are lyrics in other songs with deeper meaning. Never mind all that. "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd means a lot to me. On a personal note, it represented an important time of change in my life. It was 1974. In my early twenties, I decided to go away to college and explore this whole radio thing. It was a time of change and coming of age. Why this 1974 song? To me, it just symbolized a newfound freedom. Unlike much of album rock, it never took itself too seriously. While I think Neil Young is brilliant, I appreciated the good natured criticism of Neil's solemn "Alabama." Of course, I also remember that song blasting out of dorm rooms at school. When I took a trip to Birmingham in 1996, it dawned on me how much of our pop culture often spurns the Deep South. "Sweet Home Alabama" calls out for a little regional respect. By the way, "Watergate does not bother me..." either, since it proved the system can work. There's a youthful optimism that brings back the best of 1970s nostalgia to me. Does that mean I spend lots of time listening to classic rock radio? Not really, even though I know every song. I like to look back nostalgically on 1974 from time to time - not remain permanently in it.

Serenity Now!

"Serenity Now!" is the phrase Frank Costanza uses when he frequently gets stressed out on an episode of "Seinfeld." Of course, shouting it doesn't seem the best way to insure it works. We always hear about how stressful holiday time can be. For a few moments on Christmas Eve day, I certainly wondered if it was worth the craziness. This entire year, it seems that more people have been under more stress than ever, and that instance was my "Give me a break" moment. I always preach - but don't always practice - about not doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. I also try to differentiate between what I can control and what I can't. You don't have to be in Alcoholics Anonymous to recognize that wisdom. As I see decent people consumed by the need to complicate their lives, I see missed opportunities to enjoy the journey. Making money and having things is fine, but you can't take it with you. Why do we forget that so often? It's all about the lives you touch - and the ones who touch your life. As far as I'm concerned, it's been a remarkable year, but there's work to be done on what counts.

Charlie Gibson Retires

Like the daily newspaper and snail mail, the evening newscasts on the "Big 3" networks aren't the catch-all they used to be, but it's hard to think of our world being without them someday. Even if I don't watch the evening news every night, it is somehow comforting to know there's an authoritative and reassuring figure on the small screen at dinnertime. The so-called news channels - Fox, MSNBC, HLN, and (sadly now) CNN have become more of a haven for talking heads too full of themselves and their ideologies. Now more than ever, America still needs people who proudly carry on a journalistic tradition of objectivity while delivering it so smoothly and still keeping that human touch. Yet Charles Gibson wanted to leave before he had worn out his welcome as he signed off his final ABC newscast tonight. I don't think that was coming close to happening anytime soon, but Diane Sawyer is the logical choice as successor. Maybe we will see him more often at one of his favorite places in eastern Connecticut: the Griswold Inn in Essex - "The Griz," as he and other patrons say. He'll be missed on TV.

Psychology Misplaced

A story out of Taunton, Massachusetts made our phones light up like a Christmas tree yesterday morning. An 8-year-old student was asked to draw something that reminds him of the holidays. Having recently been to the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in nearby Attleboro, it should be no surprise that the youngster had drawn a picture representing Christ on the Cross. Instead, he was sent home from school and ordered to go through a psychological evaluation due to his "violent" stick figure drawing. What an outrageous overreaction!

Perhaps this email from one of our listeners sheds some light on this incident and on the season...

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Dear Glenn & Rebecca,

Sometimes children understand things a lot easier than grownups do: the Taunton second grader really understands why Christmas is the biggest birthday party on the planet! It's because of Easter that God sent His Son, and "O Holy Night explains why:

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining.

It is the Night of our Dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining.

Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices.

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

And so the HOPE is that there is something beyond this life: eternal life through Him.

Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus Exists

A recent guest on the Soft Rock 106.5 Wakeup Club ruffled some feathers and may have disturbed a few children with his comment denying the existence of Santa Claus. That came as a surprise to me, and to my co-host Rebecca, who replied, "Well, maybe not in your house." We received a few complaints about the live guest's contention, including one from a mother who had her 5-year-old listening with her in the car. The person who made the comment regretted saying it. Sometimes live radio can allow that to happen. So, is there a Santa Claus? I'll base my affirmative response on the famous 1897 editorial reply by New York Sun writer Frances Pharcellus Church (left). When 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon had begun to question the existence of Santa Claus. Church's response included, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," and gave a convincing philosophical discussion of his existence. Read the editorial here. Case closed.

Holly Jolly Follies

With holiday events happening all over eastern Connecticut and Christmas music on the air, WBMW is once again "Holiday Central." That's not to say that everything is completely down to a science, even with all this holiday experience under our belts. Rebecca and I were reminded of that when we co-hosted the annual Norwich City Hall Lighting program. The music CD that accompanies one of the soloists performing Christmas carols seems to skip on an annual basis, and this year was no exception. This time Chris, the singer, politely walked off stage and to his car to fetch a less defective CD. That left Rebecca and me to "cover" until his return to finish. At the Christmas tree lighting before the Mystic Lighted Boat Parade, we counted down to the lighting only to have the top half of the tree go out. After the chorus of "aw," I asked the crowd in Mystic River Park if there was an electrician in the house. Then came time to describe the lighted boats. They had walkie-talkie communication with the boat launch site so we could announce who was what, but the walkie-talkie was on the wrong channel. It was time to wing it again. This past Thursday back at the studio, a storm wreaked havoc for about twenty minutes with the holiday hits that get played on our music computer while the emergency filler tape played non-Christmas songs. People were calling asking what happened to the holiday music. After a hit like that to our hard drive, we were lucky to be on! In all three cases, the disruptions in holiday festivities proved minor. It will take more than that to mess with our holidays!