Entries this day: ktru_7

ktru 7

5 April 1999

On Saturday morning I was on at KTRU from 7 to 9am. On the way driving there, only static was on the station; that meant no one was there. This brings to mind one question for me: "will I be able to get into the station?"

More specifically, will I be able to get into the building in which the station is located? I'm not a student at Rice University, so I don't have a card that will let me into the building if it's locked.

It was locked. There are 3 doors that I try to get in. Two are on like the side, and sometimes they are closed, but not locked. This day they were locked. Hmmmmm.

I tried a fourth door a bit further down, but it was also locked. I called Alison, the DJ director, but she wasn't at home. I called Dennis, the only other DJ whose number I had memorized (part of it spells WHARF) but he wasn't in, or wasn't answering the phone at 6:45 on Saturday morning.

There was a janitor inside. He saw me and said, "we're closed."

"I'm the DJ for KTRU! I need to get inside!"

He shrugged helplessly.

Hmmmm.

JUST then, or actually a minute later, Nancy was driving by on a golfcart thing! Nancy is my next door neighbor who happens to work on the Grounds and Maintenance Department of Rice. Wow!

I told her the situation. She looked at her watch, "well at least you've got 8 minutes!"

She didn't have keys, but called the police station on the radio. After a couple minutes it was determined they could not let me in; I was not on the list. (that reminds me I should write to Alison) Hmmm.

I told her about the custodian guy who was inside. She called him on the radio, but no answer. Maybe he was down in the basement. After a few more minutes, we went back to the Fourth Door, and peered in. We saw a cart; (someone should be near that, right?) and Nancy banged on the door. She's got clout; she's worked there a while.

A man appeared inside the building to see what was up.

"It's Ding!"

What?

"That's his name," exclaimed Nancy, "Ding!"

He opened the door and she explained everything and he let me in no problem this time. Cool.

I thanked Nancy who said no problem, and I thanked Ding who apologized and I said no problem, and I got up to the station at 6:58am.

Beautiful. I turned the lights on, grabbed a CD with a nice long intro and turned on the mic. Soon the station monitors went from static to silence to music and we were on the air! It was so close to exactly 7am that I won't even say.

Wende says, "it was like... Seven. On the dot."

There you have it. Nothing *horrible* would have happened had I not been on at seven. I wouldn't have lost my job; the FCC wouldn't have cared, but it's a fun story.

Oh, and I'll be on tomorrow Tuesday 6 april 1999 from 1 to 3pm. www.ktru.org permalink