We knew it was coming. Another storm sweeping off the Pacific Ocean. High winds, flood advisories, and heavy rainfall combined with King Tides. The storm did not disappoint as far as storms go, and widespread power outages, some still being resolved, left West Marin and other parts of Marin and the Bay Area in the dark.The Bay Area experienced the first tornado warning in history. An oak tree at our place is now much shorter, and there is a lot to clean up, but thankfully no damage to anything other than the tree itself. I know that others were not so fortunate with tree damage.I was not surprised when the power flicked off on Saturday morning. I was ready to head up to KWMR and start up “Hot Juice,” the trusty generator that powers the radio station when PGE power goes out. I hung out for a while hoping that it would be just a few hours, and when that stretched longer into the afternoon, I knew I needed to reach out to KWMR’s generator team.It’s a fine group of KWMR programmers who live nearby and have been trained to operate the generator, and are willing to come in and babysit the station while Hot Juice is powering the equipment. A big thank you to Seamus Tompkins “West Marin Naturalist Hour,” Lyons Filmer “The Celtic Universe” and her husband Gregory DeMascio “Kammer Musik,” along with Jason Miller “Redwood Sideband,” Miguel Kuntz “Happy Hour,” and our regularly scheduled Sunday programmers including John Gnorski, Katie Bernheim, and Laszlo Charles Coyote Bernstein Gnorski “Earth Baby Radio,” Mary Pepper “New Orleans on the Faultline,” Beth Underwood “To Hell and Bach.” We missed out on “The Jazz Groove” on Saturday and “Saturday Night Function.” I appreciate Joe Blumenthal and Jeff Wilkinson for sitting out their shows. Rob Richards “Midnight in Luxembourg” and “Happy Hour” was ready to come in, but localized flooding in Inverness made that impossible.
Photos by Will Bartlett
Thanks also to Richard Dillman for holding down the fort up at Inverness Ridge Base and monitoring the situation. Also thank you to Will Bartlett “It’s Time Now” for developing the bilingual emergency alert message maker software that enables anyone at KWMR to broadcast in multiple languages when necessary.It is not my favorite thing to shut KWMR down overnight, but since there were no developing situations and folks like their sleep, we did turn things off on Saturday night. Be assured, that if any situation developed that warranted a return to the station to get things going, we would have been there as fast as we could get there.KWMR has a commitment to providing information during emergencies. As these storms become more severe and the issues in West Marin are more widespread. It’s more difficult to track down the many road closures and we do not report out on specific area power outages or secondary road closures. We do not have the capacity at KWMR to do so. All information that KWMR provides in our announcements is verified.Suffice it to say that the weekend was not boring.And speaking of babysitting, When Katie and John were here with Laszlo, he really brightened our day! It’s fun to watch these kids grow up. Here is a video that hopefully will make you smile.
Laszlo Charles Coyote Bernstein Gnorski (and John) wishing you all the happy’s…
We are continuing to raise funds towards our goal of $100,000 for the End of Year Appeal. Thanks to everyone who has contributed! We appreciate and value YOU!
Have a great week, and when you read the Round Up next week the days will have started getting longer! Happy Solstice!
Amanda Eichstaedt Station Manager and Executive Director
P.S. We have winners! Remember when you got someone else’s mail? Well, we have chosen two winners and their postcard buddies. Congratulations to KWMR members:- Daniel Prunuske – Jesse Lumb – Margaret “Peggy” Mitchell – Robert EckartSo exciting! Thank you for bearing with us, and congratulations. Alyssa Tanner will be in touch with your Gift Certificate for the KWMR Online Store!
P.P.S.: You can get your ticketsto not one, but two different KWMR events that are coming up. See Below! Sweethearts of the Radio is coming up with Laurie Lewis and Neina Gerber and Misner and Smith. And coming up fast is the KWMR Holiday Play produced by Sharron Drake. See below for details.
