I’ve been a little bit delayed in getting this post written — I’m back on the radio! KSStorm.Info forecasts are now heard on radio in the Hutchinson vicinity. We’re happy to partner with Eagle Radio to bring this service to their listeners. We’re on these stations/platforms:
A Homecoming
Being on Hutch radio is a homecoming of sorts for me. My mom grew up in Hutch, and I have many fond childhood memories from my Granny’s house on east 5th street. I remember listening to the BW Party Line as a kid, would have been in the mid-1970’s.
It’s a radio homecoming too. I hail from Pratt (1983 Greenback grad) and got my start in radio at the Pratt station. At the time, KHMY was KGLS, and on a tower between Cairo and Preston. I was on the station doing mornings shortly after the move to the current tower site between Langdon and Plevna. In fact, I saw my first tornado in 1982 as a reflection in the studio windows, as it passed 8 miles east of me while I was doing storm coverage.
A Reunion
The partnership with Eagle Radio is a reunion of sorts, as well. I worked with Pat James at KFDI — I was in the news department and Pat was on the morning show with Cornbread. I’m also a former Eagle Radio employee, serving as Operations Manager at the AM/FM stations the company owned in Plainview, TX in 1990. Plainview is roughly halfway between Amarillo and Lubbock, and in my time there the station achieved its first-ever appearance in both the Amarillo and Lubbock radio ratings. There are several people in the Eagle family I have worked with previously in our travels around the radio industry in the region.
A Partnership
I’m not one to dig on competitors, but I know the stations felt their relationship with their previous forecast service was not always up to what they really wanted. Pat and I have been working for almost a year to put this partnership together. Matt and I will be doing a number of extra things for the stations beyond the regular forecasts. For example, our Severe Weather Week coverage will be informed by, and will enhance, their coverage. The interactive discussions with each morning show are something new. And we’ll be doing an extended discussion around 7:20am on BW when the weather situation warrants.