WIBC (am 1070) Visits Irvington
By: Kevin Friedly
Photo By: Kevin Friedly
The Morning Team arrived at 5:30am to set up and then broadcast their show live from 6am to 9am in the backyard of Kevin and Lenore Friedly. Terri, Jeff and Vince cooked a wonderful breakfast for the assembled fans who were there to celebrate George Choung and his 40-year dedication to a group called the StingRays, a color guard/drill team currently based in IPS' Center for Inquiry. Charlie Dee and members of the Sales Team arrived at 5:30am after fighting their way through the low-hanging trees surrounding the Friedly home on the southwest-corner of Whittier and Lowell. The broadcast truck includes a tall antenna system that, even when retracted, sticks 10 to 12 feet in the air and is fairly delicate. It was finally decided that the truck couldn't be placed such that a good connection could be established with the downtown studio so a phone line was run from Kevin's office and the connection to the studio was established using the older technology of a "land line." At 6am Terri arrived and went on the air announcing that she and Jeff and Vince would be broadcasting their Labor Day show from the heart of Irvington. Terri mentioned on the air that Jeff was running late and she directed several comments to him in his car. When Jeff arrived he told Terri that she had violated FCC rules by communicating with him over the radio (apparently there really is an FCC rule that prohibits anyone from communicating with another person via the public airwaves). Early in the broadcast while Terri was commenting about the fountain that she was sitting next to and the numerous flowers that surrounded her, a hummingbird flew next to her and hovered around her for almost a minute while she commented on it on the radio. While hummingbirds generally avoid being near humans for any length of time, this hummingbird seemed pleased to be part of WIBC's show. The purpose of the remote broadcast was to celebrate retired Army Sgt. George Choung and his 40-year dedication to a color guard/drill team known as the StingRays. The StingRays are currently based out of IPS (Indianapolis Public Schools) Center for Inquiry. Most of the members are middle-school aged with a sprinkling of high schoolers. The StingRays recently returned from a trip to Salt Lake City, UT where they participated in the VFW National Open Color Guard/Drill Team competition. The team returned with a second place award plus the coveted "Judges Choice" award, an award the George has tried to win for 40 years. Several of the members of the StingRays were present in spite of the early hour. Those in attendance were treated to a fabulous breakfast prepared by the Morning Team and crew. The breakfast included scrambled eggs (with mushrooms, peppers, etc.), a potato casserole, a delicious and very spicy concoction of Jeff's which included sausage, potatoes, peppers, onions and hot sauce. Jeff told his radio audience that this was a favorite of his family's when they camped. It certainly was a favorite in the Friedly backyard. One the most refreshing things we discovered from this experience was that Terri, Jeff and Vince are just as friendly, courteous and giving as they seem on the radio. Many times the public personas don't match the private attitudes but during the off-air times and during set-up, these folks treated us like family. There was very little (if any) change in these folks when the "on-air" light was illuminated (ok, ok, so there wasn't an "on-air" light, but you get the idea). By focusing their show on the StingRays, WIBC, once again, demonstrated their love of kids and IPS in particular. They have always been a strong supporter of the kids in the IPS system and are always happy to highlight the many good things that are happening in IPS. In attendance in support of George and the kids were the principal of Center for Inquiry, Christine Collier plus last year's winner of a national teaching award from the Millken Foundation, Center for Inquiry's art teacher Daphne Draa. |
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