Just A Little Radio Rant...

I’m going to be honest with you. I am pretty honest in my blogs, revealing some of my most embarrassing stories and thoughts because it is generally my safe place. My blog provides me a little piece of mind with a little expressive flare that I can’t always let out on-air. Generally I like to be quick and simple on the radio and writing here gives me the space and freedom to give you weird details to support my strange way of thinking. This blog has been a couple weeks in the making and after a little social media post last night on Facebook I thought I would elaborate more here. I am not really a mushy person here on my blog or on social media so don’t expect this type of thing to happen again…

I have been struggling to blog lately because I have been doing two radio shows a day on top of voice tracking for 4 hours. That’s 12 hours of radio total. I’ve done it before, I’ll do it again once this phase of my career is over, it is a reality I am totally okay with but to be honest with you other parts of my life are suffering. I’m still making it to the gym (today was workout #79 in the last 16 weeks) and going through the motions but I am pretty tired all the time. It is a good thing that my boyfriend is in Quebec at Basic Military Training because I am pretty much engulfed with work.

I really actually don’t mind doing the two shows, I have found that it really helps put things in perspective with how things in radio used to be done. People tell me all the time about their long days and nights on-air and I can now say I totally know the feeling of prepping an 8 hour show! Slowly, but surely I am on my way to mastery (let’s hope)!

That is not why I started this blog; I started it as a big shout-out and THANK YOU to our amazing listeners in the Kootenays and around the world. The last couple of weeks have had some big changes and the listeners are why we work so hard and continuously trying to be the best radio station we can be.

Today I had three winners on my show and they totally made my day. There is a 99% chance they will never read this but I really wanted to put out in the universe that they made my day with their excitement and positivity! Chris, Remi and Dave all were so happy to have won passes to GFI and keys to Storage War today and it really helped pick me up and it reminded me why we do what we do in radio. It’s not to be big wigs, it is not to be pseudo small town (or big city) celebrities, it is to make our listeners days a little better any way we can.

Here is Dave’s big moment. He is now 1 of 100 contestants that will have keys for Storage War III coming up on July 5, 2014 at West Kootenay Self Storage. Three keys will unlock thousands of dollars in of prizes in three storage lockers and one of those three keys could be Dave’s! All of the excitement today truly has pumped me up and I can't wait to get back at it tomorrow!  

Again, thank you to everyone for their support and tolerance over the past couple weeks! I can’t wait to get back on-air tomorrow and do it all again!  

Shameless plug alert:

You can listen to me on the new GOAT 10am-6pm (PT) on www.kootenays.thegoat.ca! 

Kate's Christmas Card 2013 Winner

Don't you just love him? 

Okay, this is the second last Holiday-ish blog I will write until December madness crops back up in 11 or so months.  Yesterday I sat around my apartment, welcoming the New Year by cleaning up the old crap that just sits around. Unfortunately, it got me thinking about nixing all those Christmas cards. Each one made me smile as I opened my mail box, I really love receiving them but my table shrine  (I was pretty lazy and dressed up a fold out table rather than a tree this Christmas) has got to go. I hate the idea of tossing all these mementos of Christmas 2013, my first away from home; but I hate the clutter. Also, I come from a long line of hoarders and I really want to nip that habit in the bud.

What do you do with your Christmas cards?

I thought I would also take this time to acknowledge my favourite Christmas card from 2013, it was from my Nanny Bruce and I absolutely love it.

Seriously, I have this little guy pinned above my desk at work. He is the Christmas Card 2013 Champion. Why do I like him so much? Well, he is golden. The best (okay, just my favourite) color of dog, he has the most adorable puppy-sized scarf around his neck and he is not just walking in the on a freaking mission. This guy is trudging through the snow to get somewhere. No effort was made to have a happy puppy on a winter walk; this pup is just like us humans; dressed for the snowy conditions but still not happy to be out experiencing winter weather.

I would love to have this little guy in my home, I like to think he is dashing off to an important place to accomplish monumental things. That is the expression on his adorable little face and I love it.

Okay, I may have gone a little too deep with analysis of this Christmas card. But, I do truly love it. Props to Grandmother MacDonald and Ashley Ettinger for also playing the pet cards this year, they were a close second and third.

Thank you everyone for your Christmas cards! I am already looking forward to picking a favourite for 2014!

MORNING ROCKS: SHAKE THE TREE WITH GERRY

This morning on Shake the Tree Gerry went for the big win... and our Mountain FM prize tree went for a
fall. Now, no one here is calling Gerry a "Greedy Grinch" (that would involve too many Gs). What will we do with all our extra prizing? Who knows? This girl has a couple of winning ideas though! 

Be listening between 6am and 10am to Morning Rocks on Mountain FM (stream it live from the www.mountainfm.net home page) and have 1-877-560-1010 ready in your phone! Caller #9 at the cue to call could win BIG on the TGIF Holiday Edition of Morning Rocks! 

A Taste of Nelson

I am not sure there could be a better way to spend my three year anniversary with my lovely boyfriend than at 'A Taste of Nelson' last night. We spent the night with Save On Foods Kyle (sorry Kyle, I didn't get your last name), 1035 The Bridge Morning Grind host Sarah Hyde, Mountain FM Afternoon Drive Host Jenny Fines, Vista Radio Account Executive Matheson Kincaid and my amazing boss Kevin Einarson (thanks again for hooking us up with a table). Yes, that is Jenny Fines photo-bombing my cupcake pic. 

We had so much fun, there was a ton of great food and drinks donated from around Nelson. Here is a list of all of the vendors that came out and filled our bellies with amazing dishes:

-All Season's Cafe

-Bibo

-Nelson Brewing Co.

-rel-ish

-Itza

-Kootenay Bakery Cafe

-Leo's Pizza & Greek Taverna

-Lucky Cupcakes

-Max & Irma's

-Main Street Diner

-Skimmerhorn Winery 

-Ric's Grill

-Sage Tapas & Wine Bar

-Dock'n Duck 

-Cantina del Centro

-Outer Clove

-Queen City Crisps

'A Taste of Nelson' was not only a way to switch out my normal boring supper, it was for a great cause, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. 

Favourites? Okay, you got me. Of course I have a favourite. I loved Ric's 'Chicken Lolly Pop' and Max & Irma's 'Sausage Polenta Crostini'. Everything was truly amazing. There were also outstanding items at the auction tables and an impressive amount of prizes. My boyfriend even won a gift certificate to rel-ish! 

All I can say about 'A Taste of Nelson' is that I can't wait to take part again next year! Thank you to all of the amazing volunteers who made this amazing event possible! 

Winners From The Rock Creek and Boundary Fall Fair's Jelly Bean Contest

Community events are one of the greatest parts of my job. I love getting to take part in the events and

helping build social klout for some of the fun elements of life in our little corner of the world.

I like to talk about things that are going on across the Kootenays on my show and not just in a specific region (ex. I talk about Castlegar events on my Grand Forks show and Grand Forks events on my live show). We are one big network of cities, towns and communities working together to be the best place to live possible, so I think it is integral that we take part in other communities events and show our support for the incredible amount of work it takes to make these events possible.

Getting to the point, I had a great call from Michele Caskey yesterday about a very special annual part of the Rock Creek and Boundary Fall Fair last weekend (September 14 and 15, 2013), she gave me a call to let me know that over 300 people had entered the B.C. Lung Association’s contest at the fair. Contestant’s guests how many jelly beans were in the jar (pictured) and guesses ranged from 112 to 1,000,000. The correct answer was 1,003 jelly beans. There were two winners who guessed the correct amount of jelly beans in the jar, Lynzee Davies of Whistler, B.C. and Rhys Prudence of Oliver, B.C. An independent person conducted a draw as the tie breaker and 6 year old Rhys was the big winner of all 1,003 jelly beans! I have been told that Lynzee will receive a gift from the Boundary too. 

A pretty cute story and a nice reminder than when we host events here in the Kootenays we get visitors from across the province.  

WIN TICKETS TO A YOUNG CANUCKS GAME!

Just over 40 Days and 3 Hours until the NHL season begins (I am really excited, the 2013-2014 NHL season will be the first season I live in a province with a NHL team) . If you want a sneak peak at the Canucks Young Stars, be listening tomorrow morning to Morning Rocks. Derek did this morning and won 2 tickets to see the Young Canucks play against the Alumni!

It is going to be a great weekend full of the top talent from the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and the San Jose Sharks in Penticton at the South Okanagan Events Centre. 

Make sure your listening to 'Morning Rocks' from 6am to 10am weekdays for your shot at the next set of tickets to see the Young Stars Classic. 


I was pretty excited, this was my first day on Mountain FM's Morning Rocks and my first call-in winner! 

UPDATED: Bruce & Fines Lay's Canada Chip Challenge

UPDATE: Maple Moose has won the contest, all of Canada should be angry about this... I am so grossed out!

Mountain FM Drive Host, Jenny Fines and I did a little disservice to our bodies last night, we took part in a tasting of the gas station food variety. We did the Lay's Canada Chip Challenge, "Lay's Do us a Flavour". We taste tested the four chip varieties chosen from submissions from across the country, below is the audio testing. Here is a little background on the contest.


There are four flavours in the running (chosen from over 600,000 submissions) for "Lay's new great flavour" they are:

1. Grilled Cheese & Ketchup (submitted by Angela Batley in Ottawa, Ontario)
2. Perogy Platter (submitted by Lucas Crawford in Edmonton, Alberta)
3. Maple Moose (submitted by Tyler LeFrense in Isle aux Morts,  Newfoundland )
4. Creamy Garlic Caesar (submitted by Jill Munro in Vancouver, British Columbia)

For our flavour rankings and how we used our vote listen to the clip below:
Some background information: 
The winner will receive $50,000 and 1 per cent of future sales, pretty easy money for a pipe dream flavoured chip!

By the way, my flavour idea was 'Maple Bacon Poutine'. 

Who are you gunning to win the challenge. You have got to give the chips are try before you vote, the tastes are a little different than I thought they would be.... 

For a little background our cousins to the South at Lay's ran the same contest, picking the top three flavour choices: Chicken and Waffles, Sriracha and Cheesy Garlic Bread. Representative of America.... I would say about 33% right on that one. Americans chose Cheesy Garlic Bread as their winner, Karen Weber-Mendham will receive either a million dollars or 1% of her chips total sales, whichever is higher. 

Let me know what you think! Comment below or email me, kate@mountainfm.net! 

Cast your votes here: https://apps.facebook.com/dousaflavourcanada/en/

***Mountain FM update:

The first bag to be completed in the office was the Creamy Garlic Caesar, then went the Grilled Cheese & Ketchup, next was the Perogy Platter... Maple Moose was tossed rather than finished!