“When Jeanette says ‘good-by,’ better sit down because it will be at least 20 minutes before we actually leave,” so said someone about me many years ago.
A shorter time ago, in a January, two very happy-making things happened in my life. First, my beloved Larry asked me to be his bride and second, the incredible April Lidinsky invited me to become a Michiana Chronicler. Both things pleased me immensely.
When I began Chronicling in 2008, Lee Burdorf was the producer of the segments and he scared the bejeebers out of me with his gruff manner. Turned out though that it just was a façade. He was nurturing and reassuring and encouraged me to not worry about running out of topics. Now, fifteen years later, I believe him. Seems that I can yammer on about almost anything for five minutes; as I have been known to say, “no topic too mundane.” Although, sometimes buried in there are great truths. Good-bye, Lee (wvpe.org) was my homage to him as he retired in 2015. And, if you listen to it by digging through the archives, you’ll notice some of my well-worn truths there. (Some of the Chronicles referenced here are linked if you go to the Michiana Chronicles on the WVPE website.)
People hate change but change loomed with Lee’s departure: a new producer. I need not have feared, however. Bob Henning, an ace at all things technical in radio, had we Chroniclers thrust upon him as not-such-aces in broadcasting, and he took it with good grace. Cheer, even. In fact, my all-time favorite of my Chronicles aired shortly after Bob’s reign began in the summer of 2015. (Sadly, this is not posted in the Chronicles archives, so the huge laughs that Bob and I had in embellishing it aren’t available to you.) The verbiage was on topics agrarian: chickens, cows, corn, soybeans. You know, Hoosier stuff, but instead of music at the close, we chose to air animal sounds. Sitting in the production booth “auditioning” chicken and cow sounds for the close of the piece instead of music was one of the most-fun things that I ever have done in radio production. Makes me smile even now to recall it.
By late 2016, Bob’s plate had become so full, that he had to push back from the Chronicles table and “we happy few” Chroniclers fell to Tony Krabill to produce. Tony is ever-patient and kind and also very skilled at this radio-production business. He can take poorly-recorded-on-my-phone-during-the-pandemic scripts and turn them into something presentable—a small miracle really. So, for the last six years, he’s made me sound about as good as I can given the raw material with which he is working. I’m very grateful, in fact, he will tell you, that I practically begged to go back to the production booth and escape from the phone. That bolstering human touch seemed very necessary to me. And, according to him, I was his first and only “bleep” during all of his years of production. Michiana Chronicles: Too Much Stuff (wvpe.org) Actually, I’m quite pleased to have filled that pot-stirring role.
Although I am not out of topics—my family and friends and humanity-at-large remain constant sources of fodder-- as our old family friend, Hal Coleman, used to say, “Step in, get the job done, and step aside,” or, “The time has come, the walrus said.” Sooooo . . . it being important to know when to close the door, I bid you adieu. Thank you; it’s been a great pleasure for me and I hope that it has brought you some amusement as well.
And, please note that saying “good-bye” only took me a bit over five minutes here.
For Michiana Chronicles this has been Jeanette Saddler Taylor
Music: "So Long, Farewell" from "The Sound of Music" by Rodgers and Hammerstein
