Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a... propensity let's say, to wearing hats- primarily baseball hats. I guess I grew up wearing the things and never stopped (or haven't grown up yet?). I suppose as a kid I wore a hat outdoors playing baseball and it evolved from there. And if it was a big thing for you I don't need to explain: getting that first little league baseball cap was an all time thrill.

No one has really ever stopped me from wearing one. (Wait, at bars in Rochester a couple of times, the bouncer told me to take it off because of it being perceived for some "gang" related activity.) At the jobs I have worked at, I've been wearing them- not a peep from anybody. Going out to interview folks, never occurred to me to take it off. These days, I'm working the overnights- no one to impress during that time. In the car, it helps to drive, to block out the sun. I wear them indoors as well. I've slept with them on, at times by accident. I've mistakenly started the shower and almost dove in a pool with a hat on. I think I've done just about everything- yes, even that- with a hat fixture.

Just like the old joke, I will take my hat off for the barber ['course I haven't been to one in some time]. But outside of religious or various formal occasions, I think I've kept 'er on pretty good up there. I recall I did take it off when I did the National Nude Weekend story in the buff. I remember thinking: if you're going to go nude, then go nude! (although I did keep on my sneakers and socks). Hats have been such a part of me for so long that I sometimes don't even feel anything up there. Could it be the desire of the covering of the head I seek: people will compliment me on my choice of a hat and I'll have to take it off to see what I'm wearing that day.

And, to be honest, I am a little self-conscious, what with less snow covering the dome these days. I know who to blame- my mother's brother. No offense, Uncle George but you're the guy on the hot seat on this one. Still, there's been conjecture that simply wearing a hat constantly could cause the hair to lessen. I'm no expert but area hat maker Dave Brown assured me long ago that that isn't so. He says you'll get balder from the head board than you will with a hat.

I had a good head of hair for some time.. maybe deep into my thirties.. no different than a lot of folks. I'm not complaining. And I'm not going to do anything to change the situation. No toops or plugs. I know, I know the shampoo bottle says "wash, then repeat". I'm not falling for that one. My rug gets the once over and off I go. In deep thought, I can consider that maybe I just cover up my self-consciousness with the hat. But then I sit down for awhile and the thought goes away. Still, I have noticed, it's noticeably a little more drafty without a hat.  I remember a co-worker once expressing shock to see me not wearing a hat once and I replied, "Yeah, and I'm feeling mighty cold up there without it!"

I just counted. It appears I have about 70 baseball-type hats- which doesn't really sound like a whole heckuva lot. I am of course, dwarfed by so many collectors out there. But I really maintain them as a collection, for show, to decorate my future home bar. I'm not out actively seeking to purchase any. And only a small percentage of the hats are ever worn. Currently my in-the-paddock toppers include: an NFL / ESPN and a Tim Horton's. I'll wear the Houston Astros and St.Louis Cardinals current hats, and the 1975 San Francisco Giants with orange bill.. maybe the Detroit Tigers white D home hat. I have a real beat up Samuel Adams that I like, but won't wear to work- it's that scummy. Just got an "Old Guys Rule" hat for my birthday that fits well. Many of my hats are just sun and dirt worn, from summers spent on the dusty ballfields, the forehead bands discolored.  I have some white hats- I'll wear my Continental Basketball Association model, I have a white Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a Rochester Razorsharks- but I don't like the way they look on me, generally.

The list of "lost" hats is short but sad. I left my Chicago Cubs hat behind in Northampton, Massachusetts while chasing the Zippy Chippy story. In 1981, the Red Wings hats were actually half mesh/ with an adjustable strap, the year Cal Ripken played. I knew a clubhouse guy and he got me one from the player's stock- and dammit I lost it, I think at Micheangelo's in Henrietta. Also somewhere out there is a Seattle Mariners baseball hat [first one taking over for Pilots- with the pitch fork] that I wore in my days at WSAY. It was there that beloved but sports-challenged dee-jay Kevin DeHond guessed that the hat stood for the Seattle Pitchforks.

Some of my other non-wearing favorites include: a green New Jersey Devils, and Colorado Rockies hockey.. . San Antonio Missions, Pittsburgh Pirates (yellow rings), Los Angeles Dodgers-adjustable strap, two Brooklyn Dodgers, Washington Senators, Kansas City Royals and four Rochester Red Wings (baseball)... plus UB Buffalo and the University of Alaska Nanooks. I may like the look of a hat but it has to fit and look good. Some hats are sized incorrectly, or I suspect were defects in the first place. Some just look like a balloon on my head, and maybe it's not the balloon's fault, but I have to be comfortable in the way it looks. I want a hat that can tip down at a moment's notice- low enough to stay somewhat anonymous or to provide a comforting compress in the event of a snooze. 

I have some other oddball or unusual hats... including baseball caps for:  French's Mustard, all of the commercial radio stations I've worked at: WSAY, WRTK, wxxi, WHAM.. an Associated Press hat, Coors Light, Excelsiors (six panel hat and pillbox-type hat, for 19th century ball team at the Genesee Country Village)... I've got a chef's hat, a cowboy hat, goofy St. Patty's Day hats, some derbies and visors, but I generally stick with the ball caps. 

I think in my old age, I'll begin giving some of these unused caps away to people who would like them. I had a Cincinnati Reds hat once but felt it would be better with my brother Mike, a Reds fan. Same thing with a Mets hat I got once, and my pal Tom Blythe (was short money then and charged him, I still think about that). I gave my Minnesota Twins cap to the guy who got me the '81 Wings cap, for his father who was a fan. Another friend, Patrick Sloan has kept me furnished in ESPN hats from his workplace. I gave him an Orioles hat once- and owe him many more. Some of these unworn hats, you could snap the cardboard in the bills, they're so unused. I'm thinking of specifying in my will just how and to whom my hats will be dispersed- they should go to good homes.

For now though, they're mainly for show in my house, some gathering cobwebs, some bringing back good and bad memories.. waiting to be surrounded by that "Flynn's Bar" I'm going to have someday. No problem with gang violence on my premises. Hats entirelly welcome.

  One of the things that I am most proud of, concurrent with my 30-some year career in broadcasting, is my run of radio features. Just about every week between the mid 1980s and 90s, my four minute reports- concerning mainly Rochester-related topics- aired nationally among Associated Press affiliates. All together, my count for general topic and sports-related features totals nearly 1500, through my tour of public broadcasting and most recently with WHAM. My defense in continuing to put out these segments: with the wealth of individual segments, the scope I've covered, the national distribution, the awards from my peers (four Edward R. Murrow, and 11 AP awards- would have been much more if only my stuff were submitted more often) I get the feeling I've gotten the hang of it... and.... someone should have stopped me by now if there's a problem.

  I feel a strong sense of ownership for this area of my work. Truth be told: for the overwhelming bulk of my feature reporting- it's all been done on my own time- outside of my regular working hours. I enjoyed doing them, and wanted to pitch in with something to help the stature of the station. The money I received for getting my pieces on nationally was small- and taxable! One year, management made me give my checks to them- about a thousand dollars for 12 months work- still waiting for a "thank you" on that score.

  It's an area of reporting that takes a fair amount of time and effort, including: the identifying/ certification/ gut feeling as far as the worthiness of a story, pre-interview research and questions, interview, transcription of interview, story writing, story producing, story editing including use of sound effects or music.. up to the final on-air product. Enterprising- the coming up with story ideas, I always thought was one of my strong suits. Many times the topics concern special dates or event anniversaries- from the silly to serious. And so I talked with business owners who sold weird furniture and mannequins and greeting cards (to send off after you're dead)..  and recorded cooking disaster stories or learned how folks made even spam appetizing.  But I also thought I could handle more serious topics, some relating to health and medicine, including four minutes about heart transplants, food inspection, skin cancer and holiday depression... or honoring our veterans with stories and memories about Rochester troops at Gettysburg, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and hearing the harrowing tales from an area survivor of the Bataan Death March. In the end it was nearly always my goal to introduce/reaffirm something that the listener could remark/react by saying "Hey, I didn't know that!"

  I have slacked off over the past few years as far as the features go. Working overnights and other home details, plus the commitment the whole features process demands is daunting. And finding a place for the things is a challenge. Translation: with ongoing cutbacks and downsizing, these features are a nice addition to the sound and quality of a station I guess, but certainly something that management feels they can live without, financially. The stories are certainly out there, updating the old and embracing the new. It's my story and I'm sticking to it: just about everybody has an interesting four minutes waiting to be told about them: whether it be regarding their beliefs, hobby, job or life-pursuit. And I do vow to get back into the feature business some day.

  Below is a good summary about my features, a commentary I once read on the radio. You can also visit this page to check out a summary of the stuff, scripts, and other areas associated with my feature reporting.

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I can say I've made the supreme sacrifice of taking my clothes off for a radio feature, when I filed that National Nude Weekend story a few years ago…

And I took one for the team when I was hit by that wild baseball throw during the International League All-Star game in Buffalo.

Had to sign an injury release form before I tested the "hottest chicken wings in the world".

And… just to get the story… I've eaten rattlesnake, ostrich and lion meat for the exotic restaurant interview… forced a nibble outta that Christmas fruitcake the guy sent me from Dallas.. and I nearly did finish my plateful of vegetarian food at the Rochester club's dinner last year- although I didn't like it.

I've endured wicked smells for stories about the chicken and egg farm, the sewage plant, and organic fertilizer. I forced a peek inside the working cemetery cremation chamber. I've reported- in motion- while on skis, on a toboggan… in ice skates, a horse and buggy, a roller coaster, and during minus 40-degree wind chills while ice fishing.

Ah, but the perks! I've been able to sample chocolate, honey, cider, cigars, gourmet popping corn, Scotch whisky, homemade beer, spam and brick oven bread and pizza. I worked a story into getting a haircut from the lingerie-clad lady barber. And I actually had a Buffalo Jills cheerleader ask me if I minded if she changed clothing during our interview. (Turned out, she was only talking about her jacket.)

I got over my fear of the dentist, somewhat, through that feature on the subject… and I had the extreme pleasure of getting up in the sulky to pilot the great harness racehorse named "Flynn" around the practice track a few years ago.

I've been there for record-setting stories about squash, a jump roper, guitar player, arm wrestler, bass fisher, wood chopper, marathon runner and thoroughbred racehorse. I've interviewed women and men hall of fame sports personalities, and got to do sports stories in other cities and take in some great stadiums and sports venues.

And though I'm considered a "sports guy", I strive not to be typecast. I've done about a 3 to 1 ratio of non-sports stuff-- including pieces about music boxes, matzah and a modern day medicine man… to stories on missing children, music in the schools, the mud house, the medical examiner, and model A automobiles-- and them's are just some of the "m's"…

I've interviewed a lot of interesting people, who've helped me tell their stories over the years. And I always thought it important to keep things a little loose at times… with features honoring National Goof Off Day, canine waste removal, conductors, who needs 'em?.. and pieces about a hubcap collector, offensive diving, the outhouse, why love "stinks" and a profile of.. the sneeze.

For someone who didn't pay enough attention in school, I've appreciated the opportunity to learn- by getting into various social, medical and environmental issues.. topics including native American history, updating the progress on Lou Gehrig's disease and welcoming the river otter back to western New York- to name a few.

I've learned a heckuva lot about all kinds of things.. like during the National Nude Weekend story, experiencing newfound cool breezes on my body… But one of my happier discoveries was finding the lost taste of that stick of bubble gum they used to put in the baseball cards. They don't put it in there anymore 'cause it damages the cards people want to sell for thousands of dollars. While conducting research on the change in the Bazooka Bubble Gum comics, I found that you can get that great old taste- by chewing one piece of Bazooka and one piece of Double Bubble brand- at the same time. You are welcome.

   28 times a day, I'm either signing on or off the transmitter logs at Clear Channel. CC has seven stations under my responsibility in the overnight. And I say that loosely as transmitter problems during my shift are extremely rare. I can't tell you how all the technical stuff happens- but it does.
   I'd like to believe that I am a little more responsible when it comes to watching over the technical aspects and transmitter readings. I come from the-- gad-- "old school" of actually studying to gain my FCC license/ operator's permit. In the mid 70s, we actually went to classes at Monroe Community College, then joined as a group, off to Buffalo to take the license test there. The testing was in regards to elements of knowledge- and if you passed on elements 1, 2 and 9 you would receive an orange colored license. Blue meant that it took you more than one try to pass all of the elements. I still have my blue one- issued December 18, 1974. It was first hung at my first radio station: WRHR 90.5 FM- which has evolved into WBER today, the BOCES station for the Rush-Henrietta School District. Back then, transmitter readings for the 10 watt station were just a few jottings every few hours, making sure the power was witin legal bounds. I remember kids- but never moi- bending back a screen attached to the face of our small transmitter there, to boost up the power. Our program director once bragged to a school paper reporter how we were "hitting Syracuse" after tampering with the power. Actually, 10 watts never got us far, but it was an excellent beginning with room for mistakes and growth. Technically, these were the days long before deregulation of FCC, and we were often afraid of the "FCC Truck" being in town- monitoring our signal, ready to swoop down on us for being over power.
   The next "transmitter" stop was with the late but great WSAY, located on French Road in Brighton. The "Gordon Brown" stories will have to wait for another entry. (the great "tranny" story attached to Brown: The FCC had a rule then that the transmitter operator had to "see" the transmitter readout dials, the meters. So Gordon had a mirror tilted in one room pointed towards the prominent meters. The operator actually sat in another room, about 20 feet away. The operator could "see" the meters from there, through the reflection, but certainly couldn't "read" them from that far away!) The Chief Engineer there then for my time (1977-80) Ron Steve, kept the place running, and legal. Transmitter readings were demanded every half hour! I'm of the thinking that readings, technically, aren't required by the FCC other than when turning the transmitter on or off- it's just policy you follow at places. Vacuum tubes, glowing blue would warm up in the old girl then. Power surges could knock off the circuit breakers. I think it was Ron who said he kept us on the air at times with chewing gum and prayer, always desperate for equipment. The word was that after the stingy Brown passed away, boxes of needed equipment was found stashed in his home. At WSAY, I also had to go out to the four transmitter towers for meter readings. Each tower had a small "outhouse" attached, protecting equipment that guaged power for the individual tower. (One aside: in the mid 80s, I actually climbed one of those towers.. about 226 feet, and touched the top beacon. Glad I did it, more glad that I survived (no belt or safety harness, just me and my sneakers, keeping three limbs attached at all times). I'll say two things about the experience: 1) there's a helluva view up there- though I didn't pause very long to enjoy it and 2) that tower DOES sway in the breeze up there, despite the guide wires to the ground. PS Two guys still owe me money for that: Alex Crichton and Tim Woolston. I also could have made money by aborting the effort, as Lois Tipton was offering me money to come down)
   After WSAY.. I endured changes of management at French Road that saw WRTK, the new WSAY and finally public broadcasting, wxxi come aboard. All the while, transmitter readings were required.. but responsbility/accountability seemed to be fading. In time, all you needed to do was mail in your name to the FCC to get an operator's license. I'm sure the dreaded "taking transmitter readings" has been dumbed down over time, as long as the station was performing within power restraints, everybody's happy, of course with some FCC rules: no red pen, initial and date any cross-outs, and keep records of various emergency tests, etc. Just as I was being ushered out of wxxi, in 2001, the policy was changing so that the television operator- and not the radio person- would be taking transmitter readings. But with the switch to Clear Channel, I have never missed a day on the air when I didn't have to take transmitter readings.
   For some, it's gotta be a bother. But I have to say, it's a time for me to pause and think about all of my transmitter experiences... about my earliest radio times at RHR,  the "bang" of the circuit breakers tripping at SAY... getting dive-bombed by birds at the SAY towers, who thought I was invading their nests... signing my name- it's gotta be thousands and thousands of times now over my years in radio- going back to 1975! It's the ultimate obsession in radio: staying on the air. Whatever programming you come up with, it's still got to get out to the people. I tried once, unsuccessfully to obtain my first class license for radio. I regret I didn't stick to it, learning more about how, technically, things happened. So, after all this time, I remain at a loss as to exactly how radio works. But as long as I'm entrusted to keep the fire going, I figure I can do at least that much.

   The area news of what has turned out to be likely a charge of murder on a softball diamond (at a Hilton ballpark last weekend.. a player punched a member of the other team so hard in the back of the neck that the victim died a day later. So-called "trash-talking" apparently was rampant during the game.) almost doesn't surprise me. I spent over 25 years playing recreation sports- in Henrietta, the City and Lima- and can see where tensions can rise to a point of fisticuffs and potential serious harm. For most, "it's only a game". But, for me and others, sports is all-out war.
   Maybe it's because I'm on the small side...thirty years ago, and in my late teens, my desired playing weight was around a buck thirty. I think I've always been perceived as "the little guy". So, when it came to baseball or hockey for me, I felt like I had something to prove to the "bigger kids". I was always intense. On the neighborhood streets we played overhand lob hardball and I didn't hesitate sliding into second base even though the base was a just piece of wood, the field only pavement. There, I recall my first home run ever. The big kid pitcher laughed at me when I stepped in. Luckilly, I grounded one back hard through the box, which he wasn't ready for and the ball scooted through. Immediately, everyone could tell that this was extra bases what with a lack of players, probably 6 or so on a side then, fostering a limited coverage by the defense. You were played to pull and for me, a right handed hitter, dead center field was not occupied! The big kid threw his glove at me as I started towards first, me silently but gleefully dancing away from the mitt, and beginning my triumphant race around the bases, the ball getting legs and making it a couple houses away down the street.
   With hockey and being smallish, (5'9 3/4") I always delighted in the checking part of my game. I loved running the big guys into the boards, however hard my "running impact" could be, giving up 40 or fifty pounds usually in those collisions. I had my share of fights. Got carved by a foe's stick under my facemask for thirteen (my uniform number) stitches once. Without a facemask a guy two-handed me with his stick to my face another time. I think being small saved me in this sport. While I practically bounced off people many times with my checks, others never hurt me much with their tries.
   And then with softball, my competitive juices may have been at its peak. Reflecting my all-time favorite ballplayer, Ty Cobb, some would call me "Cobb" when  I played. Although softball is a poor comparison to baseball (in softball, the pitcher gives you pitches to hit- you should be hitting over .500 easy) some aspects are the same. And baserunning was my favorite part. If I do say so myself, I was an expert at taking the man out at second base. Mainly because of my speed-- I know also because of my fierceness- I was rarely, rarely thrown out an any base. I remember getting stuck in the mud once coming to the plate, coming up short, then literally crawling onward and punching at the catchers mitt in desperation.
   Overall in these sports, I was at least a pest to the opposition, at most a dirty word. Anyone who knows me, knows what a loudmouth I was in sports, jawing at the other players and the umpires. (Today I can be just as loud watching games on TV). I'm the guy that got under people's skin in games, the guy you may want on your team but detest as an opponent. In hockey once, taking the opening faceoff, the opposing center actually chopped at my stick, between my arms, breaking my stick in two. Our coach was told that I didn't win more hockey awards and accolades because I was so-disliked by the other teams- even the Commisisoner of the league! In softball, I got the other team so mad that the left fielder announced he was going to "pummel" me. My teammate Ray stood forward and said if anybody wanted to try, they would have to go through him first. I've been tossed out of games, and was suspended for "abusing an umpire" (even though in this case he was wrong is reporting I called him a son of a b-- ... I actually called him a "twit"). I admit my mouth has gotten me into trouble. I once played a softball game with duct tape on my mouth 'cause I couldn't trust myself not mouthing off to the umpires. I avoided the after-game handshakes (the situation that led to the fatal punching in Hilton) with the other team. Never made sense to me why you should spend an hour trying to beat  somebody's brains out in sports, and then shake his hand and say "good game" afterwards.
   So, yes, I can see where competition in sports and otherwise can lead to violence.  That push to be first, whether it be in line at the market, the holliday sale, competing for the job promotion, driving to the next traffic light, or, yes,  to second base, rears its head constantly. And apparently during the incident at Hilton.
   One of my high school gym coaches, Gene Monje- the long time Rush-Henrietta basketball coach and Frontier Field Walk of Famer  who umpired softball, and officiated college basketball games.. spoke about the intensity of sports players with me during an interview. He talked about how, when he officiated games like softball, that he always kept in mind that for the players he was with- that for them, the game was their World Series, their big moment in sports, for some, the most important part of their daily lives. Consider that when thinking of the prospect for violence, not to mention inflated egos perhaps and a generous amount of "trash talking."
   So, with my own history of competitivenes in sports, unable to control my temper at times, actually wanting to hurt the other guy (in hockey that is legal regarding clean body checks and bordering on that when steaming into second to break up the double play) I can understand the scenario for violence. I get the feeling that just like those just-miss airplane collisions we never hear about, most would be shocked to learn of amateur sports incidents-- tossing in fragile egos perhaps and volatile "trash talking"-- that have come close to the tragedy experienced in Hilton.
   Those who say "it's just a game" can't see it from our side, the competitive ones. "We have to get up in the morning," is their reasoning, so the chance for injury should be lessened. But I'll have a hard time playing in "no-check" hockey leagues because I feel the contact is so much part of the game, and possibly,  my edge. And I have to get up in the morning also. I could never forgive myself, probably have a hard time sleeping in fact, if I didn't go after that guy at second base or wipe that guy out along the boards on the ice.

With trademark argyle socks and dirty sliding leg, Flynn avoids after the game meet-and-greet, 1984 at Henrietta Town Park
  

Annika Sorenstam, Corning Country Club, 2004

   With the conclusion of this past weekend's Wegman's LPGA... we also have most likely seen the last of golfer Annika Sorenstam, who has announced she is retiring from competition with the conclusion of the '08 season. She never won at Locust HIll, despite 5 tries- (1996, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2008)  including a 2nd place finish in '96. Her sporadic appearances here meant that Rochester fans missed her when she was at her very, very best. Nearby Corning, NY saw her even less for their tournaments. I admit I carry quite a bit of fascination for Annika. Besides my awe for her golfing accomplishments and domination, frankly a lot has to do with me waiting around for her to smile. For me, professionally, the subject of Sorenstam helped me to one of my four Edward R. Murrow awards, with my three-part radio feature series Awaiting Annika in 2004.
   This year is her 14th full time year on the LPGA and I have followed her career from nearly the beginning. I started filing Locust Hill/golf features in 1986, and have covered the ladies tour for radio, in one way or another, for 22 years now. I have watched Sorenstam dominate the tour during this period like few others in golf history. She brought the ladies game to the media forefront with her play along side the men at the Colonial in 2003. Presently she owns 72 official LPGA tournament titles, including 10 majors- plus 18 others, internationally. She's the only woman to shoot a 59 in competition, the all-time LPGA money leader and has earned her place among sports and entertaianment figures as a "one-name" personality, Annika.
    Through it all, I sense that Annika has never been able to shake her shyness, that evolved from her small town upbringing in Bro, not far from Stockholm Sweden. She admitted to blowing golf leads as a young player, the better to avoid making acceptance speaches. And even long into her professional career-- that has included the interviews and award scenes with the ESPNs, the Leno's and the Letterman's, I still can see that shyness. I ran into Sorenstam's long time caddy Terry McNamara Saturday, after day three of the Locus Hill tournament, and he agreed. "She does it because she feels she has to," Terry told me- confirming her apparently ill-at-ease moments on the national stage. I get the feeling it was very uncomfortable for her to be chided years ago by the media for not showing emotion on the golf course. Sadly, the sports media coverage of today has turned into back-to-back hi-lites- and producers seek and require those short bursts of emotion. Without them, you are judged as cold and uncaring. Whatever happened to athletes like Jim Brown (and even Thurman Thomas) simply handing the ball to the referee after a football score- (been there, done that mentality) instead of the theatrics we have now spawned upon future generations?!
   Will Annika be able to stay away from competitive golf, and instead gravitate into her other endeavors which include pursuing a family with husband-to-be Mike McGee, her affiliation with the USGA and her golf school, the Annika Academy?! Certainly she has earned the right to try. At 37 years old, Sorenatsm finds herself in a unique position, financially, to call her own shots, at least for the immediate future. I am happy to believe she would never just "hang on" with the LPGA,  or accept sponsor exemptions, only to shoot into the 80s for scores. Sorenstam told me her golfing goal was always to make it to Sunday-- in the hunt... to be up there amongst the leaders, to have that chance for victory.
   Now, apparently in Sorenstam's post-competitive golf career, who can begrudge her- or anyone- from pursuing their life's desires? Good luck, Annika. And I'll still be waiting for that smile.


   

Working the overnight... the phrase sends fear through many, avoidance by most. But after being unceremoniously dismmissed from my previous job, and the need for outrageous luxuries such as food and a roof for my family, I came aboard Clear Channel in September of 2001- just a few days before the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

After nearly seven years now, I still am not used to it. I usually sleep poorly, feel pooped at different times of the day and many times still feel like I need a nap before my shift begins at 10pm. Only last year I began using melatonin which, in stretches, has allowed me better sleep and feeling somewhat refreshed upon awakening. I have tried various things: reading, exercise, staying awake after work instead of immediately going to bed but nothing has produced sustained satisfaction. I really don't want to get into delving into more potent drugs, but I would try a free fancy bed that I see advertised on TV. The problems with my schedule/sleeping times happens with family vacations or events and friends or others who still haven't figured out that I am not available at certain times of the day.

The benefits of the overnight are sleeping as long as I want, or in my case as I am able...attending sporting events on my way to work and having the retired neighbors think I'm in the same boat as them when they see me puttering around the yard or getting the mail in the middle of the day. Further negatives about my schedule include very much missing the mornings regarding breakfast (as I don't eat before sleeping) fishing in those misty early mornings and bounding out of bed with thoughts of tackling the day. Now, it's more of getting up and having the urgency of trying to get something accomplished before I have to go to work.

I'd be happy to hear from anyone with cures on how to get better sleep. You can e-mail me-- thank you!!-  at wflynn@clearchannel.com

The days that I am off from work I still maintain the same sleeping schedule, so I stay up overnights Saturday and Sunday mornings. It is for these days that I allow myself a beer or two at home, mainly tending to various projects or housework, reading, my various website editing/updating (sites listed elsewhere or later in one of these entries) and/or a good movie on television.

I enjoy being "in charge" of my shift, my work at Clear Channel. It demands a considerable amount of attention to detail. I've gotten my routine down to precise duties at specific times throughout the period and the time almost always goes quickly. I continually stress- some tell me unfairly so- over my mistakes in reading the news, which I guess is a good thing, that I care. WHAM is the only area 24-hour newsroom for live personell on board (just try calling other stations in the middle of the night!) and I embrace that responsibilty. I think the old slogan was: "Rochester- It's Got It!!" And it sure does- people get shot and murdered unfortunately, fires happen, robberies occur... news happens every overnight And I know that WHAM 1180 is alone in frequently being first in the reporting of these events-  because I was on top of the story. Aside from that, I occasionally get calls from listeners needing ball scores, trivia answered, and occasionally people (including the now-and-again whacko) just looking for someone to talk to or rant on. I won't hang up on anybody unless they become abusive. I really do have other things to do than be disrespected like that. I've always been the type that had trouble hanging up on folks- even the telemarketers.

As already mentioned, I also have the responsibility- and take technical readings- for the fleet of seven Clear Channel radio stations. Fortunately, problems regarding programming and transmission of these stations are extremely rare.

All in all, I take my overnight job/work at Clear Channel very seriously. I pledged to become the best overnight person CC has ever had when I came aboard. I hope I continue to work towards that goal.