March Winners & Chocolate Mess

The move has been taking a lot of my time during the day, so I apologize for not posting last week. Working between two buildings is not an easy endeavor, even though our new location is just down the street. Congratulations to Jack Henry and Associates in Monett, the winners of the March lunch from Richard's Hawgwild. We had a fairly good crowd on hand, and this time, Richard brought mashed potatoes. Not to make too big a deal, but mashed potatoes are one of the ultimate comfort foods. I like mine without gravy, which apparently is a big deal.




Terry Hicklin from the Candy House stopped by the show on Friday with some Easter treat ideas. He also thought it would be fun to have Shannon dip marshmallow eggs into chocolate. Seemed like a good idea at the time. However, chocolate would wind up on Shannon's arm, the machine... well, you get the idea. I got crazy with sprinkles later in the segment, which just added to the weight of the eggs.

The Big Move

For the last month or so, we've been fairly immersed into the upcoming move. It has been such a large portion of our job, that we often forget others may not be aware of the situation. So in case you haven't heard, KODE will soon be moving.
Hopefully by the end of April, we will be settled into our new surroundings. The business aspect of the station is already in the building and news has started in that direction. In fact, I'm typing this at my new desk. We're basically putting the news product together in the new building, but broadcasting the actual programs in our old studio.
And while I toss around the word "new", we're moving into the old KSN building. When the tower crashed onto that building, it was decided that the structure would be gutted, then rebuilt with an addition to accommodate the combining of the two newsrooms. The dream is fairly close to being complete, although there are plenty of hours spent training on new equipment. It has been an exhausting month, but also an exciting time as draw closer to having the entire operation under one roof.
We'll try to keep our readers up-to-date and I'll supply photos later.

A Bowl of Chili

Okay, I would have posted all of this on Sunday, but that turned into a lazy day. So I'll use Monday to play catch-up.


Over the weekend, Shannon and I got to judge a chili competition at Sacred Heart Church. This year, we had 13 different samples, each with its own flavor, texture and spice. One chili was so spicy, that I could still taste it 2 samples later, while one used hot dogs as it meat component.

Since Shannon doesn't like beans, they were nice enough to create a couple pots of beanless chili. However, one of the cooks tried to be sneaky, sneaking bean juice into the chili (above photo). Shannon was not fooled, and actually could smell the bean juice, thus not eating the food.

In case you're wondering, Shannon judged most of the food on look and smell, letting a young assistant do the tasting. And the chili that was my favorite didn't win the competition. Maybe next year.

February Winner

Congratulations to Tina Kimbrough at Children's Foundation of Mid-America for being the February winner of lunch from Richard's Hawgwild BBQ. Unfortunately several of her co-workers had the day off, so they missed a delicious spread of barbecue and all the fixings. He was supposed to bring mashed potatoes, but we forgot to remind him. Hopefully we'll remember next month. If you haven't registered yet, we're giving away another one in March.

Where Were We Thursday?

In case you missed the first thirty minutes of Good Morning Four States on Thursday, you weren't the only one. We were having some technical difficulties, so instead of our show airing, it was actually ABC's World News Now. Apparently we were having trouble in our Master Control area and our main board locked up. So while we were able to air programming, we couldn't switch it to our studio. To make the situation worse, we also couldn't air a crawl to inform everyone that we were having technical difficulties. However, we still had a ninety minute program even though the first thirty minutes didn't air. We were halfway through the Zesty Minestrone recipe when the show popped back on the air, but the whole segment is on the website.
It is funny the amount of phone calls the station receives when regular programming is not airing. We appreciate the fact that you are letting us know that you are missing the program, but I've never been in a situation where the operators were unaware of a problem that was keeping a program off the air. And sometimes, those phone calls are... well, less than pleasant. During the Thursday situation, one woman accused everyone on the show of "sleeping in", and was rather rude about it. Sorry. We tried to run a crawl. It just wouldn't air. Technology... it's a great thing, unless it's not working.

Bowling Round Up

Magic Moments held their annual Bowling Round Up this past weekend. Shannon and I were again honored to co-host the event. The lanes were filled with bowlers and they were able to raise over $12,000. That number doesn't include the silent auction that was also hold. A big thanks to everyone that participated.

Business Expo

Part of the fun with the Joplin Business Expo is that you never know what surprises will be in store for you. And thankfully, some live animals always add to the fun. Granted, this turtle was something that Shannon could deal with. I tried to get a shot of her with a snake, but the picture would have just been a blur as Shannon quickly moved to the next booth.



We spent a good amount of time at the event looking for pens. If you thought I was kidding, a bag was one of Shannon's first finds, the easier to carry pens. For some reason, her pens always disappear. I don't have the same problem. I think that I do a better job of hiding mine.



I believe Shannon scored something more than a pen in that photo. Of course, we want to thank everyone who stopped by the booth to say hello. Apparently, there are a lot of you getting up early in the morning and watching. And we're sorry if we scared you at the booth. We were a little loud as we were handing out... pens!