A Fair Helping of Thanks
Posted at 5:30 AM on August 31, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(21 Comments)
I'm grateful to all the Radio Heartland listeners who came out for our show at the Minnesota State Fair last Friday. It is a very good thing for our fledgling service to have an event where the audience can actually be seen. A salute to those who couldn't attend but were able to listen on the air or online or through the swell new addition to our State Fair World - the live webcam - we couldn't call it a broadcast without some people broadly dispersed over a wide geographical area listening (and watching). Thanks!
Afterwards, our Goat Pin Contingent (the Trial Balloon bloggers) stood for a group photo. Kudos to everyone, especially Sherrilee for making more of those famous buttons!
The show sounded great, thanks to the concerted efforts of our staff - producer Mike Pengra, audio engineers Cameron Wiley and Chris Heagle, with co-ordination by Josh Kubasta.
The music was the star of course, and for that all the credit goes to Ann Reed, The Ditchlilies and BoJoNo. We'll feature their performances in a special hour this coming Saturday night on the News and Information Service version of Radio Heartland.
The whole event was given some dramatic spice by Eric Ringham, Leslie Ball and Ochen Kaylan in the "Where's Eric" game, with able assistance from audience members Michelle, Brent, Carri, Maggie, Amanda and Lucas.
Support came from all directions! Without the able assistance of MPR's technical problem solvers Doug Rowe, Nathan Chervek and Michelle Field, along with Derrick Stevens and Jim McGuinn of The Current, the Where's Eric game would have been scrapped this year.
It turned out to be a win for Mr. Ringham, though I thought the streamlined structure of the game left inadequate time for a proper resolution. And when I finally caught up with Eric by phone on Saturday, he told a tale that made me sorry I hung up on him and Leslie with 3 minutes to go in the broadcast. If I had kept the lines open just one minute longer, the outcome might have been very, very different.
More on that in Trial Balloon tomorrow.
Our patient "Where's Eric" doll keepers at the edge of the stage were Lucy Anna, James and Bridget. They sat on the tarmac and made sure the already captured little Erics didn't re-hide on the fairgrounds. Good work, guys!
Finally, a word of thanks to That Guy In The Hat for posting from the stage and for adding crucial sound effects with only a moment's notice.
Today's Dale Connelly Show is a repeat of some previously recorded hours that Jasper found mostly unobjectionable. I'm taking the morning off to work as a volunteer at the fair, handing out information and moist towelettes at the MPR booth. If you're coming to the fair, please stop by the intersection of Judson and Nelson, say hello and have your picture taken!
Comments (21)
we'll miss you this morning, Dale - but thanks for sharing the picture of the TB gang. wow - lots of extra work to be at the fair; i'm so glad you feel like it's worth it - we sure do!
busy day today - off to begin it
happy monday!
Good Morning RH,
That is a very good picture! Neat that you credited all the folks who helped make the broadcast possible.
Dale, do you think you could save one of those moist towelettes for me? It would be special if you could autograph it - Mike too, if it's big enough. I'll be at the fair Friday and plan to stop by the booth anyway. Just leave it for me at "will call". Thanks!
Happy Monday, all!
The last two weeks, I've been extraordinarily busy, have missed most shows, and now (I see) missed some state fair fun!
Thanks to Gus for being the gracious photographer.
Dale after your shift be sure to head to the Ag building to check out the Crop Art. The political entries are particularly delicious this year. There's nothing more Minnesotan than political commentary expressed in millet.
How mundane to head back to work after the Fair. Perhaps "I will wear my chicken hat to keep the celebration going.
Enjoy whether your day is Fair or un-Fair!
A big thank you to Dale and Mike for the live show at the fair that was excellent. Also, it was very nice to meet other Radio Heartlanders. In the picture I am the other guy in a hat looking in the wrong direction because I didn't know the location of the camera.
Having the Guy in the Hat posting on stage was a nice addition to the program adding an extra layer to the event. I had a chance to visit with Mike Pengra, and I agree with him that it would be great if Radio Heartland could do more shows on location like those that the Morning Show did over the years.
Swell looking bunch! Thanks Gus for taking the photo (and Dale for posting it).
Today is Daughter's last day of preschool, then off to kindergarten on Thursday. What a week (at least for us)! Maybe not the excitement of the Fair (or political crop art) for the rest of the world, though. ;>
great show from the fair. almost as good as being there. eric and ann provide a path to the familiar and the new radio heartland face provides a path to the future. nice. thanks again to mike and jasper for all the other hours of pleasure and the best radio on the air.
Good morning all,
I'm glad the fair broadcast went well, fun to see the group picture. I'm sorry I didn't get to be there or listen from my vacation spot where neither internet or HD were available. I see the show is not archived (yet?) but would love to listen. Thanks to all for making the show and blog something I look forward to beginning the day.
howdy, gang---
Kay reporting from out West...
didn't get to the Fair (obviously), but did get to Western Legends Roundup in Kanab UT--celebrating "the cowboy way of life" and the many old Hollywood westerns filmed around here. kind of fun.
hazy here today from the California wildfires--so the sunrise is red and glowing --
miss you all! special greetings to dale, barb, donna, and other goat-type people :-)
having tea in my RH mug and listening online--ahhh.
kay h
My wife and I had a wonderful time at the state fair show on Friday. It was wonderful meeting Dale. He is not just a disembodied voice. I can testify he is definitely three dimensional.
Thanks to the MPR worker how brought out the tarp for those of us sitting on the wet grass!
I have a few snapshots nothing too exciting, but fun for those that missed the show. I saw another fair goer has pictures as well. If you find an easy way to share them post it on the blog. If not I'll check out some picture sharing service like picassa.
A couple other thoughts...
Happy birthday to Van Morrison.
Also wanted to throw in my two cents on the program schedule changes. I like the idea of the morning newsbreaks - I've kind of missed them on RH and always enjoyed your interplay with Perry Finelli. It seemed to me too that RH was somehow isolated in that regard from the MPR news service.
I think adding the other shows on Saturday will be fine. I hadn't heard of Radio Thistle but checked out one of the archived shows last night and will enjoy that. I'd say that Prairie Home Companion certainly fits the format - once HD is more widely available maybe it can be broadcast on RH only so there is less duplication.
Thanks for the credit but, more importantly, thanks for the opportunity to lend a hand. Hope I wasn't too much of a distraction from the real show.
I must say that, after a weekend to contemplate it, I'm becoming more and more convinced of 'Pengra Power.' Oh sure, it took about an hour before Mike's nonchalant "Stop raining" command came to fruition but I'm sure there was paperwork to be filed, weather systems to adjust, planets to align, etc. Remember, Sherlock Holmes said that there was no such thing as coincidence...
Friday at the fair and at the live RH / DC Show was lots of fun! Thank you, Sherrilee, for the Alba & Dream pin. It was really neat to meet you, and Darcy, and Jim, and Dale, and see the other bloggers there. The music and show were terrific. Nice picture of us - didn't realize that was Gus taking the picture. Thanks, Dale, Mike, Gus, and all the rest.
Beth-Ann, I will have to go back to the fair for the crop art. (and Trombone Shorty!)
Everyone have a great week.
How could I forget to mention meeting Kate and Bill at the live show? And then later at Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. Great to see you guys, too!
It was great to see Dale and Mike, and to meet you bloggers as well. I was saddened to learn I lost my pin when I got home.
Now that I see the picture that Gus took of us, I would like to reiterate what an adorable bunch of MPR geeks we all are. It was nice to meet everyone! I missed Jim Ed and that extra hour, though. I did, on the other hand, appreciate the extra couple of hours of sleep. I was sad at the end of the day when I discovered that I had lost my sheep button. :(
I will post pictures on Flickr in the next week or so.
Darcy
Dale & Co -- thanks for a great show on Friday! Despite the wet start to the day, it was well worth coming out to be part of the "viewing" contingent. We not only got to see/hear a lot of great music including Ms. Reed doing her infamous State Fair melodies, but some wonderful 'new to me' music from two groups. (BoJoNo's mix especially appealed to me, so I hope Heartland includes some of their tunes in the future) I did take a couple of "phone photos" I'd love to share, but that will have to wait, I guess. Thanks again for keeping the music and laughs coming!
Aaron and Darcy, I, too, lost my goat pin and felt the loss. Sorry, Sherrilee!
The show must have been great! Distance, a dial-up modem and only an FM radio prevented me from hearing it or being there. Any plans for HD-radio in KCCM/KCCD area??? I would love to hear the morning RH shows.
Aaron! I didn't know you were a radio heartlander. I'm the Carla that worked at your high school. Great to see you!
Carla
Oh jeez, I wish I could have been there. We were helping our daughter get established for her first year of college on the west coast.
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