I’ve mentioned this here before, but for you folks who need a catch-up: I got a new phone a year ago, and no matter what I do, I cannot get it to stay paired with my car’s sound system. So rather than spend any more time trying to make it work, I have been listening to over-the-air radio on trips around town. (For longer ones, I have a small speaker I just stick in the console.)
Anyway, there’s an AM station here, CKWW, out of Windsor. It’s automated, which means a visit to “the studios” will find no people, and only a desktop computer cycling through the playlists. I read somewhere they use the playlists of the legendary CKLW, the old 50,000-watt behemoth of the golden olden days of AM radio. But it’s only 500 watts, which means it’s hard to pick up on the west side of Detroit. Fortunately, I spend most of my time on the east side.
Honestly, I’m kind of philosophically opposed to oldies radio, but sometimes NPR just gets to be too much to take. And while it’s interesting to go spelunking in the no-higher-than-30-40 range of 1970’s charting hits, what has really captured my interest are the newscasts at the top of the hour.
CKLW, back in the day, leaned hard into Detroit crime, and its “20-20 News” was designed to capitalize on it. It was tabloid, lurid and sometimes alliterative: “The battered body of a buxom blonde bounced once and came to rest on the sidewalk,” “The blood-smeared highways of Michigan claimed 14 more lives over Labor Day weekend,” and if you like this sort of thing, this 10-minute compilation is spectacular.
But CKWW’s news is distinctly…Canadian. The other day they reported on a bicycle theft, complete with a detailed description of the crime, the victim, and a description of the suspect. Yesterday a similarly comprehensive report was delivered, on a man who “committed an indecent act” in a public park, complete with a sketch of the perp available on the station’s website. This the tenor of the crime reports, day after day.
Now, I know Windsor isn’t some paradise. However, I also know that on a different Canadian station I used to listen to, around the new year there was a report on how often police had used force on arrestees, prisoners, etc. It was a little jarring; around here, where cops shoot people fairly often, the Canadian report mostly concentrated on the use of nightsticks. So I think it’s fair to assume the city across the river is a quieter, less violent place.
I wonder what it’s like to live like that.
In other news at this hour, I watched “Jaws” again last night, for the first time in a while. For all the talk about the mechanical shark failing to work, why doesn’t anyone mention the opening sequence, which covers maybe 20 minutes of action but starts in full darkness, switches to early-evening gloom, then pre-sundown, then just after sundown, before going back to full night? Damn amateurs.
Wait. I see someone has indeed discussed this.
Happy Wednesday.
Deborah said on August 14, 2024 at 11:59 am
We got an email from our Chicago building management that they have hired security guards for during the convention next week and that there will be a special pass for residents to get into the parking garage during the convention and that the garage will be closed from 11pm until 7am during that time. I think people are very worried about violence and mayhem.
I’m doubly glad I’ll be in NM during that time. I mean the building may be going a bit far but it will be better to be safe than sorry. And there are a lot of elderly people who live in the building, it will help make them have less stress, I guess.
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alex said on August 14, 2024 at 12:20 pm
When I was a kid, I gravitated toward CKLW’s hip urban sound and away from WOWO and its corn pone folksiness. Even today, when I watch local news stations in other cities, I often marvel at how much more information they’re able to cram into the time slot and how slick and fast-paced their delivery is compared to the sluggish and dull amateur hours that pass for news around here.
These days I don’t listen to radio at all and just stream music through my phone. I swapped out the factory radios in my older vehicles for bluetooth so not only can I stream music but I can take phone calls (and even text) hands-free. Nancy, if your original equipment is glitchy, you can get a state-of-the-art system from Best Buy for a couple hundred bucks.
Nightsticks. I’d forgotten about those. Wouldn’t it be nice if police didn’t have to assume that anyone they confront might be armed?
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Jeff Gill said on August 14, 2024 at 12:56 pm
I appreciate the t-shirt that points out the mayor in “Jaws 2” is the same mayor in the original movie, hence the importance of voting.
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Jeff Borden said on August 14, 2024 at 1:09 pm
I’m loving Sean Fain of the UAW filing a federal lawsuit against Elmo and tRump, who laughed at Elmo’s antics of firing workers who threatening to strike. Fain may single-handedly revive union protections in this country. Tim Walz can help: He’s the first union member on a presidential ticket since St. Ronald of Reagan.
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Jakash said on August 14, 2024 at 2:06 pm
CKLW: As a teen growing up in Ohio, the “50,000-watt behemoth of the golden olden days of AM radio” was our go-to station. Those were the days! I hardly ever listen to the radio now, but on a road trip when I’m starting to fade a bit, I’ll crank up some oldies. Usually, I’m content to revisit some of the same 50 songs that every oldies station plays relentlessly, but the last time I did it, the choices were awful. Uh, there are approximately 2 zillion great songs since 1960 (not discounting the ones before that…) to choose from — why do I need to hear “Free Falling” every damn time?
“Jaws”: Love your observations and the movie. I went to the theater to see that 3 times when it came out (not that there were any other new-movie-viewing options in 1975). I don’t believe I’ve done that with any other movie, before or since. Haven’t seen it in quite a while, but it’s streaming on HBO (uh, Max, in the same way that Twitter is X, and the John Hancock building in Chicago is now officially “875 North Michigan Avenue,” I suppose) and we’ve been meaning to watch it again. This post may spur us to do so sooner rather than later, so thanks, NN!
Deborah’s neighborhood in Chicago: Along with concern about the convention, the nature of the mundane crime in the city has definitely changed since 2020. A new twist is driving a vehicle through the storefront windows, grabbing what one can, and driving away. Even on tony Michigan Avenue. So, they developed a plan to install bollards to protect both businesses and pedestrians:
https://abc7chicago.com/post/magnificent-mile-bollards-protective-barriers-set-michigan-avenue/14945483/
Just to be clear — as a resident, this is not coming from the “Chicago is a hellhole, how can anybody live there?” perspective cherished by Republicans everywhere. Somehow, tens of thousands of tourists come here every week, have a great time and return home without being killed. But, there are a few problems, and I’m among those not really looking forward to the possibilities posed by the convention.
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basset said on August 14, 2024 at 2:32 pm
And you can’t talk about CKLW without mentioning Bob Seger’s song about their program director, Rosalie Trombley: https://youtu.be/SPm-MctvFWQ?
Another track from his never-legally-on-cd “Back in ‘72” album.
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basset said on August 14, 2024 at 2:36 pm
And a cover version by Thin Lizzy:
https://youtu.be/cSo9CC2wKVI?si=lnYSpdj7PAp1OBQY
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basset said on August 14, 2024 at 2:40 pm
One more post, on a different topic… sitting in the lobby of the Sarah Cannon (Minnie Pearl’s real name) Cancer Institute in Nashville right now, just finished a course of radiation treatments. Got to ring a bell in the waiting room, big day.
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Jeff Borden said on August 14, 2024 at 3:58 pm
Great news, Bassett. Cancer blows chunks. Ring that bell!
I don’t know where Byron Center, Michigan is, but the Ohio fauxbilly drew only a few hundred attendees. And no local media…only national correspondents. $arah Palin was dumber than mooseshit, but she drew crowds. Vance is showing all the drawing power of head lice.
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David C said on August 14, 2024 at 4:51 pm
Byron Center is a town just south of Grand Rapids. Solidly Republican but they probably scheduled there because if they held it in GR, the pathetic crowd would seem even more ridiculous.
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Peter said on August 14, 2024 at 5:23 pm
Bassett, that’s just great news. Here’s hoping it gets even better for you.
Huffpost just ran a photo of a Vance rally with only 25 people showing up – was that the same one Jeff mentioned?
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Suzanne said on August 14, 2024 at 5:28 pm
Congratulations Bassett! It’s just shy of 2 years since I rang that cancer bell and I remember it well! I am beyond thrilled to still be here 2 years later and feeling good. Best to you!!
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David C said on August 14, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Good fucking grief. Vance said Byron Center has been left behind. The median house price is north of $400,000. It’s very prosperous. Those assholes are so aggrieved. To hear him talk, they don’t have two nickles to rub together. Oh, poor, poor pitiful me.
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Deborah said on August 14, 2024 at 6:22 pm
Congratulations Basset, I can only imagine how good that must feel.
The forecast for Santa Fe for the next week is in the 90s, I was hoping we were over that for the summer, but I guess not. Boooooo. At least it’s not humid too. Plus grasses are causing allergic reactions for lots of people, especially my husband, he is suffering. We have an athletic field just over the fence from us here, a former Boys and Girls club property that is filled with weeds/grasses right now.
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Julie Robinson said on August 14, 2024 at 7:57 pm
Congratulations, basset! May your health trajectory continue on the upswing.
I grew up in the country outside a quiet little town. It was nice but insular and while I’m glad I had that childhood, I was ready to be in a place where, unlike Cheers, not everybody knew my name.
Now I live in another quiet little neighborhood, and honestly, we rarely remember to lock our door. Peaceful? Only when this bathroom project is over. (And then the other bathroom and the kitchen.) This afternoon we learned that one of the pipes had indeed started to leak, and this will necessitate emptying the entire bedroom closet. Yay!
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Sherri said on August 14, 2024 at 9:02 pm
JD Vance is the Cybertruck of candidates. You know he’s ugly, but the more you look, the uglier he gets.
His mother-in-law is a biology professor and provost at UC San Diego, and took a sabbatical to help with childcare when the Vances began having kids. On a podcast in 2020, Vance agrees with his podcast host that the whole purpose of post-menopausal women is raising children, says it was “economically inefficient” according to liberals, but what we should be encouraging.
His MIL does this amazing thing for him, and this is how he pays her back?!?
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Sherri said on August 14, 2024 at 9:19 pm
My experience is that you shouldn’t mess with post-menopausal women. They are all out of fucks to give.
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Deborah said on August 14, 2024 at 10:27 pm
When Vance was making comments about women as cat ladies not having kids and how kids were so important for people to raise I wondered who was raising his kids since his wife was a high powered lawyer and now we know it fell on his mother in law who also had a high powered profession, but that was ok with him because that’s all post menopausal women are good for. Geez.
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Dorothy said on August 15, 2024 at 6:28 am
Dammit Sherri, you beat me to it.
Jaws: the movie I went to see with my then boyfriend/now husband just after we graduated from high school. We took my younger sister Chrissy, and we each sat on either side of Mike. Poor guy had very sore hands as we both were squeezing the shit out of them during the very tense parts. Which was a chunk of the movie.
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Alan Stamm said on August 15, 2024 at 7:09 am
Just here to salute spelunking as a damn fine word choice.
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Jeff Gill said on August 15, 2024 at 7:10 am
Huzzah for ringing the bell, Basset!
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Dexter Friend said on August 15, 2024 at 7:20 am
Yea Bassett! The day my daughter rang the bell in Columbus was a tears of gratitude day.
Grant Hudson, 20-20 NEWS ! and the famous Byron MacGregor were just the best, and the alliteration writers were so brilliant. Motor City Meanderings Mean Murderous Misadventure at Midnight.
Growing up in earshot of that station in the river made MoTown Music the soundtrack of my young life, before FM radio took over music playlists. We also got a jolt of Coast music thanks to Jac Holzman and Phil Spector. Jac built a 5 watt radio transmitter only projecting sound waves 200 feet, and when an Elektra or Nonesuch record was produced, Jac went to his car to see how it sounded on his regular car radio. He’d then fine-tune it until it sounded presentable in a car. That is why “Light My Fire” sounded so great booming from a car stock speaker in 1968. I have written here before how Dr. John said that the Spector “Wall of Sound” was sort of a myth, really just a lot of musicians in a regular studio.
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Suzanne said on August 15, 2024 at 7:22 am
I saw a bit on the news last night that some town or county in New York State (I think it was), run by Republicans, has banned wearing masks in public. As a cancer survivor, this makes me so angry and disheartened. During my treatments, my immune system was non-existent. I had to mask up everywhere I went (which was almost nowhere) because the smallest infection could have done me in.
Between this and the fact that I am a post-menopausal cat lady with no grandchildren, I marvel that the GOP Death Cult can’t figure out why former Republican voters like me have switched sides.
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Jeff Borden said on August 15, 2024 at 11:11 am
Suzanne,
The QOP is very pro-life. . .so long as it remains unborn. Once you’re outta that womb, they don’t give a shit. The leading cause of death for American children is gun violence. Presumably, a political party that just looooooooves children would try to do something about that awful fact. But its love of guns trumps love of kiddies by a huge margin. In the same vein, Louisiana insists on posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom while Minnesota just makes sure hungry kids get breakfast and lunch at school for free. Yet we’re going to hear what a crazyass Left Coast liberal Tim Walz is for championing those free meals as Minnesota governor.
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basset said on August 15, 2024 at 3:17 pm
Thanks, everyone, for the support and positive comments… we’ll know in a couple of weeks whether the treatments worked. Doctors are optimistic, so I am too.
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Scout said on August 15, 2024 at 3:59 pm
Congrats Bassett on ringing the bell. That is truly good news!
JD Vance has as much appeal as the couch dragged out to the front porch that has been sprayed by every cat in the neighborhood. An inspired choice. Much ink can be saved by just combining the candidates’ names to TRANCE. It’s an apt name since the cult is a bunch of zombies who don’t think or reason.
There were thousands of excellent t-shirts at the Harris/Walz rally last Friday in AZ, but my favorite was worn by a woman sitting behind us. It said PLANNED PARENTHOOD DOESN’T KILL CHILDREN – YOU’RE THINKING OF THE NRA
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Jeff Borden said on August 15, 2024 at 4:46 pm
Vance is an unmitigated disaster. The latest audio clips have him insulting postmenopausal women. Did Lumpy’s team not research this dolt?
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Deborah said on August 15, 2024 at 5:28 pm
As a post postmenopausal woman, I have no grandchildren and that’s just fine, my husband is a granddad. LB can’t have cats because she’s very allergic but she’d love to be a cat lady.
Does Vance really wear eyeliner? It sure looks like it.
I’ve linked to Brian Klaas here before, this is not a new one, it’s from Nov 2022, https://substack.com/home/post/p-87753348. It explains a lot about Trump and Musk. I don’t think you have to subscribe to read it.
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Sherri said on August 15, 2024 at 9:38 pm
Sure seems like Ohio Dems dropped the ball on oppo research on JD Vance in the Senate race, because there’s just been a steady stream of crazy things Vance said on podcasts coming out now, most of it from prior to 2022. Today’s was about how prior waves of Italian, Irish, and German immigration drove up crime rates, on a podcast hosted by a guy who has claimed that feminists need rape.
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Little Bird said on August 16, 2024 at 9:54 am
I would indeed be a cat lady if I could. I occasionally house sit where there are cats and I have to dose myself up with Zyrtec or Benadryl every day I’m there. Kids were never an option for me and I’m just fine with that. I probably tick one of Vance’s other boxes as useless because I receive Medicaid.
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Jason T. said on August 16, 2024 at 10:20 am
Basset: HOORAY! F–k cancer. I hope you’re healing; the NN.c diaspora is pulling for you.
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Jason T. said on August 16, 2024 at 10:29 am
When my friend Clarke Ingram was doing a weekend oldies show on an AM radio station outside of Pittsburgh, we decided to start doing a Saturday 6 p.m. newscast in the style of CKLW 20/20 News. (“ANOTHER BLOODY DAY IN DETROIT, AS A MAN CROSSING WOODWARD AVENUE WAS STRAINED THROUGH THE GRILLE OF A CADILLAC!”)
I think we did it for three weeks until the owner got annoyed and told us to knock it off. (You can hear a sample of Clarke’s show here, but not the newscast; I don’t know if any tapes of that are around.)
I listen to CKWW online occasionally, mostly to get leads on Canadian oldies that I can slip into my own show. The station has recently been sold and the rumor has it that it’s going to flip to South Asian programming.
CKWW doesn’t have any DJs, which to me is part of the fun; otherwise, I might as well listen to Spotify.
Even though I do an oldies show, I don’t generally listen to ’60s and ’70s music during the week; when I do, I do love hearing them on low-fidelity AM. There’s a shortwave station in Florida (WRMI) that has started playing oldies at night, and if I can’t sleep, it’s fun to hear Motown or Stax through the static from 1,000 miles away.
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Jeff Borden said on August 16, 2024 at 12:03 pm
George Will in the Washington Post is first out of the gate trashing Chicago as a blue nightmare in advance of the DNC. I anticipate scores more as we’re used to being both the punching bag and the boogeyman to right-wingers.
Well, I’ll take my blue urban hell hole over Floriduh aby day. The Sarasota newspaper reports a dumpster full of “woke” books was carted off before students return to New University, which DeathSantis hopes will emulate the christofascist model of Hillsdale College. The guv’s spokesperson was absolutely gleeful at the trashing of gender studies texts and other woke works. I guess we’re lucky they didn’t burn ’em.
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Dexter Friend said on August 16, 2024 at 2:08 pm
I once had a brief email exchange with Col. Jack Jacobs, asking him about his recommendations regarding books about the USA’s war in Southeast Asia. (His #1 was “Fortunate Son”.) Jack Jacobs went through hell and well… read for yourself; but he is not in Miriam’s class, so Trump regards him as shit. Yeah, but you read this and make your own call. Goddam! I was furious this morning listening to that bastard rapist.
Citation: Congressional Medal of Honor recipient
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. Jacobs (then 1st Lt.), Infantry, distinguished himself while serving as assistant battalion adviser, 2d Battalion, 16th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The 2d Battalion was advancing to contact when it came under intense heavy machine-gun and mortar fire from a Viet Cong battalion positioned in well-fortified bunkers. As the 2d Battalion deployed into attack formation, its advance was halted by devastating fire. Capt. Jacobs, with the command element of the lead company, called for and directed air strikes on the enemy positions to facilitate a renewed attack. Due to the intensity of the enemy fire and heavy casualties to the command group, including the company commander, the attack stopped and the friendly troops became disorganized. Although wounded by mortar fragments, Capt. Jacobs assumed command of the allied company, ordered a withdrawal from the exposed position, and established a defensive perimeter. Despite profuse bleeding from head wounds which impaired his vision, Capt. Jacobs, with complete disregard for his safety, returned under intense fire to evacuate a seriously wounded adviser to the safety of a wooded area where he administered lifesaving first aid. He then returned through heavy automatic-weapons fire to evacuate the wounded company commander. Capt. Jacobs made repeated trips across the fire-swept, open rice paddies, evacuating wounded and their weapons. On three separate occasions, Capt. Jacobs contacted and drove off Viet Cong squads who were searching for allied wounded and weapons, single-handedly killing three and wounding several others. His gallant actions and extraordinary heroism saved the lives of one U.S. adviser and 13 allied soldiers. Through his effort the allied company was restored to an effective fighting unit and prevented defeat of the friendly forces by a strong and determined enemy. Capt. Jacobs, by his gallantry and bravery in action in the highest traditions of the military service, has reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
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Icarus said on August 16, 2024 at 2:13 pm
4 years ago, during the COVID lockdown and for our kids’ 6th birthday, we got a couple of kittens. Turns out my son was allergic to cats. It also turns out, just like his dairy allergy, he grew out of it. apparently, it isn’t uncommon for someone who is allergic to felines to be used to…unallergic to their own cat.
it makes me wonder how many people got rid of a cat because of a relationship, like my Aunt B back in the 80s.
My Aunt loved cats but gave hers up when she met her 2nd husband, she gave them to us (this was when I was about my kids’ age now). Over the years Uncle M has been in plenty of homes where cats lived and he’s shown no sign of any allergies. I think it was just Guys can only have dogs, cats are for women and tHe gYAYs.
I also think Aunt B was relieved to get rid of a cat and what comes with that duty.
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Brandon said on August 16, 2024 at 2:50 pm
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune article on the book dumping.
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Deborah said on August 16, 2024 at 6:20 pm
We got our cats almost 25 years ago. While LB had some cat allergies back then, my husband didn’t become allergic until a few years later and it got worse and worse. When the sibling mate cats passed on after 15 and 17 years with us it became apparent that we can never have cats again, unfortunately. My husband was miserable the last few years but we kept them anyway until they naturally passed. We don’t want to ever put him through that again.
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Worriedman said on August 17, 2024 at 7:28 am
Hello!
Long time reader , first time etc.
If your car radio has an auxiliary jack a Bluetooth receiver for an auxiliary jack will get you connected. Under 20 bucks, available anywhere.
Hooking up my s24 to my Subaru Forester took a 10 minute ritual every morning involving begging, pleading and much cursing as I tried to connect. I considered small animal sacrifice.
The receiver I got hooks up the minute I get in the car.
Great site I’ve been reading you for a dozen years. Southwest Ohio boy, born in Reynoldsburg, raised in a giant cornfield outside of Xenia Ohio with lots of relatives in Michigan. I read your stuff and I can relate.
Thank you for your service!
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Little Bird said on August 17, 2024 at 11:41 am
Apparently if you feed a cat eggs from chickens that have exposure to cats the eggs have a certain protein that makes the cats fur, dander, and saliva less allergenic to people with cat allergies. They even sell (expensive) cat food that already has the egg proteins. You can probably buy eggs locally, from a place that has cats too, powder them and sprinkle them on your cats regular food.
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Dorothy said on August 17, 2024 at 1:17 pm
Oooh Worriedman I hope that solution works for Nancy. I’ve been trying to think up a solution for her but I’m not a tech-y person. It’s nice to hear from you! I was just in Reynoldsburg the other day at the Joann Fabrics. And I used to live in Beavercreek which is practically next door to Xenia.
Basset forgive me but there have been some long spells here and there that I did not come here to read and stay current with all the Nancy folks. Can you please remind me what kind of cancer you were diagnosed with? I’m delighted to hear you rang the bell and are hopefully all done with any cancer shit from now on!
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basset said on August 17, 2024 at 2:41 pm
Prostate, thanks for asking… early stage, trying to knock it down before it spreads. We’ll know in a couple or three weeks if the treatments worked.
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Deborah said on August 17, 2024 at 3:12 pm
The NYT today thinks the threat of violence in Chicago is going to come from the left during the convention. Do I think there are possible out of control leftist that could do damage? Yes possibly, but just like on January 6th, I think the violence is more likely to come from the right if there even is any violence. On January 6th certain people including Trump thought it would come from “antifa” and that the Trumpers would save the day, they couldn’t have been more wrong.
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Julie Robinson said on August 17, 2024 at 4:15 pm
Prostate cancer is one of the stalking horses in mu husband’s family. He gets checked carefully and frequently. Glad to help spread the word that it’s slow-growing and treatable.
Today’s fun on our bathroom project involved removing every single item from my closet so new backing board could be installed. The leak had gone through many layers of wall. I have very bad feelings towards the previous homeowner.
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Sherri said on August 17, 2024 at 10:06 pm
Frank Luntz can’t find undecided voters under 27 for a focus group: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4828533-luntz-trump-committing-political-suicide-harris-intensity-advantage/
This is why I’ve always said chasing those centrist white male votes is a losing strategy for Dems. You might get some, but you’ll never get energy from them. You need to go where the energy and intensity are, to create a snowball effect.
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ROGirl said on August 18, 2024 at 7:34 am
I’m looking forward to the Trump traveling shit show stage a campaign event in Howell on Tuesday. Maybe he will draw some of the locals who are nostalgic for the old days of KKK rallies and cross burnings in that neck of the woods.
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Suzanne said on August 18, 2024 at 5:16 pm
A friend sent me this interview by Terry Gross with Vance in 2016. Vance was either a complete liar & conman from the start or he’s had a total mental breakdown. It is hard to grasp that this is the same person that is now running for VP.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=VDUxcjxAoO0&feature=shared
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