This goes back a bit but one of my favourite guest blogs ever :)

Hi, my name is Eric and I was morning show co-host for 2 hours.

Yesterday morning I had the extreme pleasure of sitting in the SUN FM studio and co-hosting the Breakfast Club with Susan Knight. I will never be the same. I, like so many people, completely take for granted my car radio. I do not have satellite radio in my car – possibly because Susan would kill me and make it look like and accident – but mostly because I have that opinion of why would I pay for something I can get for free. FM radio comes standard on a car (at least it does now. I had an AM jam in my car all through high school and was somehow able to survive that and become the man I am today) and all I have to do is start my car and it comes on automatically. In fact, it picks up right where I left off when I turned it off last – I don’t even have to touch that dial. Volume is even in the same place – at least it is supposed to be. Somehow it is always WAY louder when I turn the car on than I remember it being when I turned it off…

Anyway, I was that spoiled listener who simply assumed that my morning show would always be there for me when I took my daughter to school and drove to work – it has to be. It’s easy! I even through that being a DJ was the coolest job in the world for 2 very important reasons: 1) everyone knows you and loves you – you are on radio for goodness sake, and 2) because it is the easiest job in the world. When I was a kid it might have been hard cause they had to actually spin records – although my record player at home could hold like five or six 45s at a time and drop them one at a time, and I could do that when I was 7, so really how hard could it be? BUT NOW!!!! They have CD’s and MP3’s and itunes and all kinds of stuff. Computers can run it all!! DJ’s just have to push some buttons and be loved by everyone.

Turns out I might have been a smidge off base – which is surprising since my wife will tell that I am never wrong. I walked into that studio like a kid in a candy store and then sat wide eyed as I realized that Susan was watching 4 computer monitors on her right that showed her EVERYTHING that was going on currently and would happen during the course of the show. THEN, she had a fifth monitor on her left. She had a control panel in front of her that had more buttons than my grandmother’s sewing kit and more lights than my Christmas tree. Oh, and she was updating the station’s twitter feed and their Facebook page, as well as HER twitter feed and Facebook page. She was answering phones and while she talked to them she was simultaneously recording the call and then when she hung up she would edit the recording into a timed playback so she could incorporate that into the show. She was talking with me, both on air and off, AND running a live auction of a sweet little cooking class for 4 with wine pairings from RauDZ Regional Table with proceeds going to Kelowna’s Gospel Mission. That item when for a tidy $950 dollars by the way – which translates into over 450 meals being provided by the Mission to those in need in Kelowna.

She did all this on one cup of coffee at the proverbial butt crack of dawn too. Oh, and there was math involved all morning…I was under the impression that there would be no math.

To be honest, I may never listen to the radio the same way again. From now on I will turn my radio off as I get out of the car. I will do this so that in the mornings, I can get into my car, put my seatbelt on, start the car, and then – with the appropriate amount of reverence – turn my radio on and be amazed at the incredible amount of work and talent that goes into making my face smile and my head bob on the way to work.

Susan, I can never thank you enough for what you do for Kelowna’s Gospel Mission and the people of Kelowna. Nor can I ever thank you enough for the privilege of being shown how very wrong I was…though you are pretty much universally loved – so I was right on that. 1 outta 2 ain’t bad. That’s shooting .500 and that will make the all-star team in any sport!

Warmly,

Eric Frans, CFRE

Turkey Tale

Turkey Time!

Do you remember the first Thanksgiving dinner you put together?

Like that first big job interview, a first date or first kiss, those first turkey attempts can be seared (or roasted) into your memory forever.

The big bird has the ability to bring out the best, worst and feathered brain in us all.

One of my most memorable bird experiences took place in the northern Ontario city of Sudbury. We had a tiny apartment on the top of a big hill, just under the water tower where in the still of the night we could hear the voices of the miners working far far far below us traveling through the rock.

High end it wasn’t, character building it was!

As a radio announcer we often have to work the holidays that others enjoy so it means many of my coworkers are far from home and pondering if KFC might be a viably alternative for Thanksgiving dinner.

I invited them all over to our house for a traditional “orphans” Thanksgiving dinner.

At final count we were looking at about 10 people plus us. So I did some research for the size of the bird: 2lbs a person was the final verdict. So at 12 people it was a 24lb bird give or take, and it was 2lbs to every 1kg, so I would be looking for a 48kg bird.  Off to the grocery store I went to get my bird.

Did I mention that it was the afternoon BEFORE Thanksgiving?

Yup time was tight, but I had faith I would find my bird, and I did! It was odd, I picked up that big bird and was surprised at how heavy it was.  I double check the weight and came to a brilliant conclusion:

The bird just felt heavier because it was FROZEN!

Home I went, I checked how long it would take to cook, did the math and figured we would be cutting it close! Now because the bird was SO big I would have to thaw it in the bathtub.  I promptly named the turkey Alexander (because he was going to taste great) and warned my roommate not to plan to bathe.

The next day, as it was getting close to cooking time, I was doing the math over and over; how long was this going to take? At this point I realized that dinner might be late, and again realized that that the bird seem REALLY big. I transferred it from the tub to the kitchen and once again marveled at the weight, and realized it was no longer frozen, so my original hypothesis was shot out of the water.

How big was this…

I checked the label again. OH NO. No wonder this bird was still available to buy at such late notice, I had bought a turkey big enough to feed my guests, and the miners whose voices we could hear late into the night.

My math had been off and my memory flawed.

Aw well, this just meant turkey left overs would be around for a while. The turkey was stuffed and put SHOVED into the oven. The table was set, the side dishes prepared and guests arrived.

Out came the bird!  Out came the stuffing!  Out came A BAG OF GIBLETS???

What? Back up the turkey bus, where had those come from?  After years of reflection I have figured out that the bird was still pretty frozen when but into the oven, when I had stuffed the bird and put my hand into the cavity I didn’t actually reach the back of the bird, but a wall of ice, that I thought was the birds end. Therefore I had never found the bag of giblets.

I also figured out that I had over cooked that bird by at least a solid 90 minutes, but due to the fact I didn’t have the oven hot enough and that it was essentially still frozen solid, It was the moistest bird we had ever had.

I have been part of many wonderful Thanksgiving dinners since that Sudbury Saturday night more than 15 years ago, and have many turkey tales I could share, but that story will forever hold a special place in my laughter.

I hope you have a “turkey tale” to tell and if you don’t yet, I hope you one day will.

Perfect Thanksgiving dinners are wonderful, but the joy comes from the fire alarms, exploding gravy, too big birds, and emergency fast food trips, that make us “thankful” on Thanksgiving that we have people to share these stories with.

From my family to yours Happy Thanksgiving!