So, I'm in my office on a normal afternoon, bouncing on the
Spri stability ball I've recently replaced my office chair with, when an email rolls in, from a guy named David. He asks where the Iowa Channel webcast is, it's not giving him any audio.
Now, I find out later that David is an Iowa ex-patriate, just the kind of person who sometimes happens on our webcasts. Usually it's someone who's found or rediscovered
KCCK. In fact, this is one of the first emails I've received about the Iowa Channel that wasn't from a musician wanting to submit music, and definitely the first from out of state.
And, as it happens, Engineer Dave had just taken the channel off the air for its weekly reset. So, I reply to David telling him it will be back up shortly. A couple of minutes later, he acknowledges my message, chiding me good-naturedly about the timing, as we probably have some new listeners because of the Parade article about Lauren Graham. With my usual acuity, I say "What article?"
He scans the article in, sends me a pdf, then a few minutes later, sends me the
actual link, and I realize it is THE Lauren Graham, the actress, that he's talking about, and that the article is in the
Parade Healthy Style supplement to the freakin' LA Times. Somehow, Lauren and her Parenthood co-star and boy friend Peter Krause found the Iowa Channel and were listening over the Internet when the writer visited them.
Heck, most of the musicians whose music we play don't even know about the Iowa Channel, and here are people living in L.A. checking us out.
In the immortal words of Vizzini, "Inconceivable!"
Oh, and did I mention we had picked this moment to take the Iowa Channel OFF THE AIR. We are nothing if not Kings of Bad Timing.
Eventually, we got the stream back up and waited for the avalanche of listening from L.A. and all the cities where the article appeared.
Checking the IP address log today, I see that in fact, we have a couple people in LA listening to the Iowa Channel webcast, as well as a two in Atlanta, not to mention one in Athens. Greece. We're on our way!
By the way, this is not the first time a project of mine has been mentioned in the LA Times, believe it or not. For the story behind the "Emergency Richard Gere-Sighting System," visit my
personal blog.
So, David-thanks again for letting me know about the article. Lauren and Peter, thanks for listening! Let me know how you found the Iowa Channel, I'm pleased and thrilled, but a little puzzled.
