By Danny Kingsbury 

Although we are in the midst of winter, ask anyone in Atlantic Canada, its been another good week from my view.

Monday I met on Skype (my new best technology friend) with the incredible Winnipeg morning show. Dave Wheeler, Rena Jae, new guy Dave Turnbull and Kelly Butler. It’s a unique show that is on both radio and City TV. PD Craig Pfeifer led a fun and productive session focussed on the players. (We use sports terms a lot in this biz). To be a good PD, you have to be part psychologist and part cheerleader. And ….Craig is smart enough to know when to get out of the way with great talent and let ’em go!!!!

I had 2 more Skype meetings on Monday, one with HQ and another talking about the Fort McMurray building and when the water damage from a flood earlier this year was going to get finished.

I taped the Grammys on Sunday but heard enough about them during the day Monday, so didn’t watch any of it. I saw all the highlights on-line. Metallica and Gaga performance was good after hearing the right version. Sound guy in trouble. As a music fan, I appreciate the whole thing.

Valentines Day was Tuesday, (easy for me as Dawn and I do not participate……except she put a card in my lunch) I had good meetings with Craig to follow-up and later chatted with our Sudbury PD, Kevin Britton. I think Kevin is terrific. Great skills, great passion and a very funny guy. His travel stories are too weird not to believe. I also had another meeting with a large group in Toronto about a large project. It’s always a challenge to have so many smart people all working on a project because everyone is right…..funnelling that energy into action is the goal.

I had a Women in Rogers mentoring circle meeting on Wednesday morning at 9a…….but to be at early (ish) meetings I need to adjust my mornings…..of course, we had a surprising 28cm of snow overnight and into the morning drive. I’m up at 5:45a everyday but always workout and eat breakfast and listen to radio before I hit the road. I left around 7:30 to be at a 9a meeting (normally a 45 minute drive) and 2 hours later, I gave up and went to work. As did 90% of the participants. I was able however to attend a DH meeting in Ottawa. I love the people I work with. We are a very strong, broadcast experienced group of people who are superb at what they do. 4 PD’s, 2 GSM’s, Promotion, Engineer, Finance, Creative, and Admin. It’s a terrific support group.

At noon, I was at a Snowsuit Fund Board meeting at the depot. Speaking of bright people. Another successful campaign this year handing out 17,000 snowsuits to children. This is my first year on the board and loved it. In the afternoon, I met with Dana in HR for a bi-weekly catch up. HR is a crazy department. So many stories…….sorry can’t share any.

Thursday morning drive was no better than Wednesday……tons of snow and 2 hours in to Thurston. I have a regular meeting with Cathy Pendrith, our creative director and we caught up on life and the week. Lots of grand baby talk I admit.

I also had the chance to catch up with Steve Warden on the phone. Steve and I worked together in Toronto at Q107 in the 90’s. Always liked Steve and his work on the 6 O’clock Rock Report, a staple on Q. I will always remember the many superstars that went through that building to be on that show….one of the best was leaving one night and seeing Burton Cummings playing at the baby grand piano in the lobby. I watched, he said, ‘Hey, how’s it going?”…..cool. Steve went on to manage Remy Shand and do some TV Producing. Like all creative people, he has this desire to well, create!

Thursday afternoon I catch up officially with the CHEZ PD Robin Harper. He also does mid-days so we meet in my office after the show. The most useful part of this week was getting Robin all signed up for his retirement. It’s a long way off, but he needed to get started and was wasting valuable youth. Start saving early!!!!!!!

Friday was epic……clear skies, clear drive, even got a car wash on my Christmas 2015 card from Brady, (4 left) and a clear schedule at work. Lots to catch up on and I did. The Country control room got a makeover and I went to see the engineers basically finish it up. We cranked “Run like Hell’ on the monitors to test them out…….. good work boys. I learned on FB that my mother had cataract surgery on Thursday and then had extreme high blood pressure. My angel sisters Mary Ann and Rose spent the night in emergency with her. She’s good, my sisters are saints. My last call Friday was from my boss Julie Adam, a great way to end the week as she always gives me things to think about.

Can’t let the week go by without mentioning the Trump presser. Oh my friggin’ god…right? What a mess. I was also taken back by the 60’s scoop court decision this week. I feel so terrible and yes ashamed that we and our government treated indigenous people in that manner. That’s not us. I could not fathom  having someone come into my house and take my children away to live somewhere else……and then be terribly abused. What the hell???? I hope we are a better society now. I know there’s a lot more to this…but on the surface. Shameful.

It’s Family Day weekend in most of the Country. A crazy idea is to spend it with family.

And finally………the Scotties tournament of hearts Canadian Curling Championship has begun in St. Catharine’s. Adam is there with Ontario Champs Team Homan. Good luck. We’ll be watching. 

Thanks for reading…….