Everybody thinks John Dale is just over there in the corner, quietly and unassumingly doing his Schoeder thing on the piano as we ready ourselves for our weekly meeting. Little did any of you know, he occasionally sneeks in subliminal cues as to the day’s meeting. Last week, all the songs he played were a prelude to the television themed speaker. JDS treated us to the Dick Van Dyke, Everybody Loves Raymond, Rockford Files (my favorite 70's show) and Muppet Show theme songs. I just thought you ought to know that sometimes there’s another level to the weekly musical meanderings of John Dale Smith.
The fun part about meeting at the U-Club is you never know where the speaker is. President Darwin Brewster called our meeting to order. Glenn Granger’s invocation courageously took addiction out of the shadows, celebrating his daughter’s one year of sobriety and demonstrating the point that we can’t deal with issues unless we talk about them openly. We sang America the Beautiful in between tasty morsels of pizza and cheesecake. We had guests from California to Jackson but you could only see them by bobbing, weaving and craning your neck around the support posts as they were introduced. Surgeon General Dick Ammonds announced the health of the club was good, which since we’re mostly Americans, probably means we’re overweight, with high cholesterol and heart disease. Melissa Nay announced that Lisa Smith (the Burcham Hills one) won the Social Media Posting prize of the week (#LansingRotary’s theme for this week is “what Rotary means to me). We were reminded again to check the list of what Cristo Rey needs and bring items to next week’s meeting. The list is in the Rotogram.
We had no special music this week, no Jimmy Buffet A1A, so no musical critic’s corner. We were, however, treated to, wait wait...don’t tell me... a high spirited and fast paced introduction to WKAR. Susi Elkins, Director of Broadcast and GM at WKAR, fresh off the red eye from California was our speaker of the day. Imagine being challenged by the opportunity to sell your soul for tens of millions of dollars, or to maintain the essence of your being in the public interest. WKAR was given the opportunity to sell its public airwave rights in 2016 and after conducting public forums decided to remain a faithful public steward. WKAR is one of 350 public TV stations across the nation, 110 of those being university licensees. WKAR’s broadcast history includes a national reputation for excellence in children’s programming and culture. The station is renewing its dedication to those principles and is raising the bar on quality, bringing back broadcasts from The Metropolitan Opera (ask Beachler for broadcast times) and introducing 24/7 children’s programming. The latter in large part is a recognition of how life has changed and that family time happens at different hours of the day for parents working the second and third shifts.
Children’s content is tightly configured to provide social, emotional and STEM components. The goal is to promote resilient, lifelong learners. We were treated to a number of short videos highlighting what WKAR does in our community. One of the videos featured the Playtime Pads (Ipads for 5 year olds) that were purchased with a substantial grant from our Rotary Foundation (your generosity at work). Evidence based educational content is pre-loaded on the Playtime Pads and then researchers track usage of the Playtime Pads by the children and their families to further refine and improve the electronic delivery of educational tools. WKAR is gearing up for the future, which includes programming for media consumption in autonomous vehicles (hit the recline button and listen to new episodes of Car Talk? while you’re driven to work). All things considered, President Brewster thanked our speaker in the usual fashion for her comments on the media, we tucked them away in our hidden brain and then stepped outside to enjoy the fresh air on our way back to work. (Spot all the references WKAR radio programs hidden in the Rotogram and win an insignificant prize of inconsequential value).
Kevin Schumacher's email is: Schumacher@glassenrhead.com