I rolled out of bed much like usual… late and groggy. I made it to work on time, fueled only by a toasted english muffin.

And was promptly hauled down the street for a “little cleaning project.”

You see, the Promotions department(s) clean out their storage sheds about every two years. This involves calling in a dumpster, usually, and this time was certainly no exception. Fired up with inspiration, my boss decided that we, the Engineering department, should also clean out our storage sheds. Woo hoo, fun!

Hurricane (the “remotes guy”) and I hauled stuff out of both Engineering units all morning and a bit into the afternoon, aided by a number of Promotions interns from 94/7fm. We even took the time to sweep the floors and reorganize things a bit.

Did I mention we ended up calling in two more additional dumpsters?

Still, it was not quite the kind of work I’m used to. I’m home now, covered in dust and dirt and sweat, sore in various odd places, and more than a bit groggy. I don’t regret it, though… I can tell my body needed the exercise, and I managed not to overextert myself. (Well, the truth of that will be told in the morning by how sore my back is. Hmm.)

This sort of thing is most definitely not in my job description…

The first two computers to be named Washuu where I work were puny little NT servers designed to serve up a few web pages and also run a NetMeeting portal.

The third Washuu added file-depository work to those earlier tasks, and also saw the upgrade from NT 4 to Windows 2000.

The fourth Washuu has been in service for a couple of years now, actually. We’ve long since stopped using NetMeeting (though she was still basically set up for it), but we added hosting a QwestDex directory as well as the server monitoring system. But she was getting just a bit slow for the sorts of tasks I wanted to add to her workload; there’s also the fact that getting the last of the Windows servers off the public internet would be a Job Worth Doing ™.

So I took the innards of my former office workstation (a P4 2.4GHz and other nice bits) and built the fifth server to bear the name Washuu here… and the first not to run any Microsoft code whatsoever.

I still have some work to do. For one thing, the website needs complete revamping, and there’s the minor issue of not having any automated system in place to ping my phone when servers go down. (Oops. Yeah, that’s Priority Number One right now.)

Anyway. For what little it’s worth, check out The Lab, the cheesy little website I run on (the new, improved) Washuu.

Portland radio listeners have been waiting with bated breath to see, or rather hear, what KNRK will do with itself, post-Marconi. Two parts of the answer are now revealed.

One, the new domain and website, including logo and nomenclature. (By the by, if you don’t like having your browser window forcibly resized, I recommend getting a better browser and setting the Javascript options accordingly. Ahem.)

Two, a familiar face I was pleasantly surprised to see in the hallways this morning: Gustav! He’s back, folks. In fact, he’s (officially) the only air talent confirmed to be in the new lineup. Sadly, I can’t even begin to guess or hint at who else will or won’t make the cut… but it’s good to see The Mighty G again.

Mind you, it was sort of surreal creating an email account for him… again. Heh.

I wasn’t going to chime in on this, but our little Portland radio drama is national news now and how many chances am I going to get to ride the coattails of a hot news topic? Call me a mercenary if you must, but at least hear me out first.

The show in question, the particular event that got Marconi, Tiny and Nik booted off the airwaves, is a prime example of what happens when you try to make money off of pushing the envelope of tastefulness. Had it not been the beheading thing, it would have been something else eventually. (For the record: No, I didn’t hear the bit. I also haven’t watched the video. I intend to avoid doing either for as long as possible, thanks.)

This isn’t to say I think these guys are inherently bad or evil in and of themselves. Actually, generally speaking, I’ve had good rapport with them when they’re not on-air. But look at what their mandate is: To draw in listeners by being as outrageous as they can get away with.

Problem is, you’re looking at an audience that’s increasingly difficult to shock or surprise. KNRK has traditionally (and I use that word advisedly) been all about the young turks, the ones who pierce and tatt and get rowdy every chance they get. These are the people who made Jackass a sensation. How do you keep their attention? It’s simple, but not easy: You have to ratchet up the shock factor, and keep trying new, crazier things… and you get in trouble. The core audience for this kind of radio station admires people who get into trouble, especially if they do it while offending the “normal” people, the uptight masses. I’m not making a judgement call, here, I’m simply stating a fact.

They crossed a line, a big fat neon red line, and there’s no question that the Powers That Be took the only action they could take. That’s how the game is played. Any corporation in the country would be hard pressed to justify or gloss over what happened, so if you think it’s somehow a travesty that Marconi & Co are off the air… well, I can’t help you. If you decide to boycott the station or the company’s roster of stations, that’s your decision. I can virtually guarantee, though, that for every person who dials away because they’re gone, there’s someone dialing back in for precisely the same reason.

That’s just the way of the world, folks. That’s the biz.