Amy Paige Fan Club Meeting

Once again, Amy Paige has saved my sanity.

Now I know a bunch of you have known her longer than I have, from her days as a superstar DJ in the Big Apple. And I know a bunch more of you enjoy her on Highway 16 every day.

But let me just tell ya... as a person... she ROCKS. She is the kind of person who always has a sunny outlook and can find the silver lining in every cloud she listens to me whine about. I want to be her when I grow up. Without the NY accent.

I can't begin to tell you the trouble I've had with this Christmas channel (which, as I look at the clock, I realize, went on the air 7 minutes ago. Here comes more hate mail.) Most of my headaces originate with the scheduling software, which is doing something that completely baffled me. The guy who's supposed to help me up in D.C. completely ignored my pleas for help. Kyle Cantrell spent some time with me on Friday trying to help me out, and it baffled him too. Although he did show me a trick I didn't know about, which at least speeds up the process of fixing everything that goes wrong in the course of scheduling a day. The last 3 hours I've spent working on it would have taken me 4 1/2 - 5 easily before.

Those problems aside, however, I was not feeling good about the imaging pieces I was getting back for the channel. When I turned it in I asked for a warm, fuzzy, "drinking hot chocolate in front of the fireplace" feel.

What I got, was more like a "drinking-beer-out-in-the-barn" feel. In your overalls. For some reason, I have a real problem getting female voices that I like in my production pieces. Trinity, from our Jazz neighborhood, is awesome. But I use her on EVERYTHING.

So bless her heart, Amy Paige to the rescue. She cut voice overs for me... at home, on her own time. They were warm. Fuzzy. Inviting. Not just hot chocolate. Hot chocolate with a shot of brandy in it to go down extra smooth. Drank in front of a crackling fire, wrapped up in a blanket. Everything a Christmas channel is supposed to sound like.

Of course, as I say that, "Grandma Got Runover By A Reindeer" came on the channel. I've thrown "warm and fuzzy" out the window in the first 15 minutes of the channel's existance.

I started building the production myself, and am excited to tackle some more of it tomorrow. The 8 or so pieces I got done Friday already sound light years better than the redneck mumbo jumbo that I thankfully, am not going to have to put on the air.

So as I count my blessings this Thansgiving I'm thankful for co-workers that help you out even when they don't have to, and beautiful people with beautiful voices.

Three Cheers for Amy!