“Shake It Off”

Tuesday August 22nd, 2023
From the messy desk of Amanda Eichstaedt…

Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On

My niece is visiting me from Seattle. She is helping out at the station, running trails in West Marin, playing my guitar (glad someone is doing that), and watching some of the “Comedy of Errors” rehearsals. She is going in to her senior year in high school. It seems like just yesterday she was a little baby dressed up in a lobster costume on the beach. Kids grow up fast! 

View of the KWMR console “Pearl” on a typical Wednesday for the past ten years.

She told me that when Taylor Swift played at Lumen Field in Seattle it triggered a 2.3 earthquake measured as seismic activity during Swift’s “Shake It Off” performance. Dang, that is a lot of humans jumping around creating a geological phenomenon. If you are watching the world weather, you know that the little Swifty quake is not the only impact that humans are having on our ecosystems. Glad everyone in Ojai is ok after experiencing an extremely rare tropical storm in August, and an over 5.0 earthquake.

We have had a bit of smoke in our air here due to the fires burning in the northern part of California and in Oregon, so keep an eye on that AQI this week, and protect your beautiful lungs.

During the time that I was down with the dreaded COVID (I am well and back to my mostly normal routine, but taking it as easy as I can), I did some inventory of how I spend my time. Self reflection often doesn’t happen when you are in the day to day grind of things. But being laid up for a week gave me ample time to ponder.

I have decided that after over ten years of getting up early on Wednesdays to hit the airwaves, that I am going to retire “Swimming Upstream.” I have two more weeks of 8-9 AM scheduled interviews, and then will be transitioning to producing a 30 minute segment that is likely to play on Wednesday morning at 9 AM. That produced segment will include some of the content that folks who tune in on Wednesdays are familiar with, including History with Dewey, Indivisible West Marin, Muriel Murch’s “Letter From a Broad” and other partner organization updates like West Marin Senior Services, the Marin County Free Library and other pals.

I learned how to produce audio during the pandemic, and it sure has come in handy. And it’s fun! I will also be assisting Jeff Manson a bit more with our “Epicenter” content that currently runs at 5 PM Monday through Thursday on KWMR. 

Jeff Manson has done such a great job of attracting new people to the KWMR airwaves that I anticipate some fresh, new, and entertaining content at the 8 AM hour on Wednesdays at KWMR. Do you have a hankering to get on the airwaves? Let Jeff know!

The rehearsals for “Comedy of Errors” are going great! What a fine and talented group of folks. And it’s funny! Come out with friends and see the play, you have five options! All performances are at 4 PM and you can snag tickets to the shows on August 26 & 27, and on September 2, 3 & 4. Ticket information HERE. Kids are free! My hat is off, and then back on, and then off again (depending on the scene) to Sharron Drake for herding cats. She is good at it! Breaking out the tube socks tonight for the dress rehearsal.

So stay tuned for other programming updates. 

Amanda Eichstaedt
Station Manager/Executive Director