Thank You Jim

Okay, it’s been nine days now and we’ve all had a chance to cool down. Good thing too. If I’d tried to write this column last Wednesday after hearing about Cumulus Radio firing Jim Cates, I probably would have said something stupid like, hey Spike Santee and Cumulus Radio, how about you kissing my butt! I probably would have called them names like scum sucking pigs or something like that. Good thing I didn’t go there, huh.
I’ve had a couple of interesting phone calls this week about a certain local politician deciding that “local talk radio” was out of control in Topeka and needed to be reigned in. Surely that couldn’t happen here. Well it sure as hell did. From what I’ve been told, Cumulus wanted Jim to discontinue his open lines policy. It wasn’t necessarily Jim they were trying to shut up. It was us. Unless we wanted to talk about something positive, they didn’t want to hear it anymore. They didn’t want us talking about the helicopter anymore. Looks like we weren’t supposed to question anything going on at city hall. They didn’t want us talking about our county commissioners. I’m sure it really got to them when someone had the nerve to disagree with the Governor or the Attorney General. Wow, maybe I was part of the problem.
I guess it doesn’t really matter, does it? Jim’s gone and nothing I say here is going to change that. So instead of wasting a lot of time ranting and raving about it I’m just going to say thank you Jim. Thank you for all the help, encouragement, and support you’ve given me over the last couple of years in getting this column off the ground.
Thank you for introducing me to your friends. People like Marge and Ralph. Man I loved those two. I had the honor of meeting Marge at one of your remotes a while back. Very classy lady. Marge, there were a lot of times I had no idea what you were talking about but your calls always made my day.
I’m going to miss Vince, ol’ Bill and Jake. I’m going to miss the words of wit from Gene the liberal. And hearing from Cheryl the cabbie, another very cool lady. What would a day be without Myron plugging his web-site. Does anyone know why Dave Menely just stopped calling in? I always put a lot of stock in what he had to say. I’m going to miss Don from Wamego and Dee From Maple Hill. I’ll miss hearing you and Steve from Silver Lake going toe to toe. Then there’s John Clooney. Man, that guy can talk. I had the privilege of meeting John last Friday. John, I’m very glad to know you.
I’m going to throw out a special thanks to three people I’ve met through your show and have a great deal of respect for, Kim Borchers, Thomas Lessman, and Paul Degener for spreading the word about the rally in front of Cumulus last week and I’d like to thank everyone who showed up for it. Maybe we didn’t change their minds but they sure as hell knew we were there.
Jim, I don’t know what your plans for the future are but I think you ought to consider writing your own column and it just so happens that I know the editor of a really cool local newspaper that might be willing to give you a shot. Let me know, I’ll see what I can do.
And Jim, just so you know. There were many, many days that as a result of listening to your show my day was just a little bit brighter. Thank you for everything.
Oh yeah, Spike Santee and Cumulus Radio. Calling you guys scum sucking pigs probably would’ve been out of line but you can still kiss my butt.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net