Yesterday I drove to Warrensburg, Missouri to record some on-air breaks with my friend, Jon Hart, who is the Program Director of radio station KTBG-FM - 90.9 The Bridge. It's the NPR affiliate at the University of Central Missouri. You can listen to it online at ktbg.fm. Jon and I worked together at the legendary KY-102, Kansas City's great album rock station, about 30 years ago. I've been on the air a handful of times in the last 20 years and it remains fairly instinctive. I see that mic and start talking, usually fairly coherently.

Jon and his crew at The Bridge are working hard to create a radio station where the music really means something. It reminds me of the "underground" FM stations of the late 1960's. When you turn on the radio you hear something interesting and frequently new every time. The Bridge features the major NPR news shows and some of the public radio syndicated entertainment shows like World Cafe, Blues Quest and Car Talk, but most of the time they play Alternative music, frequently introducing new artists into the playlist well before commercial radio.

Jon and I both are fortunate to be doing work that allows us to feel like we're creating something new every day. Both of our organizations are struggling to survive from one minute to the next, but their survival is worth the effort it takes to move mountains.

Jon is an intelligent and insightful guy. We finished our work in the studio and went to lunch. During the course of the day we had a chance to talk about what it was like 30 years ago to work at the coolest radio station in town. I can still remember the energy and sense of accomplishment we felt. We were all getting paid, and certainly the management had financial targets to meet, but it was about more than the money - for all of us.

At the end of lunch Jon told me he had a surprise. It turned out that two of our other KY-102 colleagues were meeting with him that afternoon and would be at the station when the two of us returned there - and so they were. I have to admit, it was weird the four of us there together all aware of that shared experience and all aware of being 30 years older. What was great about it is that we had all taken interesting and worthwhile journeys since that time. Remembering the old days was a thrill, but we're all happy with where we are now.

We took a picture of the four of us which I'm posting with it. From left to right: Stan Andrews, Bob Garrett, me, Jon Hart.