LOCAL
A6 — THE OBSERVER
SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2022
VOICES
‘Tiny Bubbles’: The cure for what ails you
By SCOTT JONSSON
ANYONE CAN WRITE
Special to The Observer
There were just the two
of us. In a small airless,
windowless upstairs room.
Loud chattering sounds
echoed off the walls and
glass partitions. It was hot.
Smokey. Crowded. We
eyed each other warily.
Sam made the fi rst move. “I
will no longer do this! It is
beneath my dignity.”
Sam was the swing shift
disc jockey at our very
small town radio station.
Local wags noted its reach
was three city blocks in
every direction. This was
not far from the truth of
the matter. As the owner
said, admiringly, “Sam has
a voice and a face made
for radio.” Sam was bald
on top and sported a long
curly red fringe of hair that
always reminded me of
Bozo the Clown. He wore
stripes and plaids. His radio
voice was deep and sono-
rous. This came from a
three packs of unfi ltered
Lucky Strikes a day habit. I
was a very part-time station
“radio assistant” charged
with feeding paper into
the busy clattering Telex
machine, updating the
weather, fi nding the latest
Ag news and sweeping the
fl oors and cleaning the glass
partitions.
Sam held court in a
closed glass booth with a
large microphone fl oating
in front of this nose. On
his left was a double record
player. A thin spindle for
33-1/3 albums and a thick
spindle for the 45’s. On his
right was the studio’s col-
lection of records. Lots of
records. The range was
impressive. Classical to
Country to Lawrence Welk
to the Beatles. Sam would
play his music and read
out advertising, jokes, the
weather and local gossip on
the fl y. Always. I secretly
wanted to learn that gift of
gab. I soon had my chance.
Unexpectedly.
The boss decreed that
the station would host a
once weekly Music Ded-
ication Hour during the
summer. The kids were out
of school and would need
Nearly 40 years in the business have taught me that readers are bom-
barded and overwhelmed with facts. What we long for, though, is
meaning and a connection at a deeper and more universal level.
And that’s why The Observer will be running, from time to time, stories
from students who are in my writing class, which I’ve been teaching for the
past 10 years in Portland.
I take great satisfaction in helping so-called nonwriters fi nd and write sto-
ries from their lives and experiences. They walk into my room believing
they don’t have what it takes to be a writer. I remind them if they follow
their hearts, they will discover they are storytellers.
As we all are at our core.
Some of these stories have nothing to do with La Grande or Union County.
They do, however, have everything to do with life.
If you are interested in contacting me to tell me your story, I’d like to hear
from you.
Tom Hallman Jr.
tbhbook@aol.com
Tom Hallman Jr. is a Pulitzer Prize-winning feature writer for The Oregonian.
He’s also a writing coach and has an affi nity for Union County.
a wholesome distraction.
Local students would mail
or hand deliver a written
request that a certain song
be played along with a per-
sonal message or dedica-
tion. By way of example,
the boss envisioned that
“Tiny Bubbles” would
be dedicated to a favorite
teacher by an adoring stu-
dent. Pure G-Rated fare.
“Fat chance,” muttered Sam
under his smelly breath.
Sam was tasked with
adding this show to his
evening routine. This did
not go over well. I worked
the night shift during the
weekly Dedication Hour.
Sam was inside his glass
control booth. Smoking up
a storm. At the end of the
second Dedication week is
where I found Sam on the
verge of quitting. After the
“Beneath My Dignity” mut-
terings, Sam looked at me
for a moment. He quickly
turned all friendly-like, put
his nicotine stained fi ngers
around my shoulder. “I have
a great idea, Jonsson. You
are only here doing scut
work so that you can learn
to be a DJ. Now is your
chance! You will be the
on-air host for the weekly
Dedication Hour! I can sell
this to the boss easy. He will
pay your paltry wage, save
money and give me time to
work on my other shows.”
That’s what happened. I had
a week to prepare my on-air
persona and debut.
First, I needed a DJ
handle. Wolfman Jack,
Casey Kasem and Murray
OTEC awards
college scholarships
Braden Carson
awarded OTEC-
EOU Rural
Scholarship award
By ISABELLA CROWLEY
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Sev-
eral Union County gradu-
ating seniors and current
college students received
$5,000 academic scholar-
ships from Oregon Trail
Electric Cooperative.
La Grande High School’s
Braden Carson received the
OTEC-EOU Rural Scholar-
ship, which covers the cost
of tuition and fees for four
years at Eastern Oregon
University, La Grande.
“We are very excited
about the third year of
this incredible partnership
between OTEC and Eastern
Oregon University,” said Lea
Hoover, OTEC’s director of
member and strategic ser-
vices. “By allocating four
of our scholarships to this
program and leveraging a
matched investment from
EOU we can invest into our
local communities directly,
support local students and
return value to OTEC mem-
ber-owners through the
internship projects that
the students will complete
throughout their four years
at EOU.”
Hoover serves as exec-
utive director of the OTEC
Member Foundation, a
501c3 charitable foundation
formed to oversee OTEC’s
scholarships.
In order to be eligible for
the scholarship, applicants
must be an active OTEC
member or the dependent or
tenant of an OTEC member.
The scholarships are funded
from unclaimed capital
credits.
In addition to Carson,
fi ve other graduating
seniors in Union County
received scholarships: La
Grande High School’s
Bethany Brock, Isabelle
Kump and Carter Perry;
Imbler High School’s
Allison Stirewalt; and
Union High School’s
Audrey Wells.
OTEC also off ered schol-
arships to returning EOU
students Katie Brown and
Brianna Micka.
“We congratulate all the
2022 scholarships recipients
and are proud to reward the
students for their academic
success and dedication to
their community,” said Joe
Hathaway, OTEC’s com-
munications manager. “As
a not-for-profi t cooperative
and 501c3 foundation, one
of our guiding principles is
‘Commitment to Commu-
nity’ and we can’t think of
a better way to give back to
the communities we serve
and encourage local stu-
dents to be involved in their
own community.”
The most valuable and
respected source of local news,
advertising and information for
our communities.
www.eomediagroup.com
the K ruled the airwaves.
With little forethought, I
christened myself “The
Spin Docta!” Sam rolled his
eyes and muttered, “saints
preserve us from the young
and ill-prepared.” I had
others lined up in case I
caught a lucky break and
made it on the air. Alas, the
cold light of day diminished
their luster. Rock God,
Music Master and Purgato-
ries Devil were fi led away.
Forever.
Next, I had to read the
Dedications and put the
songs in the correct order.
The songs were the easy
part. The Dedications
were a total surprise and a
serious challenge in how to
handle the swirling caul-
dron of teen hormones, lust
and vindictiveness. The
requests began to arrive.
I was ill prepared. The
“Tiny Bubbles” requests
never arrived. Here are
some that did. I noted that
song titles wrote their own
dedications:
“I Can’t Take My Eyes Off
You”: To Carol, please show
some skin! From “Shy guy.”
“Happy Together”:
To Chuck, “from your
mistress.”
“Midnight Confes-
sions”: To Fred, I love your
younger brother. From
“Sneaky.”
“Only the Lonely”: To
Shirley, please notice me
in 1st period math. From
“Lonely one.”
“Hello Darlin’”: To Bill,
who was with you at mid-
night? From “Honey.”
“I’m a Girl Watcher”: To
Mary, I have my eyes on you
at lunch time. From “Four
eyes.”
“Piece of My Heart”: To
Rob, give it back. I have the
rest! From “Lady it’s so over.”
“Kiss an Angel in the
Mornin’”: To Foxy, great kiss
last night. From “Lover Boy.”
“Light My Fire”: To Ed,
the kindling and matches are
in my car. From “Your Girl
Scout.”
“The Letter”: To Rick,
go to your mailbox. A letter
to “Dear John” is there.
From “Cowardly Lioness.”
“I Walk Alone”: To Jay,
I couldn’t care less. From
“Your new ex.”
Flummoxed, I asked
Sam for advice. The com-
mitted bachelor said,
“Pause when agitated. Be
kind.” He showed me an
early request by way of
example: Play “Mrs. Rob-
inson,” dedicated to Barb, I
hope you drop dead, signed
Art Garfunkle. He changed
it to “To Barb from Art.”
Seemed easy enough.
He added an unexpected
lesson in time management.
He noted there were more
requests than time to play
the songs, run our ads and
listen to my simpering patter.
Cull the really bad ones and
announce requests had to
be renewed again if a song
did not play. This would
give time to cool hot-run-
ning emotions. Finally, make
some up requests that are
positive, uplifting and kind.
After all, you are the Spin
Docta’! and your prescrip-
tions may help heal many
lonely kids out there.
“Tiny Bubbles” may be
just the tonic someone needs.
Adult
Dances
Friday &
Saturday
Parade
June 6 - 12, 2022
Friday @ 2 pm
always the first full week of june
Ed Miller Xtreme Bull Riding
Thursday, June 9, 2022 @ 6:30 pm
PRCA Rodeo & Horse Racing
Friday, June 10, 2022 @ 4 pm
Saturday, June 11, 2022 @ 2 pm
EMMA EMILY
JENNA
RICKER ARNOLDUS DENTON Sunday, June 12, 2022 @ 1:30 pm
4-H Horse Show - Mon & Tue, June 6th & 7th
4-H & FFA Livestock Show - Thu & Fri, June 9th & 10th
Market Animal Auction - Saturday, June 11th @ 8am
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tickets are available from Queen Candidates
or online until June 6th
Horsemanship - Sunday, June 5th @ 2pm
Queen’s Coronation - Tuesday, June 7th @ 7pm
HIV isn’t
just a big city issue.
More than half of Oregonians with HIV
live outside of Portland, often in suburbs and
small towns like this one.
Good neighbors chip in to get the job done. And we’ve got
work to do on HIV prevention. People in rural Oregon are
more likely to get a late-stage diagnosis, and a lack of HIV
treatment may harm your health, or your partner’s. Detected
early, HIV is more easily managed and you can live a long,
healthy life. Getting tested is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Learn more and find free testing at endhivoregon.org