Chapter 1 -- Not everything is perfect!
By the time I started cutting the grass it already been a bad day, with each pass of the mower I replayed over and over in my mind all the things that went wrong this summer so far. This morning for example I’d almost got myself into a fight with my smart mouth, inside I knew I was wrong but I would never admit that to anyone for anything. In fact I could probably give a full account for everything I’d ever done wrong, but I had a bad attitude about life in general those days, and I wasn‘t about to let anyone see my faults.
That day in August was a hot one, it was still about 91 degrees just after 4pm when I started the grass. But not cutting it wasn’t an option at that point I’d already put if off several other days, and it was to remain hot for the next week or so, it was a real hot spell. My Father told me if I didn’t get the grass finished that day I wouldn’t eat that day. Dad wasn’t always that strict, but with all the problems I’d been giving him he was just about at his wits end.
Then when I was only about half done, suddenly out of seemingly nowhere Dad had pulled the choke on the mower. Before I could even ask him what the hell was going on, he had tackled me to the ground. By the time I cried uncle, Mom had came out and managed to get Dad under control by pinning him to the ground.
When Mom said to Him “Ole, this isn’t going to help anything, you have to calm down!” While I crawled over to a shady spot under a tree to recuperate, Dad said to Mom “Emma, I just don’t know what to do with that boy anymore.” Dad continued to say “What did we do wrong? How can He always be in trouble, and now this? We never had no where near the problems with any of our other kids.”
Ya see, I’d been a troubled youth, and my parents just didn’t know how to handle me. I was born the sixth child to Ole and Emma Olsen of Holikow, Minnesota. By the time was I born, the then youngest child was 10. While my parents would never tell me this, I’m sure I was an accident. I grew up in the sixties and seventies which were some crazy times, it seemed like everything was being turned on it’s head, old traditions and the old ways were being thrown out the window. The biggest problems were on collage campuses like the one my brother was attending. Even though I was still only a Sophomore in high school back in 1974, the whole culture shock thing just seemed to hit me harder than my Brother.
I’m not sure if was the whole do good farm boy image that was expected of me, that made me so rebellious. Maybe it was that my parents had a “let boys be boys attitude” that I took advantage of, which had worked well in the past, but just not with me.
As I was sitting there daydreaming and trying to figure out what had finally pushed my Dad over the edge, is when a family friend Lenny Erickson came over to me and began to talk. The Erickson and Olsen Families of Holikow go way back, something like a hundred years, from the time when our families first settled here in Minnesota. Both families were from the old country and learned to cope in this new land together. In this case Lenny was the Uncle of Hans Erickson who had worked for several years on our farm has a farm hand, and Hans was like the younger brother my Dad never had.
Well Lenny told me that his Granddaughter Maria, the girl I had been going out with, was pregnant. And if you couldn’t tell from my father’s violent reaction, it was my fault. And for the first time as my heart sunk, I managed to admit my guilt by uttering the words, “What have I done?”
Lenny could have been angry, but he told me he was just sad. Lenny continued “I was just in your parents living room, sobbing. I had so much hope for Maria, she was to be the first in my family to go to collage.” I could tell it hurt him to even speak of the fact that his young intelligent Granddaughter who was to go almost directly into law school after high school, could make such a foolish decision.
I told him of the fact that I had pressured her to give me “it” has a birthday gift which was the only thing she could afford. And I started to tell him how much she had meant to me, and the story of how we met.
I had began with the retirement party that Hans had thrown Mom and Dad after they announced that they were planning to retire from farming.
I said, “The party had stared already and I was running late because I had been out fishing with friends. Maria had been standing in the loft over looking the gathering below, she was the only person there that was my age. She was getting bored from hearing all the stories of old, some of them we had both heard so many times before. Other stories we just couldn’t identify with.
When she had saw me, she recognized me from school and came down to talk to me. Prior to that night, I had assumed that she was just some Preppy type who I couldn’t get along with. Well that night after a long talk, it occurred to me that if she had been born a male we probably would have been good friends.” But at that time in my life I just didn’t know how to be friend to a girl.
It was about 10pm or so by the time we got done talking, my Mother, Father, Lenny, and I were sitting around a camp fire by this point. That day I don’t exactly know what happened inside of me, but on that day I grew up fast.
That day, my parents in usual fashion came up with a plan to save the day. My Father Ole had just signed a deal to sell the majority of his land to developers who had planned to build a new subdivision of our growing town Holikow, Minnesota. The next day he contacted the foreman of the project and asked that they hire me to help build homes. The foreman agreed and that year I went to work instead of starting what would have been my Junior year of High school at Holikow High school.
Around that same time Maria moved out to Idaho to live with my oldest Sister Johanna. My mother arranged that Johanna would let Maria work in the small family law office that Her and her Husband had started. Maria could finish school out there, and get some practical experience toward collage. After she had the baby she would be free to go off to collage and I would raise our baby, and no one would ever have to know what really happened.
The official story was I got some city girl pregnant while I was working on a construction site in Saint Cloud. While I was not sure how long this little story would last or if it would work, I played the part and took the responsibility that I had. The way I saw it, this was the way it had to be. My name was already bad in town, no need to drag Maria’s name through the mud, she had already went through enough!
What became a turning point in life is, when I learned that Maria had given birth to a beautiful little girl. She had named our child Hanna. All I know is my eyes welled up with tears, the tough boy I was broke down with the realization that my own mistreatment of girls had lead me to be the father of one. “Oh how God makes good out of our sins” I cried out.
With in heartbeats my life seemed to flash before my eyes. Since I had hit puberty I had been out scoring points. Not the type of points I could be proud of, those that I could have had, if I was on the Cafes’ sports team in school. No out I was playing with human hearts, breaking those of every girl I had ever known. The saddest thing was I didn’t even know what I was doing at the time. I was so self centered. It was amazing that anyone like Maria would spend time with a creep like me. And while I won’t have admitted it to anyone then, I knew everyone in town was asking the same question.
It had been nearly a year since I learned of Maria’s pregnancy I had not seen Maria at all during that time, nor did I see my young child Hanna, until she was two months old. The fact I had no contact with Maria hurt me deeply. I know I will never forgive myself for the sins of My youth, but even if I had the chance I wouldn’t change a thing, because if I did I wouldn’t have my beautiful daughter Hanna.
During the time between finding out I’d gotten someone pregnant and the birth of my Daughter, My Mother and Father were the driving force in making sure that their new Granddaughter had a chance in life. When Maria found out she was pregnant she had considered getting an abortion which was then legal, well my good Baptist parents could let that happen, and thank God they didn’t.
Has I begin to raise Hanna I begin to see how “human” girls really and the pain of my past mistakes really grew inside. I pray that Maria is doing well, maybe someday we will talk again. Maybe when Hanna is a little older.
Between raising Hanna and working construction I grew up fast. I made two important decisions as a result. First I vowed to do all in my power to give Hanna the best chances in life. For a change I began looking to the future to guide me to the right decisions instead of living for monetary gratification. Second I vowed to be part of the solution instead of part the problem, when it came to things like making the world a better place.
--- END OF CHAPTER 1 ---
Chapter 2 -- On the air in God‘s Country!
Not to long after Hanna came to live with us, Mom and Dad started a new job as Morning show radio hosts at the local Country radio station AM 1050 RWNB known as “God’s Country” which seemed strange at first but it worked, they were naturals and attracted quite a following. The way they talked about life and the music they played it all just came together.
Over the years when Mom and Dad did their radio show, Hanna and I were in the studio on a regular basis. They enjoyed talking about their family, friends, and other life experiences. Among their favorite topics was little Hanna. They even talked about me, their son Harold.
I really enjoyed listen to the little quips and how they analyzed the lyrics of the music they played, they really had a lot of knowledge. For the first time in my life I really started listening. Many people through out the area felt the same. While many other DJs were getting rude and crude, my parents were doing just the opposite. The “Ole and Emma in da morning” show quickly became a favorite of people who could pick up the station. Because of Holikow’s location and frequency we could be clearly heard in most of the Twin Cities area. The broadcast into the Twin Cities was intentional on the part of the station owner Gunner Erickson because of the aggressive nature the Metro stations to get their signal out to the motorist, and cabin owners in the area. Gunner felt that much of what they broadcast was negative. His concerned about the side effects to “hearing all that trash” was and would be devastating to the community, so he fought fire with fire.
I remember that, many people in the community thought Gunner was just being paranoid. But my parents truly believed in what He had to say. After the years went by and the shows on other stations got worse and society at large got worse, I came to believe the same way Gunner did.
One of the benefits of the radio business is sponsors gave you free stuff to promote their product or service. On one such day after the show, The True Blue Diner invited us to lunch to discuss a new advertising campaign they were about to do. I remember Dad got in a long heated discussion with the owner over politics. For awhile we all thought Dad blow it, when he went into “The Big Theory” which went something like this.
Ole says “I believe that the reason why we have problems is because people are unwilling to listen to other people. Most of us including myself are so self centered they don’t see the simple solution staring them in the face. Over time we have the same old problems and we forget to look at what we already know about them and look for some new solution. Most young people think that Us old folks couldn’t possibly know what’s going on with the things of today, and that’s just plain wrong because life is a cycle and the details may be new but the core issues remain the same. People who forget history are doomed to repeat it. At the same time many of us older folks resist the new, which can be just as bad as ignoring the past.
People look at all that went wrong in the past, like slavery, and the way women were treated, and conclude that there was no value in that bigoted, racist society. Well that’s throwing the baby out with the bath water to me, we learn from our mistakes.”
Dad went on to even more detail and the back and forth continued for some time. Eventually they got to the business part, but I had already started to think about my past, and focused out of the main conversation. The rest of that day I reflected on my past.
Over the month following Mom and Dad’s retirement party, Maria and I had became boyfriend and girlfriend. She was a nice Christian girl, and I was the opposite in all ways. But I really made an effort to be good to her. The relationship had continued to be non-sexual for nearly a year or so which was outline for my character.
Then has my birthday approached, Maria having no money to get me a gift, and with a lot of pressure from me, she gave me the only gift she could afford. Which looking back it was really the most expensive gift she could give. And for Me the gift of Hanna is far more valuable than that one night thing.
Part of me now wishes I would have had the maturity then to make Maria my friend, instead of my girlfriend. To this day we would probably still be a part of each others lives.
I have never totally forgiven myself for the sins my youth, but one thing I know for sure is I wouldn’t change a thing. Because if I had the power to change all the wrong in my life, I would not have my beautiful daughter Hanna today. It is truly amazing how God can make good out of a persons sins.
On that day after listening to “The Big Theory” I decided I would start writing things down, and keep a very extensive journal for Hanna when she turned sixteen. I figured it would both give her an idea of happened in Her younger years, and also give her a guide post to help her from repeating some of the same mistakes I made.
I remember it was the beginning of November in 1975 is when Mom and Dad started doing the Ole and Emma Show. By Thanksgiving Day they were old pros. On Thanksgiving day they played a special year in review show that they pre-recorded. One of the parts of their show was they way they personalized the news by telling little stories with almost every story. They helped make this crazy world seem understandable. And that Thanksgiving broadcast really became the essence of their show, warm family memories and the news all wrapped up in one neat package.
About that same time Country music begin changing too, maybe Nashville found God, or maybe the songwriters just felt it was time for healing. Country music had always told stories, many of which lightened the soul. Prior to that time Country music had rebel themes, which started to become Patriotic and Religious. Songs that once told of barrooms begin to be replaced by songs of family.
I remember well one of Dad’s favorite songs in the early days of the show was “An Okie from Muskogee” Which said we don’t burn our draft cards or smoke marijuana, and talked about knowing right from wrong. I feel that my Dad probably in part played that song for me, since I was so hard hit by that whole “sex, drugs and rock & roll” thing. Dad and Mom would then after the song played discuss what it all meant. Maybe then share a news story or family story to tie it all together.
Basically what made the show so popular was the stories they told and their positive attitude. Many things in the late 70’s and early 80’s were a mess. While the President talked about the misery index, Mom and Dad told great old farm stories. They put their hopeful outlook into every heart that listened to the show, and spoke of how are children and grandchildren would grow up in an even better world. The way they saw it was “yes bad things happen but they just overshadow all the good things that happen.”
I told Dad I wanted Hanna to understand what went on when she was young and I was writing a journal for her. So I asked my Dad to tell me about some stories on how and why he got into the radio business. The first story He told me was about “Gunner and the radio station” and here is how it went.
“Gunner was an unusual man in many ways, he spent hours coming up with concepts and ideas for just about everything. So much time he devoted to figuring things out, he never found the time to get married. Don’t get me wrong Gunner was a nice man, and very intelligent. In fact he could have had just about any woman in town he wanted, at least that’s what I gather from what I overheard many a woman say about Gunner.
I was too old to have been drafted to go to Vietnam but Gunner was a young buck and his number came up, so he proudly went to defend a cause he thought was worth fighting. When he went to the draft office the commanders in charge decided the young man with the Swedish name Gunner would be a perfect candidate for the position of Gunner in the Air Force.
So in 1967 Gunner at age 33, went to Vietnam to serve his country. He and the crew he served on had many successful missions, until in the fall of 1970 when the Bird He was in was shot down. A rescue crew managed to save him, but it was to late for the pilot and co-pilot. Gunner was badly wounded and was discharged with honors. It took the good part of 1971 for him to recover both mentally and physically.
Gunners’ older brother Hans worked for me on my farm at the time. Hans was like the younger brother I never had. In my small family I was the middle child. I had both an older and younger sister. In Hans family there were 5 boys and 2 girls, and by the time it was time to pass on the Erickson family farm it was only big enough to support 4 families. So Gunner and Hans went to look for other work, and one of their Sisters was already a school teacher. The other 4 siblings took control of the farm. Gunner found work with a company that built electronic components. And Hans went to work for me on the Olson family Farm.
My wife Emma and I had our first child in 1937 and a second in 1939. My Father Olaf passed on in 1940 leaving me in charge of the farm at age 30. We had a simple quite farm life for the most part.
Gunner on the other hand was always thinking and always busy with some project, some was for the company he worked for but most was his hobbies. He was a quite man and kept to himself a lot before the war. But in 1972 He was talking like there was no tomorrow, He became very involved in the community and in politics. He decided to use his electronics knowledge and He applied for a radio station broadcasting license. He was granted in AM 1050 KWNB and it begin broadcasting in the fall of 1972. He started it out has a news and farm station. Later he started playing some Country music to get a bigger audience. The station call letters Gunner picked meant K)ountry W)estern N)ews B)ureau
By the year 1973 The town we lived in Holikow, Minnesota was nearly a part of the Twin Cities metro area and the Twin Cities stations did all they could to have a better signal out in the lake country where many city folks had cabins. And with new homes were going up closer and closer to our old Holikow the metro stations were concerned with getting their signals out to our neck of the woods.
That wouldn’t have been so bad, Gunner wasn’t afraid of a little competition. What bothered Gunner and many of us was what they begin broadcasting. The DJ’s were becoming rude and crude, the songs weren’t much better. And Gunner believed that everything you heard and saw led you to act a certain way. He was very concerned with the cultural aspect of how media affected us all.
Gunner decided to buy a bigger broadcast tower and get a stronger signal. He put up the new tower two miles Southeast of town, and took down and sold the old smaller tower that was one mile Northwest of town. The stations signal was allowed by the FCC to go from 2,000 watts of power up to 30,000 watts of power. With the new tower and more power the station could be heard through out most of the Twin Cities area fairly well.
Gunner with his new and improve station were ready to fight fire with fire, in the Twin Cities radio market. He switched from a news/farm format to a Country format, and waited to see what happened.
In 1974 Gunner was looking to add talent and content to his station, and for some reason he thought Emma and I would make a good morning team. So he asked us if we would consider doing the morning show after we sold off the acreage. We agreed and that as they say is history. It’s where it all started.”
My Father Ole told me these stories when I told him of my want to keep rack of history for Hanna. He recalled a trip to the radio station one day, for me.
Ole tells the story like this. “It was just after that first Thanksgiving show was over when the show was really set on a solid course. It was getting ever so close to Christmas, the snow was knee high with a temperature that morning was a brisk 15 degrees above when the alarm clock rang at 4:30am it was time for your Dad and Mom to get ready for another show. At a few minutes after 5am they were in the truck on their way in to town. While on their way to the radio studio they were discussing what the show would be about that day.
Mom wanted to open up the phone lines and ask people to call in and say what the birth of Jesus Christ meant to them. “After all Ole it’s December 21st” Proclaimed Mom. Dad was a little hesitant over the idea, while he was a devote Christian who had been born again since his he was 12 years old, He had more of a quite practical faith. Dad said “Emma, we’re not preachers, And our show is suppose to be about family values and living right. A lot of people these days are turning away from God and if we come across as zealots we may not be able to get people to listen to those very Christian message we share everyday if people knew their source.”
By this time they arrived at the studio, Dad concluded by saying “what about those letters from “My” Brother Paul we have been doing, we read those almost straight out of the Bible but we read them in such a way that people who are anti Bible because they won’t read it, think Were talking about my Earthly brother Paul.” Mom than replies “I know what your saying Ole but it’s almost Christmas day, and I have been biting my tongue long enough.”
By now it’s 5:20am and they have a brief production meeting with Gunner. Gunner told them He thought it was time for them to do a community event to get them out in public, give those who aren’t from town a chance to get to really know who it is they are listing to. He asked them for ideas on what would be a good community event to host. My Father said “well it nearly new years, how about hosting a Holikow new year. We could call it “the holy cow it’s a new year already countdown” Gunner liked the idea but said he probably wouldn’t have the time to get it set up for this year, and then recommended Valentine’s day. Dad cringed, he has never been a fan of that touchy feely women’s day. Mom said oh come on Ole, Saint Valentine was a man. Gunner says well it 5:43 you two best get in the studio!
After get some records together and checking all the equipment out to make sure everything seemed to be working right, they sat for the last two minutes before 6am quietly waiting. When Dad wrote a quick note to mom, “I’ll agree to the Xmas talk now if you agree to no St. V. day.” Mom blurted out “You bet chya” right before Hans gave the 5 finger count down.”
I put in a remake of an original show log to give you a feel for how it really was.
6:00:01 Ole: Good morning Holikow and welcome to another Ole and Emma show.
Emma: On today’s show we are going to ask you to call in and tell us what the birth of Jesus Christ nearly 2000 years ago means to you.
Ole: Yes Christmas is near and we want to focus on the reason for the season. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Emma: Hans, what about you, what does Jesus mean to you?
Hans: Well I’m just thankful, plain and simple thankful. I know in my own life if someone had kept doing wrong by me I wouldn’t care about that person anymore. But not Jesus, He will forgive 7 times 70.
A call comes in: A Twin Cities business man calls in and says…
Biz man: I don’t see what the need is for Jesus and all the church stuff, I just celebrate Christmas as a day for family to get together.
Emma: Well are you a good person?
Biz man: I try to be. Why?
Emma: Well I can tell ya why, let me start by asking you where do you think you’re going when you die?
Biz man: Wweeell, Heaven of course.
Emma: Have you ever told a lie?
Biz man: well everyone has
Emma: But have you?
Biz man: Yes
Emma: What does that make you?
Biz man: Human
Emma: If I told you a lie, you would call me a liar, correct?
Biz man: Well yes.
Emma: Have you ever stolen anything?
Biz man: No, but what does this have to do with Christmas?
Emma: Humor me and you’ll find out.
Biz man: OK
Emma: So you NEVER stole anything not even an apple from a tree, or a cookie from a jar?
Biz man: Well if you put it that way, yes.
Emma: What does that make you?
Biz man: Let me guess, a thief.
Emma: correct, Have you ever looked at a woman with lust?
Biz man: yes, what man hasn’t?
Emma: Well, Jesus said that if you even look upon a woman with lust, you’ve committed Adultery of the heart.
Emma continues: Have you ever called someone a jerk or a moron?
Biz man: Yes
Emma: Well, Jesus says if you even say bad things about people, you’ve already murdered them in your heart.
Emma continues: You’ve just admitted to breaking at least four of the ten commandments, and Jesus says if you are guilty of breaking one of them your guilty of breaking them all!
Emma continues: So now when you die where do you think you’re going?
Biz man: I’ve done more good than bad so Heaven.
Emma: But Jesus says that only perfect people will be allowed in Heaven. That God can not even be near to a sinner. And that all of our so called good works are like filthy rags. So why should God let you into heaven?
Biz man: Ummm…. I’ve got to go…. (HANG UP)
After that conversation we played the song, “Amazing Grace” and went on with the show, that day many people were forced to think about what Christmas and Christ really meant. Looking back I’m really glad we did that show. Emma that day lead many to repent of their sins and put their trust in Jesus. But out of all the people that listened that day we will only know the full impact when we get to Heaven.
I asked my Dad “For the sake of Hanna, this book, and anyone else who wants to know, how do you know you will be in Heaven?” Dad replies “Well, I am a sinner just like everyone else is, but I realized my sins and asked for forgiveness from Jesus, and from then on because I knew that my fate in Hell was no more, I changed my life and began to live for Jesus. That is why I know I will go to Heaven!”
Then I asked Dad about the name of the radio station RWNB and what it meant and how it came to be. He explained “The call letters of the station are really KWNB but in some of the early advertising Gunner done, the way he wrote his “K” looked more like an “R” so people just started calling it RWNB, which Gunner started talking about “the Red, White aNd Blue Country” which was a perfect fit for this little Country station”
Ok, that’s the story of how it all got started!
---- END OF CHAPTER TWO ----
Chapter 3 - Meeting Mrs. Wright!
A large factor in writing this book was my want to see Hanna grow up right, and I wanted to making a difference in the world. Most of what is written comes from the journals I had kept for Hanna, which I gave to her on her sixteenth birthday. What follows is some of the entries through the years that lead up to what is happening today.
By the time Hanna entered Kidneygarden it was clear she was smart like her mother, she better knew how to use that 286 computer more than we did. The thing is she also had the same handyman smarts my Dad and I had, I guess she was just around good teachers!
On the first day of Kidneygarden the teacher showed a movie to help the kids adjust. About half way through the show Hanna began to cry, when the teacher asked what was wrong, Hanna replied “It’s night time and I should be home!” Well her teacher let her look outside for a bit, then after she was satisfied that it was still day time she sat back down and didn’t have another problem the rest of the year.
She enjoyed school and enjoyed learning, in fact she even looked forward to going back to school for the first grade. A feeling I know I never had. About the only thing she really hated about school was the fact that she couldn’t spend as much time at the radio studio with her grandparents.
Two major events happen in the first grade that really shaped Hanna’s future. First, she was upset to find out they had no sports opportunities for girls in Her school, so she convinced little Tommy to sign up for peewee football, and she went in his place disguised as him and actually made the team. She even managed to play one game before getting caught. After making a convincing argument they let her stay on the team for the year. And in the process she managed to make a life long friend in Tommy. The type of friendship I wished I could have had with Maria. While I admit Hanna’s lie wasn’t the best way to handle the situation, I have to admire her for the way she proved her point.
The Second major event in Hanna’s life was one day at the park after school Sara a girl I knew from my school days happened to ride by on her horse. Sara was heading back to her job at the nearby stables and when she saw me she stopped for a bit to talk. I was really surprised considering she was one of the girls I treated so badly.
Well I got to talking with Sara and she told me that she didn’t blame me for what happened in the past, and that she was really happy to see the good job I’d been doing with Hanna. She continued to say in a way it was like we never stopped talking because she liked listening to the radio show my Mom and Dad did.
Over the course of the next summer Sara and Hanna got close, Sara taught her how to ride a horse, and how to swim. Hanna seemed to like the horses better though, I’m not sure if it was the horses themselves or if was the day trips on horse back. At the same time Sara and I also got close and began dating. We decided in part because of Hanna that it would be best to marry and have a child soon while Hanna was still young. Plus we just knew deep inside that we were ready.
Hanna’s little brother Karl was born in may as Hanna was about to finish second grade. She became an excellent big sister to Karl. Our family was complete.
Around that same time Jimmy Carter lost the election I thought he was sure to win, which I really hoped would have happened. But after some time and watching Reagan’s speeches, I felt Reagan probably wasn’t such a bad guy after all.
By the time I’d given the journals to Hanna on her sweet sixteen many other events had passed and it was clear that my beautiful little girl was growing up. And I know she grew inside at the same time as her body did on the outside, to make a very complete and loving person, the opposite of me at her age. I was extremely relieved.
While Hanna was in school Her two closest friends were Jennifer which was called Jen for short and Tommy both of which lived close to Hanna.
An event that happened to Jen was recorded in history by my parents on their radio show. When Jen was 11 she had learned how to play the drums and had gotten to be very good, and by 16 she decided to answer an ad that was looking for a drummer in a local garage band of kids her age.
The kid who was the lead singer John had went out of town with his family and the other two members of the band who played guitar where put in charge of finding a new drummer. Well when they heard her play they loved it, and hired her.
The three had been playing together for a few days, when John came back. The first words out of John’s mouth were “who’s the chick?”
When they told him that she was the new drummer, something inside of him snapped. He said some rude, sexist things that really hurt Jen. She stormed out and came over to Our basement were Hanna, Tommy and Her were talking.
I had just came home from work and couldn’t help but over hearing some of the conversation, so in Dad mode I went down to see if I could be of any help. When I heard it was John who was the one who the conflict was over, I understood some background that the kids didn’t know.
John in many ways was like me when I was growing up, but what made him so angry was the abuse he faced from his birth Father. His Father and Mother were heavy into drugs among other things. His Father became an angry man and began beating his Mom and him, so one day the county works came and took him away. He now lives with his Uncle and Aunt. While he has adjusted in so many ways there are still many signs of a troubled youth that come out in certain situations.
I tried to help the kids understand some of what was at the core of John’s attitude. I later went over and talked to his uncle, who told me that the other boys in the band refused to play with John until he apologized to Jen.
I’d come up with an idea, that I would talk to John about going on the radio with his band someday soon, and while I was at it talked to him about my past with some select stories. After building a relationship with him and sharing stories and hope, he saw that I was serious and wanted to help him.
The next day John talked to Jen at school, the two shook hands and agreed to give this band thing a try. A couple of months had passed, and like I promised the whole band got to be on the Ole and Emma show. They all had a great time and for one day that country station rocked!
During the year after Hanna graduated high school she was trying to decide what to do with her life, radio or teaching. So she went to the annual radio convention with her Grandpa where she met Todd Wright who was just a year older than her. Todd had been recently hired by Twin Cities radio station “1180 The Hornet” as a talk show host, because of all the articles and debates he participated in when he was in school. They thought he was a good choice to help, “stir up the Hornets’ nest.”
They fell in love in much the same way Sara and I did, and before I knew it My little Hanna was walking down the isle on her way to becoming Mrs. Wright.
She eventually decided to pursue teaching. On Her first day in the classroom as a teacher, a smart-aleck student asked her after she introduced herself as Mrs. Wright, if her first name was always or never. She replied ALWAYS and don’t forget it! The name Always probably wasn’t to far from the truth, and the name stuck.
It was little awkward for Karl to be in his Sisters’ class but they managed. That was probably the only problem with Hanna’s decision to become a teacher. Maybe things in this town are perfect after all.
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Chapter 4 - Holikow, Minnesota
Things in this town got cold, and the once peaceful center of town turned into a battle ground. It was as hard as it could get out there, when what was once the path no one would go down became the place everyone seemed to be heading. and many carried big sticks and those who didn’t clearly knew which side there were on. For over a month the battle raged, the town was divided except when our Scandinavian boys went out to fight those from other states. Our Scandinavian boys fought with all they had to tackle the opponents. Well that’s enough on football, now back to hockey! “WHAT?” exclaimed Ole as he continued to tell the story to Kids that had gathered at the Diner, now with their mouths hung open, “Well what else would I talking about?”
The way Dad could tell a story. He told the kids of some of the great stories of days gone by including when He played on Lake Jovial in the unofficial city hockey tournaments “The Holy Wars” took place. Where each year the Lutheran Church on the north side of town challenged the Baptist church on the South side of town, and the two Catholic churches on the East and the west side of the lake to a hockey tournament. By the end of the season one the churches was considered the hockey champion for the year.
Lake Jovial is in the center of town and for about a mile in each direction from the lake is the boarder of our unique little farm town of Holikow Minnesota. With a population 4,367 Our town is located just Northwest of the Twin Cities. It was founded 1898 by a group of Scandinavian business people to helped people who moved to America from Scandinavian countries to start farms.
Among the immigrants that came here were my family. My Grandfather Olaf a man I never knew, came over to this country with his pregnant wife Lena and young Daughter in 1909 they were given some acreage in exchange for their work and 20% of all the crops raised. It was by no means an easy life, but it was a good life.
My Father Ole recalls is life as a young man on the farm, “Yeah know boy back then things were different, men and women alike had to work hard from dawn to dusk. It didn’t matter if you were young or old, everyone did their share of the work often it meant long days, from sunup to sundown. Most people even the well to do lived very simple lives. And everyone was grateful for what they had.” Ole continues “My Mother Lena was nearly brought to tears most years during the dust bowl when the crops were not doing well because of the lack of rain. I know she and everyone prayed a lot during those times. The thing that kept our family farm afloat was that we had horses and we bread them. Everyone needed horses to keep their own farms going.
Often my parents who had very little themselves would give the horses away to families that could not afford to buy them, and in the process we created a very close nit community. The sacrifices my parents made literally helped the whole community of Holikow survive.
It was quite a different time back then, our community was not much more than a grain elevator and a gas station with a lot of farms all around. The Erickson Family was a big family when they moved to this country. While Hans’ Father started a farmstead many of Hans’ other family lived in town and worked for The Anderson family (which is your Mom Emma’s family) at the new food processing plant they opened.
Emma who was born in Europe transferred to the local school in town when Her Father came to this Country to help oversee the plants operations.
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Chapter 5 - The end of an era!
It had been nearly twenty years of the Ole and Emma show when Emma suddenly got sick and was unable to do the show. She had come down with cancer, and things weren’t looking good. The show had been in reruns for some time, when the news came of her death.
The night it happened the DJ on duty announced it, the rest of her show and the overnight show that followed turned to talk of memories. In the morning just before the Ole and Emma show was to began, the station went off the air at 5:55am out of respect. It was planned that it stayed off the air until the coming funeral was over. Which proved to be the last time the station would ever be on the air.
The news was devastating to the station and community. But the truth was the ratings had been slipping for sometime prior to this because it seemed people had just “out grown” that silly old fashion stuff, in the mid nineties. So the decision was made to not return to the old local God’s Country format. After weeks of silence the station began broadcasting again this time has an affiliate of a satellite Country music station. The station was then known as “Evergreen Country 1050”
Over time the station continued to slip in ratings, so the decision was made to sell the station to Hornet Broadcasting in the Twin Cites. Hornet then turned the station into a second talk station to expand their line up. The station was branded “Tough Talking 1050”, or as the locals called it “Trash Talking 1050” because of the “hip” new modern talk shows they had on. Most of the shows were far from the Country values we had been accustom to on the old 1050.
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Chapter 6 - A crisp Autumn Morning
What at first seemed like any other fall day, quickly turn into something totally unexpected. I had been at work for just a little over an hour on that cool September day working on a new foundation for a building my crew was going to finish up before the new year, when some of the men on my crew begin talking of plane accident, or so I thought. Boss you have to hear this, is what I remember someone on the crew saying before the radio was turned up to full blast.
OH MY GOD exclaimed a DJ, a third plane as hit, we are under attack! We all must have turn ghostly white when we heard the news. No one on the crew as ever heard news like this. The generation before us heard the news of Pearl Harbor, but even than the rest of the world was at war. But this out of the clear blue sky, what is happening?
The pail sounding DJ told his listeners that the station was going to join news coverage from CNN. And for the next hour or so all work stopped, as we huddled around the radio listening quietly to the news coverage and recap. We heard of the forth plain that laid in that Pennsylvania field, at first every one assumed it was shot down by the Air Force, and with good reason. But then the story of the heroic passengers begin to emerge. We all took off our hats, and bowed our heads. I told everyone the work day was over, go home and be with your families.
For the first time since being an adult, I wanted to go home to my parents and cry. I shuffled my feet over to my truck with my head down. I turned on the truck where the station I had in my truck also was covering the news wall to wall. I turned through the stations, and not one was playing music, or engaging in small talk. Every station had some sort of news coverage, except one. AM 1050 was off the air, which brought back painful memories of my Mother’s death in 1995.
I again lowered my head, and this begin to cry.
After regain composer I started to call friends and family on my cell phone. First I called my wife Sara, then Karl, and then Hanna after hearing their voices and knowing they were alright, I ask Hanna if she knew why Tough Talking 1050 was off the air. She told me that Todd told her that station management felt embarrassed by all the garbage that was talked about on that station. They only kept it on this long because of a seven year contract with the network that provided most of it’s shows. Now with the news of the day, station management felt it was time to pull the plug on out of control tabloid shows like Gary Singer.
I told Hanna I sure wish your Grandparents were still here to make since of all of this. Hanna agreed and told me she had to back to Her class, but said she wanted to meet me at the True Blue Diner after she was finished with work.
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Chapter 7 - The Family Reunion
Big bowl of cherries
“Everything as it’s pits, but just like cherries there’s a lot sweetness wrapped around that pit. Now which one are you going to focus on, the pit, or the sweetness?”
“That is a quote from Emma folks”, this is what Hanna told the family in the spring of 2002 at the Olson-Anderson family reunion. Hanna had decided not too long after the attacks last September, that it was time for Ole and Emma type programming to return to the air.
Earlier Hanna and other family members were discussing what wrong with the terrorists, which led to what’s wrong with America? While most everyone at the reunion came to the conclusion, Terrorism is a direct result of the miserable living conditions of the people in the Middle East. While the leaders may have an agenda motivated by power, the foot soldiers are lead by a since of hopelessness. The cunning leaders of these terror groups take advantage of these peoples frustration with their own lives, and then feed them with misinformation. America becomes the easy target, after all they have no real power where they live.
Someone said well America has it’s own problems, we know were not perfect…
In a strange sort of way, the terrorists did destroy America, only not as they had plan. I believe this as pulled us together and will make us stronger. What they did destroy is downward spiral we are on…
told everyone “I have a plan, I want to do a radio show like Grandma and Grandpa use to do, and I want to get the old station back. As Grandma told me to do, “I want to focus on sweet cherries”…
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Chapter 8 - When the cows came home!
On that cold February day a Twin Cities business man came to town to
meet with Todd. The business man was Doug Linsky the owner of Dakota Deli a fast food sandwich place that had 15 locations in and around the Twin Cities area. Doug had been along time sponsor of Todd’s talk show, and said he was interested in helping God’s Country get back on the air.
Doug walks into the True Blue Diner for his meeting with Todd, when He spots him he walks over and says to Todd, “My this is a lovely quaint little town you have here Todd.” Why thank you answers Todd. Doug I would like you to meet my wife Hanna. After shaking hands the three sit down and began talking.
Todd let me tell you, I have always thought that we need more quality
entertainment, not all the junk that Hollywood has been putting out.
Doug continues, I remember hearing Ole and Emma on the radio and that was a good program. I admit I wasn’t much of a Country fan before, but I started tuning in to listen to them talk and have a good time. The more I listened to the music the more I loved it with it’s simple honest to goodness messages and the fact that all the songs told a little story was great. And when they would tell their little stories
it all made sense.
I remember that they talked about their “no so little anymore Hanna”
and in the way they made their radio audience part of their family it
made them seem like they were Grandma and Grandpa calling in on the phone to talk to me, I don’t know how they did it!
At this point Hanna is having a hard time holding back the tears, so
Todd puts his arm around Her and says to Doug, I feel the same way.
The time I had getting to them personally was unbelievable, and I’m
sure glad they gave Hanna such a good start. I wouldn’t have it any
other way!
Hanna manages to say, That’s why Karl and I want to start a new show to rekindle that old radio relationship, this Country really needs it now after those attacks almost a year and a half ago.
Hanna I agree, Doug says has He begins to lay out his plan. I have
wanted to be involved in the radio business for some time now, and
since the restaurant business has been so good to me I was able to
invest into a partnership that does online radio, called Richwith
Communications. Richwith provides the technical end of the online
radio stations and works deals with other groups who want to do radio.
It’s primary goal is to get as many voices on the air has possible,
they started to compete with large conglomerates like Clear Channel
that own most of the radio dial. Todd replies, YEAH!
Doug continues, don’t get me wrong I think they do a fine job and I’ve
even advertised with them, my only point is it’s hard for the little
guy to compete that’s why I see so much promise in the internet!
I also have invested some in Howducky Productions which produces new radio dramas, they have been partnered with Richwith since the
beginning. They have done some syndication and have launch their own family friendly radio station called HowDUCKY! They are in the process of building up local stations so they can both play some of their show on them and also get new talent, and when they heard about RWNB they wanted to be a part of it.
With those two companies committed to this project and I will put some of my own money into it, we are off to a good start. Plus with Todd has station Manager, this is very doable. All we need to do now is
approach the Owners of the station that Todd works for with a deal to
lease out their FM station which is the old God’s Country station. Now
here I have a bunch of paper work for us to go over.
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