Bye Bye, News Guy

"I'm gonna write a little letter, Gonna mail it to my local DJ." That's what I thought last week when I woke up to the sound of the morning show. I wasn't a jumpin' little record I wanted my jockey to play. It was a letter of regret, a little note of reminisce. The news guy, Peter Finch, had taken his leave of the station. His was the second departure in the past couple of years that caused me to consider the noise my radio makes when I am awakened by it before the sun comes up. I grew accustomed to the way the new guy ran the show, but having Peter there was a settling influence for me. Now I feel the need to turn the dial and see what else is on.
This isn't because what I heard in his absence was so rude or objectionable, I had a link to the past with Peter. His eighteen years at KFOG roughly coincided with my entry into the Bay Area. He was the voice that came through the radio one morning when I was adjusting to the Pacific Time Zone: "Hey, haven't I heard that guy somewhere before?" It turns out that this was the same fellow who used to read the news and special features on the radio station I listened to back in Boulder, Colorado. Some of the sting of the unfamiliar was taken away by that connection. It was there, at the University of Colorado, that I had the good fortune to play on a Trivia Bowl team with him. It would make a better story to say that we won that year because of his innate knowledge of pop music, but he was a good all around player who helped us make it to the middle rounds, where he was able to answer the question, "Who was the first actor to posthumously win the best actor Oscar?"
That would be Peter Finch. who has gone on to pursue interests in the light of day. I miss the sound of his voice.