You're Still Here?

 

He's in shock

It's over, right?

We've moved past Election Day!

I woke up this morning and set about my business. I was sure it was over.

It had to be.

There are no more phone calls, save for the usual telemarketers who think I need an extended warranty for my car and maybe a few bill collectors.

The signs will be down soon. The experts will crawl back into their holes.

It's over. Praise...

Huh? What do you mean it's not over and probably won't be for a few days or even weeks?!?

Impossible. We have a new president today! I was sure of it. I was told, "November 3rd!" That's all I've heard.

Joe Biden had a big lead. Game over!

But...but...but...but...

(Disclaimer: Just a reminder that the proprietor of "Exit 55" sits squarely in the middle and has the ability -- unlike most -- to see good and bad. So there's no slant here. Oh, and he was up quite a bit overnight and he knows it wasn't over. The above was sarcasm. You know, snark.)

In some ways, my Election Night wasn't all that bad. I did "Doubleheader" from WGCH before heading to Greenwich Republican Headquarters. It was a good, comfortable atmosphere and I thank my friend and colleague Craig Jones for helping to corral (or attempt to) an interview or two. Marc Ducret was also there, and I was able to linger near him as I watched him put together a Zoom/Facebook Live broadcast.

Otherwise, there wasn't a lot to report. In truth, I thought we'd be off the air by 9 p.m. but that came and went and we kept going. It was getting close to ten when it appeared we were heading towards speech time.

Ah, speech time, also known as the part of the night where I stretch, crane, crouch, sweat and crawl to get a microphone near an audio source to send the sound back to the station. It's even easier said than done.

Oh, and did I mention my setup for Election Night, 2020? 

A mixer and headset and computer and internet? Nope.

A cell phone. That's it. I used my iPhone. In some ways, it was freeing. Set up? Nah. Breakdown? I just walked out!

But as we got near the speeches, I thought there was a chance that one of the candidates would be speaking via Zoom (he wasn't on-site) and I began to worry about sound quality.

I text Tony Savino for his thoughts. Some of this was news to him but I'm very familiar with running things off my computer or device in the studio.

I talked to Marc Ducret.

"You probably have 15 minutes."

I made my decision and jumped in the car. I apologize for my...er...haste on US  Route 1 (E. Putnam Ave.).

I shot in the door. Be it the pandemic, the pizza I had earlier or...whatever...I was basically winded.

I threw cables into the computer and tried to figure out how to get Tony to pull the sound off Facebook Live up on the board with the assistance of Bob Small.

Bingo. The sound quality was much better, even if everyone didn't speak.

That, alone, proved just how bizarre 2020 has been. Only a few races were clear, and one of those speaking stepped to the podium as the "presumptive" winner.

On the radio side, we were satisfied, though we had no sound from the Democrats. Tony, ever the pro, will resolve that. I could only get sound where I was.

Another year of Election Night coverage was in the books and, once again, I'm proud to say that I didn't embarrass myself.

At least I think I didn't.

Now it's back into my limited social media approach. Oh, I'm lurking. I'm reading it. I'd like to think there will be a certain level of regret eventually.

But probably not.

(Oh yeah, Doc Emrick and Rick Barry are on "The Clubhouse" tonight and I'm working overnight again. Then I'm producing a podcast tomorrow morning and working overnight again! Then I've got lots of other stuff, including two more overnights before I collapse next Monday night/Tuesday morning. So it goes. It's nice to be wanted.)

Did I mention Doc Emrick is on "The Clubhouse" tonight?