Sorry I didn't write last night. I got home quite late from work and was totally fried by the time I got here.
I will write about 2 more years this evening.
People are amazed that I can remember this stuff. Trust me: the years are starting to run together now, and have been for a good decade or so. Trying to recall whether a certain event occurred in what year is not that easy. But, I will try.
2002 was my first full year in my house. I was commuting with Patricia, who continued to live in her own place. Usually, I would take the bus or drive my car to her place, and we would hop in her vehicle and go to work. We were working in the same building back then, and had been since 1998.
Coffee breaks we were usually together, going for a walk around the block or something. From time to time, we would walk through the enclosed parking area at the corner of Lower Water and Morris Street (where there is a new building now) and look at the graffiti. Back then, the owner of the parking lot, the Nova Scotia Power Corporation, allowed taggers to create their art, and much of it was very good.
I am trying to remember whether it was 2001 or 2002 when the tv show Lexx ceased production. It was filmed in Halifax at the Electropolis sound stage, which was then across from my work. They sold off their old props and so on. I remember buying a replacement remote for my digital cable terminal for a whole dollar. The remote works just fine with the new generation of terminals. I picked up some other stuff to wear at Hallowe'en, but it was itchy and sat in a closet for several years before I threw it out.
I was still driving my crappy 1986 Turismo. It was seriously getting old. I remember the radio presets were starting not to work.
Speaking of radio, this was the year that CJCH moved away from the thrice-accursed Sports Talk format that it adopted in 2001. Over the course of the Labor Day weekend, CJ went back to local control. They decided on a revised Oldies format, but with quite a bit of talk to boot. For a time, they carried the Blues Jays games. They carried the Mooseheads games as well. And, of course, Rick Howe's Hotline returned to CJCH after nearly a year and a half on 780 KIXX.
Rick said something mysterious as he signed off 780 KIXX for his annual summer vacation at the end of June, 2002. He said he would be back at the end of August or thereabouts, "with a big surprise". I have always wondered what that was.
The Sports Team format imploded during the summer of 2002, but was showing signs of weakness for months before that. One guy's show lost a co-host, and he implored his bosses to get him a new one, only to be stone walled.
Finally, by the end of August, the format was gone, pretty much across the country. I have often wondered if that was the "big surprise" that Rick was referring to. The fact that the sports talk format was on its way out, and that would mean the Hotline could return to CJCH, where it belonged. I keep meaning to ask Rick that question every time I see him.
At the same time, Sun FM went bye bye, and KOOL FM was born. The much-vaunted classic hits format consisted of music I had heard so much, so often, that its entertainment value had long since been wrung out of it. It remains on the air, with some tweaking, 10 years later.
CJ had one major surprise that year. In December, they went wall-to-wall with Christmas music, and it was delightful. They would continue to do that until 2007, the last year of its existence.
2002 was a year when I got used to owning this house. It was a year of realizing that things were a lot more expensive with the house than it was with the apartment.
2003 would be a year where things got a little worse in many ways. It was also the year of Juan. I will tell you about that... tomorrow!
Bevboy
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