March 2008

Cable Shoots Show Down

From the time the show began on 11-Mar-2008, there were problems. The audio was not right. It just sounded like we were in the mud. I kept changing the settings on the mixer to improve the sound, but it just wasn't working.

Then, I brought Robbie Thomas on--or tried to. He was my guest and was on the telephone. When I tried to bring Robbie on, he could not hear me. Then suddenly, all the indicator lights on my mixer lit up and stayed on. It was as if someone were screaming into every channel on the mixer. And then, things got progressively worse.

I thought the problem was with my equipment. I could not imagine what could possible cause the strange problems we were having, but I was sure it was something wrong in the mixer. I had no choice but to put on a recording of a previous show.

I must say, I was pretty worried about the status of my electronics. I was afraid we were going to have to get a new mixer--something we can ill afford to do at this point.

Well, relief has come! The problem was a problem with my cable provider. I do not know precisely what the problem was, but some type of signal was feeding back up the cable into my equipment. It was powerful.

The cable company took the cable down during the night, and it was down until this afternoon. It is now back up and functioning just fine. You can't imagine how relieved I am to know it was not our equipment fritzing. The show goes on!

A Great Friend Has Passed

Michel Lefebvre of Qebec has been a real friend of the Kevin Smith Show for several years. On Sunday, March 2, 2008 Michel suffered a massive heart attack and passed to the other side.

Though I never met Michel in person, we became friends. He sent me e-mail almost daily. He searched the internet for stories about UFOs, ancient civilizations, and other strange phenomena, and he sent to me the stories he found. More than once, the material Michel sent to me found its way into shows. More than once, the material Michel sent me turned out to be my rescue when a scheduled guest pulled off a last minute postponement. Had it not been for the "Michel material", that night's show would have been a disaster.

He did not always agree with my views on things, and he was not bashful about saying so. I appreciated that in Michel. He was a man of great integrity, and he knew how to disagree with someone's view while still remaining their friend.

Michel is in a far better place today than he was in before Sunday. He no longer has to deal with the outrages of life on this side. And I am proud to say he was my friend. I will miss him.