On November 17, 2015 Fourteen Leadership Lincoln County members and their fearless leaders headed out to brave winter storm AJAX.

Our first stop was Husker Radio where we met Marcos Nila and Sherri Mintle. Husker Radio is the home of KX104, KODY, Rock 100, The Hawk, and Sunny 93.5.  Sherri shared with us the CNA (Customer Needs Analysis) sales model.  Marcos convinced a few of us to talk on Kody Radio and share our thoughts on Leadership Lincoln County. We learned that KODY is the longest running radio station in the North Platte area.  One question that was lingering inside of all of us was how exactly the radio handles all the phone calls during a phone contest.  Marcos commented “It’s crazy”.

Our second stop was at Eagle Radio where we met with Lewys Carlini.  Eagle Radio is the home of Mix 97, Q Country, 1410 and ESPN radio.  Eagle Radio runs the famous North Platte Post and the Hot Sheets. Oliva Brown explained to our team the aspects of customer service and sales and building lasting relationships with your clientele.  A question still remains...Who exactly is Skyline Liquor Man?

Stop Three was to KNOP which is the home of KNOP, KIIT, KGIN Gray Television.  We got to tour the new station, which to say the least was totally amazing!  Jacque Harms was our tour guide and we received some important values on life.  Jacque is known at the station as a teacher and everyone’s MOM.  Jacque is the news director and trains her team to move on to bigger and better things.  The question was asked “What exactly is the old station on the hill used for”?  We learned that it still houses a camera with time lapse photography that can reach all the way to Sutherland and well, a few turkeys call it home now.  The technology has changed to network that is connected by fiber.   Tom Clements gave us our own personal weather forecast, as we all were patiently awaiting AJAX to come and clean us all out!

Our brave team then traveled in the rain and wind to the North Platte Telegraph.  Awaiting our arrival was Joe Volcek.  Joe was actually in the very first Leadership Lincoln County which met in the evenings.  North Platte Telegraph moved to its location in 1981 and covers 60 miles North, South, East and West.  The North Platte Telegraph runs and is delivered no matter what the weather might be.  Even storm AJAX will not stop the press!  We learned the values behind the “Thanksgiving day” paper and what it takes from all the staff at the North Platte Telegraph to complete. The North Platte Telegraph has gone from one computer the size of a small house to numerous computers.  A question we all had that was keeping us all in suspense “Why is there a rabbit and a bird hanging from the ceiling”?  Joe commented that that is the most frequently asked question in all tours!  You will have to ask Joe for the answer!
 
North Platte Community College was our next destination for a fabulous lunch and a panel with Husker radio station manager Bob Villones, and Eagle Radio, Lewys Carlini.  Our team got a brief introduction from both participants on the panel.  A lot of questions were asked of our panel and we had some fabulous responses! Come to find out the radio reaches more people than any other media as well as develops a relationship with their listeners.  After our panel discussion we were greeted by Chuck Salestrom with his brand new suit coat!  Chuck presented our team with an amazing power point on marketing, which made us all think out of the box.

The rain was pouring down chips of ice, but this team moved on!  AJAX was not going to stop our day! Next stop, Pro-Printing and Graphics.  We were met by Tiffany Wood the Operations Manager.  Pro-Printing and Graphics is a family owned business that at one time was known as Clark-Hord Printing located on Rodeo Road.  Pro-Printing and Graphics now is located by the river just south of town.  Pro-Printing gave each of us a gift of personalized scratch pads! 

Storm AJAX had lost its power and fizzled out!  Why?  That was a question asked by all our team and leaders!  We were about to find out the answer as we traveled to the Weather Station!  We were greeted with a warm smile on a cold day by Chris.  Chris commented on storm AJAX, “Thunderstorms changed our snow plans today”.  It was a no-go as we had no cold air to sustain the snow.  AJAX moved to the east of us, where it scrubbed the eastern part of…..with white snow that we had all been patiently awaiting.  Mid-latitudes, upper level winds were the lingo Chis was using.  Our team couldn’t help but notice the gigantic screens with AJAX right there!!  Big as life! Cory, a meteorologist, shared with us exactly how the weather balloons work to capture a weather picture.  Every day,  7 days a week at 5am and 5pm balloons are set free into the atmosphere.

In closing Leadership Lincoln County had an amazing day, despite AJAX (Also known as the White Tornado) attempts to wipe us away, we persevered and had a fabulous day!  Thank you to everyone that took time out of their busy schedule for us to learn more about our town!

Patti Condon
ResCare Workforce Services