Pete reached Jack by phone, they arranged to meet for breakfast at Karen’s the next morning.
Pete was at a table in the back when he noticed Karen leading a man his direction.
“I’ll get you a cup of coffee then, black?”
“That’s right. Thank you,” Jackson replied, “You must be Mr. Moss.”
“Call me Pete. It’s nice to meet you, Jack, I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. I heard a lot about you and Roseville from Uncle Steve these past few years. He was really torn about moving to Milwaukee, but knew it was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.”
“That’s nice to hear, Jack. I’m sorry to say Steve and I rarely talked about stuff outside the station - I wish I knew more about him.”
“He loved radio. Did you know he started working at a station when he was 9 years old?”
“What? How is that even possible?”
Karen delivered Jack’s coffee and a refill of Pete’s Diet and Mountain Dew 50/50 mix and took their breakfast order. As she left, Pete smiled, “So you have to tell me about it, I know Steve never did.”
“Uncle Steve and my dad grew up in a radio station. Their parents ran the AM radio station in Ironwood, Michigan known as the voice of the Iron Range. It was 100 watts when it went on air.
“My Dad, William, is older than Steve. His folks took him on air with them when he was 10 for a live barn dance kind of program on Saturday nights. Steve is six years younger. When he turned 9 he took Dad’s place on the show. By the time he was 15 he was hosting his own show and running the board for other programs.
“I guess it was in his blood. He did play-by-play and became popular. But he had bigger goals than staying the north woods, which eventually lead to Roseville and then Milwaukee.”
“Wow, that’s a great story. So, Jack had you been in touch with Steve?”
“From time to time, but when my dad died five years ago, there wasn’t as much reason for him to visit. Of course, no one thought we would run out of time.”
“That’s true.”
Breakfast arrived and the two men grabbed their cinnamon rolls. After a bite and sip of his Mt. Dew, Pete used his napkin,
“Jack, can I be of any help to you or your family?”
“Maybe. I’ve been helping mom run the radio station the last three years and while we have a strong audience, our margins are tight. You have a successful station; in fact, we’re glad to be part of the network airing Dr Straw and Ken each week. I’d like you to be our consultant. I’d want you to come up for a long weekend to visit and get a feel for our station; look at the books; listen to tapes and help us figure out our future.”
“Jack, I’d be glad to do it. WRSE and WMJM are doing fine, but we have tight margins as well. Instead of a contract, why don’t we figure out a good time to visit and we’ll take it one meeting at a time.
“In terms of pay, if you can take care of lodging and maybe arrange a fishing trip during a visit... we’ll call it even.”
“Looks like we have a deal,” Jack extended his hand across the table, “as long as you bring two dozen of these rolls with you!”
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