Christmas at WJTW - 1590 AM Ch. 01

I wanted to cry as I thought about Traci and Kimberly, but at the moment, I had to get my head in gear. As I said, I had a plan, hopefully, to turn around the economic fortunes of our area. If it worked, the bank had promised to refinance the loan on the land and give me a short-term loan to carry me until summer. But everything was dependent on the outcome of my presentation tonight. After that was over, I'd find Traci and try to make things right. God, I hoped I wasn't too late.

We looked for new businesses to relocate in or around Milton for almost half a year. I had found six that had announced plans to expand their businesses or relocate. Before we could put together proposals for them, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about Jeff Sterling and Sterling Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Sterling had just announced that he was moving a good portion of his manufacturing back to the United States from China. They started their search by looking at three states, California, Oregon, and North Carolina.

California was quickly eliminated because of super high taxes and crazy government regulations. Oregon fell out of the running after the riots in Portland. The total failure of the government to protect businesses was not a place Sterling wanted to go. That just left North Carolina. After reviewing dozens of initial presentations from around the state, three locations were in the final running. And the Milton area was one of them.

Our committee of six did the vast majority of the work in preparing our presentation. After studying the other two locations, I thought we had a really good shot at it. We had a four-hundred-acre industrial park that was virtually empty to accommodate a new manufacturing facility. The site was close to the interstate and had a rail spur that ran up to the property line. However, everything would hinge on our presentation in Ashville that night.

Being an on-air personality, I was selected to give the presentation. Our entire presentation was on six thumb drives so that each committee member could have a copy. I had memorized what needed to be said, and I only needed the thumb drive for the pictures and graphs that we wanted to show.

If we could entice Sterling Pharmaceuticals to choose our location, it would immediately mean hundreds of construction jobs. Once the plant was up and running, they would employ two hundred and fifty full-time employees. Also, Abbott Medical Supply Company had announced that they were moving the manufacturer of critical medical supplies out of China and back to the United States. I had already spoken to the man in charge of their search for a US location. So far, they have been very receptive to our area. In fact, they indicated that if Sterling selected us, there was a good chance they'd follow suit.

It was about a ninety-minute drive to Ashville. Still, I had plenty of time because our presentation wasn't scheduled until 7 pm that night, and it was only 2:15 pm. Besides, I wanted to finish the quarterly income tax withholding forms.

Suddenly, I was aware that no music was coming from the speaker in my office. Silence in a radio station of a few seconds causes concern. If the silence lasts for more than ten seconds, it causes panic. I was out of my chair and into the main studio in a hurry. However, the computer and the automation system were still functioning. The music was being fed to the transmitter.

I raced down the hall to the transmitter room, unlocked the door, and found that the main transmitter had shut down. At that moment, Jimmy appeared next to me.

"Want me to switch to the backup transmitter?" he asked.

"Would you please. I'll take the back off the main and see if I can figure out what's wrong."

We keep both transmitters running all the time, but only one of them will transmit our signal to the tower. Jimmy flipped the switch, and relief flooded through me as I heard the music, once again, begin to play in the speakers. That meant we were back on the air. However, I wasn't totally comfortable using the backup. It was an old Sparta tube transmitter, and lately, it had shown a tendency to overheat.

"Do you want me to see if I can get ahold of Scott?" Jimmy asked.

"That's a great idea, Jimmy. While you're doing that, I'll keep poking around in the main. Maybe it's something simple."

As Jimmy ran off to call our engineer, I continued to test the various components of our main transmitter.

Ten minutes later, Jimmy reappeared. "I couldn't get Scott because he's out on another job. I spoke to his wife, and she said that she'd get him to call us."

I wasn't happy about that, but I could do nothing about it, so I continued to tinker with our main transmitter. About fifteen minutes later, Jimmy came into the transmitter room with the cordless phone. "It's Scott."

Scott explained that he was working three towns down and couldn't leave. He had to get the job done before the weekend. But if the situation got serious at WJTW, Scott would come up the following day. In the meantime, he advised me to crack the window open in the transmitter room. That would considerably reduce the temperature in that room and forestall the Sparta transmitter from overheating. And just to be on the safe side, Scott suggested that I take the back off the transmitter.

"Tom, there's a blizzard coming, so you'll have to close that window at some point," Scott said. "When you do, turn the thermostat down to about 55 degrees. It will be uncomfortable for you guys, but it will keep the station on the air."

"I don't have to worry about Traci and Kimberly," I said as my heart squeezed. "They'll be away tonight. But I'll tell Jimmy to close the window when he leaves and to turn the heat down."

After I hung up, I looked at my watch, and it was 4:50 pm. I had to shake a leg because it was a good ninety minutes to Asheville, and I didn't want to be late.

"Jimmy," I said as I stuck my head in the main studio. "I'm out of here. Before you go tonight, I need to you close the window in the transmitter room. Then turn the temperature down to about 55 degrees."

"Can do, boss," he said with a smile.

I was about to leave when I thought of one more thing. "Hey, if you wouldn't mind, would you check on Henry across the street before you go home. He was trying to shovel his driveway this morning and wheezing pretty bad. He didn't look well."

"I'd be happy to do it," Jimmy said as he waved me toward the door. "But you have to get on the road because that storm is going to hit within the hour."

The snow began to fall just as I left town, but it was only of the light dusting variety. I was more concerned about the wind, which was gusting up to twenty-five to thirty miles per hour. One of those gusts actually pushed my car slightly to the right, but I easily straightened it out. Still, it unnerved me a little.

Fifteen minutes later, the snow fell harder, and the visibility dropped. This forced me to slow down, and I began to seriously worry about being late. Then I considered the mountain road. It really wasn't a road running through a true mountain. It was two lanes that wound up and over about a twenty-five-hundred-foot rise in elevation. Still, the road could be dangerous in the winter. However, the mountain road would cut about forty miles off my trip.

Before I made my decision, my cellphone started to ring. Using Bluetooth, I answered the call.

"Tom, where are you?" a slightly panicked voice of Stan Willard, the town Mayor and the Chamber's president, greeted me.

"I'm on my way, Stan," I responded. "It's only ten after five, and our presentation isn't until 7 pm."

"I know, I know," Stan was obviously worried. "It's just that I forgot my thumb drive, and Ann isn't coming because her husband fell and broke his arm. And I haven't been able to reach anyone else. So, it's up to you."

"No pressure, right Stan," I chuckled. "Hey, I'll be there, so relax."

"Okay," Stan's voice, however, didn't relax. "It's just that I heard that unless we bomb out on our presentation, Sterling will choose our location. We really need this deal."

"I understand, but relax; I'm only about an hour or an hour and fifteen minutes away."

When I disconnected the phone call, my decision had been made for me. I was taking the mountain road. I figured it couldn't be any worse going at my current speed. Plus, I figured the wind shouldbe diminished by the trees.

When I reached the turnoff, I was relieved that the chain was still down. The county would have a deputy put a chain across the road if they felt it was too dangerous. So, I turned left and began uphill.

As I started uphill, I was glad that I had my snow tires on. Despite the snow and ice buildup, my car held the road pretty well. And, as I suspected, the wind diminished some once I got within the trees.

I was really beginning to feel good about my decision to take the mountain road when an animal darted in front of me. I swung my wheel left to avoid it and was successful. But that put the car into a skid, and I couldn't control it. Then the car hit the low guardrail and flipped.

It rolled three times, and I know it bounced off at least one tree before I passed out. I found the car was upside down with the roof partially crushed when I woke up. The pain was radiating up my right leg, and when I tried to move, I couldn't pull my right foot clear. My driver-side window was smashed out, and as I felt the wind blowing through the car, I knew that the others were also gone.

Slowly and carefully, I assessed my body. I could feel both of my arms and my left leg. I could jiggle my right leg, but it hurt like hell to do that. My face felt damp, and when I touched it, my hand came back smeared in blood. I felt woozy and nauseous to the point of almost throwing up.

Fishing around in my pocket, I got my cellphone out. I quickly hit 9-1-1 and didn't hear anything. Looking at my phone, I realized I had no service. Then I noticed that my battery was almost dead. With all my preparation and the problem with the transmitter, I had forgotten to recharge my phone. It was totally useless.

It struck me like a thunderbolt. There was no way I was going to make it to the presentation. With a sob, I realized I had lost my last chance to save my radio station. Then the realization of my true situation came crashing into me. I would probably freeze to death trapped in my car where no one would think to look for me.