"Spend Time With Your Kids–It’s a One Shot Deal"
"Spend Time With Your Kids–It’s a One Shot Deal"
On Tuesday, June 23, 2009, the last Home Dad show was broadcast on WMPG, after a stellar run of more than 6 years and more than 300 shows. Here are Chip's farewell remarks which he read at the end of that program:
This is the last scheduled Home Dad program. Six years ago, I started it with my then two-year-old son, Marcos, as an eight-week filler for a regular program on sabbatical. Engineered by Madeleine Winterfalcon, the first few programs actually did feature stay-at-home dads with the hopes that they would share their experiences and thoughts on subjects like parenting and fatherhood on the air.
However, it soon became apparent that, like typical guys, they can’t be expected to stop and ask for directions to the radio station, let alone share their – yep, I’m gonna use the F-word – feelings on public radio.
And after eight weeks, the program Home Dad filled in for never came back, so we joined the regular mid-day public-affairs line-up on WMPG, addressing issues that impact children and families.
Jessica Lockhart started engineering and co-producing after Madeleine left Home Dad to host and produce Queer Talk, the forerunner for Lesbian Radio.
About four years ago, Jim Morrissy, then director of Portland’s access television network, asked if it would be OK to put Home Dad on TV. And after three years on cable my now four-year-old son Warren, who started accompanying me on the show when he was two months old, became a television celebrity in Southern Maine.
We’ve tried to give voice to issues that get little or no airplay in the corporate media. Live, on the air, we asked the Boy Scouts to explain how parents can tell if their kid is homosexual or not. Live, on the air, we asked Sinclair Broadcasting, owners of WGME-TV 13, when they were going to approve a contract with the union that represents the technical workers and producers at the station. After almost three years, the union got the contract within weeks of when we started calling Sinclair’s Baltimore headquarters on the air.
And when the Monsanto Corporation tried to stop Oakhurst Dairy from telling consumers that they don’t use milk from cows treated with artificial growth hormones, for over six months, Home Dad began every show with a live call to their headquarters in St. Louis, with the request: Leave Oakhurst Alone. Livestock spokesperson, Bovina the Cow, gave us some perspective and left a few messages, as well. And while we still don’t know the gender of Oakie, Monsanto eventually backed off.
We tried to raise awareness about legislation that would outlaw the cowardly practice of baiting bears with donuts in the wild and shooting them like fish in a barrel for what these perverts call “sport.” We had guests like wildlife spokesperson Baity the Bear and the heir to Tony’s Donuts for perspective, but the measure was defeated.
And to help WMPG fulfill its licensing obligations to the FCC to program in the public interest, during the Bush Reign of Terror, Home Dad played it’s part in keeping America paranoid by announcing the Homeland Security’s color of fear as a weekly public service.
I want to take this opportunity to thank WMPG Station Manager Jim Rand, and Program Director Dave Bunker for providing me with the opportunity to program free of any influence from commercial or other special interests. WMPG is truly a real community radio station.
Also, thanks to Jim Morrissy and the people at the Community Television Network for putting Home Dad on TV.
We need to thank all the people who have risked their professional and personal reputations by appearing on the show. I hope we were able to inspire greater understanding about your causes.
I want to thank my wife of 13 or so years, Arabella, for her support, ideas, and coining the name “Home Dad.” Thanks to my boys, and especially Marcos: I never would have done this show if you hadn’t come in to my life.
And I’m not a good enough writer to express my thanks to Jessica, who provided stability, perspective, and ideas that helped us record over 300 live programs.
And finally, I want to thank our listeners. Thanks for your support, kind words, ideas, and phone calls. Listeners are what radio is all about.
That’s it for today’s show … Join Chip Edgar every week as he looks at family issues ranging from natural childbirth, circumcision, vaccinations, home-schooling, and diet to trying to stay healthy in America in spite of an institutionalized barrage of corporate manipulation to maximize quarterly earnings. SEND IDEAS, QUESTIONS, THREATS, ETC. TO:
Chip and son Marcos
Tuesdays at 1 p.m.
Home Dad appears on access television in the Greater Portland area. The schedule can be found here.
A listener responded to the March 25th, 2008 edition of HomeDad, which featured Elinor Goldberg of the Maine Children's Alliance, with a blog posting. You can read it here.
You can also read about Home Dad in the March 10, 2008 issue of the USM Free Press here.