As discs spin, record may fall
ERNEST A. JASMIN; Staff writer
Four hours into his shift at KGHP-FM, and disc jockey Spencer “the Walrus” Abersold couldn’t hold it any longer.
Normally, his full bladder didn’t warrant much attention – just a short stroll to the nearby bathroom. But on this particular Friday afternoon, the 36-year-old DJ and station manager was required, by rule, to shout out his intentions before taking care of business. A few staff members and volunteers were on standby armed with a stopwatch for just such an occasion.
“This is the moment we’ve all been training for, people!” fellow station DJ Jet Moore called out. “This is the moment Walrus goes to the bathroom!”
Abersold paused to make sure he was “legal” before making a beeline to the loo. “I am out, people,” he declared en route. “Gettin’ crazy, goin’ to the bathroom.”
An audible flush later, he sprinted back to the booth. Time burned: 1 minute, 55 seconds, leaving 23 more minutes for pit stops for the rest of the day.
The reason for keeping such a rigid schedule: An attempt to break a Guinness World Record.
On Aug. 20, the Walrus launched his attempt to break the record for longest radio marathon. The current mark of 183 hours on the air was established by Stefano Venneri of Radio BBSI in Alexandria, Italy, on May 23, 2009.
Assuming the Walrus doesn’t give up, pass out or get disqualified for a rules violation, he will break the record this afternoon. He plans to continue until noon Sunday, when he also might have broken the record for most consecutive songs played on the radio without repetition, all while soliciting donations from listeners aimed at keeping the station on the air longer.
“Everybody’s either wanted to break a record or be a part of a record-breaking attempt. It’s just got that visceral connection to everybody,” Abersold said. “We know that pledge driving can be boring, so we’re doing it as a pledge drive where death is on the line.”
Death of the station, that is. Abersold’s attempt is a publicity stunt to raise money and awareness for KGHP, an educational and community radio station that broadcasts out of Peninsula High School.
The station serves up an eclectic mix of music, talk and news while giving students at Peninsula and Gig Harbor high schools experience on the airwaves. Locals hear it on 89.3-FM on Fox Island, 89.9-FM in Purdy and 93.7-FM in Gig Harbor and parts of Tacoma. The best bet is online at
www.kghp-pc.org elsewhere on the planet.
But a sagging economy might have put that in jeopardy. The Peninsula School District has formed a budget task force to review programs in anticipation of funding cuts. And though KGHP is funded through next school year, Abersold is convinced the 23-year-old station is on a list of programs that could be axed in the long run.
“I don’t need to be told the station’s in jeopardy,” he said. “I know it is. Usually, the first thing that gets cut is the arts programs. We are just taking steps to pre-empt that.”
Peninsula School District Superintendent Terry Bouck said the station isn’t being targeted at this point. But he added, “We work hard to balance our budget and fit within what dollars we’re going to have. We look at all areas for reduction. Essentially, there are no sacred cows.”
Abersold’s goal was to raise $200,000, which he figured would be enough to keep KGHP on the air for three more years. As of Friday afternoon, a volunteer estimated the station had raised about $2,500.
But that hadn’t dampened spirits. All week, the station has recruited volunteers from the community to witness the attempt. Guinness requires two for every four-hour period.
Local bands have chipped in with live performances – the Legend of Bigfoot, Midnight Salvage Company and Big Wheel Stunt Show among them. And station DJs got a chance to plug their shows and share what they’d learned from working at the station.
“We’re shaping the next Edward R. Murrows, the next Howard Sterns – the next Kevin Calabros,” Abersold said.
Chance Chaffin, a 17-year-old Gig Harbor High School student, started at KGHP last year. He hosts one of the station’s most popular shows, “Why Not?” It’s a mix of talk radio and almost-anything-goes musical requests.
“It’s just an avenue to explore experiences I wouldn’t get anywhere else,” Chaffin said of KGHP. “I’ve gotten to develop my own voice, my own style. Me and my buddies, we’ll have other friends in to talk about sports and news on the air, and be able to play music and entertain our friends on the air. We take calls from all over the world. We’ve got some cool stuff going on over here.”
During the summer, many on-air slots are filled by community volunteers. Legend of Bigfoot guitarist Jason Flom was one of them from 1999 to 2002.
“I was pretty much free to do what I wanted to do, and play what I wanted to play,” said Flom, 39, of Edgewood.
Midnight Salvage Company singer-guitarist Bryan Kiehl, a graduate of Peninsula High School, helped round up the other bands for this week’s marathon.
“It’s kind of like a college radio station in that, depending on who’s spinning that day, you can hear classical music and then hear the Stones half an hour later,” he said.
A Los Angeles-based film crew was in town documenting the world record attempt, led by screenwriter Trevor Sands, a childhood friend of Abersold’s. He and the Walrus contemplated having footage ready for the Gig Harbor Film Festival in October.
Guinness rules have allowed Abersold to bank five minutes of break time for every hour he attempts the record, usable for bathroom breaks, showers and the occasional power nap. When he set out to break the record, he figured he would get a maximum of 90 minutes of sleep a day.
Given that, he still sounded in good spirits as he introduced songs and interviewed guests Friday.
“He’s been doin’ good,” Chaffin reported. “When we have bands here throughout the night, he does fine, and he gets to jam out with them. It’s the a.m. hours when everybody else is gone and there’s no one else in the studio. … That’s when he starts to get a little slow, a little loopy.”
“Someone said he thought he saw a dog,” he added. “So we’ve had glimpses of hallucinations possibly.”
Ernest Jasmin: 253-274-7389
ernest.jasmin@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/tacomarockcity
