Iditablog.com – Iditarod 2012 News & Coverage

Well, the past few days down here in Anchorage have been great, nice and relaxed while at the same time hectic. Thursday I rewarded myself a little bit by sleeping in until after 9:30, I went back to the Iditarod Headquarters and hung out for a while. I also made a major Costco run and did some other errands. I got back to the Bronczyks in time to get dressed for the Musher’s banquet. I wasn’t sure what to wear to a banquet where there was going to be over 150 tables and this is Alaska, it takes a whole lot for people to get formal. I went with dark slacks and a dress shirt, I brought a tie along just incase. The dinner started at 6:00, and lasted until about 10:30. We had steak for dinner and watched the mushers pick their starting position. Each musher would then give a “thank you” speech like they just won an Oscar. With 80 mushers, things took a while to wrap up. I took pretty detailed notes all evening long to ensure that I could phone in a good report the next day to the radio station.

Friday morning I got up at 8 and called into KICY. I first left a message with my report so that someone could take it off the phone system and insert it into the news later that morning. I called back and got on the FM morning show, and then got on the AM morning show. I spent some time on the phone trying to connect with Iditarod contacts and make final preparations for Saturday morning. I left the house around 11 and ran errands at Iditarod Headquarters, the malls, and spent a while downtown anchorage. I had lunch at a brew house, and then went over to an Art Gallery that was hosting a send off party for Iditarod champion Jeff King. After that I headed back to HQ to see if there was anything going on. I picked up Hannah from the airport around 6:30 and showed her around Anchorage taking her to Iditarod Headquarters, and then to downtown. We went to a restaurant for dinner where they had this funky trivia game that you could play electronically at your table while competing with people all over the restaurant..pretty crazy. We headed back to the Bronczyk’s to plan out the attack for Saturday morning.

Its looking like a 6:45 wakeup so we can be down at the start by 8:00, two hours early. It should be a blast!

(ok, I’m stretching it with the titles but its all about branding).

I am in Anchorage. I got in late last night, got the rental car, and drove to my Aunt & Uncle’s house without getting lost! Can I just tell you how much I like Anchorage? Its so cool here, and its nice to be back in civilization. I ate at Red Robin this evening red robin! I had Costco pizza and a hot dog for lunch!! All stuff that you can’t get in Nome, I was thrilled.

I did some shopping today, got a sweet tan corduroy sport coat at value village for $15! I also got my hair cut, just as planned. At 2:00 I attended the Iditarod media briefing and registration. I picked up all the media passes for KICY, and then listened to them talk about the race for a few hours. I’m very excited, but also now I’m getting more bummed that I won’t be on more of the trail. There were tons of people there, and hopefully I’ll get hear some stories about where all the media people are coming from too. They gave us media guide packets with Bio’s of all the mushers and I’m already starting to write stories about them…hopefully I’ll be able to get all the interviews I need!

I’m also working with camp to figure out if we can get Hannah (and possibly myself) down to Alaska Christian College about 2 hours outside of Anchorage to recruit while she is here. Maybe if I had asked around more than just a week ahead of time; planning like this would be easier, but I didn’t and it isn’t. We will see what happens.

I think that’s it for now folks. Tomorrow is a day to sleep in a bit, slowly shop, and then in the evening its the world famous Musher’s Banquet.

P.S. This is my 100th post. I think I’ll reward myself with a trip to Anchorage .

As the start of the Iditarod approaches, I thought I would take this time to break down what my plans for the event are. What else am I supposed to do on a saturday evening when I’m running the board for a basketball game?? Here are the plans, we can look back and compare to what I was actually able to accomplish!

This Tuesday (3/1) evening I’ll be flying down to anchorage for Wednesday’s press briefing. There we’ll receive our media passes and be told appropriate behavior and expecations during the start of the race.

Thursday (3/3) I’ll bum around anchorage doing some shopping and stocking up for the rest of the winter & spring. I also need to get a hair cut. In the evening there is a 2005 Iditarod Musher’s banquet. This is where the mushers draw for their starting positions.

Friday (3/4) I think I’ll continue shopping, and spending time around Anchorage. I might find out about some leads and work related things to do on Friday once I get to the Media briefing.

Saturday (3/5) I’ll be getting up early and heading down to downtown Anchorage for the ceremonial start of the Iditarod. For those of you who aren’t Iditarod savy, the mushers will leave from 4th Ave in anchorage and mush to about 11 miles out of town. From there they will travel via truck to the re-start (this year in Willow). As part of my coverage for the Iditarod I’ll be collecting interviews from mushers and families to air during race coverage once I get back to Nome. I’ll also be interviewing the Wells Fargo “Teacher on the Trail”. This teacher is selected from thousands that apply from all over the US. They will follow the leaders in a helicopter and submit reports online to about 5,000 classrooms that will be following the race. I’ve proposed a partnership with Wells Fargo hoping that we can get some of the updates phoned in to us from the Teacher on the Trail.

Also at the start of the race I’ll be working with OLN (The Outdoor Life Network). They bought the rights to Iditarod coverage this year, and have decided to film KICY’s coverage of the race and use it to tell the story of this years’ event. Also, as of today our friend Hannah will be coming up to Anchorage for the weekend to help me out with all the stuff on Saturday. It will also be fun to have someone to hang out with all day.

Sunday (3/6) Hannah & I will be driving out to Willow where the restart will be. Willow is about 70 miles out of Anchorage. Here the musher’s will actually start their times, and leave in the order picked at the musher’s banquet.

Monday (3/7) I leave for Nome at noon. Once I get back to Nome I’ll start processing all the interviews and audio that I got over the weekend, and start planning out when to air it.

Our Iditarod updates will come multiple times a day, and hopefully I’ll be able to make each of them fresh and interesting. I’ll be getting most of our information off the internet and our partnership with OLN will provide me with regular updates from former Iditarod winner, Joe Runyan who will be on the trail and at each checkpoint. Also if the Teacher on the trail updates work out, they will be included in our coverage.

That will continue until about the 13th when I will fly down from Nome to Unakleet and using KICY’s satellite phone that I got on trade (free in exchange for advertising) will be about to report when the first musher comes in to the coast. I then plan to fly to Koyuk, following the leaders up, from there I’ll meet the mushers in White Mountain. I’ll have about 18 hours from the time that the leader gets into White Mountain until he will win the Race in Nome. Hopefully weather will be clear and I’ll be able to catch them before they get into Nome, most likely in the middle of the night.

It looks like the leader will come in on March 15th, sometime in the evening. Lydia’s parents will be coming up on the 18th while all of the Iditarod action is still in the air, there will still be a lot of mushers coming in and they will probably be able to see the red lantern winner (last person in). The Nome version of the musher’s banquet will hopefully be while they are here also.

Its going to be a very busy and hectic few weeks, but I’m sure it will be VERY fun. I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures and keep you as informed as possible. Perhaps I’ll post lots of audio as well.

Alright guys I realize how incredibly long its been since our last update, and it’s a terrible shame. I think its pretty much this new schedule that has me up in a busy whirl. I forgot how much work even one class is when you’re out of the classroomand that with the guitar lessons it makes for less stress-free evenings. Class is going well, its still just me and the professor in a room on the phone with five native ladies in places like golivin, tuntutuliack, and one in Anchorage. I’m doing really well compared to any other school endeavor I’ve taken in the past..oh, 20 years. I had my first quiz last Friday and will probably get it back today, we will see how things progress. Guitar is going well too, although I still don’t practice as much as I should.

Things at the radio station are going well, Dennis and Lon were gone for a while at Mid-winter in Chicago, then it was just Neil and I running the radio station. Everyone is back plus the addition of Irene, the newest volunteer. She is very nice and has been teaming up with Lon on the AM morning show. I think she will start to help me with FM music soon, and I can focus more on the news (which is a really good thing). Speaking of news.

This just in!! Iditarod is approaching, and KICY is gearing up for our coverage (correction, I’m gearing up for our coverage). Normally we give regular updates from the standings found on the internet, meet mushers before they get into town, and then call the finish live.but this year I’ve got some big aspirations. I’m flying down to Anchorage to cover the start, and re-startand plan to fly out to villages starting at Unakleet (where we can fly for free on advertising trade). I also got a deal worked out with OLN (Outdoor Life Network, or the Only Lance Network). They are doing 5, 1-hour specials to air in April about the Iditarod, and want my coverage to be a story that they tell in the specials.and they want to use my news reports in the specials as well. In return, they are going to have their reporter phone in updates from each checkpoint on the trailmaking our coverage pretty awesome. I’m also working on getting the usage of a satellite phone for live village updates all on a trade account, where we don’t pay cash but offer a dollar for dollar advertising contract with the company, so far they think it sounds good too.

Well, I must again apologize for the lack of updates recently, life here is been busy, and my afternoon is just about to get busier as class starts in about an hour and a half, and I’ve quickly got to finish up some reading. I did post some photos of my first snowmachine trip enjoy!