Why I changed the Ship Report theme after 20 years

Nov 20, 2023 | Blog, Home Slider

Regarding the different Ship Report theme music you heard today:

Regular Ship Report listeners who tuned into the show today (11/20/23) on KMUN, or the podcast on my website or through Facebook, probably noticed something that some people think is significant and others may not even care about: the theme music is different from the theme I have had on the show for 20 years.

I knew this would probably inspire negative feedback from some listeners, but it was something that was necessary to do, even though I know it will upset some people.

So in the interests of being honest with my listeners, which I think is very important, and because I feel we are a community who together love ships and all things maritime and I care about you all, I want to offer an explanation:

The short answer: I’ve changed it because I discovered that legally, I needed to. No one challenged me, or objected, but when you know something is wrong you need to do something about it. So I’m being proactive, out of respect for the musicians who own the music, and also to protect myself from legal issues.

If you want to read more, here’s the backstory:

When the Ship Report began 20 years ago, it was simply a 10-minute radio segment that I created and produced for KMUN when I was an employee of the station. Podcasts were not even thought of then, and all music played on KMUN is covered by their licensing agreements. So I delved into the KMUN CD library and discovered this wonderful California group called the Black Irish Band, whose music I often played on my folk music radio show that I had for years in my early days at the station.

On one of their CDs, Into the Arms of the Sea, was a song called the “Ballad of the Pomona,” which had a lovely instrumental intro that I ultimately chose to be the theme of the Ship Report. There were no issues with me using it then, and it has remained the theme until today. At some point during the ensuing years, I had a request from a Coast Guard member who wanted to hear the show but could not listen when it was broadcast, and that inspired me to create the podcast version.

Fast forward to our current podcast age. Up until recently, I was an employee of KMUN, the radio station in Astoria that airs the Ship Report, and as such my show was covered under the legal umbrella of their programming. Now I’m retired and independently produce the Ship Report as freelance content, which means the responsibility for all content rests squarely with me. So the show sounds the same to listeners, but the legal parameters have changed.

And as podcasts have become so prevalent, legal issues with use of music in podcasts have expanded as well. Without going into the weeds on detail on this, the bottom line is that I really have no right to use this music as an independent producer of the show. To do that I would need to license it.

At first I thought – well, I’ll just do that – until I applied for a license for the song (which I use less than 30 seconds of on the air) and found it would cost me at least $10,000 to license that one tune. The one you’ve been hearing all these years. That’s simply unaffordable for me.

If you know me, you know that the Ship Report has always been, and continues to be, a personal labor of love. Even as an employee of the station, I produced the show on my own time and with my own equipment. It’s not a money maker for me, but that was never my goal. I get a little revenue from selling my shipwatching guides, and KMUN has this year generously offered me some some compensation for providing the independent content to them.

I am grateful for all of that. And the truth is I spend many hours weekly producing the show, far beyond any compensation I receive for it.

But that has never been the point. I do the show because I love it, and I love my listeners.

I want to be fair to the musicians who created that music, and I thought I was operating within the law. I thought because I am using less than 30 seconds of the song that it was protected legally. I was incorrect. I can’t afford to pay $10k for the rights to the song, so I have to change it.

The music you are hearing now as the theme is music that is free to content creators. After hours yesterday of listening to potential themes, believe me, this one is the least inappropriate for the show that I found.

I’m in the process of developing another theme with a traditional fiddle tune that will be played by a local musician with his permission, so there will be no issues with its use.

I’m sorry for any discomfort this is causing listeners. But there’s not much I can do about it. I can’t knowingly place myself in huge legal jeopardy over one song. It’s going to mean a lot of work for me, since I will have to go back and rerecord the music for the podcasts I have online, which goes back years.

So I am probably the least happy with this turn of events of anyone who is hearing it.

I really appreciate your loyalty and care over all the years. I hope you’ll understand that this is a dilemma I did not anticipate but need to deal with now.

Thanks for your patience while I work this out.

I’m going with the idea that change is not a bad thing after 20 years…

Interview with author and Fisher Poet Tele Aadsen: “What Water Holds”

Aug 4, 2023 | Blog, Home Slider

Here’s a link to the entire hour long zoom interview with fisher poet, author and commercial fisherman Tele Aadsen. She recently published her first book about her life working in the fishing industry, a memoir called “What Water Holds.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isIhmrR1fQM

My kingdom for a boat slip?

Sep 22, 2022 | Blog, Home Slider

Well, it’s been a little while since I posted anything about my progress on the boat. That’s because progress on boat projects is sometimes measured in increments that make the person who’s doing it jump up and down for joy, but which probably would not impress most people, because they wouldn’t notice anything different.

Such is the situation of the boat owner, to labor in relative obscurity with only their own feeling of accomplishment to keep them warm. But I’m OK with that.

In that vein, the gelcoat that I waxed poetic about in previous posts – that project is done. Passage now has a relatively shiny hull. Ta-da! Many happy dances have been done by yours truly over this some what cosmetic step. But it was important that she look a bit spruced up so she could hold her head up high when we are out and about. We are both getting older and like to look our best when we can.

I think she looks awfully good for a 50 year old boat that has sat in the barn for 15 years and was neglected a bit before that. She doesn’t look new, but that’s not my goal. My goal is to make her a well loved, and well cared for boat that is safe. She’s already well loved by me, and the rest I am working on.

Right now I am focusing on getting the mast ready to put in the boat, referred to as “stepping” the mast in boating circles. To assess it, I washed the mast and boom and all her fittings, shrouds and stays, and looked them over carefully for signs of wear. Lucky for me, it seems, she was sailed very little for years and has been in a barn for more. So her rigging seems to be in good shape.

I am about to lubricate the mast track, various pulleys, and the slot for the main sail. To explain, there is a long slot that runs the entire length of the after end of the mast. The mainsail has a series of slugs attached to its forward edge, which is called the luff. Those slugs go in that track and slide up and down, at least in theory.

The idea is to be able to raise the sail without a lot of grief (This may be overly optimistic, since almost every sailboat I have ever sailed on has had trouble with this, but I am trying to plan ahead.). So I am lubricating that slot in what may be a vain attempt to eclipse nightmares on the water in which I either can’t get the main up or down. This usually happens in a howling wind. But that’s later.

The very good news is that I still have a hefty outline of things I still need to do with Passage before I’d call her seaworthy, but the list is dwindling.

In the meantime, there’s something weighing on my mind that is symptomatic of the times, I think. But it’s worth discussing here because probably other people here will have to deal with this dilemma with their own boats: where to put Passage when I launch her.

The choices for boat slips here might seem ample: there are marinas in Astoria, Warrenton, and Hammond. What I am discovering is that getting an open spot in any of them is proving to be a real challenge. I’m already on a waiting list with the Port of Astoria, but that’s unlikely to yield any openings till spring, if even then. I’m checking with Warrenton/Hammond but as of the summer they were full. So I may have to get on a waiting list there too. Ilwaco might be an option, but it’s pretty close to the Columbia River Bar. And as someone who will be learning the ropes on a boat I’ve never sailed before, I’d like a little more leeway between me and the Graveyard of the Pacific until I feel more confident.

I have a spot reserved in Cathlamet, which seems like a lovely location. The only nagging feeling I have about it is the long drive to get there from Astoria. She’d be almost an hour away from me if there’s no traffic.

And since she hasn’t been in the water in years, I’d want to check on her daily once she’s in the water, to make sure nothing is leaking, broken, something I missed, etc. And to bask in what I will have done to get her to that point. And just to sit in the cockpit, or fire up the woodstove and read a book in her cozy cabin. I want her nearby, if I can manage it.

These are first-world issues, I know. But in the realm of what I’m trying to accomplish here, issues they are. However, I decided something that’s rare for me, since I tend to be a bit of a “fretter.”

Instead of worrying (after worrying a bit anyway), I’ve decided to offer the whole thing up to the Universe for guidance and resolution. I’ve done all I can for now, and where Passage ends up will ultimately be decided by forces I can’t control at this point. The cosmic dice are rolling and I’ll have to see where they land, and be grateful for the opportunity. And if it’s Cathlamet, I’ll figure it out and enjoy being in what seems like a beautiful spot, despite the distance. The people there in the marina office did seem really nice.

In the meantime, as that situation sorts itself out, I’m going to keep “working on the boat,” as we used to say in my family. Not much else to be done, and if the truth be told, I enjoy it. But if you know anyone who has a boat slip nearby that they’d rent me, I’m all ears.

Till next time…

Shiny objects can be a good thing, and a sign of progress

Aug 6, 2022 | Blog, Home Slider

Shiny Objects

Well, I took at little time off last month and had a vacation, and now I’m back in the barn with my boat, Passage, plugging away toward getting her in the water. 

One of the big tasks I tackled again this week was taking the old, dingy hull with the muddy gel coat finish and trying to make it shine. I’ve talked a little about this before in these blog posts, but this week has been all about gelcoat. Gelcoat, to recap, is the outer coating on fiberglass hulls that makes them shine. When they’re new. After decades, the finish and the situation get complicated. 

That’s where the do-it-yourself contingent of boat owners can supposedly use educated elbow grease and the proper chemicals, scrubbing away time (in a sense), in an effort to make the boat look good again. In this case, that DIYer would be me.

So, buffing gelcoat: I have never done such a thing in my life (as it is with many of the tasks on this boat) and so I am truly learning as I go. Reading a lot, watching videos, listening to advice from experienced people, and trying to use my common sense. Every resource I have read assures me that I’m the gal for the job and that it’s doable. Gulp.

But when you tackle anything for the first time, there’s that wobbly period where you don’t make much headway and you just kind of feel pretty nervous… 

That’s where I have been with this gelcoat thing. Serious approach avoidance. With many things on this boat, I am constantly trying to get the feel of a project and what the proper outcome should be, so that I know what I’m doing, or at least feel that I am not totally in the dark. All of this while I’m doing that thing for the first and probably only time. So there’s a bit of pressure to get it right. And the learning curve is necessarily steep. I have no other boats to practice on.

It’s been that way with this gelcoat situation, trying various ways to buff away the dull finish without taking away too much. Going carefully, carefully, maybe too carefully?

I finally hit a sweet spot this week: after muddling around in a halting sort of way with my electric buffer and lots of research on different kinds of rubbing compounds, I finally managed to get some meaningful shine to part of the hull. 

My relative success has given me faith in my original plan: go over the hull with the heavy compound, then again with a lighter version, and then wax. It seems like by the time I do all that – she’ll look pretty darn spiffy for an old boat.

That’s all well and good, and nice in theory. But today I actually managed to make the old hull truly shine a bit. I saw a respectable reflection in my work light, and not just dull spots with a little shine peeking through, as I had seen before.

And that success was a very good thing. It made me very happy to feel like I was on the right path and had some idea what I was aiming for.

I sat on the platform next to Passage with my respirator, goggles, rubber gloves, microfiber cloths, rubbing compound and the buffer in my hands, and told her she was beautiful. Because she is. 

And I told her we were making progress, that she should take heart, and that soon she will be where she wants to be, which is gently cradled by blessed water once again, at one with the river and sky, and a real boat once more.

But not quite yet. Tomorrow I keep going with the buffing, as I make my way around the hull. I can see a big difference between the before and after. And that’s a good thing. And I’m gaining confidence as I go…. and a renewed respect for shiny objects.