Familiar Voice on CNN

[AJ1G]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/10/25/courson.Radio.comes.to.Ocracoke.cnn

The announcer's voice over on this story sounds vaguely familiar....

[Fred k2dx]

What a shame. I guess this is 'progress', the isolatation gets chipped away at just a bit more by the yuppies. Ocracoke's basic attraction - isolation - is being slowly lost ever since the yuppies came.

Too bad.

 

[WA3VJB]

I take it you've been there.

Very true.

The woman feeding the cats told me stories about how all the outside money came in, bought up houses and property, and now use it as summer rentals for other out-of-towners, where virtually none of the money stays in town.

There are officially only 700 full time residents there.

Still, the place takes SO long to get to that there are no hotel nor retail chains, no amusement parks, no malls.  There's one gas station, no traffic lights.

[k4kyv]

In that clip you can tell the real natives by their distinctive dialect.  Notice the older guys have the twang, but the younger people speak normal English.  In another generation or two that dialect will probably be gone for ever.

When I was in the army I knew a guy from Hatteras.  He usually spoke standard English, but after a few beers he would revert to dialect.  It sort of sounded like a mixture of Cockney and southern drawl, and generated many laughs.

I don't see any problem with a radio station on the island, but it should primarily benefit the locals and promote local culture, not just cheer-lead for the tourist invasion.  I am sure there is plenty of domestic and foreign AM broadcast reception there after the sun sets.  If it weren't for the annual Hurricane threat, I bet it would be one hell of a radio location.

I am sure a few of the natives are chuckling at the tourists - all the way to the bank.

[W3RSW]

"......Paul Courson, CNN, Okrakoke Island."

Thanks; that brought back many memories.

-The ol' pirates hangout and general safe harbor.
Spent several weeks over the years there, usually a week at a time.

Bikes are a good way to get around. Lots of little sand streets and neat little cottages to peruse.

Did'ja know that there's a piece of soverign British territory on the Island? Yep, a small grave yard... about four graves and flying the union jack.  Remains from a ship wreck some time ago.  Guess I should look it up to refresh my memory.

[Fred k2dx]

You're right Paul, some of the residents say that the internet caused them to be 'discovered'. The small amount of tourism/being a fishing destination was tolerable before... now it's like the other Outer Banks islands further north. Commercialized.

There was adequate am/fm/tv coverage already for 'emergency' situations.   The Coast Guard station, National Park Service and local Police Dept. had their official communications facilities as well.

Blackbeard was captured and executed there... The local magistrate Sig
was a ham (SK now), he lived directly across the street from the harbor. His house was built from wood salvaged from shipwrecks by his ancestors. I forget Sig's call but an interesting character.

The last time we were there I recall a dispute whether the church should be disturbing the peace with electronic chimes on the hour... wonder what the outcome was?

[flintstone mop]

I guess tyhe woman feeding her kitties would like to see more "grant money" flowing her way.

BTW Paul, was that a bad froggy day for your voice? Or were you hootin and hollerin the night before???

Fred

[WU2D]

Hi Chris,

Nice note on the GRC-9 last night - we had a couple of SWL's tuning in, KE1KX Wayne and Jim N2NXZ both sent E mail that they copied the OMRN CW net and Jim even posted this on you-Tube.

I sent him the pics because he actually sent me another unit just like mine to me and it even had the 80M coil and the precious tubes! Without these spares I could not have put it on the air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWjh0Karqc

Mike Wu2D

[WA3VJB]

I guess tyhe woman feeding her kitties would like to see more "grant money" flowing her way.

BTW Paul, was that a bad froggy day for your voice? Or were you hootin and hollerin the night before???

Fred

She said the money would pay for a vet, that's true.

It had already been a long day when I finally laid down the track. You've got a good ear (too good ! thanks for noticing, pal !) : )

[W3LSN]

In that clip you can tell the real natives by their distinctive dialect.  Notice the older guys have the twang, but the younger people speak normal English.  In another generation or two that dialect will probably be gone for ever.

When I was in the army I knew a guy from Hatteras.  He usually spoke standard English, but after a few beers he would revert to dialect.  It sort of sounded like a mixture of Cockney and southern drawl, and generated many laughs.

There are still some very interesting regional dialects spoken along the Atlantic coast. I’m not talking about standard regional accents like those spoken by native Southerners or New Englanders, but, rather, some interesting throwbacks to even earlier times.

I used to service some radio stations in the Cambridge, MD area during the mid-80s. While at one of the stations, I had a mostly incomprehensible conversation with a trash collector where all I could really do was smile, and nod a lot. The locals described him to me as a “waterman”, or someone native to the small islands that dot the inside of the Chesapeake Bay.

When I was working for PBS some years later, Robert MacNeil produced a program called “The Story of English” where he covered the development and spread of the language. One of the places visited was Tangier Island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay where the same families have lived since early colonial times. Many of those people speak a local dialect with speech patterns and inflections that are directly traceable to Elizabethan English. Naturally this is starting to fade in the younger generations who have more access to the world outside the islands, but that it has persisted so long is certainly noteworthy.

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

[W3GMS]

Nice piece Paul.  Nothing like local, community oriented programming which is rarely heard these days.  Our local 5KW station which offered good local programming was sold some time ago and the new owners have it programmed with a relegious sat feed with no local content at all.   
Joe, W3GMS

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Go to Smith or Tangier Islands.

In that clip you can tell the real natives by their distinctive dialect.  Notice the older guys have the twang, but the younger people speak normal English.  In another generation or two that dialect will probably be gone for ever.

When I was in the army I knew a guy from Hatteras.  He usually spoke standard English, but after a few beers he would revert to dialect.  It sort of sounded like a mixture of Cockney and southern drawl, and generated many laughs.

There are still some very interesting regional dialects spoken along the Atlantic coast. I’m not talking about standard regional accents like those spoken by native Southerners or New Englanders, but, rather, some interesting throwbacks to even earlier times.

I used to service some radio stations in the Cambridge, MD area during the mid-80s. While at one of the stations, I had a mostly incomprehensible conversation with a trash collector where all I could really do was smile, and nod a lot. The locals described him to me as a “waterman”, or someone native to the small islands that dot the inside of the Chesapeake Bay.

When I was working for PBS some years later, Robert MacNeil produced a program called “The Story of English” where he covered the development and spread of the language. One of the places visited was Tangier Island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay where the same families have lived since early colonial times. Many of those people speak a local dialect with speech patterns and inflections that are directly traceable to Elizabethan English. Naturally this is starting to fade in the younger generations who have more access to the world outside the islands, but that it has persisted so long is certainly noteworthy.

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

[W3RSW]

Went to Tangier Is. last yr. with buddy on Eastern Shore. All you can eat, nice walk and yeah, really cool accents and the end of 'main' st. covered by high tide.  -Private ferry from Crissfield. Other boat was US Mail.

It's really a shame what's been done to Crissfields's harbor area. Damn overdeveloped, empty and never filled condos block the whole waterfront.  Far cry from when I first visited some years ago. Then there were several marine stores with stuff like decoys, brass steering wheels, chocks, cleats, anchors, rope, etc. all for the skipjacks and commercial fishermen.  Now all gone.  A couple of nice restaurants still exist.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Most of Maryland has been overrun by Yuppies and the like. That's why it's a terrible place to live.

[W3RSW]

I hope your part of Wmms'bg peninsula ins't overrun yet.
Still lots of woods left.

[WA3VJB]

Tangier Island, Va. is even more isolated than Ocracoke.

A friend of mine and I flew in there (Cessna 172RG) for the day and really got a sense of the place.

We sat down at a community lunch, where most of the residents on the island gathered at maybe a dozen oversize picnic tables (10-12 people each) placed in a meeting hall.  I'll never forget how good the food was, and how much the outsiders were treated like family.

Simple hospitality, like giving us a couple of the best seats, first passing to us all the good food on the table, and making sure we were part of the gathering.

One way of getting around the island's main roads (paths of oyster shells) was by golf cart. If you were on foot or bicycle you could get to the other 80% of the transportation infrastructure, consisting of two planks, side by side, bolted to pilings for whatever distance it took to get across the wetlands and marsh to reach "high spots" of dry land.

Yes, the Elizabethan dialect was very strong, and fascinating.  I recall there were only two or three names scattered across the headstones in the island's cemetery.

Go to Smith or Tangier Islands.

When I was working for PBS some years later, Robert MacNeil produced a program called “The Story of English” where he covered the development and spread of the language. One of the places visited was Tangier Island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay
73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I wonder about this area too. The "development" continues. The retirement crowd is flocking. They aren't nearly as obnoxious as the yuppies, but they do drive much slower.  

[W3RSW]

And Paul, Steve,
Remember the tombstones in everyones' front yards.  Coool. ... not to far to go to get planted.

I mean how could you sell a house if all your relatives are buried in the front yard?   Gives new meaning to yard ornaments.

[N0WVA]

Tens of thousands of dollars to get a thousand watt signal on the air......Seems a little rediculous. He should have just upgraded the pirate station. No...Wait...If he did that , clearchannel wouldnt have had a chance to buy the station. Nevermind.

[W3GMS]

Martha and I usually get down to the Smith Islands at least a couple of time each year.  We either stay on Ewell or Tylerton. No tourist trap to say the least.  We rent the Fishermans Rest cottage on Ewell and stay at the Inn of Silent Music on Tylerton.  If you want a place to totally relax and get away from it all, that the place to go.  Very poor to no cell phone coverage and the best Crab Cakes availabe from the general store on Tylerton.  Captain Waverly who is in his 70's or early 80's has a small aluminum boat that he uses to shuttle people from Ewell to Tylerton.  So far I only found one Ham on the island of Ewell and thats about it.  A great place for a AM Special Event Station! 
Joe, W3GMS 

http://www.innofsilentmusic.com/

http://www.smithislandrental.com/

[flintstone mop]

Tens of thousands of dollars to get a thousand watt signal on the air......Seems a little rediculous. He should have just upgraded the pirate station. No...Wait...If he did that , clearchannel wouldnt have had a chance to buy the station. Nevermind.

YEA what gives??? Broadcast equipment isn't that expensive! 1KW solid state TX. The audio chain /console I saw couldn't be over $3K. A 100 foot tower and single bay antenna.
Scary that their local prgramming would get sucked into some corporate crap radio station and shuck and jive music.

Fred