Spring Has Sprung - Almost

My first radio job, at WBRK - Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was writing commercials. I applied at the station and the General Manager had some some strong reservations - pronounced DOUBTS - about my potential since I had never worked in a radio station other than as a CBS page years before. As a test he gave me five bits of information to use in a couple of commercials - he wanted a 30-second spot announcement, and another that would last one minute. And he gave me about five or ten minutes to do it. When I was done he looked at what I had done and said something like "not bad for a beginner" and he hired me on the spot.

One of the most memorable of my products over the next year was for a grocery store on the east side of town. It produced a catch phrase that lasted for years: Spring has sprung, the grass is riz; smart shoppers shop at Sias's.

Well, Spring hasn't really sprung in Michigan - there's a smattering of snow on the ground - but I thought I'd bring a little spring into our living room. I was shopping at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and I noticed, in the produce department, some pots that contained spring bulbs. No plants - just a pot, some soil and little green thingies poking through the dirt. Well, those little thingies have grown like Topsy (so to speak) and the picture above is a result == daffodil's in Michigan in February and who knows what else? And in the background outside the window, a light coating of snow

This has been a really mild winter in Oscoda. Temperatures above normal - not much snow - so maybe there'll be an early spring. But then again, Michigan weather can be capricious. When we moved to Michigan on March 27th of 2003 our move-in day had temps in the 70s and no snow on the ground. But on April 1st (April Fools Day) we had close to a foot of snow - and I didn't even have a snow shovel.

So, I guess I'll have to come up with some other kind of a jingle - something that relates to a February Spring in Michigan. Like - Pots will come - and plants will grow -- In February == so what do you know! Or, The sun shines bright in Oscoda town -- but wait a while -- snow will come down -- In February - In Michigan. Just wait and see.