Mark October 9th On Your Calendar....

Thanksgiving weekend is coming.... and this year there's a lot more to get excited about than Stove Top Stuffing.  October 9th means 2 big things in Long Beach Radio-land;

1) Canucks season opener, at home against the LA Kings and our historic long-term hockey sponsors have returned. Thanks to The Long Beach Surf Shop, Weigh West Marine Resort, and McDermott's Insurance for making it possible for us to get all the action on the air.... You'll be able to hear every Canucks game this season with us.

2) Day 1 of the O'Neill Cold Water Classic 2010.  The biggest event in Canadian surfing returns to our beaches and I'll be running around to bring live coverage from the beach.  We'll be introducing you to the sponsors for our Cold Water Classic Coverage very soon.

Even before the 9th there will be some great competative surfing going on.  An all-women's surf competition has been announced for October 7th.  You can bet Long Beach Radio will be all over that one too.

Some good news from the Canucks as well, looks like Brendan Morrison may be coming home to Vancouver's bench after a bit of bouncing around the league.  Really hope we get to cheer him on in a Canucks Sweater.

In other interesting West Coast News our friends over at Ocean Planet Adventures were out diving the other day with a crew filming a pilot for a potential television series called "SCUBA snacks".  You guessed it! Dive for tasty things, cook 'em and eat 'em.  Sounds like a pretty good formula.

Today though is the Wickaninnish Inn Pro-Am at the Long Beach Golf Course.  Lots of people coming together to play some golf, have a good time, and raise some money for the local high school.  We'll have some coverage soon.

Thanks for listening.

Where is Long Beach Radio World Headquarters Really???

Every once in a while somone asks where the studio is... In the past Long Beach Radio, it's previous incarnations and earlier Tofino/ Ucluelet stations have bounced around a bit.  For the last few years we've been settled in on of the most amazing bits of real estate in Tofino. I think the picture below captures it pretty well.  The studios in the top left, Catface mountain in the distance, Blue Heron in the foreground.  Lovely..

Courtesy Tofino Photography

So if you hear me say "Down here at the end of the pier" I mean it.  I'd upload some pics from out our office window but we're fogged in pretty good at the moment.  We do have a rooftop webcam though!!
Thanks to SurfCam.ca The Image is updated every 60 seconds, you may have to refresh your browser to see the new images

So that's the first street dock in Tofino as seen from our rooftop. RCMP helipad in the middle distance, with the Remote Passages boat house just beyond. Closer you may see float planes doing their thing, a ton of activity as folks load on or off the Ahousaht pride and countless other vessels. In the summer Kayakers launch just off-camera to the right... and on clear day, Morpheus Island and Mount Colnett (on Meares Island) in the distance.

If you're more into maps, have a look at this.  Not as pretty perhaps but you get the picture


View Larger Map

 I wasn't going to bore you with internal shots but I've found one with a past guest... let's just say we "Cut costs on frills and gimmicks in order to pass the savings on to you.."  That's fine by us.  If you have a picture of you in the studio rocking' out or whatever I'd really appreciate a copy. email geoff@longbeachradio.ca

Here's Angus Wilson of Stoning Mary busting out some tunes for us.
It's always great to have people in the studio. From Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar/ Grady) to Kevin Newman (Global) to all the local performers and guests we've had the magic of our studio is always a top of discussion.

Well, that's a quick update to help folk find us and make sure you know we really mean LOCAL radio when we say it.  Thanks for listening.

A Tedious Day Turns Tremendous

A while back Highway 4 decided to throw rocks at the VW. Yesterday, I headed to the Ucluelet Petro Canada to get the new windshield installed. I was wondering how I would kill the hours it would take for the job to get done. Here is the evidence of a great day.



Oddly enough the music in the video comes from a New Brunswick musician. Ross Neilsen and the Sufferin' Bastards have been to our coast for a number of tours now.... under a variety of circumstances. They've even done some unbiased reviews of local accomodations, check these out...



And, in heavy contrast,



Anyway, that's a quick update. We'll have some coverage of the Ucluelet Salmon Ladder Derby and Salmon festival tomorrow.

Thanks for listening.

Fishing, Golf, Surfing, Hockey.... The Things I Do For Radio

Some people have terrible jobs; Politicians, Human Test Subjects, The Poopsmith. Some people have pretty awesome jobs; Secret Agents, Those guys from Top Gear, and... I'm very pleased to say... My Self.

In the next month or so Long Beach Radio will be on location at The Ucluelet Salmon Festival, The Wickaninnish Inn Pro-Am Golf Tournamtent and the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Surf Competition. I've even hear rumors of a women's surf competition in early October, if it's on, we're there.  Hopefully we'll be able to bring some people closer to these events.  This Blog will also be crammed full of Cold Water Classic madness come October 9th so check back often during the event.  Many thanks to The Wickaninnish Inn for sponsoring our coverage last year, sounds like they are back on board this time around as well!!

The Canucks regular season kicks off in a month!!  We'll have the whole season, including Pay-Per-View and Play-Offs on Long Beach Radio!!!! So even if you're at the beach, working on the oyster farm, in the car or stuck at work you won't have to miss out.  Notice we've got Canucks Headlines (I'm still waiting for us to sign Brendan Morrison at the last minute) right here on http://www.longbeachradio.ca/ now and an NHL score ticker that should fire up when the pucks start dropping..... at least I think it'll work,  I'm not exactly a website genius.

We've added some new tunes to rotation; Stony Plain Records sent us some great discs, listen for the new(ish) Ian Tyson, some Maria Mouldar, Tim Hus and a few other gems from their catalog.  Another label that sent some great tunes our way is Thorney Bleeder Records, lots of great, mostly BC talent... you can even download a bunch here.  Pease check out our "Tunes" page for links to some of the great bands that have become friends of Long Beach Radio over the years.  Feel free to send me music ANY TIME either by email geoff@longbeachradio.ca or snail mail Box 323 Tofino, BC V0R 2Z0

A few other things to look at before I sign off on this blog and one is fan mail!!! Marla Thirsk has sent us some stuff before to help with our Hospice Radio-Athon last year and provided the image for this years Tofino Food and Wine Festival.  Well I opened my mail box the other day to find this...

Only it was right side up... I told you, not a website genius.

Many thanks Marla.  It's not everyday you get a custom, unsolicited piece of art in the mail.  Thanks also for you support of hospice.  For anyone interest in this years Pacific Rim Hospice Society Radio-athon please contact me; geoff@longbeachradio.ca or Kim at Hospice kim@pacificrimhospice.ca

Lastly, here are a couple recent interviews... The first from Zaac Pick, talented musician and, oddly, high school class mate (?) I didn't think I was partying that hard...


And Don Staniford regarding Salmon Conservation.


That's it for now. Thanks for listening to Long Beach Radio

Summer Rocked!!!!

Lots of great bands made the trip down highway 4 this summer.   Here are some highlights that didn't make it into earlier "Rock and Rolly" updates.

This first bit is an interview from a few days back with "Mic Lordz and Sauce Funky". They were in town for a few days and played to show.  They also dropped into the studio... If you want the know more check out their website, they've got a tour blog that will no doubt have updates on this neck of their journey.




The end result was a good night at the Pub. The folks at the Weigh West have been a class act putting last minute shows together for touring acts.  Here's a rare live-acoustic snippet of the guys.

A couple weeks back L Poushinsky was another road warrior that had been left without a home.  The Weigh West stepped up here as well.  This is Lisa and her crew doin their thing.... please forgive the 4 pint iPhone videography.


Here's a bit of an interview with Bend Sinister from a while back in the summer as well



Thanks for listening to Long Beach Radio!!!!

PS. I got this poster in the (e) mail and love it so much I thought I'd share...  Too bad Erica isn't still in town to DJ the event...  Click on it for all it's majesty