All right. Hello and welcome to "Hanging Out with
Bob," a podcast hosted by me, Bob Edholm. Thanks
for joining us and let's get started. "Hangin'
Out with Bob" is a podcast where guests tell us
their stories, where they grew up, where they've
lived since then, what they're doing now. which
kinds of shows they stream, which kinds of books
they read, which teams they cheer for, the kind
of music they like to listen to, and so on, and
so on, and so on. And the more laughs we have
as our guests share their lives, their stories
with us, the better. Okay, so let me introduce
my guest today. He's Wayne Damerow, a friend and
former classmate that I've known since we were
both nine years old. And we're a heck of a lot
older now than aren't we, Wayne? Thanks for joining
us though, Wayne. Good to have you here. Sure,
glad to be here, Bob. Wayne Damerow, and for those
of you writing us down at home, his last name
is spelled D-A M-E-R-O-W. That's Italian,
right? German all the way. Wayne and I have known
each other for more than 62 years. I mean, John
F. Kennedy was president of the United States
then back in the early 1960s. Wayne lived just
six houses up the block from me on Chatham Road
in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. And anyone from
Columbia Heights, of course, usually shorten
the name of our town to just the Heights. Anyway,
it was summertime 1962 and we probably met by
playing baseball at the local park, Hilltop Park.
That's the park where the kids in our neighborhood
played baseball and football, pick -up games,
of course. We skated there, too, in the winter
when the city park board would flood the rink.
Wayne and I, we went to the same grade school,
Highland, the same junior high school, Columbia,
and the same senior high school, Columbia Heights.
We're Hylanders. We even went to the same community
college the first year after high school, Anoka
-Ramsey, or AR, in the northern suburb of Coon
Rapids. And not to get too anal retentive, but
when Wayne and I went to Anoka-Ramsey, AR, it
was still called a junior college, not a community
college like it is today. But Wayne and I really
didn't see much of each other after that year
at Anoka-Ramsey. He transferred to the University
of Minnesota's St. Paul campus the next year. Well,
I finished my second year at Anoka-Ramsey and
then transferred to the University of Minnesota
on the East and West Bank campuses in Minneapolis.
I remember seeing Wayne at a couple of our high
school reunions. I think it was the 10th and
the 20th, but really not too many times from
then, from say the late 1970s until the 2010s.
We reconnected, if that's the right word, about
a dozen years ago and since then we've managed
to keep in touch every six months or so, maybe
a year, usually for lunch somewhere on a Saturday
afternoon to catch up on things, maybe talk about
Minnesota sports and solve all the world's problems.
And that's been a good thing. If we hadn't reconnected
more than a decade ago, we probably wouldn't
be doing this podcast right now, Wayne, right?
Right. All right. So now I'm going to step back
for a few moments and I'm going to let my guest,
Wayne Damro, tell us a little bit about himself.
Oh, wait, wait, sorry, Wayne. I mentioned how
the kids in our neighborhood used to ice skate
at the local park when we were kids. Well, here's
a lame joke. Why did the ice skater go to the
party? I don't know that. To break the ice. You
want me to tell it again? Yeah, pretty deep.
So with that, Wayne, please take it away. Well,
you mentioned Anoka-Ramsey, and I'll never forget
commuting with your car. It was a Volkswagen...
Karmann-Ghia. Karmann-Ghia. The worst car ever.
Piece of crap, yes. That's where I learned to swear
really well. I got a lot of practice. That was
funny. I also had one school that I don't think
you went to, Silver Lake Elementary. Oh, right.
Yeah, that was before I moved up here. That was
first through third grade, then to Highland.
So that was all the school history. As far as
since then, I graduated with a degree in forestry,
forest management, in 1975 and got on with the
state. and spent 37 years and two months with
the state. Nice long career. Yeah, it really
was. And a job I really liked. Yeah, yeah. Let's
see. As far as work, where I went, because it
was the type of job that if you wanted to move
up, you moved. It wasn't required, but then you'd
just stay in place. Sure, sure. What were some
of the places? Started out in Willow River. Nobody's
heard of Willow River. Where is that? I don't
know where that is. You know where Moose Lake
is? I've heard of Moose Lake. Yeah. Okay, it's
about 10 miles south of Moose Lake. Okay. Parallel
on Highway 61 with 35. Okay. Anyway, so there
I was the nursery assistant superintendent. So
we grew something like six, eight million trees
a year. Wow. They still do. And then from there
I went to Alexandria. where I worked with private
landowners for about five years. And then got
promoted to assistant area supervisor in Cambridge
for five years. And that was a time when there
was great amount of fire. So we were working
80 hour weeks. It was not unlike out west, only
localized. So then from there, Cambridge to Brainerd
as the supervisor and was there for 14 years.
Wow. Probably my favorite place where I work.
Brainerd? Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful. Anyway,
by lakes. Yeah. And I had a pretty neat house
on a marsh about five miles west of Brainerd.
So easy commute. Yeah. Yeah. It was good. And
then ended up in St. Paul to finish my career
as assistant director. So, a lot of moving around,
but it never seemed hard because there was enough
time between them. I can't remember if when we
were going to Anoka-Ramsey, if you knew then you
wanted to major in forestry, but what made you
decide to do that? A friend of mine was going
into it. urban, because I had always thought
I'm from Columbia Heights. Yeah. Forestry? What?
Right. And he was also a big city kid. And then
there was another guy we both knew Tom Tomczyk.
Oh, yeah. He also got a degree in forestry. Oh,
okay. I didn't know that. Yeah, kind of a surprise.
And so ended up going into forestry and I said
I'll give it a year and see if I like it and
the first thing we had to do is go to Itasca
State Park for four weeks and get some field
work in and get introduced to forestry and so
I found I really liked it and so continued on.
Wow good long career with this with the DNR then
yeah and all those years of working did you ever
wear a suit and tie? Uh, the last one. The last
one? Yeah. They figured being outside, you know,
looking like that ranger like in Yogi Bear. Sure.
No, we had uniforms that we wore up until about
Brainerd when I was probably halftime uniform
and then St. Paul was all suit and tie. Okay.
All right. Well, thanks, Wayne. All right. Now
that Wayne's told us a little bit about himself,
I want him to talk a little bit more about the
neighborhood where we lived. What were the things
that you remember most about growing up there?
Talk about the places where you like to hang
out, where you'd go swimming in the summertime
or skied or toboggan in the winter. Talk about
the sports you played as a kid. And I know you
played some instruments growing up. Just talk
a little bit about that, too. OK. First of all,
I should say, too, I am married. And no kids
to finish my introduction. Thanks. Let's see.
Growing up, my parents were in the same house
for 60 years and not unlike yours. I mean, we
were five houses apart, five or six. Six houses.
I counted it when I drove by a couple of weeks
ago. I hated guarding you in basketball because
you were left -handed. Tough to stop. He had
a hook shot that couldn't be beaten. But anyways,
as far as sports in high school, very limited.
I was on the swimming team as a diver for one
year. You were on the first swimming team at
Heights, right? Because they just built the pool
like in 68. And then when we were sophomores,
it was 68, 69. So that was the first. And I could
swim, but not well. So anyways, I gave it one
year and then said, no, that's not for me. A
little bit of baseball. A little bit of baseball.
But overall, no, it was graduate and move on.
Yep. You did play an instrument. Talk a little
bit about that, that you played the trombone,
right? Yep. And you could play bass guitar too,
didn't you? I had a bass guitar, was in a band
for a brief time. Yeah. So what in fact you and
your brother Al both played trombones, didn't
you? Yeah, and he was better than me Okay, just
like in sports for some reason he was very athletic
and client he went to state in tennis. I did
not know that. Was he in the class of 76? Okay, okay.
Yeah, he was really good in tennis. I did not
know that. Yeah, went to state in doubles. And
then also, he was a heck of a bowler. He was
on the University of Minnesota bowling team.
Oh, wow. They went to the Nationals in Vegas.
So really good. I'm fair. Yeah. And really smart.
I will say Wayne was always a really good student
and really smart. He just, he used his brains. As
far as local, did you go fishing with me? No.
To Hex Lake? I know. I, fortunately I was not
a fisher person, but I'm sure you did fish with
others. But yeah, there was a, there was a lake
near us, Highland Lake or Peck's Lake, we called
it. You get bullheads. That's all we could catch
is bullheads. It was, it was, it was like a
glorified swamp as well. I mean, you couldn't
put a boat on there or like a motor boat. It
was pretty, it's pretty in the summertime and
that stuff. Yeah. Okay. All right. Great. So
that's. Pretty much it. I mean, I was in the
house till I was 18 and it's still there and
my brother's son lives there. Yeah, right. You
kept the house in the family name, so to speak.
So yeah, that's great. It looks great. I'm driven
by it, you know, when I go up Chatham Road and
I can see that they put the new siding on a couple
of years ago. It looks very nice. Very nice.
We're going to follow up a little bit more in
our old neighborhood again. I've mentioned in
a previous podcast that the neighborhood we grew
up in was literally a golf course until the mid
-1940s. Some of the street names there kind of
give it away. Golf Place, Heights Drive, Fairway
Drive. Do you remember how old you were when
you first learned that our neighborhood was a
golf course? And what kinds of things do you
remember reading or hearing about the old Hilltop
Golf Course? Chet Latawiec lived next door. He's
since passed on, but he was an excellent amateur
golfer. Right. And he used to talk a little bit
about golfing there. And then he bought a house
next to mine and got a chance. His son also is
an excellent golfer. Yeah. Yeah. Doug. Yeah.
And the did we ever figure out where the clubhouse
was? Well, I know in the corner of 45th and Chatham,
there's a big house and we we knew a family that
lived there growing up. But right across the
street from there, I believe that's where the
clubhouse was, where people would go in and get
their ticket, you know, to play 18 holes and
that stuff. But the clubhouse had to be right
near that house and next to it. I think I read
somewhere that that was sort of like a manager's
house or something where that house is now. But
that's where you kind of started and finished
right in that area. So yeah, my I remember my
grandmother being really angry with my parents
when they bought the house because it was so
far out in the country. Yeah. Right. Right. And
I can remember her getting into an argument with
them. For the listeners who aren't from the Twin
Cities or where we grew up, Columbia Heights
is right next to Northeast Minneapolis. And,
you know, to get to downtown from Columbia Heights
is maybe four or five miles. But when you're
a little kid or you lived in the only city, it's
like you might as well say you lived in St. Cloud,
you know, that far away. It was it's a first
year suburb. It's right there. You know, so that's
amazing. Well, just just for our listeners, you
were telling me something about golf balls that
they pulled out of the reservoir next to it or
something? What was the deal with the golf balls?
Dozens and dozens or hundreds? Thousands. What
was this now? It was the waterworks. That dates
back to the time of the golf course. It was having
clogging problems, I guess. I don't remember,
because I'm sorry, but my parents would say,
yeah, we saw them pull out a semi-load of balls.
Ha ha ha! If I were that semi-driver, I would
have found selling them off the side of the road
or something. Oh, that's amazing. That's amazing.
And we used to bike down from our house to Central
Avenue to the Heights Theater. Sure. I saw "A Hard
Day's Night," I remember. Yep, our local movie
theater. That dates us. Yep, yep, yep. And Danielson
Drugs was on the corner there, 40th and Central.
Oh, yeah, that's it. Well, and then you mentioned
Chet Latawiec, his shoe store. Yeah, Chet's Shoes.
Chet's Shoes. They're still around. There's one
in the Heights and then there's one out in Coon
Rapids. I think there's four or five. Yeah. Yeah.
He kept it in the family. So, yeah, cheers. Okay.
The name of the podcast again, is "Hangin' Out
with Bob." I'm your host, Bob Edholm. And my guest
today is Wayne Damerow, who, like me, grew up in
the same neighborhood, on the same block, in
fact, in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, or the
Heights, for short. Okay, Wayne, next topic. You
grew up in the Heights, went to school there,
then to Anoka-Ramsey, and then finished at the
U, University of Minnesota in St. Paul after
you earned your degree in forestry. Talk about
some of the places where you've lived. Well,
you kind of mentioned, but just talk a little
bit more about the places you've lived elsewhere
in Minnesota or elsewhere, I guess. I've never
lived anywhere but Minnesota. Okay, it's just
Minnesota, okay. Yep. All those different towns
where I worked. have your house in Brainerd and
Cambridge. and Alex, St. Paul and Willow River.
And I liked all of them. Getting used to Willow
River was the hardest, just because coming from
Minneapolis to a town of 325, everybody knew
me. But then I got onto a baseball team, a softball,
and we went to State a couple times. Annie's
Denham Bar. Yep, sure. The town of Denham is even
smaller. Not the denim material, you didn't
wear denim jeans when you played? No, D-E
-N-H-A-M. Oh, okay. I think I've actually
seen that somewhere. It's a little town about
six, seven miles west of Willow River. Okay.
So we're talking nowhere. Oh, okay. That's cool.
That's cool. What position did you play when
you played softball? A shortstop and then when
I moved to... Brainerd, I got on with the softball
team and I was pitcher. Slowpitch. Yeah, of
course. Did you ever play a fastpitch game?
No. I didn't either. My dad played that when
I was a little kid, but we just didn't play it.
They didn't have a league in the Heights. They
played slowpitch and they played for maybe 20
years, but you had to drive somewhere to get
in a fastpitch league. I don't even know where
they played it in Minnesota. I don't think I
wanted to. I don't think I could get around fast
enough. I mean, it's like from here to my patio
window there where they're throwing to you. So
crazy. OK. All right. Again, the name of this
podcast is "Hangin' Out with Bob." I'm your host,
Bob Edholm. And my guest today is Wayne Damerow,
who, like me, grew up in the same neighborhood
on the same block, in fact, in Columbia Heights,
Minnesota, or the Heights, for short. It would
not be an exaggeration, Wayne, to say that you've
been quite the traveler, not just all over the
U.S., but all over the world. And if you could
just maybe talk about some of the places that
you've been to, places that you really liked
as well as some of the places that you didn't
like or were disappointed in. But just give a
flavor for where you've been. Okay, well, I have
four favorite places. Four! many places we've
traveled, but my favorite is Lake Como in Italy.
We stayed at a place for a while that was about
two miles from where George Clooney's house was.
So we kept driving by. Not stalking, but just
to see. He never invited you in or anything?
No, he didn't. We were quite disappointed. But
that was really, it's a neat area. If you get
a chance, you should go. The pictures are incredible.
Second was Germany. Yeah. I'm doing genealogy
on ancestry. And a fourth cousin contacted me.
Oh, cool. And, you know, it's pretty distant
relative. Well, he said, come on over. So we
did. We're in Germany. They live in Berlin. Berlin,
yeah, and so he picked us up at the airport and
that's so cool. We spent two weeks driving around
Germany with So we went to Dresden. But beautiful
city and all over Germany, it was really pretty
neat. Yeah it is Then the next place I really
liked was Uruguay. In South America? South America,
yeah. See. Yeah, we combined that was a work
assignment where I wrote the fire prevention
plan, the national one, for them. Wow, wow. How'd
you do that? It wasn't a lottery. I mean, who
would like to write a fire prevention plan? Well,
I was on the State Fire Prevention Committee
at the time. Okay. They just were looking for
someone to come. There's a program called Partners
in the Americas. Okay. Each state is paired with
a country in Central or South America. And Uruguay
is Minnesota's partner. And yeah, it's not a
well-known thing. Yeah, no. But I'm not making
it up. No, no, I believe you. But anyways, they
exchange in different things like food and farming
and fire and forestry. You know, it's kind of
neat. Uruguay's... different growing patterns
compared to ours. They can grow a tree that's
about 40 feet tall and 10 inches in diameter
in eight years. And here it'll take 40. So you
get a lot of rain and just warmer temperatures?
Just different temperature. Perfect climate.
Wow. Yeah, so, so they went into forestry. You
heard of the Pampas? Oh, yeah. Argentina. Uruguay
also is part of that. But they're planting quite
a bit of it up to commercial forestry. So anyways,
that was really quite an experience. Can just
real quick follow-up on that just for the sake
of this is audio and Uruguay is obviously in
South America but If I can picture in my mind
a map of South America, where is Uruguay in relation
to like Argentina or Chile or Brazil? Okay, Brazil,
you know where that sits? Uruguay is right at
the very southern tip of Brazil. Oh. And then
you go about 100 miles or less and then you're
on Argentina. So it's on the Atlantic side then?
Yes. Uruguay. Okay. Okay. Yep. And so the Argentinians
like to vacation in Uruguay. And so where you
get people, you get fire issues. And so that
was one of the things we dealt with. Is Uruguay
really mountainous or flat? No, flat as a pancake.
Okay, okay. And some river valleys, that kind
of thing. What's the capital of Uruguay? Montevideo.
Oh, okay. Most people say Montevideo. Right,
like in Minnesota. Yeah, exactly. They named
their town after Montevideo, Minnesota, right?
Right, exactly. Okay, Montevideo, okay. Wow,
getting a geography lesson, too. Oh, that's cool.
Well, in fact, in Uruguay, isn't that the team
that the U.S. men's soccer team had to play
in this western... There was some kind of soccer
competition just this past summer. It was some
kind of cup, but it was just like Western Hemisphere
team. So the U .S. played and they they had to
qualify. They would have had to beat Uruguay
in order to advance or something. They didn't,
you know, Uruguay. I guess everybody in Uruguay
plays soccer. It's like their sport, you know.
Just one memory is I was walking down the street
to the office and from the hotel and I saw a
big crowd of people hooting and hollering. You
know, I was also at a store, it looked like.
So I went up and. watch for a bit. Well, they
were watching a soccer game that was like 10
years old. Still getting excited. And they were
all just hooting and hollering. It was really
pretty funny. Oh, wow. They love their football.
They love their football. That's cool. That's
so cool. All righty. The other place I really
like is Costa Rica. So those are my four favorites.
I've heard that's right in the... Caribbean,
right? Well, both. Central America. Yeah. Yeah.
My brother was there last year first. It was
just where the Tom was there. And he said it
was amazing. Really nice hotel he stayed in.
Outside there were monkeys. Yeah. Yeah. But he
said it was just great. He really enjoyed it.
And we stayed at a mountain resort. There they
have true mountains. And they had no screens
on the window or anything. and about middle of
the night we heard the howler monkeys oh my what
kind of monkeys howler howler they howl oh h
-o-w-l yes okay what does it sound like sound
like cheetah or um no it's a just a real distinct
oh wow and at two in the morning yeah what the
Oh, wow. Well, that's a close. Thanks for sharing
the story. Was there another one you want to
mention? Okay. Thanks. Well, that's good. That's
good. I was hoping you'd just give me a flavor
from the places you've seen. Was there one place
you went to that said, boy, this place wasn't
as good as I thought it would be. I haven't run
into that. That's good. That's good. I'm glad
you said it. Cause I, when I went to Europe half
a century ago, I can't say I was disappointed
with any place I saw. It was, it was so unique
and place I'd never been to. So I wasn't really
disappointed. So, okay, great. Okay. Um, just
a little bit more now. You've been retired for
a few years now. Twelve. Okay. Um, tell us what
you do to fill your days now. I mean, I know
you like to golf and, uh, you just don't like
to travel, excuse me. So. Yeah, we're going to
go to Spain here shortly. See. We still like
to travel as long as we can. Yeah, as long as
you're feeling good and can do it, it'll take
advantage. But what was the question? Well, how
are you spending your retirement years? Golfing.
Like I said, I was just starting to do genealogy
work in my tree. I don't know. Golfing. Podcast.
Sure. Doesn't everybody work that in? Yep. Yep.
Yep. And, uh, let's see, kind of drawing a blank
here. Oh, gardening. I was six years on the board
of directors from the state horticultural society.
That almost seems like a natural tie-in for you.
If you were in forestry, I mean, you like being
outside and. Yep. trees and plants and just looking
at things, you know, taking care of them, not
getting overrun by weeds or just making stuff
just to make things look pretty, you know. Yeah.
No, I've been pretty good gardener for many years.
Both my grandmothers and my mom all were big
gardeners. Now Al, not a bit. Well, I know that
my mother liked gardening too, but she always
said it was so relaxing. That's what I find.
Yeah, you're really in touch with nature, so
to speak. And you got the sun. Yeah, yeah. It's
a nice thing. That's a nice thing. Okay. Again,
the name of this podcast is "Hangin' Out with
Bob." I'm your host, Bob Edholm. My guest today
is Wayne Damerow, who like me grew up in the
same neighborhood and the same block in fact
in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, or the Heights
for short. Okay, Wayne, last topic for this podcast.
Tell us about what your favorites were while
you were growing up. You know, favorite TV shows,
favorite teams you'd like to follow, favorite
bands, type of music you listen to, radio stations,
just to get a flavor. Sure. Well, I listen to
KQRS. I mean, that's kind of a... That was more
like in high school already. I mean, teenagers
are like... grade school. Yeah, the Top 40, the
Top 40 stations like over our Top 40 stations.
WDGY. Yeah. Weegee. 1130. Yep. And KDWB. KDWB.
Did you have a transistor radio? Yes, I did.
I had it by my ear at night. I fell asleep. Yep.
Yep. About the size of our cell phones. Maybe
a little thicker with the nine-volt battery.
And just, that's how I really caught up on music.
I'd have that to bed and I'd fall asleep at night,
but that's where you hear the top 40 stuff. Sure.
So you went to music land and saw the Top 40
list. You go, Oh, I heard that last night. Well,
then every Sunday night WDGY would play the entire
full. of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly for
those not familiar with that. Oh, wow. I remember
that song. You had that album, didn't you? Oh,
sure. Yeah, OK. I didn't have it, but I just
remember the song. 1960s. Late 60s. Yeah, that
sounds about right. One memory I have is. going
with my mother to watch fireworks. And so we
were going to walk up to the top of the waterworks.
Yes, yes. Because it wasn't fenced in at the
time. Right. And I had my transistor radio and
they started playing "Surfin' Bird." My mom said
shut that. Wasn't allowed to listen to "Surfin'
Bird." During the fireworks especially. If anybody
wants to check that out. Yep, yep. Who was the
band that did that "Surfin' Bird?" The Trashmen.
Oh, a local band. That's right. That's right.
But they went national with it. Yep. Yep. Yep.
Just like the Castaways. Yep. With "Liar, Liar."
Yes. I remember seeing them at junior high school.
Yes. Yes, they played it in the gym, the girls
gym. Yep. I remember seeing it was like Saturday
night. I thought, wow. But it was, it's amazing
because, you know, "Liar, Liar" was their hit song,
but I can remember they were doing covers of
"Sergeant Pepper's," right? They're doing "A Day
in the Life." And it's a pretty good, that strobe
lights is man. It was like psychedelic. Wow.
Okay. Talk about what were your favorite TV shows
growing up besides "Lunch with Casey." Yes, I won
a case of Coke one time, because I could shout
the loudest. Willie Ketchem? Sure, with Clancy.
Clancy's a cop. Willie Ketchem. He was out telling,
all right, we need everybody to scream and shout.
And it was loud. Did you ever go on any kid shows?
You know, when they had, you know, the TV tapings
or whatever? Yeah, that was the only one. Oh,
that was the one. OK, because I was on a couple
of those, too. I remember growing up. Oh, that's
great. But like when we got a little older, what
was like for you must see TV like you just had
to watch? Because for the benefit of our younger
listeners, we most of us didn't have any kind
of recording capabilities. You couldn't stream
shows. So whenever the show was on, you had to
watch it. or you missed it you know but like
what were like must -see shows well they were
black and white too yeah that's true that's true
first well we didn't get a tv till i was like
five Then it was black and white, of course.
Yeah. Wow, that's terrific. Yeah. Little did
we know. Well, I was going to say one show I
think that we all had to have, because that's
how we learned a lot about pop culture, was Ed
Sullivan on Sunday nights. Absolutely. I mean,
the Beatles. Sure. You know, there are more people
watching that than they'll be watching the debates.
I mean, just, you know, because you just have
to see it. I think it's still the record show.
Yeah, it was. You know, it changed. It had such
an influence. So any other TV shows that come
to mind? It was so many Westerns at the time.
Yeah. "Gunsmoke" and "Maverick." "Maverick," right,
right. There were so many of them. "The Lone Ranger."
"Hopalong and Cassidy." Well, I remember the show
that was a big influence. I think we were probably
out of high school or just finished in high school,
but "All in the Family." Sure. I mean, that was
really, you know, a breakthrough TV. Controversy.
Yeah, yeah, it was. Every week they would talk
about something that TV shows didn't talk about,
you know. Sure. And shows like "Miami Vice" later.
Oh, right. Right. I remember. Very influential.
Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. Was there a comedy show
that you think of that? "Laugh-In." Yeah, that was
funny. Yeah, that was. Yeah, like a million jokes
that cram into like 60 minutes. But I remember
some of the situation comedies. I mean, they
were fakey as heck, but I still liked them like
"Hogan's Heroes," which is still on by the way.
Oh yeah, there's some local nostalgia channels
like MeTV. It's on every night, but I can remember,
you know, watching those in high school. you
know, original. I mean, like the fakiest premise
of all, but it was "Petticoat Junction." Yeah.
"Bewitched." It was just that whole bunch of mediocre
comedy. Yeah. Yeah. It was amazing what they
had. But, you know, you didn't have a lot of
choices. It was either you watched it or you
didn't watch TV at all, you know, just because
who watched Channel 2? Oh, I know. Unless you
had to like in school, they'd make us watch something
and pull the TV into the gym or in the classroom.
You have to pretend like you were interested.
Good memories. So so KQ was a radio station once
you were like in high school. Yeah, because they
played the most progressive stuff and it was
FM. So the sound was right. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, that was a big deal. We didn't have stereo
radio. for most of our growing up till we got
to high school. FM stands for? Oh shoot, I used
to. Frequency modulation. Okay, well it's AM.
Amplitude Modulation, I think. Because I was
going to be an electrical engineer at one point.
I took one year in calculus and drafting and
all this forestry. Yeah, I want to get my fingernails
dirty. Yeah, exactly. Good for you. Alright,
again, the name of this podcast is "Hangin' Out
with Bob." I'm your host, Bob Edholm. My guest
today is Wayne Damerow, who, like me, grew up in
the same neighborhood, on the same block, in
fact, in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, or the
Heights, for short. Well, this was fun, Wayne.
It's fun to look back and reminisce. And thanks
for being my friend for the last 60 -plus years.
You know, I feel like we just scratched the surface,
really. I mean, I just wanted listeners to kind
of get a chance to know you a little bit about
yourself and what you've done in your life. But
what I really want to do down the road... I think
we could, I know we could do an entire podcast.
I think I want to talk about the music that we
listen to in high school or, you know, just for
starters. And we can talk about our minutes of
sports teams, how they've broken our hearts for
most of the 70 plus years we've been alive. And
anyway, there's, there's a lot of things we can
talk about. So thanks again for being with me
today. Hey, I was glad to do it. This is fun.
When you've got some period between your world
travels, we'll set up something so we can get
together again. We will do that. Okay. You know,
everyone has a story to tell and I believe most
people like to tell their stories, to talk about
the things they like to do, the things that interest
them, the things they've done, the places they've
seen. They just need to hang out with someone
like me so they can be asked those kinds of questions,
right? I have so many people in mind that I want
to have on as future guests. Today I was privileged
to have my longtime friend, Wayne Damerow, join me
in my palatial podcast studio. I'm using air
quotes when I say "palatial," but I have family,
friends, people I grew up with, people I've worked
with, people I've had lunch with or drunk beers
with, that I hope to get together with for future
podcasts. So, so many people to talk to Wayne,
so little time. And to our listeners again. Thanks
for hanging out with me, Bob Edholm. And again,
thanks to my guest today, Wayne Damerow. We hope
you'll be with us for our next episode of "Hangin'
Out with Bob." And until then, bye-eee!