Roberta Reese, Danbury, Conn.
WSHU is my friend that I can always count on.
When I moved from Norwalk to Sherman in 2004, extending my commute from 5 minutes to 1 to 1 1/2 hours, I asked a friend how they dealt with a long commute. The answer was listening to public radio. So I found WSHU, and the station became my commute companion. Regardless of how annoying the traffic or frustrating the weather conditions were, I always appreciated the positive influence of the news stories, music, and comforting voices from WSHU.
In his profile, Tom Kuser mentioned how he and others at WSHU have to work especially hard during weather emergencies to keep WSHU on air. I so appreciate that, especially during the October snow storm in 2011. The day of the storm was my day moving to a new home in Danbury. Despite the two feet of snow, the movers were able to deliver my belongings and I was able to move myself and my two cats into the new house. My car was still stuck at the bottom of the hill, and I had to trudge up the hill carrying the pets. Shortly after that chaos was over, and as the meager light of the day was dimming, the power went out. I spent a miserable evening not being able to unpack, get settled, or make the house my home. The next day, I ventured out and bought a cheap battery-operated radio at Walmart along with a hard-to-find extra set of batteries. Once I had WSHU letting me know what was happening around my neighborhood and world, I knew that I was going to be fine, and so was this new home.
I still have that cheap radio in my home office. It has never been tuned to any other station. WSHU keeps me company when I'm doing anything in the home office, whether it is working from home, paying bills, or playing games.
Thanks for being there when I needed you.