Win Money This Week on Toews On the Waves

This week on Toews on the Waves, in addition to the usual weirdness and stuff, we have a contest for you, your chance to win $50 in cash, out of my own pocket.

In the second hour of Toews on the Waves, I will be playing some songs that have something in common. Your job is to figure out just what it is these songs have in common. I'll be honest with you, I'm not expecting to give away the cash prize, but I'm fully prepared to do so if we have a winner. The recipient shall be the first person to correctly tell me, via e-mail, what the songs I'm playing have in common. I will only allow two guesses per entrant, and the winner needs to be prepared to receive her or his prize via Paypal. Brianna Fuellbrandt, on whose idea this contest is based, and Caroline Congdon, who was there when the idea came about, are not permitted to participate, but anyone else is welcome.

So join me on Saturday for Toews on the Waves. There'll be lots of time for your requests, which you can send to me in all of the usual ways: bruce@mushroomfm.com by e-mail; @btmushroom on Twitter; or call the request line at 206-203-3070 and have your voice heard on the air.

The fun goes from 2:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern, and it's only on the Home of the Fun Guys, www.mushroomfm.com.

A Tribute to CathyAnne Murtha

CathyAnne Murtha is a name I've known for years and years. For a lllong time now, CathyAnne has been a very big name in the field of adaptive technology training for blind people, and very rightly so. I would be hard pressed to find an equal at what she does. She knows her stuff and she knows and understands people. She is quite simply the best in her craft.

Recently, though, I saw another side to CathyAnne, a side I never knew existed. This happened when CathyAnne joined Mushroom FM, the station on which I broadcast. Curious, I decided to tune in to CathyAnne's show from the beginning, and I never looked back. I loved what I heard. CathyAnne was engaging, funny, entertaining, and very amiable. I often didn't care for the music she was playing, especially when her tastes gravitated toward the newer music, but that was okay, she as a person was worth sitting through the music to listen to. CathyAnne and I developed a rapport with each other that rivaled the Jack Benny/Fred Allen feuding of the 1930's, 40's and 50's. And like Benny and Allen, CathyAnne and I became close friends. It wasn't at all unusual for CathyAnne and me to be hurling insults back and forth publicly, and encouraging each other privately.

The huge highlight for me was this last Christmas. CathyAnne had a time slot that happened right around my bedtime. So there I was, in bed, listening to my iPhone, and hearing the beautiful arrangement of Christmas music CathyAnne had put together. Naturally, I couldn't resist making her play "I Came Upon a Road Kill Deer", but it was all part of the fun, part of the magic that made that Christmas Eve so very special to me.

I'm speaking of CathyAnne as if she's dead. Thankfully, that's not the case. But she has stepped aside from broadcasting, at least for now, and it's Thursday, and I miss her show very much. CathyAnne helped me in a major way to make it through the rest of the week and into the weekend. I'm writing this to say thank-you, and please come back to the airwaves when you're ready to do so.