Happy 48th Birthday to Us

Happy Birthday to us! Today is the 48^th anniversary of WOBM-FM hitting the airwaves as Ocean County’s first radio station began broadcasting on March 1, 1968 from that little white building off of Route 9 in Bayville that was our home until just a few years ago.

Local and county officials helped launch the initial broadcast which was on a Friday and we had some great pictures of that first day but they were apparently tossed years ago.   The #1 song on the charts at that time was “Love is Blue” by Paul Mauriat, Lyndon Johnson was President of the United States and the legendary Bob Levy was the radio station’s Sales Manager. More than a decade later he would begin doing this little show called “Topic A” which remains a Sunday morning institution.

During this heated Presidential primary season we have heard candidates talk about what they believe the vast majority of Americans fear. While they insist their sources are people they talk to on the campaign trail we know their talking points are based simply on what might get them votes. With that said I did a little research and came across the Chapman University Study of American Fears from 2015 and the results may surprise you…or maybe not.

When asked what they were afraid or very afraid of 58% of those surveyed cited corruption by their own government which topped the list. Basically tied for second were Cyber-terrorism, Terrorist attacks and corporate tracking of personal data. Other fears at the top of the list included bio-warfare, Government tracking of personal data, identity theft, economic collapse, running out of money and credit card fraud

. All of those were named by more than one-in-three of those surveyed as being something they were afraid of very afraid of. Gun control and War were not far behind and way down the list were things like pollution, overpopulation, aging, robots and even dying.

In terms of personal anxieties topping the list was Reptiles followed closely by Public speaking, fear of heights, insects and claustrophobia.

My greatest fear is not having anything to say one morning. Hopefully not anytime soon.