It was jus’ another overnight shift at country radio station KIIQ, but that quickly changed. I answered the studio line and was told by the male voice on the other end that he had me in his sights at that moment.
Being a smart-aleck, I asked, “What sort of weapon is your sight affixed too?”
Chillingly, he answered, “A 30-06 rifle.”
Our on-air studio, located on in a secured business office on Neil Road, had a large glass window that overlooked a parking lot. Since it was dark, I couldn’t see anything beyond my own reflection in the glass.
My reaction was to drop to the floor and crawl out of the control room, into the production room next door. Once there I called Reno police, who told me that they were sending a unit over right away.
Next I called the program director, Tony Thomas. He talked me through the steps I needed to take in order to switch our operations from the control room to the production room.
Several police officers arrived and started looking around the outside of the building for anyone they thought looked suspicious. One officer took my statement, but told me there wasn’t much they could do unless the caller actually did something to me.
It was very long morning and I was happy to have my replacement show up, A Sparks police officer, (whose name escapes me at the moment.) He had me transfer the on-air operations back to the studio as he started work.
As I did this, he placed his .357 magnum service revolver on the counter next to him. Then he looked at me with a mischievous grin.
I waited for the sun to throw some light on the ground before I headed out to my car to drive home.
The Old Blog in the Desert 
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