With Spring 2021 now a little over a month old it is time to celebrate it with not only the sound of peepers (I will explain that in a few minutes) but with a broadcast from February 19th, 1994. I know that date may not bring on thoughts of spring but it’s a special episode and I was just so darn thrilled to find it in the Vault.
Due to some thawing weather we were to experience that weekend 27 years ago, it started the discussion of Norm’s hens and when they would start laying eggs again.
You see, hens lay eggs when it’s warm. Heated henhouses make them lay eggs all the time. A regular backyard coop that gets cold in the winter makes them stop until the weather begins to warm up again.
Norm and I were discussing this earlier that day and I had the very silly idea to make it a contest where people would send in postcards with their guess of the date one of his hens would lay an egg.
Thus “The First Egg of Spring” contest was hatched.
And wait until you hear what the prize was to the whomever guessed correctly.
This spring talk it also segues to talk of the peepers. A peeper is a small frog, about an inch to an inch and a half long, who awaken from their winter slumber as the weather warms (usually late March through April). They make a chirp-like sound that some may confuse with crickets. Norm had a bog at the end of his driveway by the main road. He would risk life and limb and bring a portable tape recorder down there, cars whizzing by and all, to record them. We would then play them on the show every year.
It was a very popular feature. So much so that at one point someone offered us “peeper keychains” to give away on the show. It was a small circle with a peeper sticker on it and when you pressed it, it made the sound! We gave so many of them away as prizes.
In honor of that I will play you a recording from 1992 that Norm made down at the bog. It was on an old cart and I had to do some digital enhancing to try and get the best audio out of it.
To continue that tradition, I have an area nearby that is teaming with peepers every spring. I have recorded them for the last few years and posted it on-line. I will now do that here, every year, and hope it rekindles and keeps Norm’s spirit alive.
You will hear Norm, being the world’s foremost peeper translator, deftly explain what they are saying.
The callers have so much fun talking about the First Egg of Spring and the peepers.
Mark in Newton
Al from Framingham
Tim from Dedham
Emma from Manchester
All of the craziness breaks way to an eggsellent Dumb Birthday game!
Players:
Roberta
Mark from Cambridge
Our friend Lisa in Topsfield
I’m in Studio
Emilio Marotta producing and playing
And Jack Harte
Birthdays:
Eddie Arcaro
Smokey Robinson
Justine Bateman – who’s age guesses are briefly interrupted by auto-reverse as the tape continues to side B
Prince Andrew
Jeff Daniels
Event:
What date was Edison granted a patent for his phonograph?
More Bdays:
Tyne Daly
Erma Bombeck
Postgame we continue with more callers:
Barbara
Eleanor in Quincy.
Matt in his car
This really is a special episode.
90 minutes of fun!
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