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If you read this column last week, you're probably wondering just what happened; if not, you should read it now so that you know what I'm talking about below.

Now, before I began my attempts at dialing, I turned the stereo down so as not to interfere with my performance. As I waited on hold I could hear him take another call and award a prize for being the 95th caller. After that, I heard my call and some comments about how I won't have my job much longer and something about being original. I then listened to what seemed like a hundred commercials while picking up pieces of keyboard, never removing the phone from my ear.

This was the only time-period where I could have missed him explaining what was happening, this due to the low volume of the stereo making it difficult to comprehend what it was exactly that he was saying. When he finally got back to me, He answered the phone as though I was a new call, surprised to find me there. He asked if I had work to do. I responded affirmatively and he said to keep listening and he'd announce if I needed to call back.

At this point I was pretty confused. Normally, when you win a contest you are put on hold so that the DJ can get another record going and then get back to you in order to take down your personal information and tell you to come pick-up your prize during normal business hours. Why did he put me on hold? I don't know, and I don't think he does either.

Freed from the phone that was stuck to my ear, I went immediately to turn the volume of the stereo up to almost twice it's normal level. At this point I was determined to hear every word; I had invested a good deal of effort on this game by this time and I was certainly not going to lose by default.

At 9:00 p.m. Jeff does the "Top 9 at 9," where he counts down the top 9 requests of the day. With no word at all as to the status of the tickets or whether I or someone else won the game or any other indication at all as to what was going on, right on schedule at 9 o'clock came the siren which marks the beginning of the "Top 9 at 9." Thinking that he would continue the game after the countdown I went on about my routine listening intently.

After the countdown he did a 30 minutes continuous music segment. When he finally came back for another conversational segment, he had 3 or 4 girls in the studio with him. It was one of the girl's birthday, and so he started a new game where you had to call in and guess her age.

By this time, it is almost 11 o'clock; time for Cale McCormik to begin his shift. Over the last couple of hours I'd been trying to figure out just what Jeff was up to. Why the silence? Did he forget about me and the game and the tickets? Was he planning something with both of my calls, saving my first attempt until Cale got there?

I waited until 11:30 and Cale had not said much nor was there any sign that Jeff was still there. Resolved to find out what was going on, I called the station. When Cale answered I asked if Jeff was still there. informed that he was there and listening I asked what was happening with that contest. "You're Dave, right?" Jeff asked "Greg," I corrected and quickly apologizing for the wrong name he assured me "I'll be getting back to it, just keep listening." "Even if it's not until 3 a.m. just keep listening," he continued to which I responded "I'm here till 5 so I'll be listening."

And so I listened. I listened to Cale talk to his date on the phone just to prove that Cale could really get a date. I listened to a joke; "What did the ghost say to the bee?" The answer: "Boo bee." I then listened to "boo bee," or "boobie," no less than 50 times as they took calls from listeners, expressing their opinion of the joke. I listened to Jeff and Cale and a bunch of "naked" callers involved in a phone party.

All of my work was completed by about 3:30 a.m. so I got a cup of coffee and put my feet up to relax and listen. As of 3:49 a.m. Jeff was still there and since I said that I was here till 5 I decided to wait until then to leave -- despite the fact that by now I had all but given up on it. At 5:15 a.m., before leaving, I called again to see if Jeff was still there and find out what he was going to do. When I got through to Cale he informed me that Jeff was gone and that I should call him tomorrow.

It's about a 15 to 20 minute walk home, and as I walked home thinking about the whole thing, I began to get more and more angry. I thought about how I had listened so intently to all of that juvenile banter when I should have been watching "Politically Incorrect" in the break room instead of eating my lunch in the computer room. All he had to do is say "No winner, continued tomorrow," I would have been satisfied -- but he said nothing, nothing at all!

When I got home, I decided to email him. I spent a couple of hours composing the letter and although it turned out to be somewhat scathing, I demonstrated great restraint. Notice that I restrained myself from expletives and name-calling. That last line I thought was justified since I had to listen to that incredibly immature naked-party-line for hours. That and the girls he had in the studio earlier showed where his mind was.

He mentioned my letter the next day on the air saying that I was mad because I didn't win. He said that I "dogged" him and sent him email but he missed the point. The point being that this was the first time he said that I didn't win, and that if he had said the previous evening that he was not impressed by any of the calls and was going to continue the contest tomorrow I wouldn't have "dogged" him.

I had work to do so I thought about what he said for a couple of hours. When I got to a point where I had some time, I called Jeff and we had some words.

He said on the air that I yelled at him --but I didn't. He also said on the air that I hung up on him before he could say anything --he said that he couldn't keep track of everything, and when I said "I'm done listening to IFC," he said "I don't care," as I hung up the phone. His final words on the air were "Ya know what? I really don't care."

With all of the electronics in the data center only the strongest radio signals get through, and all we had for an antenna was a couple of arbitrary and different lengths of wire. Last week I gave some money to my friend and neighbor Trog, to go to Radio Shack and get me an antenna because they don't open until at least 9 a.m. and I can't stay up that late. I now get a few more choices on the dial and ya know what? I now listen to anything but WIFC.