Ralphie

No, not that Ralphie, not the one in the pink bunny suit.  Yes, I know ’tis the season.

This “Ralphie”

RalphChristmasWreath

That is my co-worker here at the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission, Ralph Wall.  Ralph has been our radio and TV guy for many years, about 24 of them.  He is retiring at the end of the year.  Ralph has worked for our agency since we had our own TV show on Nebraska public TV.  Many of you will know that he worked for Kearney TV prior to that.  He frequented a number of radio stations around the state way back when.

Ralph has been a professional broadcaster through his entire career and has done great work for us here at Game & Parks.  Oh sure, he can be a pain in the butt to work with, especially when he wants you to hold a wet, cold fish in a particular way for another “take”.  But, that was exactly the point, Ralph was a professional at what he did, knew exactly what he wanted, and was doing his job.  We are going to miss Ralph’s work.

I have recorded weekly “spots” for Outdoor Nebraska radio with Ralph for a long time.  Have set in front of a TV camera for him many times too.  We always got the work done, but spent a bunch of time just talking before and after.  We share warped senses of humor, and a love of all things Looney Tunes.  Ralph even kept a life size Foghorn Leghorn in his office for some time:

RalphOffice

If you want to listen to those radio podcasts, a couple of the last ones we recorded (you might want to know they include sneak peaks of 2020’s Fishing Forecast), you can here:  Outdoor Nebraska Radio.

Nope, Ralph was not an avid hunter or angler, but he knew enough about both to thoroughly cover those topics on his radio and TV shows.  I am betting a lot of folks do not know that he is an expert on native butterflies, moths and their caterpillars!

caterpillar

He also strums a guitar, smokes cigars, and plays chess.  I bet he is going to be doing more of those things in the coming weeks.

Yep, Ralph has been one of the many characters working here at the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission.  We do a wide diversity of jobs, but do them well, even radio and TV.  I will miss our times in the studio, Ralph.  Enjoy your retirement, buddy!

About daryl bauer

Daryl is a lifelong resident of Nebraska (except for a couple of years spent going to graduate school in South Dakota). He has been employed as a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for 25 years, and his current tour of duty is as the fisheries outreach program manager. Daryl loves to share his educational knowledge and is an avid multi-species angler. He holds more than 120 Nebraska Master Angler Awards for 14 different species and holds more than 30 In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards for eight different species. He loves to talk fishing and answer questions about fishing in Nebraska, be sure to check out his blog at outdoornebraska.org.

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