WCOJ Ron's Swap Shop Is Back in Chester County On WCHE. Prayer Does Work.

So when my Chester County PA neighbors saw me praying to a huge paper mache Jesus sculpture they thought I was a nut. Especially since I mounted it to the front of my lawn mower and prayed while I was cutting the lawn.

What? I was multi-tasking.

What was I praying about? I'll put it this way, if my Dad had a radio show and it was a swap shop and people could call up and put things up for sale while he typed the information on the computer while they waited.... and people were putting things up for sale like embroidery kits and wood but they always seemed a bit confused.....this is the show he would have! It's Ron's Swap Shop!

Since WCOJ in Chester County turned Catholic radio I thought it was the end of an era but it's not because now he's on WCHE 1520 AM. But the great thing is that now it's streaming so everyone on earth can hear how great he is!

I urge all of you to listen to this show because it's so entertaining you'll probably fall off you chair. Have I ever steered you wrong? No.

Here the link. He's on from 1-3 PM Eastern time. Let me know what you think.

Bloggers Have Real Life Meeting With Dr Zibbs

Dreams were fulfilled on Sunday as two bloggers met me. In person. That's right. In real life. Here's how it went down:

Blogger: John Young

Blog: Tikaro

Background: John's blog won Best of the Mainline this year. In addition to John's blog, he also does some really cool stuff like the Guerilla Drive-In, where he plays movies from a 16mm projector from the side car of his 1977 BMW bike. He's also invented various techie things including some 3rd party Apple Iphone items.

The meetup: I knew he was going to be at the chili fest because he was providing these cool bar coded interactive tattoos. Mary Bigham from WCDish introduced us and he was a really nice guy. He's commented on TBY and I talked to him for a few minutes. It was the first time that someone introduced me as "Dr Zibbs." He's a really great guy with lots of cool, unique ideas.

Blogger: Anonymous

Blog: Anonymous And Loving It

Background: Anonymous started his blog at the end of August. He had been commenting on TBY and some other blogs and after encouraged by Falwless (then me), decided to start a blog. As it turns out, Anonymous is Robert Henson from the now out of business WCOJ. If you're not from Chester County, then you don't know that he's a local celebrity. He also has a podcast with thousands of listeners. He's interviewed many famous people.

The meetup: He outed himself in the comments section of this TBY post so I knew who he was. So I approached him, tapped him on the shoulder and asked,

"Are you Robert Henson?"

"Depends who's asking."

"Dr Zibbs."

"DR ZIBBS! HOW ARE YOU DOING?"

Me being a really, really, really big deal in the blogosphere, I wasn't sure if he was going to want kiss my ring - you know, like they do with the Pope - so I put my hands in my pockets. I tried to put his mind at ease. Hey. I put my pants on like everyone else. One leg at a time (unless I'm sitting on my bed).

We then hung out for a while talking about various things. It was pretty cool meeting someone in real life that has been a TBY reader. And although he's the professional interviewer, I think I did a pretty good job of steering the conversation back to me and my blog as often as I could.

Anyways, it was great meeting both of these bloggers in real life and I hope to keep in touch with them.

Who's going to meet me next? You? ....You....or what about....YOU?

WCOJ Is Forever Gone - Closed - Chester County Mourns

WCOJ - we hardly new ye'. It's a sad day in Chester County folks. WCOJ, the West Chester radio station that has been broadcasting since 1952 has been sold to Holy Spirit Radio and will begin airing Catholic programming shortly.

And I have a confession to make. The "special person" that used to call in as "Marty from Downingtown" on the Early Edition with JT was indeed me - Dr Zibbs. Thanks for the memories WCOJ. Goodbye JT Morgan, Robert Henson, Mary Bigham, Ron "Swap Shop" O'Neil and the commercials of Pipe Xpress and Brenda's Vac Shop. I'm gonna miss ya. Let's all do lunch real soon.

I guess that leaves me only one choice. Start working on my imitations of the Devil and Jesus for the calls I'll be making to the new station. I feel it's my duty.

Chester County Restaurant Festival Pictures ala' That Blue Yak

The 2008 Chester County Restaurant Festival happened in downtown West Chester Sunday and That Blue Yak was there to take these amazing photos. Celebrity Dr Zibbs was on hand to inspect, taste, then raise brow and give thumbs up to the star struck crowd.

Here's looking down Gay Street from High Street:

This was a tasty pepper jack and crab bisque from Ryan's Pub. Excellent!

What have we here? The picture below is a Beef on Weck sandwich from the Whip Tavern (weck as in Kummelweck roll.) Tasty!

I forget who this guy was making the ribs but look at him go!

The picture below is the WCDish booth. There's local celeb and sweatheart Mary Bigham in the red. Is that WCOJ's JT Morgan? Sure is. And may I add that if you haven't heard WCOJ in the morning, JT is great. You can now listen online. I only wish that guy "Marty from Downingtown" would call in more. If they ever track him down, they should have him into the studio. I wonder if it's really a freaky dude or someone else?.... I don't know. .....all I know is tune in because it's good stuff.

..and just a congrats to friend of THAT BLUE YAK winners: Gadaleto's Seafood for best entree (crab cake) and West Chester Scoop for best dessert. (Please thank me with free food next time I enter your establishments).

Ron's Swap Shop vs. Caln Habitat For Humanity - Potential War?

Ron's Swap Shop. Chester County staple. But what about when you want to actually SEE the item as opposed to having Ron DESCRIBE the item? That's when you head to the Habitat for Humanity in Caln. For instance, the used portable toilet above. I'm sure Ron would have said something like,


"It's a portable toilet that is looking for a loving home but just needs a little elbow grease to get it back to it's original glory days".


That's fine, salty language for describing a used portable toilet, but that doesn't tell me how clean it is. When I buy an item like this, I want to at least make sure that the portion that you sit on is clean. And can you really get the feel of a piece like this by hearing it described by the Sultan of Swap on the Information Super Highway? Not really. Can you accurately estimate the resale value? Probably not.

Let's just agree to disagree. When buying used portable toilets in Chester County, it's always good to have a few options.

Ron's Swap Shop - Pride of WCOJ

A few more tidbits from Ron's Swap Shop on West Chester's WCOJ: (1420 AM - 10-12 Monday to Friday.) I'm urging all check out this West Chester/Coatesville show. Pure entertainment from this online classified ad listing program!

- When there's a lack of callers, Ron will read trivia. He revealed to us last week that a "spermologist" is one that collects trivia. Then let out an annoyed, "O......KAYYYYYY".

- It was windy last week so Ron gave this warning: "It's pretty windy out so places like forests and winding Chester County roads with trees - well - you just might want to stay away from there. That's what I do when it's windy."

- "Roland" called because he wants to get a Doo Wop singing group together.

- A woman named "Ester" called in.

A caller helps to explain the concept of a website menu:

Caller: Ron, I think I can help the callers that can't find the Ron's Swap Shop page when they go to http://www.wcoj.com/ . What they have to do is look on the left side, and in a box it says, 'Ron's Swap shop'. They have to click on that box.

Ron: You know, I'm not trying to act like I'm not the most important person on WCOJ, but it should be crystal clear when you go to the WCOJ website exactly where to find Ron's Swap Shop information.

- More trivia: "A flea can jump a foot. In comparison, it's like a human jumping over the Washington Monument. Wow. Imagine that. One foot!"

- An electical supplier is selling everything for 50 cents "on the dollar".

Caller: "I've got a tractor and hay for sale. "

Ron: "Compacted hay?"

Caller: "No , hay for horses. "

Ron: "I know what hay is used for - how much? "

Caller: "$35 per bail."

Ron: "$35? Geez - I just paid $45 at the feed store. Can you hold on for a second? I've got something to do here."

I have a feeling that Ron needed to find his feed store receipt.

Check out my previous Ton's Swap Shop link here.