KMOX' Jon Grayson ... is off to Kuwait City and Baghdad. His reports from The Sandbox begin this Friday (March 3, 2006) and run through March 17th on KMOX. Jon was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about his trip.

Mike: Will you be staying (hopefully) in the Green Zone? Or will you be embedded with a combat unit? Staying in a hotel or in a military barracks? If embedded, which unit?

Jon: We won't technically be embeds, which is nice for a couple of reasons. First, it's safer. When you're embedded you go where your unit goes. If they end up in combat, you end up in combat. The other plus is flexibility. We get a wider perspective on the operations there because we can talk to soldiers from many different units (and services) as well as military brass and visiting dignitaries. As I understand it, we'll be spending a lot of our time in Baghdad in the Green Zone, but there will also be some time spent in Kuwait City on the way there and on the way back. We're also scheduled to go to Balad AB for a time, which is about 40 miles or so northeast of Baghdad. We've been told that the accomodations will range from hotels to tents depending where we are, so take that at face value I guess.

Mike: How will you be getting your show/reports back...web, ISDN, SatPhone? Channels provided by whom? What kind of equipment will you be using?

Jon: This is exciting. I'll be using a bunch of technology I've never seen before. I'm bringing an M-Audio Microtrack flash recorder with me that's a monster little unit. It's palm sized and has onboard editing. I'm still bringing my trusty Dell laptop with me for backup editing capabilities, though. I'll also have two different means of satellite communication: a regular sat phone and a satellite data link. That way I'll be in constant contact with KMOX and I'll have the ability to go live at any time as well as feed produced packages back via email.

I'll also have video and still cameras, so expect plenty of pictures on my blog page at KMOX.com. Oh, and I'm also bringing my MP3 player. I figure I can drown out helicopter noise with The Refreshments, The Clash and Arctic Monkeys. Besides, there's something poetic about listening to Combat Rock over there, I think.

Mike: Have you been set with sufficient combat gear...flak jacket, helmet, etc. Was it provided by military or CBS?

Jon: We'll have flak jackets and helmets provided by the Department of Defense. We can bring our own, but mine's at the cleaners...darn the luck! Seriously, they're setting us up but we do have to give the stuff back when we leave.

Mike: When will your reports air? Will you be providing two-way chat with Carney?

Jon: The reports wll air throughout the day. The idea is to go live as often as possible while augmenting the coverage with my reports. Times are flexible because I never know exactly where I'll be or what I'll be doing, but count on hearing me during all of our live shows from Total Information AM through to Two Johns.

Mike: Will you carry a weapon? If so, who issued it? What is the weapon?

Jon: We're not allowed to carry any weapons, not even our own.

Mike: Will an engineer accompany you? Or will you have to manage remote contact on your own?

Jon: Just me by my lonesome. The only one (there are 8 of us) who gets to bring a producer is G. Gordon Liddy.

Mike: Will you be providing feeds to CBS stations other than KMOX?

Jon: That's up to mother network. All we can do is offer them coverage; it's up to them if they want to take it. One of our sister stations, WCCO in Minneapolis, is also sending a host named Jack Rice so they're covered. I'm sure if KDKA wants something we'll arrange that, but that'll be done by the bigwigs here so I'm not really involved in that. But there are no plans that I know of right now.

I hope to touch base with Jon occasionally thru his two-week tour there and will present his comments as they come in. Keep an eye on KMOX.com for his updates.