![\"\"](\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Jay3.jpg\" "\\"Jay3\\"")
<\/a>Jay Smilkstein, 1961-2012.<\/p><\/div>\n
Our friend Jay was, I believe, at the higher-functioning end of the autism spectrum. \u00a0While\u00a0<\/span>Jay had some\u00a0social\u00a0hang-ups and behaviors that made some uncomfortable, fortunately, at the SWLFest, there were a number of folks who went out of their way to take Jay under a wing, assist him with personal interactions, and generally welcome him back \u00a0each year.<\/p>\n I’m pretty sure that he considered the SWLFest, and many he’d interacted with over the airwaves, his radio family, too.<\/p>\n Jay passed away suddenly from a heart attack two days ago, on Monday, March 12th, 2012.<\/p>\n As my friend, David, phrased it: \u00a0Long may you ride the radio waves you loved so much.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve only attended the Winter SWLFest for \u00a0four years thus far, yet the friends I’ve made there have become like family. It shouldn’t be a surprise, really; we’re all passionate about radio and things related to radio and broadcasting. It’s an event where we can be who we are–no need to explain to these compatriots […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,297,5],"tags":[976,977,972,974,973,975,233,817,234],"class_list":["post-2972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-pirate-radio","category-swlers","tag-autism-radio","tag-autistic","tag-jay-smilkstein","tag-jay-smilkstein-death","tag-jay-smilkstein-rip","tag-remembering-jay-smilkstein","tag-swlfest","tag-winter-swlfest","tag-winterfest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-LW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2657,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/the-winter-swlfest-25th-anniversary\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":0},"title":"The Winter SWL Fest 25th Anniversary","author":"Thomas","date":"January 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"For those of you readers who often feel you're alone in your enthusiasm for radio, I highly encourage you to attend the NASWA-sponsored SWL Fest in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania this year. The 'Fest is jam-packed with radio-related information and attended by many radio kindred spirits.\u00a0 From their website : The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/swlfest_logo.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8671,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/naswa-details-its-27th-annual-winter-swl-fest-program\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":1},"title":"NASWA Details its 27th Annual Winter SWL Fest Program","author":"Thomas","date":"January 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"For those of you readers who often feel you\u2019re alone in your enthusiasm for radio, I highly encourage you to attend the NASWA-sponsored Winter SWL Festival\u00a0in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania this year. This will be my sixth year attending, and I have eagerly awaited the arrival of the \u2018Fest.\u00a0 It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"David Goren hosts the annual Shortwave Shindig","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Winterfest-Shindig-199x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15662,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/save-the-dates-2016-winter-swl-fest\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":2},"title":"Save the Dates: 2016 Winter SWL Fest","author":"Thomas","date":"November 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Richard Cuff and John Figliozzi have just announced the dates for the 2016 Winter SWL Fest--it will be held on February 19th and 20th, 2016. I encourage you to\u00a0save these dates and plan to attend! What's the SWL Fest about? Check out my summary of the 2015 Winter SWL Fest.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mark Fahey hosts his forum, \"Monitoring Dusty War Zones and Tropical Paradises: On Being a Broadcast Anthropologist\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/MarkFahey-BroadcastAnthropologist.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/MarkFahey-BroadcastAnthropologist.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/MarkFahey-BroadcastAnthropologist.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8972,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/off-air-recording-of-the-shortwave-shindig\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":3},"title":"Off air recording of the Shortwave Shindig?","author":"Thomas","date":"March 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Are there any SWLing Post readers out there who could make an off air recording of the Shortwave Shindig broadcast tonight (22:00 EST, 02:00 UTC)? If so, please comment! \u00a0I would like to share your recordings on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. Please note the type of radio used and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ShindigLogoWhite","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ShindigLogoWhite-300x286.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8962,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/listen-to-the-shortwave-shindig-live-friday-on-wrmi-7570-khz\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":4},"title":"Listen to the Shortwave Shindig live: Friday on WRMI 7,570 kHz","author":"Thomas","date":"March 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"If you can't make it to the Winter SWL Fest this year, you can still listen to one hour of David Goren's Shortwave Shindig via a live broadcast through WRMI. Here are the details: The Shortwave Shindig goes live on shortwave Friday 3\/14\/14 from the 27th Annual Winter SWL Festival\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ShindigLogoWhite","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ShindigLogoWhite.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ShindigLogoWhite.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/ShindigLogoWhite.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8309,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/registration-open-for-27th-annual-winter-swl-festival\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":5},"title":"Registration Open for 27th Annual Winter SWL Festival","author":"Thomas","date":"December 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time to register! The Winter SWL Fest dates and location have been set for 2014: (Source: SWL Fest) Richard Cuff and John Figliozzi, co-chairs of the Winter SWL Festival, are pleased to announce that arrangements are now set for the 27th (!) Annual Winter SWL Festival, scheduled for March\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"From Left to right: Sheldon Harvery (of The International Radio Report), Tina Shields and Dan Srebnick","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Winterfest-SheldonTinaDan-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}