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Rick Murray
Roanoke, Virginia
Cable Company: Cox Cablevision

C-SPAN was instrumental in an action which dramatically changed my life. While I was attending the University of Illinois in the late 1960s, I dated a girl I liked a lot, but did not realize she was �the one� until I attended her wedding to somebody else. I married, learned a few years later that her marriage had ended, and then saw my own end.

I began some efforts to locate my Illini girl, and after some false starts learned that the University of Illinois Alumni Office would not give me her address, but would forward a letter. My next problem was to find something significant and friendly to write about. I had no idea what her romantic status was, and needed a neutral start.

In late 1994, C-SPAN conducted one of its Lincoln-Douglas debate reenactments in Quincy, Illinois, where I was then living. I played the valve trombone in the 1858 band that would be in the broadcast. I had my letter topic. I imagined that the band would be a major focus of the broadcast. She claims that she spent the entire 6 hours glued to her TV, waiting for my few seconds of visibility.

It worked. We began corresponding, met in Illinois a few months later, and were married in 1996. We now live in Virginia, where she is a professor and I am a computer analyst. We are very happy and feel that we owe much of the credit for our successful reunion to C-SPAN.


ONLINE PRESS KIT >>

Contest Winners
Read the essays of the 25 contest winners.

Press Releases
Sep. 28, 2005 -- Winners Named in C-SPAN Viewer Essay Contest Marking 25 Years of Viewer Calls

Sep. 14, 2005 -- C-SPAN Marks 25 Years Of Viewer Calls-Ins With LIVE, 25-Hour Call-In Program On Oct. 7

Aug. 17, 2005 -- C-SPAN Marks 25 Years Of Viewer Calls-Ins With LIVE, 25-Hour Call-In Program On Oct. 7

News Articles
The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) - Oct. 10, 2005
Talkers Magazine - Cover Story Oct. 2005
Jewish World Review - Columnist David Brooks, Nov. 1999

History of Call-Ins on Radio and Television
A timeline of call-in programs

Evolution of Call-Ins on C-SPAN
A timeline of call-in programs at C-SPAN

More about C-SPAN's 25 Years of Viewer Call-Ins
Background information on C-SPAN call-in programs

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