Timothy "Skeeter Nash" Goodrich - N5ASH

Anchor Desk, Reporter

“Skeeter Nash” (real name: Timothy Goodrich) N5ASH joined the Newsline staff in 2012, first as a reporter, then anchor. He first came to the attention of ARN co-founder Bill Pasternak after Skeeter sent him a press release announcing a special event station his club, the Northeast Arkansas Radio Club, was hosting in early-2012. Bill, upon realizing that Skeeter was a broadcast radio personality of many years, invited him to record the audio report for the story himself, which he did. Soon after came more reports for Skeeter to voice, then he offered to anchor, and has been doing one or the other on a regular basis ever since.

So, why the name, “Skeeter Nash?” From his start on broadcast radio in 1980, beginning in his original home area of the San Joaquin Valley in Central California, “Tim” had worked on the air using his own name. Between 1980-2003, his on-air career saw him work at stations in Fresno, Tulare and Bakersfield (CA), then Nashville, TN. However, when he arrived in Jonesboro, Arkansas in the Fall of 2003 to be the Afternoon Drive personality on KDXY-FM (104.9 The Fox), it was decided that he needed a memorable “air name,” and after a couple were suggested (and rejected), “Skeeter Nash” was the one that everyone at the station said was the best, and when he did his first show on Labor Day 2003, from then on, he was Skeeter Nash.

Tim/Skeeter has loved radio—in all of its forms—from a very young age. By the time he was 8 years old, he was doing ‘pretend’ radio shows in front of the record player in his room. At age 13, he decided to try to pass the Novice amateur radio exam; however, there were few hams in the then-small town of Reedley, CA where his family was living at the time, so he had no one to help him then learn the 5 words-per-minute Morse code required to pass the Novice exam, and put his dreams of becoming a ham away…for the time being!

While living in Jonesboro, he met Henry Mitchell N5SEB. Somehow, the subject of amateur radio came into their conversation, and Skeeter revealed to Henry that he had wanted to be a ham since he was an adolescent. Henry invited him to come to the next meeting of the Northeast Arkansas Radio Club, and told him that they could help him to study for his Technician ticket. When he learned the code requirements had been eliminated from the licensing process, Skeeter dove into studying for his exam, and passed on Nov. 29, 2010.

His original-issue call sign was KF5JCT, but within 3 months, he upgraded to General, and obtained the ‘vanity’ call sign, N5ASH, to match his “air name.” Shortly after this, his wife, Geri (known to his radio listeners as “Sweetie Nash”) passed her Technician exam, and received the call sign KF5KRN. Geri—under her real name—is also frequently heard voicing reports for Amateur Radio Newsline.

After a ‘forced’ retirement from broadcast radio in 2017, Skeeter obtained his Commercial Driver’s License, and began work as a professional truck driver, which is his current occupation. He and Geri now live in Shelbyville, TN. For even more of their story, check out N5ASH’s bio on QRZ.com

Check out this video Skeeter produced, showing how he puts together a typical Newsline anchor audio track:

This video was featured in the November 6, 2013 episode of Ham Nation on TWIT.tv