Real AM & FM Broadcast Radio vs. on line streaming audio

Streaming audio isn’t really a threat to real AM/FM Radio at all. In reality, the Pew Research Center analysis of Nielsen Media Research data states that more than 90 percent of U.S. consumers tune into traditional AM/FM radio. And leading streaming radio stations such as Pandora only reaches 15 percent of Americans, while Spotify reaches about 5 percent, according to Edison’s latest Share of Ear study. Real AM/FM Radio is not only always reliable with no downloading or gaps in audio files, it has evolved and supported new technologies, as the world has changed. On Air Radio is an influential tool for digital. It’s very effective for driving online sales, as it helps drive consumers to company and product websites where they’re converting to customers. Turn your Radio on again today, and enjoy it's company.

Classic Radio Broadcast Console

We have recently started refurbishing our "Model" Retro Studio on my AM station, and have gotten an Autogram IC-10 up and running. Still has a few small problems, but it is feeding audio to the transmitter and looks mighty fine.

This is the IC-10 version that was produced right after Collins & Rockwell was removed from the trade name on these boards, the one with the black remote-start buttons and the Collins parts inside. The version that came after this had white remote starts and Autogram VU meters. All three of these versions of this classic console were manufactured within a two-year span.

Our next installment will be the Denon CD Cart Players and a triple-decker cart machine.

My Favorite Record Album Covers

I am starting a series that will feature my favorite record album covers from my collection, starting with my all-time favorite: "The Band I Heard In Tijuana" by Los Norte Americanos, also released as "The BRASS I Heard In Tijuana" on Somerset records, produced by the late Dave Miller, who recorded Bill Haley before the band was named "The Comets" way back when. Original artwork for this cover was by Chic Laganella, who did the artwork for many album covers, including one for The Beatles. As for the sound of this album, it was, and still is SUPERB! Their dozen releases that came after this one were so-so, none compared to this one.

2012 so far

What a whirlwind 2011 was, it went by so fast! Kicked the year off right with a SHORT haircut...

Update

Well, it's been a long time since I have posted, so here is a quickie:
Been doing a LOT of imaging and voice work, mostly weather forecasts for 18 different stations across the U.S. EVERY day of the week.
Visited the old Z-100 studio location in Kannapolis, NC a couple of months ago, was like a ghost town, was eerie, the main road to the parking lot was blocked off by a big, rusted cow gate, was very quiet. Sad.

Oldies 106.1

Well, another Oldies station has bit the dust. Oldies 106.1 (WOLS, Waxhaw) in Charlotte has flipped to some foreign job. While it was a great Oldies format, (albeit satellite-fed) playing a lot of great oldies that haven't been played in Charlotte for a long, long time, it was disturbing to me that the signal was not very strong in Gastonia, Cherryville, Bessemer City and Kings Mountain. Their coverage map showed that they covered Gaston County and part of Cleveland County, but no indication of the Milivolts, go figure.

Their "Southern Lawn and Garden" talk show on Saturdays should have been a clue that it wouldn't last. Every weekend that I wanted to ride around on Saturdays and listen to Oldies on the only Oldies station in the area, here they were friggin' talking about leaves, Yellow Nut's Edge and vines... criminy.
I didn't hear the sign-off/flip, but I was told that there was no warning, no tribute, no countdown, no special announcement or anything, damn.
On January 1, 2009, the calls were changed from WOLS to WOLH by Norsan Media.
Thank goodness I can still hear 63 Big Ways on AM when in the area!

Conclave Talentrak 2006 in Charlotte

Talentrak this year was in Charlotte this past October 21st, 2006, the event was "race" themed with the first session titled "QUALIFYING: HOW TO GET YOUR CAREER IN THE POLE POSITION" in the Discovery ballroom of the Holiday Inn, uptown Charlotte. Kiss 95.1 Operations Manager and Program Director John Reynolds (on the right in the picture) and WLNK The Link Program Director Neal Sharpe (on the left) were the speakers who gave a good deal of insight into their day-to-day activities that involve seeking new talent.
The second session was called "THE RACE: LAPPING THE COMPETITIVE FIELD" with (pictured left to right in the photo at right) Jaye Delai from Middays at Q-92.7, Matt Harris from The Matt and Ramona Show on The Link, and Potter from The Candi and Potter Show on The Link.
The third session, "THE CHECKERED FLAG: WINNING AT THE CORPORATE LEVEL" was especially entertaining for me to get a chance to hear Dan Vallie (pictured at left) speak about his roots in North Carolina, as well as his insights into the political workings of a group of stations. The whole event was worthwhile to me when I got to speak one-on-one with Vallie, Bill White from WBT, and Neal Sharpe from The Link.
War Stories rounded out the day with two information-filled stories by former WSOC Program Director Paul Johnson (in the blue shirt), who is now at WKML.

Bill Klaproth from The Loop in Chicago was the emcee and moderator for all the sessions. The keynote speaker at the luncheon was Sheri Lynch from The Bob and Sheri morning show on The Link. Tom Kay and the gang once again put on a great Talentrak this year, I was glad it was in Charlotte!

SOIREE LAST NIGHT

What a nice soiree I was invited to last night. Hung out with old friends from Pineville, LA, talked about radio, met some new friends from Ville Platte, talked about radio, had a meal that couldn't be beat with all of them (pictured), and even divulged into cooked animal parts (ribs, my second time ever), I am sure I will be paying for it today, my internal system isn't used to that kind of food!
Had a great time trying to eat some animal flesh once again (although the red wine was excellente') and talking about radio with my Canadian Foreigner friends Ron and Libby (pictured at left with me) last night. Ouch, a monster is growling in my intestines, DAMN THOSE RIBS, either that or my spleen is giving way...
Oh, and ratings for Alexandria will be released tomorrow for this past Spring survey, too bad it's embargoed again, probably just as well.

"SH_T ! Let's re-take that!"

Goot gosh, a sportscaster on channel 36 in Charlotte does a bad pre-recorded take for the early morning sports segment and does another take to make it right (this was the night before it was to air), but a production and/or master control screw up causes the bad take to air, and WHO gets egg on his face and ultimately resigns? The sports guy who wanted the correct take to air. He had been a sportscaster with the station for ELEVEN YEARS, his photo is no longer on the WCNC website. Screw up ONE time and the brass never cares how many years you've given them.
At 5:51 am this past Thursday, July 27, 2006, Chuck Howard (pictured) had recorded his sportscast the night before, and, as we all do in radio and television, had a "flub" or "bad take", so he decides to re-do it. He said "Sh_t, let's re-take that". Plain, simple, common in broadcast, but uncommon for someone to mistakenly air the bad take with the "S" word in it. That's exactly what happened. Now the sports announcer has left a bad taste in the viewers mouths and the person or persons responsible for airing the wrong take are probably wiping their brow thanking their lucky stars they didn't get the blame.
Now, don't start getting images of Janet Jackson's boob in your mind, chances are, it will be forgotten by next week, if not already. The mishap took place before 6:00 am, "safe harbor" time for broadcast, a time when children are not normally watching TV, plus this is a program customized for adults, not children. Add to that the fact that it is reported that NO ONE has called the station to complain and all should be well, except for the embarrassment of the sports guy and losing his job.

In all my years of live morning shows with live phone calls, rarely on delay, I have had a caller, or an unsuspecting song, drop the "F" bomb on my show, I panicked every time, but you know what? We never received one single complaint, or even any calls about it for that matter, at all! And two of the three times it happened my show was in the #1 slot at the time! Once in New Orleans (Contest caller's name was "Dana", a guy, I asked him if anyone ever picked on him 'cause he had a girls name, he said he said "I never let 'em F_CK with me", once in Myrtle Beach (A caller trying to be caller number 98 to win Rolling Stones concert tickets was number 97, before I could get to the winner he said "Well F_CK!"), and once in Alexandria, LA (A Pinkard and Bowden song I had been playing forever "Propane", a take off of Eric Clapton's "Cocaine", I had been playing the concert version which was clean, we had just gotten the studio version in, I played it as soon as I got the cellophane off of it without previewing it, WRONG!). No one complained. I do remember the station Manager and 50% owner was in the control room at the time of the "Propaine" song incident, he was leaning over the edge of the counter talking about something that I was not paying attention to (his lips were moving but I was listening to the song), and I was listening for the end of the song, since it was the first time I had played it and it was a CD, not on hard drive with a secondary tone, I would have to fire the next event manually, and when the "F" bomb dropped, I froze, he stopped talking, there was about three seconds where we both just gazed at each other's eyes as I quickly turned the monitors down, I thought "Holy sh_t, I'm gonna' get it now." He just paused and then continued on with his very imnportant conversation about a remote broadcast coming up and never heard it. I got lucky.
That's me in this photo from 1995 around the time of the "F" bomb-in-the-song incident, I remember the song in question was playing in the top-right Denon CD player. The station manager was leaning on the countertop just to the right of the control board. I was NOT in such happy spirits at the time of the incident.

TODAY'S ROCKIN' DATE IN 1955

Rock and Roll begins! It was on today's date in 1955 that the very first Rock song to make it to #1 was Bill Haley and His Comet's "Rock Around The Clock", spending eight straight weeks at #1. It would be the next year that Elvis Presley would finally have a number one song. Rock Around The Clock would go on to become the biggest selling Rock single in history (even to this day, according to the RIAA and Guiness Book Of World Records), although a Christmas song and a Princess Diana Tribute song sold more in categories other than Rock and Roll.
That's Bill Haley in the pic with lead guitarist for The Comets, Frank Beecher, who just announced last week that he is retiring from touring with the Comets, he ranks right up there with Chet Atkins and Les Paul, he even played with Benny Goodman before joining The Comets, what a career! The picture is from their first German movie, from 1958.
Bill Haley and His Comets also had the very first million-selling Rock single the year before in 1954 with "Shake Rattle & Roll".
And, synonymously, Tom Hanks turns 50 years old today, it has been reported that Hanks is working on a motion picture about the life of Bill Haley, he has been quoted as saying "...Haley's life is one that needs to be told..."
Oh, and it was also on today's date, the same year, 1955, that Pat Boone debuted on the charts with his version of "Ain't That A Shame", just thought I'd throw that in there.

BILLBOARD buys R&R

Geeze, after The Bobby Poe Survey shut down, I didn't think Gavin would EVER fold, but it did. Now Billboard's parent company, VNU, has purchased R&R Magazine. The two last major radio trade publications that have not yet yielded to an all digital on line radio magazine will soon be one magazine, sort of like the end of an era. I can say that I think I have read every issue of Billboard and R&R since 1979, and have been featured in several issues of both, woo hoo! So I guess it is like the end of a good, long run for those of us in the biz that used to depend on those two publications for our much needed window to the radio world outside of our own towns. Allaccess.com has sort of taken away the "eagerness" to get that new issue of R&R or Billboard each week, especially the "Vox Jox" section in Billboard (my favorite column), since allaccess.com has all the radio world news bright and early before 11am every weekday.
There are pros and cons to this merge, many say that R&R has turned into a 'Rag magazine" over the years, others say that Billboard is a joke. Either way, it is what you make of it, if they keep all the main components of R&R, the new combo will continue to be a tool of the trade for this radio buff.

Another "Gone But Not Forgotten"

Geeze, they seem to be dropping like flies lately. Aaron Spelling, Creator of The Love Boat, Charlie's Angels, Dynasty, Beverly Hills 90210, Fantasy Island, TJ Hooker, Hart To Hart, and the rarely mentioned favorite of mine Burke's Law (which starred Gene Barry, I was a BIG fan of Barry's pre-Burke role in Bat Masterson, sort of a western version of The Avenger's John Steed, complete with hat and cane), died this past Friday at the age of 83, he had a stroke just last week.
Not only was Burke's Law one of my two all-time Spelling favorites, The Mod Squad was the other one, Spelling was a genious!
As I used to sit in front of our small black and white TV in the living room in Hollowayville, Illinois, and gaze into that tube at Mod Squad, Star Trek, and The Monkees EVERY week, a few years later there was an Aaron Spelling cration that became a big hit that I never cared for, it was Family, although I was in love with Kristy McNichol from the show and I would watch for her scenes only, usually turning the channel as soon as my adolescent mind decided the first few scenes with McNichol were enough to satisfy me until the next issue of Bananas Magazine or Us had her picture in it, I'm telling you, I was flipped over Kristy McNichol!When Kristy and her brother Jimmy came out with their own variety TV show, I thought, wow, a weekly show with the chic I am flipped over that I can watch all the way through! But, alas, it was not to be. The Kristy & Jimmy McNichol Show was a good bit hoaky and goofy, or maybe I was just reaching an age where I thought I was "too cool" for a TV show with a brother and sister doing modernized Vaudeville skits and singing songs on network television. Yes, they sang songs, and I remember their records being in the record bin at Nichols Discount City (Now a Wal-Mart Super Center) in Gastonia, NC, but I never bought their records, nor did I ever hear them on the radio. Maybe program directors in radio at the time thought it was uncool too. No, make that a confirmation, it was uncool to play their songs on the air. Sorry Kristy.

Coupons for TV Guide

I've seen it all now. In a recent issue of the new large size TV guide: COUPONS, COUPONS, GIT YER COUPONS FER DISCOUNTS ON THE NEXT ISSUE OF TV GUIDE! Not just one, but two. I never thought I would live to see the day that TV Guide offered discount coupons. Although I have been a MAJOR fan of TV Guide for years (I collect TV Guide, I have every issue except the first one, including these new, gaudy large ones), I am still not too crazy about the large size edition, especially since they switched from local listings to "national only", but it is a nice price, lower than the last digest-size issue, especially with their 99 cents special they had a month ago. It's a shame, though, that quite a few of the newsstands that used to carry the digest-size TV Guide do not carry it at all anymore.

JOHNNY GRANDE, gone but not forgotten

What a sad week it has been since my last post here. Not only did we lose Vince Welnick, the keyboard player from The Grateful Dead at the age of 55 on June 2nd (Although I never cared for any of their songs except "Truckin" and "Touch Of Grey", both of which Welneck did not perform on, he didn't join The Dead until 1990, but give him MAJOR props for being a member of The Tubes when they had a big hit with "She's A Beauty" in the eighties), and the great Beatles keyboard player on their last few albums, Billy Preston died on June 6th after being in a coma at the age of 59 (He had his own BIG hit songs with "Nothin' From Nothin' Leaves Nothin" and "Will It Go 'Round In Circles", as well as an instrumental called "Outta' Space"), but in my most deepest sorrow, we lost Bill Haley's original keyboard player, the always-calm and talented Johnny Grande, (Pictured in glorious black and white from his early days as an original member of Bill Haley's Comets). Three keyboard players in just a few days. Damn.
Johnny was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame in 1997, only Bill Haley has been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, The Comets have not been inducted yet. Grande also had the distinction of performing with Bill Haley through all of his bands from the 1940's up to the 1960's (The Four Aces Of Western Swing, The Saddlemen, The Comets), and he continued to perform with the original surviving Comets right up until his illness from Cancer recently.
Johnny Grande played piano on the original hit recordings of "Rock Around The Clock", "Shake Rattle & Roll", "See You Later, Alligator" and other million-selling Rock And Roll standards. My all-time accordion favorite is the Bill Haley And The Comet's single "Rockin' Little Tune" that featured Grande on lead, THAT was a really rockin' tune, especially for an accordion, and Frank Beecher's guitar solo on it was really, REALLY rockin', I have never heard an accordion played more perfectly in rhythm with a slapping bass and saxophone since, and probably never will, The Comets are not only rockers, but were innovators in the 1950's, who else would have thought of putting an accordion on lead in a rock song?
Johnny Grande, you rocked.
That's Johnny below more recently from a picture taken by fellow Comets Fan Bob McLeod at The Tennessee Club where The Comets were performing. Gone but will never be forgotten.

Stumblin' In to a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

That was Suzi Quatro's first big hit song, "Stumblin' In" (with Chris Norman), I remember hearing it on WLS every afternoon after school just like it was yesterday: "Our love is alive, and so we begin. Foolishly laying our hearts on the table, Stumblin' in. Our love is a flame, burning within. Now and then firelight will catch us... Stumblin' in..." The vocal harmony stuck in my mind forever.
When my high school buddy from Bessemer City High School, Mark Conrad, told me about a hot new song in 1982, called "Lipstick", I thought, "Hmmm, he's picked some good tunes before, I'll go and buy the 45..." (I was BIG into buying all the latest records at the time). I was both surprised and happy to see "Suzi Quatro" on the Dreamland record label at Chamelot Music in The Eastridge Mall. I didn't think I would ever hear another song by my Suzi, I couldn't wait to get home and play it. Although the song was not a hit here in the states, to me it was just as good as "Stumblin' In", even more powerful and with a stronger beat. And I have never been an advocate of songs that didn't make the Top 10, but this one was strong. I'll never forget the heavy sound on the chorus: "And I nail my mouth to the evil taste of lipstick, inhale the scent of someone else's lipstick..." It was the strongest vocals by a female I had heard since Little Miss Dynamite, Brenda Lee.
Of course there are a couple of other chapters in Suzi Quatro's life story, like her appearances as "Pinky Tuskadero" on Happy Days, the band that she, Lita Ford, and Joan Jett were in called "The Runaways", and more. How synonymous that almost every time Joan Jett has written a note for me, (I have worked in the music industry for 23 years now) she signs her name, then writes "Rock Hard", that was the name of Suzi Quatro's album from which the single "Lipstick" was on. Suzi has done a lot of other stuff too, she is one talented chic.
And look at her pic today... she looks great and even better than when my sex-starved teen-age eyes saw her on Happy Days way back when. She has a new single out this week, and if they still made them on 45 rpm records, I'd buy it, see more on her website at www.suziquatro.com. Happy Birthday, Suzi Quatro. She turns 56 today, lookin' like she just turned 32, serious!

Charlotte Radio Ratings just in!

Goot Gosh! Kat Country has jumped up to the number two slot, WSOC had been the number one Country station in Charlotte for how long? Two years? At least. Of course, Power 98 is still number one over all. You can view the entire list of highest rated station in Charlotte by clicking here for the latest survey results.

Today's Date in 1986

It was on today's date back in 1986 that the results of television viewers' votes for the greatest hits of the Rock era were revealed on Dick Clark's "America Picks the #1 Songs". The month-long survey for this particular list showed that Americans picked Bill Haley (pictured) and His Comet's "Rock Around the Clock", Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (I never considered that to be a ROCK song) and Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" (I never considered that to be a bona-fied Rock song either, but it was an extremely big hit at the time of the survey). The participants must have been varied in age and interests, I do not know of too many people who would ever think to categorize those three songs together on ANY list. In my humble opinion, Rock Around The Clock definitely belongs there, but Bridge Over Troubled Water for a "Greatest ROCK Hit"? Must be why there has never been a Rock and Roll chart in America, the Pop charts rule. At least the Lionel Richie song had a good beat and you could dance to it. LOL.
And, this show gave us a good video of Bill Haley and The Comets on national TV again! Hoo Rah! That's Bill Haley jamin' with Frank Beecher on stage, Frank (Franny) still tours with The Comets.

The Worst Person I Know

That's how the song went; "The worst person I know, she bothers me so, sent from down below, Mother-In-law..." by Louisiana Hall Of Fame and New Orleans Music Hall Of Fame inductee Ernie K. Doe. That song hit #1 on the charts on today's date in 1961 in America. Of all the thousands of songs I played at Paragon Casino in Marksville, LA, over the years, that one was the most requested. Ernie K. Doe passed on in July, 2001, but "The Emperor" will never be forgotten, we have his music. The photo of K. Doe is from a 1963 dance competition in the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans, Doe was battling James Brown in the competition! On another note, I am BEAT! I mowed two yards yesterday (my own, 'cause it needed it, and another for Ron Lindhorst, 'cause he mowed mine while I was out of town), I guess I'm not as young as I used to be, it wore me out, but look how nice and green my back yard is now! Small things satisfy me.

Charlotte Radio Performance

Just got the tabulations for the most shares in ratings by company for Charlotte radio: CBS Radio: 31%; Clear Channel: 22%; Lincoln Financial (Formerly Jefferson Pilot): 9%; Radio One: 8%.
Here's the stations (Highest rated 12+ first):
CBS: WPEG (Power 98), WSOC, WBAV, WNKS (Kiss 95.1), WKQC (K-104), WFNZ/WFNA
CLEAR CHANNEL: WLYT, WKKT, WIBT (The Beat), WRFX, WEND (The End)
LINCOLN FINANCIAL: WBT AM & FM, WLNK (The Link)
RADIO ONE: WQNC, WPZS
Both Lincon and Radio One may look like they're at the bottom, but not bad to be that high with only a couple of stations each, compared to the six that CBS has, and the five that Clear Channel has.
Oh, and another gone but not forgotten : British star Freddie Garrity, lead singer with the band Freddie and the Dreamers, died yesterday at the age of 69 at a hospital in North Wales.
His five-piece band had hits in Britain and the United States with "I'm Telling You Now," "You Were Made For Me" and "Do The Freddie".
Freddie lived in Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, and was on holiday with his wife Christine when he was taken to hospital. He had been suffering from emphysema for several years and had been unable to work since 2001.
The group had a goofy picture on the cover of one of their albums with all of them in long night shirts with night caps on, strange that I'll always remember them that way, but that was one of the albums in a frame on the wall in the Oldies 104.3 studios in Alexandria, LA, where I did mornings and I saw it every day for 365 days. Plus I've had the album myself since I was 13 years old. A few people over the years have asked me why I am always smiling with my mouth wide open for pictures, now that I look at it, must have been a subliminal combination of Freddie and Bill Haley. I'm a Freddie Haley! I always thought Jeff Goldblum was Freddie's illegitimate son!

ALWAYS AND FOREVER BOOGIE NIGHTS

Another "Gone but not forgotten" to add to my list of long lost dreams and things that were: Johnnie Wilder Jr., (pictured in the middle with his band) the lead singer of Heatwave died Saturday, was 56. His daughter just released the news to the public today. If you don't remember "Boogie Nights" and the ballad "Always and Forever", then this means nothing to you. Johnnie sang lead, and, if I had a dollar for every time I roller-skated "couples only" to "Always and Forever", I'd have a nice little nest egg always and forever.
Wilder founded Heatwave, which was nominated twice for Grammys. I thought for a moment, "...hey, this was the first inter-racial group I ever listened to...", but after much more thought, it was the third, but what a sound they had. The first inter-racial group I remember hearing was The Del Vikings, they had a hit with "Come Go With Me", I must have played it a million times after school every day. The second inter-racial group I ever heard, and probably heard the most, was K.C & The Sunshine Band. I'm sure there is no use in explaining who they are and what they recorded.
Oh, and the last actor to play Clarabel The Clown on The Howdy Doody Show died Sunday at the age of 84. His name was Lew Anderson, he played the part from the mid-fifties right up to the last show in 1960. Anderson was the only one to play the part of the mute clown and actually speak, but only one time, on the last show, with trembling lips he said "goodbye kids."