I found some more Moose pictures that made me laugh this week. I am not sure if this was for a charity event or if it was a St. Jude Fundraiser. Our staff was asked to play in a basketball game. They got us uniforms with the station logo on the front and each of us had part of “94.5” on the back.
I’m not sure what $24 dollars was going to do for us, but I did try to bribe the official to make things go in our favor.
There is no doubt that we were all pooped after the game. We’re all red faced and gasping for air. The next picture was one that made me laugh out loud. Morning guy Jim Biggins is holding his knee in pain, intern Crack of Dawn Shawn is flat on his back, morning gal Jodi K is the only one who doesn’t look like she’s exhausted, and I look like I am dying!
I don’t remember much about this game. If I were to guess, we lost. Events like this were one of the reasons I loved working in radio!
Back when I worked at B-95 in Flint, for whatever reason, my boss and I always greeted each other the same way. Oddly enough, when we call each other on the phone, we still do it. I’ll say, “Brian Cleary, ladies and gentlemen!” and he says, “Keith Allen Everybody!” (or vice versa)
Our morning guy from B-95, JB, wound up doing mornings at the Moose shortly after I started working there. He was aware of this exchange and used it on occasion, so I’m thinking he was responsible for one of today’s photos.
The first few years we did our St. Jude radiothon, we broadcast from center court of the local mall. One year, they rented a sign to show the running tally of the money we raised. Sometime shortly after I started my show, I looked over and noticed the sign.
I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Eventually, they moved the radiothon back to the on air studio. All the stats showed that stations raised more money this way. Less distractions, I suppose. I truly missed those mall broadcasts, though.
I loved the interaction with listeners. I loved seeing all the silent auction items that people could bid on. I loved being out in public doing the show. It gave me an energy that I didn’t get while in the studio. You get to watch people watch you and react to what you are doing on the air. It was unique and I loved every second of it.
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.
I turned 35 in 2005. There was plenty going on in my personal life at this time. We were doing various therapies for my son, who had been diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum. I had settled into my position at 94-5 The Moose in Saginaw as their afternoon guy and music director. I was certainly loving that. And at some point during the year, my mother’s cancer returned.
At the time, My Space was pretty popular. I was blogging a lot on there. Somewhere, I have a Word document with every one of those blogs. I had to contact them to get them. I had stopped posting there after joining Facebook, and at some point they moved content. I was thankful to get those blogs as they covered the time leading up to my wedding, the birth of my sons and the death of my mom.
I posted a lot about new songs we were playing on the radio, too. A few of them make this list. Let’s head into 2005:
The legendary Ray Charles passed away in 2004, but before he did, he recorded an amazing duets album. Genius Loves Company was the best selling recording of Charles’ more than 50-year career. It was a collection of duets with Norah Jones, Natalie Cole, Elton John, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Diana Krall, Michael McDonald, Johnny Mathis, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor.
The album entered the Top 10 on the US album chart more than 40 years after Charles’ previous appearance on that same chart. This broke the record held by another act who also made his comeback with a duets album. In 1993 Frank Sinatra’s Duets reached the Top Ten 25 years after his previous Top 10 album.
Here We Go Again was a song that Ray had recorded in 1967. Then in 2004 he re-recorded this as a duet with Norah Jones for Genius Loves Company. She recalled collaborating with Charles on this song in a 2010 interview with Billboard magazine:
“I got a call from Ray asking if I’d be interested in singing on this duets record. I got on the next plane and I brought my mom. We went to his studio and did it live with the band. I sang it right next to Ray, watching his mouth for the phrasing. He was very sweet and put me at ease, which was great because I was petrified walking in there.”
This song won Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration in 2005 eight months after Charles passed away. In addition Genius Loves Company was awarded Album of the Year among six other awards, as the American music industry paid lavish tribute to him.
Unlike Frank Sinatra and Willie Nelson, Ray Charles’ voice is as strong as ever on this recording. I felt Sinatra’s voice was weak on his duets albums. Willie is still putting out albums and at times he sounds like he’s just speaking the lyrics. Ray, however, sounds fantastic. I love the blending of these two voices.
Here We Go Again
The next song is an example of a song that I first heard in a polka. You read that right – a polka. Weird Al Yankovic has done quite a few polka medleys on his albums. The medley usually contains a verse or chorus from a pop song done as a polka. When I first heard Beverly Hills by Weezer on the radio, I found I liked it.
Weezer lead singer (Rivers Cuomo) explained in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine that this song is about how he could live in Beverly Hills, but he wouldn’t fit in. “I could live in Beverly Hills, sure,” he says, meaning he could afford it easily. “But I couldn’t belong there.'”
Songfacts explains:
The song comes off as satire, but that wasn’t what Rivers Cuomo had in mind when he wrote it. “I was at the opening of the new Hollywood Bowl and I flipped through the program and I saw a picture of Wilson Phillips,” he said. “And for some reason I just thought how nice it would be to marry, like, an ‘established’ celebrity and live in Beverly Hills and be part of that world. And it was a totally sincere desire. And then I wrote that song, ‘Beverly Hills.’ For some reason, by the time it came out and the video came out, it got twisted around into something that seemed sarcastic. But originally it wasn’t meant to be sarcastic at all.”
The music video was shot at the Playboy mansion. It included appearances by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and some of the Playboy bunnies. Two of those bunnies were Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt.
Beverly Hills
When I was music director at the Moose, I spoke with a lot of record people. One of the industry folks knew I loved music from the Rat Pack. She asked me if I had heard of Michael Buble’. I hadn’t. She sent me some MP3’s of his music and I was hooked.
The song could have been sung by just about any artist who tours. The lyrics sound as if they could be autobiographical. It is sung by someone who spends a lot of time on the road with great success. With that success, there is sacrifice. He is missing his home, particularly the woman he loves.
Despite the fact that Home only reached #72 on the Hot 100 chart, it was a breakthrough song for him. The song hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary survey in July 2005. Three years later Blake Shelton reached #1 on the Country chart with his cover of Bublé’s hit.
Bublé and Blake Shelton teamed up in 2012 to record a holiday version of this song for Shelton’s, Cheers, It’s Christmas album. The collaboration happened after Shelton sent Bublé an email saying he hoped to record a yuletide-themed rendering of the tune. “I had the idea of doing a Christmas version of ‘Home,'” he said.
This was the song that proved to folks that Michael was more than a cover artist. His original songs are just as good as the standards he records. He is also more than just a Christmas artist. It bugs me that people pigeon hole him and label him like that. He’s one of my favorites.
Home
My on air name was “Keith Allen.” As a music director, I got to hear all the new music before it went on the air. I popped Play Something Country by Brooks and Dunn in the CD player and loved it. On my first listen, I thought they said my name – Keith Allen. I suppose, in a way, they did. But the lyrics refer to Toby Keith and Alan Jackson:
Said, I’m a whiskey drinking, cowboy chasing, hell of a time I like Kenny, Keith, Alan and Patsy Cline.
I have to tell you my favorite story about this song. When my program director and I first heard this, we said, “That’s a number one song!” We told our consultant that we wanted to add it. He said he didn’t feel like it was a hit. We were both shocked. We both told him that we felt it would be number one. He fought us.
He fought us for a few weeks on this one. He finally said that if we really felt it was a hit, we should add it. We wound up making a wager. I told him that if it didn’t go to number one, we’d buy him dinner. He said if it did hit number one, he would buy US dinner. The week it hit number one, he called us for our weekly music call. When we answered we started giving him restaurants we could go to!
His issue with the song? The “wolf-like” howl of the chorus.
Play Something Country
The next song is one that everyone jokes about on October 1st every year. “Someone needs to go wake up the guy from Green Day!”
This song reminds me of Fastball’s The Way. I say that because it starts with a simple acoustic guitar behind lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. Then the song kicks in with drums and the rest of the instrumentation. I love the sound of that.
Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong wrote this song about his father, who died of cancer on September 1, 1982. At his father’s funeral, Billie cried, ran home and locked himself in his room. When his mother got home she knocked on the door to Billie’s room. Billie simply said, “Wake me up when September ends,” hence the title.
“My father died in September of ’82, and I purposely, up until that point, never went there,” Armstrong said in an interview. “I think really what I was doing was processing that loss that I had with this person that I never really knew. So I wrote that song for my father and about that loss and how 20 years had passed. I remember right after I wrote it, I felt this huge weight off my shoulders.”
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Another country newcomer makes my list this week. I have actually written about him, and the song. Here is that blog:
The next song is one of the slowest chart climbers in history. It was on the American Hot 100 chart for 23 weeks before it entered the Top 40. KT Tunstall’s “Suddenly I See” was inspired by another artist, Patti Smith. Tunstall said, “The inspiration for the song was Robert Mapplethorpe’s photograph of Patti Smith on the cover of her album Horses. I was staring at it one day thinking it was incredible. It’s everything I love about music – mysterious, inviting, frightening.”
Suddenly I see This is what I wanna be Suddenly I see Why the hell it means so much to me
“The chorus was me thinking, ‘that’s what I want to be,'” Tunstall told The Guardian. “Not a famous pop star with lots of money, but like this woman who’s living her life as an artist. I’d been trying for more than 10 years to be a professional musician. I was just exhausted from trying to persuade other people I was good enough.”
I remember hearing this song shortly after realizing that my first marriage was over. After all I learned and discovered through therapy, the title spoke to me. Suddenly, I saw just what was going on and I realized that I couldn’t do it anymore.
Suddenly I See
There were some really good country songs around this time. There were many new artists and some really distinct sounds that were on the radio. I was impressed with Josh Turner from the first time I heard him. I couldn’t believe the tone of his low voice.
Your Man is a song that I wish I could have written. Here is a guy who has been thinking about his woman all day long. He tells her to lock the door, turn the lights down low, and play some music.
I’ve been thinking about this all day long Never felt a feeling quite this strong I can’t believe how much it turns me on Just to be your man
That’s LOVE right there!!
I love the entire feel of this song. It’s the perfect song to “sway” to.
Your Man
As the “Nostalgic Italian,” I think it is safe to say that I believe in the power of a photograph. The memories that can come from looking at an old picture just amazes me. My Friday Photo Flashback is always fun to do. I think that is because of the stuff that comes to mind with those old pictures.
I know there are plenty of people who hate Nickelback. However, Photograph is a song that I can relate to in so many ways. (From songfacts): This song is about reviewing the memories (missed and forgotten) from the band’s childhood in Hanna, Alberta. The lyrics are a chronicle of real events and personal landmarks lead singer Chad Kroeger recalled as he wrote it.
“It’s just nostalgia, growing up in a small town, and you can’t go back to your childhood. Saying goodbye to friends that you’ve drifted away from, where you grew up, where you went to school, who you hung out with and the dumb stuff you used to do as a kid, the first love – all of those things. Everyone has one or two of those memories that they are fond of, so this song is really just the bridge for all that.”
Someone once said, “If you don’t think photos are important, wait until they are all you have left.” I couldn’t agree more.
The photograph Kroeger is holding in the video is the one that inspired the song: It’s a shot of him and their producer, Joey Moi, at a New Year’s Eve party.
Photograph
We wrap up 2005 with a One Hit Wonder. Defining a “one hit wonder” isn’t really easy. Most feel it is when the artist fails to have their follow up released crack the Top 25. There are certainly many songs that fit into that category.
Daniel Powter’s album was released in America in 2006. Bad Day was released in the UK in 2005. In the fifth season of Americal Idol, the song was played over a video montage of the contestant that was being sent home that week. This helped the song gain popularity.
Powter is from British Columbia who later moved to Los Angeles. “Bad Day” was his first single released on a major label (Warner Bros.), and his only hit. He later described it as “a blessing and a curse.” Powter said:
“I was touring the world and performing for thousands of people, but I felt like the song was starting to define me. I actually found myself getting almost angry about it.”
This was the top-selling digital download of 2006. This was the star of people prefer downloading songs to buying CDs. It was part of a shift toward digital distribution of individual songs. In America, the album sold 500,000, but the single was digitally downloaded over 3 million times!
My mom was doing chemotherapy and radiation for her breast cancer at this time. She found the song to be inspiring. It basically says that even if you have a bad day once in a while, things will get better. My mom always tried to have a positive outlook. She battled cancer for 10 years and by this point she was tired.
My mom had the gift of gab. She was always on the phone. She assigned Bad Day to be the ringtone for her cell phone. I believe it was on there until she passed away. When I hear this song, I am taken back to those final weeks of her life.
Bad Day
What song from 2005 did I miss that was your favorite? Drop it in the comments.
Next week, we’ll focus on 2006. On my list is a song about a steeplechase runner, a song that became a hit because of Grey’s Anatomy, and a song that was a hit on the Adult Contemporary Chart and the Country charts. It also has a great Drifter’s cover song, one that took on a whole new meaning for me when my daughter was born, and a creative way to insinuate profanity without actually using it.
Thanks for reading and for listening! See you next week.
I’m not sure why I stopped doing this feature, but it is time for it to make a return. I was sent a photo from a friend that I had forgotten about. When I opened up the email, I remembered this feature. It is probably something I posted on my Facebook or now defunct MySpace, but I don’t think I have ever posted it on here.
This photo will take us back to 2004 or 2005.
This photo was taken as part of a photo project that a friend was doing for college. The idea was to take 100 photos and then tell a story with only 12 of them. She came to the station during a show and shot some pictures of me on the air, it just so happened that my oldest boy was with me that day. He was probably around 2 years old here.
This was not taken in the main studio. This was taken in one of the production studios where I was probably cutting a commercial or working on sweepers. Dante’ loved to talk into the microphone and I always had him say things for my show. Just like they had to do with the kids who voiced those Charlie Brown specials. I would feed him a line in pieces and then edit them all together.
I had him say things like:
“Not funny, Daddy!”
“Is it time to go home yet?”
“I’m Dante’ and you’re listening to my daddy, Keith Allen, on 94-5 The Moose!”
“Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha! Wait, what?” (For play after a bad joke)
I don’t think this was a pose, I truly believe that was meant to be a candid, but I just happened to be looking at the camera.
As I look at behind me in the photo, in the cabinet I can see one of the equalizers. I always wanted to get one for a hone studio (which I never ended up doing). Underneath that is a Mini-Disc player. I loved having one of those. I used it when I DJ’d a lot. It was digital, so you could edit and even loop things on it.
For the older readers, directly below that is a cassette player. When I was on the west side of the state, we would actually get commercials on them for on air play. Needless to say, the quality was NEVER that good. We primarily used it to record commercials to take to the clients so they could see if they liked the way their commercial sounded.
It is not in view, but under that was a CD player. We would dub songs into the automation system that way or rip them in on the computer. Most of our production music was on CD (and you can see some of those sitting directly above the mixer board.
By this time, most of the production was done on the computer (directly in front of my son) or the one to the left of that one. However, one of the coolest things in this picture is the ancient reel to reel machine behind my left shoulder. I believe that is an old Tascam unit. We used to use those to record phone calls at my first couple jobs. If something needed to be edited, you had to mark the tape with a china marker, cut the tape with a razor blade and splice it back together with tape. It was a process, but I remember watching some guys who were masters at editing things in less than a minute to be ready for air.
That microphone was one of my favorites to use. It was an Electro Voice RE20. I was gifted one of them and it remains one of my treasured pieces of radio memorabilia. Perhaps one day, I will venture into podcasting and find a way to use it again.
It is amazing to think that this picture was taken was about 20 years ago. I am glad that I still have some audio clips of my son from this age. Today, he could sing bass in a choir his voice is so low. He just turned 22!! Time truly flies….
I guess it never ceases to amaze me that there is pretty much a day for everything. While everyone knows that it is “Fat Tuesday” (the day to eat those huge overstuffed donuts), I was reminded that today is World Radio Day. I was thinking about one of my deceased radio colleagues last night as I watched a movie and was going to blog about him today. In thinking a bit more on this, I figured “Why not give props to those who played a significant role in my former full time career?”
WKSG
Jim McKenzie: I guess I start with Jimmy – after all, he is the reason I decided to get into radio in the first place. I spent many hours working in a boat marina as a 17 year old kid. Music on the radio, the contesting on the radio, and the radio personalities are what helped me pass the time on both busy and slow days.
Jim did the midday show and he always sounded like he was talking to you as a friend. He was loaded with music facts and stories. I never felt like I had his talent, but I certainly felt with the proper direction, I could do what he did.
Paul Christy: He was the program director and morning show host. He is the man responsible for giving me a chance – and ultimately my big break. I started off interning (yes, working for nothing) while I was in high school. I worked in the news room and then eventually helped out with the morning show. Eventually, Paul had me run his Saturday morning show – a show which was recorded on reel to reel on Fridays (kinda like today’s voice tracking). I would interject the live weather report, sports information, and lottery numbers.
Paul was in a pinch one night and asked me to do the overnight show. I was scared to death. I told him I hadn’t done a whole show before and asked for direction. Bluntly, Paul said, “Don’t worry about it. Answer the phones. Play the songs. Be yourself and have fun!” That was it. I must have done ok, because they ended up letting the overnight guy go and I was asked to fill in “until further notice”, which ended up being a good year or two before big changes came to the station.
Johnny Molson: John did the evening shift when I got to Kiss-FM. He was funny. He could ad-lib. He was one of the most creative writers I have ever known. He knew how to use radio to create the “Theater of the mind”. He was instrumental in my learning to think out of the box, engaging the listener with words and sounds, and how to use a good “drop” (more on this later).
In the 30’s and 40’s, The Golden Age of Radio was full of shows that allowed listeners to use their imaginations. They pictured what Amos and Andy, The Lone Ranger, and Superman looked like. Each person imagine what Jack Benny’s old Maxwell car looked like and what fell out of Fibber McGee’s closet because of the use of “sound effects”. John knew how to incorporate things like this into his show. One example I will never forget is when he would “hit” one of our staff members on the head with something. Chaz was often the target. John would simply throw something at a cookie sheet hung on the wall, which made it sound like he was being hit.
Today, John remains a good friend who is working in the creative services department of his current station. He produces some of the most creative and powerful commercials and gets results for the sponsors. Our friendship is one that has lasted nearly 30 years.
WHND – Honey Radio
Before I say any more, let me say that working at WHND was not work at all. It was like play. We had so much fun. Anyone who tuned in and listened to this station could tell that the DJ’s were having as much fun as the listeners. Honey was the first “Oldies” station in America. I was honored to work here and honored to work with everyone here.
Richard D. Haase: Richard D. remains to this day one of the guys who offered me some of the most amazing advice. I was probably a big pain in his ass. I was always asking him something. I had this want and need to be better. I wanted to be the best. I was forever asking him to listen to my show tapes and offer criticism and advice, which he did always.
One of the things I learned from him, was the importance of talking to one person. To create the illusion that it is just me and you listening to our favorite songs and hanging out together. I understood what he meant, and began to drop phrases like “everyone”, “all of you”, and “out there”. He also connected me with a mentor who would take that premise and continue to grow into a better personality, the late Jay Trachman.
Richard’s show was full of “benchmarks”. Poor Richard D’s Almanac (This Day In History), The Off The Wall Record (a rare song that he played each day), and “The Top 12 at 12” (His countdown of the top 12 local songs from a specific year). He also featured many characters on the show that were sometimes referred to and never heard (another gimmick of old time radio).
His show was also filled with insanely bad jokes. I often kidded him that even Milton Berle (who was known for stealing others jokes) wouldn’t touch his stuff. He often poked fun of the other DJ’s on the station, which I found to be a unique way of cross promotion.
There were many days that we’d sit in his office and talk about radio, computers, and life in general and we’d laugh until tears rolled down our faces and our sides hurt. Richard was a legend who had been on the air for many years, a far cry from being young! Yet, when we worked together, we were like a bunch of elementary kids laughing and hooping it up.
Rob Main: This is the guy who I mentioned as the beginning of this blog. Rob was a guy who used to work with Bill Stewart, Ron Tavernit, and Jon Ray doing the morning show. He was a master of voices. He did, in my honest opinion, the best Elvis “speaking” voice of anyone I have every heard. He also did a spot on Charles Bronson and Mohammad Ali. What was great about him was that he also did other original voices, which became characters on the show as well.
Shortly before Honey Radio left the airwaves, Richard gave us the opportunity to work together on the air so that we could create a good demo tape for a morning show. Those final weeks were some of the best memories I have in the business. While there was always a “roadmap” of what we wanted to do….he would often break in as a character and I would just follow along for the ride. It was some of the most insane moments of radio ever.
He was SO good, that he would often talk to himself as two or three different characters! I was often the referee who had to come in and break up the squabble that the characters were having! We were two guys in the studio – but if you listened, you’d swear that there were 10-15 guys! It was amazing.
Rob was the one who took “drops” one step further. No show had a shortage of them. A drop is a clip from a movie or TV show that is played mid-conversation, in a sweeper, or as a way of trying to crack up the other person. He had stacks of drops. Many from popular movies like Shane, Robin Hood, The Wild One and others. Some of the drops were from other sources. Today, I can watch a serious movie and if a “drop” line comes up, I will start laughing because of an instance when it was used on the show.
Health issues led to an early death for my friend and I miss him a lot. I can hear him laughing with me though, whenever I hear a “drop” from Van Helfin, Alan Ladd, or Jeff Chandler.
WWWW (W4 Country)
Tim Roberts: There is a reason that Tim is one of the most respected men in Country Radio – because he is one of the best programmers in the country and he knows his stuff! Tim helped me to understand the importance of preparation. I can still recall the “Bit Prep Sheet” that he gave me. I remember him stressing to always have a “Feel Good” or a “heart” story to talk about. His direction expanded on the things I had learned about editing and creating a bit.
I was only a part time air personality for Tim. Yet, he coached me as if I were a full time talent. He respected my thoughts, and often asked me to think a bit more broadly. Create. Edit. Make it better. He got me to think about things that I could bring to the show that I may not ever have thought about. He helped me hone my delivery.
There is a reason Tim, and so many of the talented people who work under him have won awards – THEY DESERVE IT!
WFBE (B95)
Brian Cleary: I’ll never forget my first coaching session with Brian. We submitted a show to him a week before. He wrote a critique and suggestions that were discussed at the actual session. I remember her handed me a piece of paper that had one of my bits typed out word for word. It was long. He even typed out the “uhs” and “ums”. He then asked if I had planned the break ahead of time. I said I had. He asked if I wrote it out, I said no – I had an outline. He then handed me a piece of paper with that same bit written out with red lines through various sentences, “uhs” and “ums” crossed out, etc. It was like getting a rough draft of a paper back from your English Teacher.
I remember thinking “Dude, you have way too much time on your hands”. However, the more I thought about this, the more I realized that it was a lesson in time. “Don’t waste your listener’s time” was what he told me. “Know what you are going to say”, “Know how the bit will end”, “Edit. Edit. Edit.” He was building on things that I really already knew, BUT he took it to a whole new level.
I remember after the first day we did our radiothon for St. Jude, he pulled me aside and told me “I’m so used to hearing the jokey Keith on the air, I wasn’t sure what to expect today. However, you did an amazing job and you really know how to get the importance of what we are doing to the listener”. I’ll never forget that.
WCEN (The Moose)
Joby Phillips: Whenever a new program director comes into the building, everyone freaks out. You never know what the plans are. It is not uncommon for the PD to come in and fire everyone and bring in their own people. Joby came in and taught me a lesson that I took with me as I went into management. “You are all here to do a job. I trust that you can do it. If I think we need to correct something or address something, I will. Do what you do best”.
In today’s society, we see micromanaging in almost every occupation. I truly admired Joby for this attitude. When I programmed my station, I had good DJ’s who knew what they were doing. I let them do their job. If there was an issue – it was addressed. Other wise, I left them alone.
In critiquing, both Joby and Brian always started out by pointing out your strengths or something good about the show they were going over with you. Then you went on to work on the thing that needed improvement. Positive reinforcement. Discipline when you have to and praise often.
A few others
Jay Trachman: What an amazing guy. He was the authority on One to One communication. His weekly tips were always something I took to heart and brought into the studio. He helped many personalities and sadly passed away before I could get him to do a critique session with me.
Jaye Albright: One of the reasons I loved working with Jaye, is that she believed much of what Jay Trachman believed. Her coaching sessions when I first began at WFBE were loaded with information.
Joel Raab: Joel is right up their with Tim Roberts. He knows country music. He knows the audience. He is respected in the business and is a class act. As a Music Director, I often found our weekly music calls frustrating. Music can be a passion. When you hear something that you think is amazing, its important to remember that not everyone feels the same way. Joel always was on the side of caution. He looked a music a bit different and it helped me to really think about songs more objectively.
Brian Wright: Brian was the last real consultant/coach I was able to work with before going in to the management end of the business. Brian’s laid back demeanor and wise observations and suggestions were of great help to me as I began to critique my own staff.
….in closing:
I have met some of the most amazing people throughout my radio career. I have had the chance to work with some of the best. Maybe we worked together, but didn’t mention you in this blog. Please do not be offended. I consider myself extremely lucky to have worked so many talented people. Maybe you worked in Sales, maybe you worked in Production, or maybe you were a member of the on air staff with me. Maybe you are someone who started as a listener, and are now a friend. If radio was the connection that brought us together – I am truly thankful for it…and you.
I miss doing radio full time, but I still enjoy the time I get to do it once a week.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 