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.
I have a few bloggers that I follow who always answer the daily writing prompt offered up by WordPress. With the features I am currently running, I don’t have much need for a prompt every day, but do jot down ones that I would like to come back to. This week one of the prompts was: List three jobs you’d consider pursuing if money didn’t matter.
I had to struggle to come up with three, but one of those would definitely be to get back in radio. A joke told by radio people everywhere is that you don’t work in radio for the money. Sadly, this isn’t a joke! The pay for on air personalities is not very substantial. Another joke, that is not a joke, is that a person who works in radio’s wardrobe consists of a pair of jeans and T-shirts from all the radio stations that they have worked at.
There was no money in that job, but I loved doing it. I found a photo that must have been taken by an intern, a visitor to the station, or my now ex-wife. This photo had to be taken right about the year 2000. I am wearing a full beard, so it must have been taken in the fall. I am still wearing glasses, so I hadn’t had my Lasik surgery yet.
I was probably doing the Mid-day shift at the time. The clock on the wall is at 10:30 in the uncropped picture read 10:30 (most likely AM). I have me feet propped up on the counter, so I am probably playing a nice 4-5 minute set of commercials.
I loved this studio. There was one thing that I hated, and they eventually fixed. Under the microphone you see a cabinet with some knobs on the right. You can’t see it, but inside there was our main computer that ran all the music. It was a touch screen. On that screen, you would see the songs coming up, commercials and a set of “hot keys” on the right for things you use on a regular basis. It sort of looked like:
The problem was that the screen sat inside that cabinet on an angel. With the microphone right above it, all it took was a small bit of spittle from your mouth to land somewhere on that screen and it would (1) start playing something that shouldn’t be playing, (2) fire song after song after song after song in rapid succession, (3) turn your microphone on (when it was supposed to be off), or (4) stop something that is playing on the air. It was an awful set up. One sneeze and you could burn through three hours of music in 25 seconds.
Eventually, they brought the screen up and put in a mixer board, which worked much better. It looked like this:
Back to my picture. Directly above that cabinet was a shelf where the liner book sat. It was full of the station information that we read throughout the show. If we were going to be out doing an appearance, the info for it was in there. Various scripts for weather forecasts, artist and concert information, and sponsorship information was all found in that book.
I won’t lie, I laughed out loud when I saw that big honking computer monitor that is behind me. That was the computer that we used to record phone calls. There was a digital editor on it so we could cut out stuff that we didn’t want in a hurry. Digital editing was so much faster than when we had to edit on reel to reel tape.
On the left side of the picture and behind me (to my right) you can sort of see a few CDs in a rack. Those were there in case something ever happened to the automation system. If it had to be rebooted, we’d have a few songs that we could play from CD. In some cases, we had burned CDs with an hour of music on it in case the computer needed to be down longer. Worse case scenario, we could go next door to the news room and do a very limited version of the show from in there, but that took some shuffling around.
In the bottom right corner of my photo, you can see the phone bank next to the cabinet. We had three lines that were request lines. We also could answer the business phone after hours and there was a hotline that the boss could call us on during the show. Prior to contests, we could “block” the lines so people couldn’t start calling in before we asked them too. (And yes, if we asked for caller number 95, we actually answered and counted. “B-95, You’re caller 1, B-95. You’re caller 2 ….”)
The final thing that sticks out to me in this photo is in front of the phone bank. My Sony headphones. I loved those headphones. I had quite a few pairs of “cans” throughout my career, but those Sony’s were my favorite. I beat the snot out of those things and they always worked. I can’t tell you how many times I dropped those thing, but they always kept working. If I remember correctly, I ran over the cord with the chair wheel and it sliced the cord. I wound up buying another (cheaper) pair, which sounded good, but it had a thinner cord and it shorted out after a few months.
Eventually, I bit the bullet and bought another pair of them. They now sit in a box with my DJ equipment gathering dust.
Last week, I posted a couple pictures from the St. Jude Radiothon that we did when I worked at B-95. (The radiothon was to help raise money for kids with cancer.) In that post, I mentioned two very special people who I met because they were local St. Jude patients. I knew that I had photos of them somewhere and I want to share them here.
I remember our St. Jude representative coming up to me and asking if it was ok to interview someone local who had been to St. Jude. Naturally I said, yes. This was tying every thing together. Many people asked why we were raising money for a hospital in Memphis. Most people do not realize that the hospital helps people from all over the country. Not to mention what I mentioned in the last post about all of the research that they share with doctors and hospitals here in the US and around the world.
Shortly before I was to go on the air, I was introduced to Vicky and her son, Kyle. I got to chat with them both a bit before going on the air. Kyle was maybe 8 or 9 at the time, maybe younger. When we went on the air, his mom and I talked about the hospital and all that they experienced. Kyle was a bit shy, but still talked about his stay and the things he liked to do and the music he listened to.
Kyle was a big fan of Shania Twain. When she came through town, I made sure that he got backstage passes. What I didn’t know was that Shania’s people lined all those backstage folks up in groups of 8 and Shania would walk to the groups, stand in front of us and a picture would be snapped. No autographs or anything. I was not about to let that be how Kyle’s backstage experience would be. I stepped out in front of her and introduced her to Kyle so she could shake his hand before they snapped that picture. Sometimes you gotta break the rules!
Kyle is probably in his late 20’s or early 30’s today. Every once in a while I will bump into him in the store as he lives close by. His mom and I are friends on Facebook, and she keeps me up to date on how Kyle is doing.
The other special person I met through the radiothon was Allyson. She may have have been about the same age as Kyle, maybe younger. Her mom and dad (Julie and Frank) became good friends with our station’s staff members too. She was a huge fan of country music and actually got some of the country stars phone numbers. She was given a signed guitar by Sammy Kershaw when he played the country fair. This picture may have been from that day.
She was a huge fan of hockey and we had a few local hockey teams that played in town. I could always count on seeing her and her family at those games. One game, we tossed out t-shirts or something from the ice at a game. Our team were champs one year and we had the “cup” and we all got to be out on the ice and hold it. Allyson was right there with us.
After I left B-95, she kept in touch. She often called me just to say hello and I love you. She was such a sweetheart. I DJ’d in her back yard for her 21st birthday, if I remember correctly. Her folks threw a big party because they had told them that she wouldn’t live to see her 21st birthday. It was a joy to be there and play music for her.
Sadly, Allyson lost her battle with cancer a few years later. In 2013, she passed away at age 24. I think of her often and am glad to have some photos of us together.
These two special people benefitted from the work done at St. Jude. If you have ever thought about donating to the hospital, I can assure you, every penny counts.
It wasn’t until I was working at B-95 that I discovered National Accordion Awareness Month. My buddy Tim and I would get together quite often and think of bits we could write and produce to play during our radio shows. We came up with some really funny stuff.
It was mid-May and we were writing stuff for June. I am pretty sure that it was Tim who told me about it. I don’t recall who came up with the idea, but we produced this little sweeper to play in between songs. It was the silliest thing, but it always made me laugh. It basically went like this:
The song playing on the air ends. Then the announcer says, “B-95 reminds you that June is National Accordion Awareness Month! Here’s an Accordion Awareness Month Update!” Then we’d insert 10-15 seconds of some ridiculous accordion clip which was followed again by the announcer. “Keep it here all month long for more Accordion Awareness Month Updates – on B-95!” Then the next song would play. It was so out of place and so funny to me. I used this bit for years even taking it to other stations.
According to the National Day Calendar Website:
Through a complex construction of bellows and reeds, the accordion (also known as a concertina) produces its mournful timbre when air is forced over the reeds. While the accordion accompanies traditional polka music, the instrument has found its way into many classical and modern works of music.
For generations the accordion complimented many genres in American music. From jazz and zydeco to folk and Gospel and Blues, musicians found the accordion a fit a variety of musical styles.
The instrument changed, too. Manufactured in several different sizes, the smaller squeeze boxes became popular. The accordion fit well into country music, and when Rock and Roll made the scene, the accordion followed. Today, the instrument is no stranger to the recording studio.
Musicians such as Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, and Mumford and Sons all have recorded hit songs with the accordion playing a supporting role.
In honor of the occasion, here are some of my favorite accordion players:
Weird Al YankovicThe other accordion playing Yankovic – FrankieLawrence Welk – orchestra leader and accordion playerThe fantastic Linda Lee, who can be seen at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth, MI!
Happy National Accordion Awareness Month! Squeeze This!!
In 1994, I was working at Honey Radio. Richard D. had a box full of jokes and show prep that he had collected over some time. He recycled many lines and adapted them to make them current. One day, while prepping his Top 12 at 12, I noticed a brown “newsletter looking” booklet. The title of it was “One to One”. I glanced at it and there was an article, some “this day in history” stuff, artist notes, and many one liners. That was the first time I saw it. It was 4 years later that I came to know more about the author of that publication, began to learn from him, and gained a wonderful mentor and friend.
WFBE – 1998
B-95 hadn’t been on the air too long when I joined the on air staff in 1998. I was brought aboard to do mid-days. Art Opperman was the Program Director. During one of our aircheck meetings (when you sit down with a tape of your show and the boss offers suggestions and such), he heard a break that I had done and he liked it. He told me it would have been better if I had edited it. “Time matters” he said. With that, he reached into his briefcase and handed me a few photocopied articles by Jay Trachman. They were “Talent Tips” articles from “One to One” that he had been given by one of his Program Directors.
I remember he said to me, “This guy is good. He knows his stuff.” I did some research and found Jay’s number. I explained who I was and asked about this publication. We chatted about radio a bit and shared a few stories. I immediately signed up for “One to One” and began applying the things in it to my show. Art was right – Jay was good! Each week a new tip, a new suggestion, and, of course, funny lines for the show. I really felt that I was becoming a better on air personality because of the principles and ideas from Jay’s publication.
A year or two into my stint at WFBE, Jaye Albright was brought in as a consultant. I remember telling Jay about this and he praised her for her work. They had been friends a long time and she was on board with the same thinking as Jay. Jaye was a joy to work with and we spoke often of our mutual friend Jay and the stuff from One to One. Most DJ’s get a bit nervous at the thought of sitting down with the PD and consultant, but this was not the case for me. I always found our chats very positive and beneficial.
In one of his weekly publications, Jay stated that there was a “rare opening for a rater”. A rater was sent all of the comedy lines that Jay had written for that week. The rater went through it all and rated each line – the best rated lines made it into the publication. I jumped at the chance. This meant that each week, after sending the rated material back to him (via fax!!!), we would then go over what he called “maverick items”, which were lines that were topical and wouldn’t keep another week.
I grew to look forward to those weekly chats with Jay. It wasn’t like work at all. It was a weekly chat with a good friend. He often offered advice about a bit I wanted to do, helped me craft a promotional idea. The more we worked together, the more we spoke to each other about our families. I came to know his family, even though we’d never met, because of our chats. He was a good friend.
Some of the most basic radio principles he taught me, I shared with my staff when I was a program director: Talk to one person; Time Matters; Edit – Brevity is essential; Don’t lie to your listener; People bond with people; Be Yourself; and Entertain. I will forever remember his definition of that -“If you make your listener feel something – whether you make them smile, make them cry, make them angry, make them think – then you have “entertained” them.” THAT was one of the most powerful things I ever learned from him.
There came a point where Jay decided that he would stop publishing One to One. His “family” of readers were sad about this and much of the final year’s publications had letters to “the editor” praising him and thanking him for all his hard work and advice. It was a very emotional year.
I don’t recall if it was before he decided to stop publishing or shortly after, but I remember he told me that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. It must have been before he stopped publishing, as I remember a few phone calls where he told me how tired he was from the treatments.
We spoke often even after One on One ceased publication, whether it was by phone or e-mail. I am glad that I still can access the last year of One to One, as they remain in my inbox. I also have a few of his final e-mails to me. He still spoke of Will, Joy, his granddaughter Sophie and the rest of his family. He always asked about my son, Dante’. He loved hearing stories about him and shared Sophie stories with me.
Every January, I still get an e-mail reminder saying “Jay Trachman will be celebrating his birthday – send him a birthday greeting”. I also get the Facebook reminder on his birthday on January 15. I realized that Jay would have been 80 this year. He passed away in November of 2009 at age 70. What amazes me is that as I read some of these articles from 15 years ago, they still hold true. Yes, the landscape of radio has changed a lot, but the “tips” are still good ones. The comedy lines, however, are a bit dated.
There have been times over the course of the past 10 years that I have wanted to reach out to him. I miss being able to bounce an idea off him. I miss being able to ask him about the business. I miss his guidance and his friendship. As I think back over the many conversations I shared with him … I am thankful to have had such a wonderful mentor and friend.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 