22 December 2009

Resolution Revolution

  Merry Christmas readers!

  Many years ago I decided to abandon the idea of News Years resolutions because they mostly involved weight loss. My announced plans of getting into the gym and dropping a few pounds fell by the wayside; usually by January 5th. In the years since my decision to quit the practice of  making vows I would not keep I have actually benefited by losing the weight and keeping it off  for more than 13 years. In summer of 1995 I got off by big butt and took a job that involved physical labor. Up until that point I worked as a radio disk jockey spending most of my day either sitting or reclining inventing ways of getting out of actual labor. That first hot August night I began a real job literally sweating the pounds away. Work is good for both body and mind. However, moderation can be viewed as beneficial.

  You see, I took the weight loss thing to the extreme and lost too much. People close to me said I looked sick having dropped almost 100 pounds in a fairly short amount of time that summer. I had my doctor prescribe a diet that I followed to the letter for almost four years. Later I realized that the plan was intended to remove the blubber quickly and not a maintenance diet designed to keep a healthy weight. Although I can no longer fit into those size 30 jeans I am comfortable in my skin whereas before the weight loss I was overly self-conscious. 14 years ago I firmly decided to leave my old career behind. It was killing me.

  Having said all that brings me back to todays topic: resolutions. This Peanut Whistle blog has become too much of a trip down only one address on memory lane. It has become too focused on a past that is dead and gone. While I still value my experiences as lessons for the future; the present time is the best I have lived in due to the wonderful additions over the past decade of a loving wife and four great kids who have no first hand knowledge of what has been presented in this blog. For the first time in many, many years I am making a resolution. For 2010, I intend to make Peanut Whistle more current with topical stories from my life as well as observations of trends in the music, Internet and broadcasting industry from my unique perspectives as a former DJ. Only my original Gospel Aircheck blog will have posts similar to the ones formerly featured here in the 'Whistle. My lessons learned throughout this exercise has been that the present is to be valued just as much as the past and that the good old days weren't always as good as I remembered. As Stevie Wonder penned,

"They've been wasting most their time / Glorifying days long gone behind  / They've been wasting most their days / In remembrance of ignorance oldest praise" 


  Instead of a Pastime Paradise let's go forward expecting our best days are ahead.



Stay tuned.







©2009 - 2010 The Peanut Whistle. All rights reserved.

04 December 2009

My Dennis the Menace

  Today's post is a departure for me. I feel it very therapeutic venting about one of my peanuts. My brilliant three year old Madison is a bit of a scientist. Today she was testing the destructive properties of H2O on electronics. It seems that water when poured directly on cordless phones and cassette tape recorders ceases viable operation of said devices.  Very interesting. How could I go nearly twenty years owning a Panasonic portable tape recorder without introducing 20 ounces of Aquafina to the circuit board? Both the phone and the tape recorder are drying now. The secret to preserving electronics when accidentally wet is do not turn them on. Remove batteries immediately and let the cases air dry thoroughly. I learned my lesson when I dropped a Nintendo DS game system into a bowl of water last year. I turned the game on after briefly blow drying it. That was a big mistake! If power is applied to a wet circuit board then you might as well throw it away. I repeat, immediately remove the power source and let the device dry thoroughly a day or two before powering up again. There seems to be no quick fixes. Auto parts stores carry a product known as wire drier and of course WD40 spray that work well on ignition distributors, spark plug wires and such, but I've never used these remedies on small electronics. I recommend taking the safe route.
 
  My life is far from being a cartoon strip but Angie and I believe we have a Dennis the Menace on our hands. She is smart but is into everything. My little bit has made more experiments than I can recall and presented more challenges than her other three siblings combined. Thank God for kids.

Stay tuned


©2009 The Peanut Whistle. All rights reserved.

28 November 2009

1980's CCM Spec Show

©2009 The Peanut Whistle. All rights reserved.




  I had so much fun with the music in this show from the late 80's. Contemporary Christian Music was worlds apart from today's counterpart. Listen as I echo the then popular CHR format in this unscoped gem from 1987 that was done in my Atlanta studio at radio home number two. This recording did not air on any radio station and was only intended to be a speculative demonstration of the J900 format I invented at my original radio home. The idea has not been presented unedited until now. Enjoy.

Stay tuned.

15 November 2009

Let's Roll!

At the close of the Disco era was a fad known as Roller Disco. The popular dances and music moved into the roller skating rinks for those skilled enough.

I was not one of them. I had two left feet but learned to circle around the floor until I fell and hurt my backside on an eighth grade field trip and experienced pain for most of my high school years thus ending my skating “career.” I was too chicken to ever try again until tempted thirty years later when I had my own children. I'm still as clumsy as ever, but as far as my kids know, I can skate even though I am actually wearing shoes. That will be our little secret, dear reader. Shhh!

Disco is dead, but not forgotten. The genre evolved into “Dance” music. It is still played sometimes in its original form at the rinks around here, especially on special skate nights for old folks like me. Well, I'm not a fan of the music but it was designed to dance and later roll to; not many other forms of music are as compatible.

For those of us schooled in the Pentecostal and Southern Baptist conventions dancing was taboo in any form so the youth of my day needed a substitute. The ultra conservative of our sects would argue that even innocuous substitutes for the raunchy dancing and skating was just as bad and viewed as a gateway to Hell. Shoot, in modern churches dance teams are very common; my, how times have changed. I recently attended a church youth presentation of a mainline denomination that featured fast paced dancing to secular popular music accompaniment with no pretense of using a Christian substitute. Funny how even the churches are becoming more politically correct, omitting Christ. Those kids knew nothing of the restrictions I grew up with so I took no offense, especially considering the current character of Christian music.

Winning the “lost” teens of my day involved using our gospel music set to a modern beat. As I have noted in a previous post; I briefly moonlighted as DJ on Christian skate nights. The pairing of Southern Gospel and skates has always been surreal to me. I never thought the genre was compatible. So in 1984 I jumped at the opportunity to spin rock derived Contemporary Christian music (CCM) for the attending youth groups each week at the Savannah Skate Inn on Saturdays . The tunes were fast paced and skate-able. Not so in today's more bland homogeneous CCM. Christian skate night simply would not work for the present generation.

It was hard enough selling the idea of rolling to gospel music in my day when CCM was better. The unchurched laughed; we were preaching to the choir of those who attended (maybe a few invited their “unsaved” friends.) The ultra conservative simply weren't allowed or came without the knowledge of their pastor. It was a wholesome activity, I figured, so why did it fail? It might just boil down to a fickle public that summer. Who knows or cares?



Stay Tuned

© 2009 The Peanut Whistle. All rights reserved.


06 November 2009

I Want to Know

    A new 2 CD 1 DVD release from rock icons Foreigner has kept me entertained for the past few days at home, in the Civic, and my minivan. Their first all new album in a decade and a half, “Can’t Slow Down” is superb. I especially like the title cut and “Too Late” a very catchy radio ready tune I’ve been singing for days. These guys have successfully preserved that Foreigner signature sound while evolving into the present with new lead singer, Kelly Hansen. He has admirably taken over for long time front man Lou Gramm, who at one time I thought irreplaceable.

    What intrigued me into buying the new set was a curious CD of remixes of the hits we all know well. Was this just a new remastering job from previous “master” tapes? Was any new vocals or loops added? I knew that the songs already sounded great but was unprepared for what I would discover. Producer Marti Frederiksen and his recording engineer Anthony Focx have uncovered the original multi-track tapes and exactly matched the original mixes. These new mixes a far clearer than their predecessors with deeper bass and better sounding representation of Lou Gramm’s awesome vocal performances. It was as if I was hearing them for the first time (pun intended). In fact, Feels Like the First Time opens up the disk with the electric guitars cranked to 11. Wow!  I quickly pulled out an original CD. The older mixes sounded muffled by comparison, as if someone had placed a blanket over the loudspeakers. The new mixes truly sound like they were recorded yesterday. The only limit now are the constraints of the 16 bit, 44.1 kHz sampled CD format itself. I hope more hits are forthcoming as remixes. It truly gives new life to the Classic Rock genre.

    I first notice Foreigner in the early 1980’s when I borrow the foreigner 4 album from a friend. The opening bass line of Jukebox Hero hooks me and the rest is history. Forward to 1986, I Want to Know What Love Is is a huge hit on radio and Mtv. I am especially intrigued by the heavy gospel influence and wish to share the song on my radio show on Gospel 90 AM. I am not allowed to play the “secular” version, but the station is given the gospel version of the song by the New Jersey Mass Choir who backs Foreigner on the original.

  I can name numerous mainstream hits adapted for the gospel market. Accusations of hypocrisy notwithstanding I have never seen anything wrong with presenting a “secular” artists’ songs in a “religious” setting providing that the lyrics are compatible. The movie An Officer and a Gentleman produced Up Where We Belong sung by Jennifer Warnes and Joe Cocker made better by The PTL Singers & Orchestra (a BeBe and CeCe Winans duet) and a marvelous cover version on Christian radio arguably the biggest hit on my first radio home. The gospel version was only slightly modified by singing Lord lift us up where we belong instead of love lift us up. How is that any different than Love Lifted Me? God is love, right?

  Before I close; ever consider Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven for gospel radio airplay? That song holds up well despite being secular. Unmodified it would make a great candidate for what I call a reverse crossover. Yesterday I heard Kirk Franklin do an old Kenny Loggins number, This is It, made a great gospel song. Bravo.

  Anyway I am pondering similar ideas for my new Internet radio station that will feature a good mix of secular and sacred both old and new. It will be a whacky format for sure. It will be positive music in the purest form. The best of both worlds without rules of outdated traditions aimed at the seekers of this world not unlike myself.

Stay tuned

14 October 2009

The Birthday Truck

Lame is the term I have borrowed from a younger generation to describe some of the ineffective, cloying attempts I have made at entertaining my radio audiences. Today I recall one of the primary examples. 

In September of 1990 I was paired with a co-host against my will, mainly. I had worked solo almost exclusively up until that point. I felt it was a bad idea from the inception that I share my show with a newbie with a natural gift of gab named Angie Mabry.

Her easy acclimation to radio made the forced pairing much more tolerable. We seemed to mix well on the air and off. Our station owner/general manager introduced our duo on the daily half hour Swap Shop program with the intention of expanding her role as eventual morning show co-host.

We went to work in numerous procrastinating planning sessions trying to conceptualize what the new morning show would sound like. Our boss grew weary of our preliminaries and finally compelled us to begin the 6 am to 9:30 am program at the beginning of November. What we settled on was an emphasis on fluff talk and downplayed our music format which we perceived appeasing the “blue hairs”, our undesired elderly demographic. Most of our style was modeled after the secular morning zoo shows of the day but stopped short and we were limited by our aging southern audience and their obsolete traditions. As far as I have known no attempt had ever been made on a southern gospel station for such a show so our new enterprise was in uncharted waters amidst the brokered religious programs keeping us afloat.

One of the most memorable episodes of Mabry and O’Neal show was the Birthday Truck. My on-air partner feigned anxiety over her November 13th birthday as the event neared. Her day was hyped over a week or so around the office and on the air. By the 14th the semi bringing a mountain of gifts was a day late and Mabry was “worried.” The birthday bit climaxed with a visit from the red-neck truck driver (voiced by me) who had troubles finding the station and struck her parked Honda Prelude while pulling into our tiny parking lot. The skit was more lame than anything on Saturday Night Live, pretty bad.

We had some chemistry. We were both in our mid twenties sharing similar views. I skewed a little more conservative. Our ad libs were much more entertaining than the prepared text we thought was funny. Interactions with our sports & news director, Fred Brewer fared much better. He had a dry poignant humor that would have been a better match for a morning show. Our boss saw things differently favoring a male female duo. Had the show been played straight with unforced comedy lacking in phony laughter we might have had a hit. We simply tried too hard.

  The best conversations were the real ones involving our friendly UGA and Georgia Tech football rivalry. I was the long time Dawgs fan while she preferred the Yellow Jackets. To her credit Tech had the superior squad and was national champs that year. For some inexplicable reason sports coverage on a southern gospel station was considered taboo by listeners so the best element of our show seemed too secular. The outspoken Southern Baptist and Pentecostal based audience was resistant. We were viewed as sell outs. Our 2,500 watt AM signal disappeared into the haze that was too far on the fringe of the Atlanta environs to be competitive in the major market so our locals won in the end.

I don’t recall the show lasting much past the new year. The partnership ended on a sour note, I don’t remember the precise circumstances but our radio savvy sales manager “Just” Janet Barcus  played Mabry’s understudy and eventual replacement as the curtain fell on my third radio home in February of ‘91. Click on the Mp3 below for the Birthday Truck aircheck...


The station now has a 50,000 watt construction permit that is wasted on the same old format with a playlist of obscure southern gospel tailored to those born sometime during the Civil War. Their signal reaches further now though. I don’t believe the current owners wish to program for the major market they now cover. What a shame.
Stay tuned.

01 October 2009

Welcome to the Future

It’s funny how the idea for this post came to me right before I hear a new Country song with the exact same concept and title by Brad Paisley that has been percolating in my own brain for the past several weeks. I have had 43 wonderful years on this planet and I see the time we live in right now, technologically, is the best in history. Personally, I have carried the past around like a golden god not realizing that now is the best time to be alive. Forget recessions and floods, today is where I need to be not trapped in some nostalgia hell like an 80 year old. Yes there were good times and I will continue to recall them in posts.

We are living in a world that the Jetsons would envy. Our society has advanced in the last 25 years at a pace more rapid than the quarter century that preceded it. Compare and contrast 1960 through 1985 politically, socially, technologically, and artistically. Changes and advancements were made just not as rapidly. The focus of this blog is art and tech so I won’t stray too far. In 1985 I was still using the same stereo Lp for music that my dad used in 1960. In ‘85 the compact disc was new having been introduced to the marketplace Christmas of 1982. It was the age of Reganomics an the birth of Mtv.  I was a teenager full of wonder but never dreamed of how the future would unfold.

This present generation has all but abandoned the CD and other physical music media for downloads from Internet sources both legal and otherwise. Not to mention what all we can do with our cellular phones. This was a device that resembled a brick a generation ago. We are using our tiny cell phones now for everything; Web surfing, video, music, texting, games, the list is endless. We do everything with these devices except make a phone call, it seems.

The downside of living today is that I believe we have lost some of our humanity. We have substituted Email and social websites for actual human contact. In the process we are much more rude less evolved and dumbed downed in the absence of more “primitive” communication. Don’t get me started on the atrocious grammar and spelling I see on the Internet. When was the last time you wrote an actual letter with a pen and paper? Thought so. Well, we’re here, Welcome to the Future.
Stay tuned.

20 September 2009

Alias Jim O'Neal

Here's one of my first Southern Gospel Favorites shows from 1990 as my alter ego, Jim O'Neal. Press play to enjoy

19 September 2009

wet your whistle

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Welcome to the newly redesigned Peanut Whistle. For those of you reading via Facebook notes thank you very much for viewing the basic text of this blog. You will enjoy the Whistle so much more by visiting the website from which this blog originates. Our address is www.thepeanutwhistle.com or click any time you see a hyperlink (usually in blue letters). One of the best features of my new site is the extra audio, video and photos I have included as support for the text. There is music and links galore, so go wild.

Your word of mouth advertising is very crucial to keeping the Peanut Whistle afloat. Also, if you see anything advertised that interests you please feel free to visit my sponsors then return by hitting the back button on your browser. Visit us often because I am constantly adding new content even to older blog posts. For instance, the Gran Torino post includes new pictures of the old wreck. Facebook only archives posts as they originally appeared.

When you are on www.thepeanutwhistle.com check out the side bars for the audio & video and click away on the numerous play buttons as you scroll down the page. There are numerous links beneath our snazzy new header. They lead to my other blog, Gospel Aircheck, my YouTube channel, and the more technical pages I have set up.

Be sure to check out our audio restoration services as well. Peanut Whistle Audio (PWA) will turn your old analog cassettes into CD’s and other digital media. Our rates are very reasonable. “We work for peanuts.” Contact us at nealrhoden@thepeanutwhistle.com

Stay tuned.

18 September 2009

Swap Shop

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One of the joys of small and medium market radio is the contact by phone with my listeners both on the air and off. This was no more apparent that at radio home number four, WBKI, in tiny Bremen, Georgia. We had a live call in show called Swap Shop. It was tremendous fun. Callers would phone in their radio classified ads. Anything from bedding and blankets to cars, trucks and farm animals. Along the way I made some telephone friends who felt they knew me personally. I suppose I did a fairly good job of listening to them and recapping what was listed after the conversation ended.

This was all of course absolutely live, without profanity delay, to the air. I was always fearful of losing our FCC license over some nut dropping a cuss word or two. It never happened though. Whew. There is nothing like doing seat of your pants radio. Introducing records is ok, but nothing beat witnessing the unexpected, unscripted, spontaneous and organic process that was Swap Shop. I had a few regulars; Ole Waco Nut for one who lived in nearby, you guessed it, Waco, Georgia, that is. I think he made his living selling items on our show.

Then there was town gossip, Virginia, who who had all the latest news from the whacky goings on in the little town along with her plugs for fresh eggs and chickens from her farm. She visited in person on my last day at the station to wish me farewell. We had an entire hour wall to wall with callers. Quite surprising, with a 2,500 watt signal, the hour never lagged.

I had attempted at number two radio home, WSPZ, something called On Air Market a quarter hour show that seemed like an eternity. I came in around 3:45 pm for the show where no live callers were featured due to our owners’ paranoia. The savory seasoning of live conversation was missing, thus the show, like the station in general, was extremely bland. I had a producer screening and taking dictation of caller submissions who would chime in when needed, like Roz on the TV show Frazier.

Market Calls on 900 AM in Savannah was similar. As a fledgling broadcaster I feared accepting the challenge of live call-in until 1986 when I had three years DJ experience under my belt at my first radio home. Previously, I had refused hosting the show. The one time I finally did it my delivery was so impersonal and unmemorable that I overcompensated and overshadowed the callers not allowing personality to shine through. I got almost every recapped phone number wrong. Thank God it was only 30 minutes. Actually, 20 minutes of show and 10 minutes of pervasive music to fill the voids. Seven years later It prepared me for Swap Shop on WBKI in what not to do.

Stay tuned.

17 September 2009

The Truth with My Hand Up

My hand to God this is the truth. If it had not happened in church to someone I know and trust. Yada, yada… In my last post I spoke of some gospel lyrics near and dear to my heart; this next song is especially touching to a car guy such as myself (the actual words from my cousin Ray):

Actually it’s...Jesus, he will be my snow tires, in the winter he’s my anti-freeze, when I need him, he is my oil filter, and he's my windshield when there is a breeze!!! C'mon, sing it this time if ‘ya know it!!.. (true song....written by a well-intentioned, but hardly mentally gifted girl from my childhood)

At least it rhymes. Thanks Ray! She took a metaphor and ran with it. Now on to something completely different.

I first met gospel comedian Wendy Bagwell in 1983 at a big gospel music show in Savannah, Georgia. He was over six feet tall with curly dark hair. The only man I have ever met named Wendy. Like Johnny Cash and his Boy Named Sue I believe Bagwell would have had a great story to tell with the origin of his name. This was about the time he first told his Three German Police Dogs story about the disruption that ensues when a yellow cat is introduced to three seeing eye dogs belonging to a group of famous blind singers at the Ebenezer Freewill Baptist Church all day singing and dinner on the ground homecoming. “Those blind folks didn’t know what was going on,” he said, “They just thought they done took that job too cheap.” His theory was that the blind group, unaware of the ruckus, assumed the crowd had broke out in an old fashioned shouting revival.

It turns out that Mr. Bagwell was quite the shrewd businessman as well. He owned Bagwell Sales in metro Atlanta, Georgia. My parents, who were both blind, did business with his furniture store several times over the years. My mom, who is not the least bit shy, confronted Wendy about his comments in the famous bit. “I’m blind, but I know what’s going on,” she commented to him. “I know you do,” Wendy replied with a broad smile and a wink in his voice. “This is the truth what I’m telling you with my hand up,” he would often say before one of his stories which were probably slightly exaggerated. Stretchers, if you will, were his calling card. He was a master showman of the Gospel world. Wendell “Wendy”Lee Bagwell died in 1996 and now has a stretch of US 278 in Georgia, our home state, named after him. Rest in peace.

Stay tuned.

nealrhoden@thepeanutwhistle.com

16 September 2009

Just for Fun

Throughout my storied radio career I have come across some very entertaining and often comical songs and tales geared to the Gospel audience. Sometimes the comedy was intentional. Most obvious is the work of Wendy Bagwell & the Sunlighters who’s work is intentionally funny. A few local singers with minimal exposure have been overlooked for their accidental comedic portfolio. Take for example a fellow in Savannah who penned the timeless classic, “Jesus Rode a Donkey Down Victory Drive.” His poetic device, a metaphor entailing our Lord riding a burro down world famous palm lined Victory Drive on His way to Tybee Island apparently.

The next songs my cousin Ray told me about a few years back. A songster in his hearing sang, “In the winter You’re my afghan / in my car You’re my anti-freeze” and he also mentioned the big hit by country music’s Bobby Bare, “Dropkick Me Jesus (Through the Goal Post of Life)” from 1976. Give me a break.

Let’s not forget the Jerry & the Singing Goff’s cover version of “God’s Gonna Get ‘Cha (for that)” was originally done by George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Ain’t nothing like basing your theology on a country song. The Jerry Goff cover version was played lyrically unmodified on Gospel stations all across the USA in the late 70’s.

Often I would host, in person, preachers live at my radio homes. Some were earnest but a little confused. Once in my first studio I had a preacher lady give her testimony. The rather large elderly black woman was getting very excited about her personal relationship with Christ when in her discourse claimed that, “Jesus is my boyfriend!” What!? I had to hide my face in my hands laughing hysterically as I could plainly be seen through her studio location into my control room seat by glass partitioning.  I could see thousands of radios simultaneously switching off.

Other preachers were allowed language freedoms not afforded Howard Stearn. A few of these guys often used descriptive pejorative terms of certain lifestyle groups. If the FCC had known, our license might have been pulled. None of these shows were auditioned before hand or on a profanity delay when live. All required was their money for airtime. 

Then there was a certain preacher from Dallas, Texas whose Success in Life show debuted on our air in about 1985. He claimed that indescribable wealth could be yours with a thousand dollar “vow” to his ministry. He was later exposed of fraud on ABC news when hundreds of letters from listeners were found outside his offices in the dumpster having contributions excised from them. He made claims of praying over each letter personally. That his very tears stained the notes until the ink bled. He also had a TV show. I think you can still see this name it and claim it charlatan on cable to this day.

I think God must have a marvelous sense of humor. Many think they are inspired. Some are. A few, well, let’s leave God alone to judge.

Stay tuned.

The Silent Decades

For over ten years I thought very infrequently of my radio past. Up until Fall of 2008 I had suppressed any thought or public mention of my previous life in broadcast media. One evening while working as manager of an auto parts retail store I was discussing with a fellow manager and part time country musician his passion for recording his music. I know he wasn’t impressed by my story but I felt the need to enlighten him with the brief details of my 12 year DJ career. I was ignored but relieved that I finally revealed a past that I was quite proud of at one point and I really didn’t expect his arrogant personality to receive it. The conversation was merely a catalyst for a new phase of my life.

It was a load off my chest because I was once again captured by the radio bug. I was burned out with the retail hell into which I had fallen. I needed more out of life. I was waxing sentimental over my old career and could not escape thinking about and writing about it. This obsession eventually became a blog, podcast and Internet radio station, The GRIN.

Still, I need a tangible outlet for my audio passion. As I noted in a previous Gospel Aircheck  post I’m trying to get involved in church sound and media again. This objective seems out of reach. I detect little movement from those who could use me and I am somewhat discouraged. Do I face reality and completely abandon my dream? Or should I be more proactive?

Is it 1995 all over again when I saw a new door open in a completely different field? ‘95 was a turning point into the world of retail. It was my final foray into radio because my new employer would not allow me the one day a week I worked at WBTR-FM. Forward to 1999, I got involved with the sound crew of an Assembly of God church known regionally for its Revelation to Calvary production that ran for weeks and was advertised on the Atlanta market’s large FM Christian station, WVFJ.

Here I was a somewhat jaded former broadcaster now volunteering with a highly professional crew. The pastor stressed excellence in the audio and it showed. Theatrical sound effects, creative audio processing and other elements of a proper audio presentation were the norm. It was the best sound I had ever heard in a church setting. Regrettably, I had to leave the team after 8 months or so when marriage to my first wife ended in 2000. My ex attended the church before me and it was agreed that I would leave.

Another ten year cycle passes and I find myself in the present wanting to take what I’ve learned to a new church setting. One pastor is interested in an effective media presentation complete with theater style lighting and effects. So far I’m still deciding weather to get involved with the Media Shout computer operator position Pastor sees me filling. I have liked photography, computers and video as a hobby but audio is my obsession. Maybe the path is clearer as I wrap up. I’ll see eventually. For now I’m remaining at my home church, warming a pew.

One constant in my life is my love of all things audio. Over the last 30 years I have learned all I could about analog and digital sound. In fact, I have started a new business Peanut Whistle Audio Restoration. I specialize in analog cassette and reel to reel transfer to CD-R and other digital media. I will take your tapes, remove noise and normalize for CD then transfer to your choice of digital media all for a very reasonable price. Other services are available. The only limits are our imagination. I apply all my radio production and theatrical audio expertise to every project. Custom editing is available. Email me nealrhoden@thepeanutwhistle.com or call 678-230-2424

Stay tuned.

11 September 2009

Rock Even Mom Will Love

The 1980’s were a musical decade chock full of synthesizer driven pop thanks to the Yamaha DX-7 keyboard. An instrument heard on almost every track from Van Halen’s Jump to Amy Grant’s Find a Way. Looking back at the decade of my late teens; most of the eras top 40 or as it became known then contemporary hit radio (CHR) songs had that signature sound. Today’s post isn’t really about keyboards. It chronicles my youth obsession with Contemporary Christian Music and particularly Amy Grant.

I eventually graduated from pop culture to more mature fare listening to the Blues, Classical, Jazz, Oldies, Talk, and of course Gospel. All the time I have been simply a lover of music. These days I do not understand why I found certain songs appealing. Chalk it all up to maturity.

Amy grant was a promoters dream. She was, as her concert commercial noted, a phenomenon. I never before or since have seen a bigger star in Christian music. By 1985 she had become such a success in CCM that the secular record label, A&M had signed her allowing her to retain her Word Records affiliation as she was now promoted as singing, “music with meaning.” Her then current hit, Find a Way was popular on both secular and Christian radio. Her Unguarded album was sold with two different covers: one on the Word label of her pictured dancing, harmlessly, and the A&M cover with her dancing in a more sensual pose. The dual covers stirred up quite a controversy in the Christian press and Gospel radio circles.

I attended an October 1985 concert by Amy and saw her perform a couple more times by the late 80’s. The first show was at the Savannah Civic Center Arena and I remember how awkward I felt dipping and swaying to the beat of Everywhere I Go. I was no dancer. Screaming teen girls rushed the stage like any other rock star show. Theatrical smoke and lighting effects prevailed along with high decibel ear splitting sound. It seemed that it was more of a cult of personality instead of an exposition of God’s plan of salvation. The show was, however,  positively reviewed the following day in the local paper and was described as “Rock that even mom’ll love.”


The Grant era ushered in Christian radio that was extra light on the plan of salvation and heavy on entertainment. As I scan the Atlanta radio dial these days the two biggest Christian FM’s promote themselves as family friendly or positive music, Christ has been put aside for the sake of the almighty dollar. Most of the music they play is so bland, vaguely Christian, that secular radio is more preferable when I listen to radio at all. Do not misunderstand, I am not a critic of any particular Christian artist. Secular promoters and corporations have no business in the the Lord’s work period. Watering down the Gospel is not an option. There are hard rockers that are Christian to the core with an obvious message prevalent in their music. On the other hand there are singers who happen to be Christian who sing secular music. I have no problem with them living within their own convictions. Please, whatever you sing; pop or rock,  just don’t call it Gospel if it has no ministry content. Hear the concert commercial at my Gospel Webcast site.

May the Good News go with you. Stay tuned.

21 August 2009

Gran Torino

Long before the 2008 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name I owned two of them. I am speaking of the Ford Gran Torino. One a 1973 four door station wagon olive green with fake wood side panels that I drove most of the 11th and 12th grade. I went everywhere in that thing; assisted my dad in his piano tuning business, drove him to church trotted off to his preaching engagements and in later years to my job at WEAS. The thing looked like a tank and finally died when I lost the transmission in it.

Next was a tomato red two door Starsky and Hutch special. I loved that car. Unlike the TV show which featured a ‘74 model mine was a ‘76 without the broad white racing stripe. I had bought it from my station manager for a $1,000.00 and she let me make payments of $50.00 a paycheck. Good job security I suppose. I kept it detailed and made the local Western Auto my second home. One Sunday after church, I wrecked my baby by rear-ending a black Trans-Am or Camaro similar to the Smoky & the Bandit car Burt Reynolds drove. There was hardly a scratch on the car I hit. My eight year old beauty sustained major front end damage. The plastic grille was smashed along with a huge dent in the right front quarter panel. The one and only body shop estimate I got was for $1,200.00. Oh my God! 200 more than I paid for it. To top things off I was ticketed for driving too close, made a court appearance and covered the $50.00 fine. Unfortunately, I didn’t have collision insurance or $1,200.00 so I had to drive her wrecked.
 

Despite all the cosmetic flaws, I kept the Torino running good. I had a great honest mechanic at the Ford dealership who would do maintenance and repairs on his lunch break and charged me cost for the genuine Ford parts. I learned a lot about cars from this veteran wrench turner. He was a master diagnostician who seemed to know everything. God places the right people in your path.

I, on the other hand, was a complete novice. I bought a cheap Western Auto ratchet set and got started making repairs on a trial and mostly error basis with a Chilton’s manual by my side. One day I decided to remove the non functioning Eight Track stereo. Hey, I worked at a radio station so this should be reasonably easy. Right? I exorcised the unit and left a yawning hole in the panel which was never filled with a new radio. My dad ribbed me constantly for my amateur surgery. The patient did not survive. As a substitute I took along a Sony portable radio for musical accompaniment and news on the 30 minute ride to work every day.

From that point forward I decided to learn all I could about cars; their intricate electrical systems, ignitions, and parts. Self education paid off later in life when I embarked on a lucrative 13 year career in auto parts following my life in radio; obtaining an ASE certification along the way, all thanks to my initial tinkering with the Gran Torino.

Stay tuned.

Oops!

Please read or listen to the "Radio Rewind" post/podcast Skate, Skate, Skate first. I will see you in a minute to clear up my story…(thanks to digital technology, many of the errors in the post have been corrected. The podcast remains unchanged.)

Normally I take pride in the accuracy of my posts, but a previous blog needs correction. Over the years I have kept both written and spoken word diaries on tape and I will from time to time refer to them when writing these posts. Skate, Skate, Skate, posted last week, was a mostly accurate account I made straight from my memory without diary backup. I even neglected to consult a 1984 calendar for dates.

This morning I went back to my sources to fact-check and confirmed that the Christian Youth Skate was indeed held on Saturday nights at the Savannah Skate Inn as reported beginning June the 9th, 1984. However, the Youth Skate I brought over to Skatetime USA in the summer of ‘84 was on Mondays from 8 until 10:30 pm, not ever on Saturdays as I recalled previously. I can’t confirm that we directly competed with Skate Inn on my own radio station’s Christian Monday’s but I do log in early 1985 that we had just restarted doing Mondays at the Skate Inn and I was now volunteering (March, 1985).

Cannibalizing a party my main employer held would have been asinine, I was only 18 though. “Friendly” competition between the rinks was common then and it is a fact that Tommy Edwards, Skate Inn manager, resented the inference I made in a commercial for Skatetime USA that their facility was superior to his. I agree that it was unethical of me, Tommy had a point. No copies of those Skatetime USA commercials have survived, so I have no way of confirming content.

Two parties on the same night? It is reasonable to assume that both parties occurred on Mondays; why would have Tommy been so angry about just a line of copy? I am almost 100% sure now that there were simultaneous parties for at least a while.

I made the same hourly wage at Skatetime USA. The Monday party was an hour shorter than Saturday. I left the radio station early on skate nights and had floaters fill in on my shift.
It was Skatetime USA that had the Technics SL-1200 turntables not the Skate Inn. Their turntables did not provide the instants cues of the Technics. They were good consumer units, but I don’t remember the brand. I discovered a photo on Facebook of the Savannah Skate Inn sound booth from the era that confirms this. Both rinks sounded great! I give Skatetime USA the nod for sheer oomph.


My memory has been jogged by tapes that record certain events in minute detail. The whole skate party controversy is basically mentioned in passing. High school graduation angst is front and center. But a detail I inadvertently omitted is that Skate Inn discontinued the gig by “laying me off”. I blame slow ticket sales. My role was not as proactive as I had thought. There was a very brief gap between gigs. Monday Christian Youth Skate lasted a few weeks and I have confirmed it ended on Monday, August 20, 1984; corroborated by a personal letter I received, an ‘84 calendar and the audio diary. I don’t record when it started; by the time I logged it in the diary it had become a weekly routine.
Stay tuned.

19 August 2009

Radio Waves

Anyone who has followed my blogs over these last few months knows I have written all original material. This morning I will make an exception by drawing your attention of a couple very significant developments in the whacky world of radio as reported by http://radio.about.com/
"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" 
- Said by David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s

The Telecommunication Act of 1996 (approved by the 104th Congress on January 3, 1996).
This law allowed companies to buy more AM and FM radio stations than ever before. Critics argue it was a green light for large companies to dilute programming with similar cookie-cutter formats, replace local DJs and radio personalities with remote voice-tracking technology, and cut staffs by automating many formerly-manned air-shifts.
Large companies like Clear Channel Radio - who at one point owned more than 1200 radio stations - defended these practices.
Significance: In retrospect, deregulation and consolidation probably made the AM and FM radio industry less competitive, less creative, and more vulnerable to upcoming technologies which were poised to take advantage of a changing paradigm for audio distribution.
Deregulation of the Radio industry and consolidation of operations and staff served to homogenize programming and weaken the value of AM and FM radio stations, allowing for other technologies to come along like Internet Radio and Satellite Radio able to chip away at that portion of the available audience that was becoming disenchanted or disenfranchised.
Commercial AM and FM radio began to make itself less compelling at a time when new technologies were about to redefine the concept of "Radio" - and compete head on against it.
In my opinion, the period commencing with the introduction of Real Audio in 1995 through the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 should be viewed as the delineation between what I refer to as the end of the "Era of Commercial AM and FM" and the beginning of what is now the "Modern Radio Era".
Now, the next blurb is what I consider the wave of the future, it will forever impact the radio industry and bring radio back to the future…good bye AM & FM
WiMax - WiMax came in 2008. WiMax stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It can provide broadband wireless access up to a 30 mile radius.
Significance: As the WiMax infrastructure begins to build out, Internet Radio stations will be able to stream programming up to 60 miles in diameter through this technology. That pretty much covers almost every metropolitan area like a blanket - and will put Internet Radio on the same footing as AM and FM radio stations for attracting listeners.
Stay tuned

14 August 2009

Skate, Skate, Skate

In  May of 1984 I was wrapping up my senior year of high school having the time of my life working in radio. Spinning the gospel music in the afternoon following school gave me an easy way to earn money part time while studying for finals during songs and preaching shows. We played Lp’s and 45’s directly to air not from carts like the bigger stations did so I actually spun vinyl as the disco DJ’s did and still do.
This experience with tight cues on our Technics SP-15 turntables was a joy. Immediate starts from a dead stop were possible with those units. When I wanted even closer starts or begin within a selection I would revert to a method called a slip cue. You would allow the platter to run underneath the record while holding the vinyl manually then releasing the record when needed. Pow! you were rockin’. High torque and perfect precision from the direct drive motors provided years of trouble free service. All but one of my non Internet radio homes used this particular model. In ‘84 a couple of them would set you back the price of a good used car, worth every penny.
Anyway, my station was hosting a Christian Skating party on Monday nights and was using our morning man Dennis Allen and others as guest DJ’s. I had no concept of their compensation but I was soon to find out some very good news. Our sponsor, Savannah Skate Inn, not actually a hotel, rather a roller rink wanted an additional skate party on Saturday nights aimed at a slightly younger clientele. The rink’s manager, Tommy Edwards, apparently wanted yours truly to host. He worked out my compensation. I was to be paid three times my hourly rate at the radio station. Wow!

Six days following my high school graduation Contemporary Christian Music rocked the Skate Inn. Church youth leaders brought in bus loads for our premiere. Admission was only $3.00, a dollar less with a coupon and free skates rental. A quarter of each admission was put into jackpot that was awarded to the largest group represented. What a win win scenario!

I was a bit nervous at first facing a live audience but soon overcame the butterflies when I realized the interactions directly with patrons presenting song requests and their putting together a face with a voice. One mother had assumed my age was 35. “Thanks ma’am, I’m only 18,” was my grateful reply. I was perched in the booth among my peers spinning my own Christian Rock ‘n Roll records, playing the Hokey Pokey, couples skates, etc.

One faux pas has haunted me to this day. During one contest, all girl skate, I proclaimed to a skater taking her for a boy, “That’s all girls!”. “I am a girl,” was her curt reply. Egg all over my face, I proceeded with the segment gesturing an apology to the young lady.
Savannah Skate Inn had a nice equipment setup: Two direct drive turntables; not the reference standard Technics SL-1200 found in discos and rinks worldwide; although not suitable for a broadcast environment, a compact disco mixer, a cool Teac C-2 rack mount cassette deck (the $1,000 consumer version of the professional Tascam 122B), cheap microphone, massive amplification and huge pro theater style loudspeaker cabinets. Music to hear and feel.
Two months passed with various success and little controversy until one day at my main radio job I received a phone call from the manager of cross town rival Skatetime USA requesting I move the Christian Youth Skate and my record collection to his facility. I had seen crowds dwindling at the Skate Inn and saw the handwriting on the wall. Manager Tommy had already cut 30 minutes from the 3 1/2 hour party and would have continued sans salary so I was ready for the new gig. I preceded thinking I would get sales commission for the new Skatetime USA account but was shocked to find out that although I did all the leg work with contracts and producing commercials it became a “house account” because the client had initially called the station so no commission was issued. Bull malarkey. I missed out on the commission but it was now too late to un-burn a bridge with Tommy who understandably felt betrayed by me and my commercial spots for the new Youth Skate now directly competing on Mondays. The next assignment was a newer facility who the manager touted as sounding better, louder and gave more liberty in music selection. In my youthful exuberance I cannibalized a loyal account to make a buck. What a backfire!


The sound booth at Skatetime USA was a little bit different from Skate Inn. They had the superior Technics SL-1200 turntables, industry standard to this day for club DJ's who still use vinyl. Instant starts just like the more costly SP-15's. I was reacquainted with these decks at radio home number four, WBKI, the only time I've seen these semi-pro machines used in a broadcast environment. Generally, rink equipment is primitive and clunky compared to fully professional gear. I often fantasized a rink with superior broadcast equipment.  A live remote from the party would have been a super idea allowing dual payment. Although the station would have weaseled out of paying me somehow just as they had with the deserved commission. 


Two distinct details I remember clearly from Skatetime USA was once the manager had me play “Good ‘Ole Boys” from the then current Dukes of Hazzard TV series. One could feel this mostly Christian crowd groan in disapproval. There had been a famous song I often played by the Southern Gospel group Dixie Melody Boys which was a reply to the popular Waylon Jennings ditty, the Gospel gospel version answered;
“Good ole boys won’t make it into heaven; Good ole boys won’t wear a crown; Good ole boys won’t live forever where the saints of God are found…”
Next, a live local band joined the party one Monday night. Suddenly I became emcee and apparent fan of the unknown act shouting like a boxing ring announcer, “Ladies and gentlemen…Second Wind!” The band then exploded with a few original numbers. It was a pleasant surprise that evening for sure.

By the third Monday in August of ‘84 the party was discontinued by the manager who had been so instrumental in pulling me away from the Savannah Skate Inn just a month prior. He paid me in advance and told me the bad news. I actually took it in stride probably because I had brought a new friend along and didn’t want her to see me in an unpleasant light. It seems likely that we left the party early that night because it was not yet dark outside. Afterwards, on into early '85, I made one or two unpaid appearances at Tommy’s place. I don’t recall patching things up with him or if it had ever been an issue between us. He had only communicated through my station manager. Time has erased the details. Ironically, Tommy never restricted my creative freedom or had other entertainment take the spotlight.

Three years later in 1987 I found myself at Paulding County Skate Center playing upbeat Christian records for listeners of WSPZ, my second radio home. This experience was quite vanilla compared to my previous. I don’t remember any money being offered and possibly shared hosting duties with the stations other personalities. My production values had blossomed so the commercials are the part best remembered. I began them with line, “Skate, Skate, Skate..” My voice was split via multiple tape tracks, filtered and made lower. I then borrowed my top 40 DJ voice for the copy with a funky bass beat playing underneath. For many years to follow my work buddy Corky Cheek, whom I’d also work with at WDCY and WBKI, would greet me by intoning Skate…Skate…Skate. Press play to sample the original commercials.







Stay tuned

13 August 2009

We’re Douglas Country!

Radio home number three has been very hard to write about because it ended in a bitter divorce. Just like the child, little J-O-E, in the famous Tammy Wynette song I needed shelter from the awful truth. I realize now, 18 years later, having survived a bad first marriage in real life a decade ago this radio separation thing was a walk in the park. Both marriages lasted only 10 months.

Third time around was another unique situation. This new owner held a General Radiotelephone Operator License (GROL). I was impressed with his credentials and his engineering background in both radio and TV. The honeymoon soon ended when I discovered his hardnosed, dictatorial approach to managing our staff. This radio home was now owned by one individual owner operator not a corporation or church organization like my previous employers. Imagine Fidel Castro rolled up into Adolf Hitler. So as not to defame the dead, I’ll call him Bill.

The church that had owned WSPZ had become desperate to unload this albatross hung around their neck. So desperate, in fact, that Bill wound up paying less than a tenth of the original asking price of the station less the studio building, which he’d lease from April until we moved the following summer of 1990.

Bill, 58 years old, entered with flattery, focusing his attentions on my office of program director. He seemed to value my role and appointed me architect of the new image. What an ego expedition this turned out to be for me. I came up with the new call letters WDCY-AM, representing We’re Douglas County. We realized the focus of the former owners was too broad. They had assumed our 2,500 watt signal would penetrate the Atlanta environs and marketed us as such. We decided to do a heavy local push by adding a news director and field reporters, making our presence known in the business community, covering nearby high school sports events and doing live remotes ad nauseam. Bill had some great ideas; made some tough adjustments to staff and bruised many egos along the way, but I must say that it was never boring. Bill and I were just too different. He never had a proper understanding of our Southern Gospel music format often referring to it as Barber Shop Quartet. I was an impetuous 24 year old bent on winning control over the old man’s station. Boy, was I wrong!

I believe a pivotal moment for Bill was a Gospel concert he had masterminded, not meeting his expectations, although I saw it as a success during the culmination of Southern Gospel Music Month in September of ‘90. I pled the cause of Gospel music, but he seemed soured by the experience and preferred to go to what he called Country and Western. Who called Country that anymore? Secretly, I knew a secular format would not work for me and would probably quit should we change. Anyway, for the first time ever I was forced to take an on-air partner and produce a morning show modeled after the morning zoo fluff shows popular those days. The Mabry & O’Neal Morning Show was born around November with promotions director slash occasional news reporter, Angie Mabry. We both worked hard at it but the show was incompatible with our audience. We seldom ever referred to the Gospel music or religion at all.

article c By February of 1991 Bill had trimmed the now bloated air staff taking on some air time himself. This change put me on-air 6 days a week thereby stealing vital time away from the office and production room tasks necessary for perfecting our sound. The balancing act proved humanly impossible and I resigned during the inevitable and ultimately ill fated format change to country and a new slogan, We’re Douglas Country.

Stay tuned

12 August 2009

My First Radio Station


Gosh. My first station; what an odd, yet wonderfully unique format. It was a Gospel station with at least three dayparted formats. That meant we played a different style of music or programming depending on the time of day you were listening. Southern Gospel in the morning then time brokered religious programs mid-day, followed by traditional and urban contemporary Black Gospel. I loved it all. By 1986 I began my afternoon drive show with 30 minutes of Southern Gospel; the the rest of my broadcast was Contemporary Christian till 9pm. The listeners were confused, but what an education I gleaned from Gospel 90 WEAS AM (later WWJD) in Savannah, Georgia. I got from it a deeper appreciation for all forms of music as well as a priceless lexicon of Gospel trivia. 

The station was originally licensed to Savannah on 900kc in 1950 despite legal objections from the local broadcast community. See http://www.lawskills.com/case/ga/id/18820/Then it was known as WJIV. They played what was termed at the time "race records". Modeled after the highly successful WDIA in Memphis, Tennessee, WJIV served the African American community exclusively for about a dozen years. Forward to about 1963; WJIV station owner, E.D. "Dee" Rivers, Jr, moved the call letters "WEAS" from his Atlanta station on 1010 AM, today known as WGUN, to the Savannah station. In my research I discovered that Rivers also made an unsuccessful bid for a TV station called WJIV-TV. Coinciding with the call sign change was a shift to a "Hillbilly" format, what we know now as Country. What a contrast! But it seems these listeners were under served and Rivers once again filled a demographic need. I imagine the sounds of Patsy Cline and Hank Williams were interspersed with preachers and the occasional Gospel tune. A few years later in '68 the 100,000 watt WEAS-FM was born. It began as an automated "Beautiful Music" or "Easy Listening" format. The FM later programmed  "Progressive Rock" till the mid 70's. That's when I believe the "E-93" brand became reality. They were now serving the black community full time, the format that's a ratings winner for them until this day. I understand that the AM and FM were simulcasting in the morning in those days. The AM split away from the FM mid-day with preachers and Southern Gospel music 'til sun down.



By the time I joined WEAS-AM in May of 1983 it was mostly Southern Gospel. During the next 3 years the format evolved into the hybrid I described. Each disk jockey picked his own music. I could usually tune in at home and know which DJ was on by the music he or she played! It sounds as though it would be chaotic, but it worked, mostly.

Late 1983 enter a new manager from Arkansas one Charles Lewallen. He was a minister and believed in strict format. He objected to diluting our music selections with other variations of the Gospel form. One time he told me not to play a certain New Gaither Vocal Band selection because it sounded too "rock". That seems so ridiculous now. Gaither? Rock? I was 17 in October of 1983 when Charles changed our call letters to WWJD. The new call sign didn't easily roll off my tongue and was ten plus years before the unrelated WWJD bracelets. The acronym did NOT represent "What Would Jesus Do". Our name stood for, "Walking With Jesus Daily". A possible motive for the switch was a disassociation with our sister, WEAS-FM. Being a green teenager I complied with whatever management said. I had very little to do with the business end of radio until much later in my career.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in their January 30, 1985 issue that Mr. Lewallen had wrongfully fired a female black announcer, Lucy Frazier, in summer '83. The report said she was suing the station for damages in US District court in Atlanta. I don't know how the case was settled but it explains a lot! Charles abruptly disappeared early 1984 or slightly before. The paper quoted him as saying, it was, "inappropriate for a black woman to play white gospel records ."

At the time we had a staff meeting admonishing us to remain quiet on the situation.  Obviously, this manager had an eye on brand issues and image of the station, hopefully not skin color or gender. I'm not qualified to psychoanalyze his motive as racial. His side is not very well represented in the article. I think this incident prompted the addition of black Gospel music to our line up. Borrowed from our FM, Lester "Leck" White was eventually added mid-days to provide some soul.

During this whole time the glue that held our little 5,ooo watt station together was my dear friend and mentor Gloria. She had interviewed and hired me in the spring of 1983 and served as manager for my entire 3 1/2 year tenure. She had been pushed to the side briefly when Lewallen took over. I overheard a conversation between she and another DJ. She had felt slighted by the apparent demotion and threatened to quit. Long story short, she outlasted the new "manager" many years.

I would describe Gloria's management style as easy going, much like her on-air persona. Our DJ's pretty much had free reign. Not that we were allowed to play Led Zeppelin records or anything, I just mean we played almost any Gospel we wanted. We all felt trusted. She had a few exceptions though.  A lot of upbeat Contemporary Christian numbers were forbidden, such as the Imperials' "Water Grave", from the "Sail On" album. A great many of the "Do not play" list were deliberately scratched through on the record album and rendered unplayable; a primitive, but effective insurance of compliance.

This changed in September of 1986. We were going to switch to Contemporary Christian! As a 20 year old Christian youth who loved mainstream top 40 this was super news. The station had now been granted approval for 24 hour operation. For the 36 years prior to this occasion we were a "Daytimer", signing on at sunrise and signing off at sunset. As a concession to more powerful clear channel AM stations, our transmitter power was greatly reduced at night. We probably deferred to the powerhouse 890 AM WLS Chicago. I was made music director and coined  J-900 as a brand for our new sound.

The novelty wore off. I  found out that the "format" would only apply to certain dayparts. CCM would be heard only after 3:30 pm. I saw this as a weak commitment to the music. The local conservative preaching shows must have dictated our sound. Bummer! Our aim was to reach the youth demographic with the hotter sound. It was reasoned that most kids listened after class. A few outspoken callers to the station during that time of day were Christian private school students who reported that parents did not allow them to listen to any secular music. In them we had a small captive audience to supplement our regulars probably confused by our diverse sound. (Click on the Mp3 below for a sample.)

We ventured past midnight to the likes of Michael W. Smith's "Rocket Town" and maintained the show until I left the station for the Atlanta market in late November of '86. I had declined an opportunity to work for the 50,000 watt sister station WGUN in Atlanta, interviewed at Love 86 WAEC-AM, and by February of 1987 found my self at a new home, the 1Kw daytimer, WSPZ-AM in suburbia.

Stay Tuned.

Tower Collapse

Working in small and medium market radio has had its foibles. For instance,  budget restraints in the technical department. I may not know what I am talking about but I believe that all of my chief engineers were moonlighting away from their main gig. My first chief, Dennis, was employed by the number one station in the market and retained by my station part time. At my second radio home Richard was another fine engineer on call to us but yet again his allegiance was to a big Atlanta FM. I had a great rapport with these guys and tried to learn as much about their craft as I could. I knew their hands were tied by our smaller budgets so a lot of maintenance was differed. Still, it was no less frustrating when something major got screwed up.

My first radio station had numerous technical issues although I believe our owners had very deep pockets. One DJ in our FM department once commented that, “Someone could pee down the street and knock us off the air”. Crass but true, he was almost right because it only took a mild thunderstorm to kick both AM and FM off the air.  The FM’s signal was almost always monaural not the clear stereo of our competition. Lightning once fried a transmitter making us sound no better than a citizens band (CB) radio. I was advised to switch it off and go home an hour early.

Around Saint Patrick’s day of 1985 some water craft on the Savannah River severed our STL (Studio Transmitter Link) line. All the air staff were moved out to the remote transmitter site to broadcast directly. The FM had emergency equipment there but we in AM were stuck with two Marantz Superscope portable cassette recorders and one patch cord directly wired to the transmitter. In an earlier post, Beam Me Up Scottie, I described the poor audio experience. It  lasted two days but seemed much longer. Bell South dropped us a new line in short order.

Five years later at my new radio home, WSPZ-AM, located just west of Atlanta, a tornado blew down our broadcast tower. This time I was off the air for two weeks without the luxury of a back up plan. Luckily for the staff, we reported for work and were paid. The station was awaiting FCC approval of transfer of ownership and feared the collapse would hinder the sale.

Station number two was the opposite of my first. WSPZ was owned by a smallish local church. The owners had spent an obscene amount of money on all new professional studio equipment and had for its size the best AM audio this DJ has ever herd. I feel that the owners were overextended when we first learned the station was for sale, 2 1/2 years prior to the tornado. A sizable investment was wasted on a 1Kw signal with 500 watts critical hours. The power was increased in about 1988 which meant another wad of cash for a new transmitter for only an increase to two and a half thousand watts. You may think that’s more than double the power but remember engineers tell us that to actually double your output on AM there has to be a ten fold increase in wattage. So, obviously, an allowance of 10,000 watts would have actually paid off.

what’s ironic about SPZ, the station’s listed price of $750,000 in 1987 was lowered numerous times and actually sold for a mere $70,000 a tenth in 1990. That’s what I call poor return on investment. For three years I was basically babysitting. I made a decent living doing something I loved and do not regret a thing. It is funny that my original radio home was owned by tightwads who refused a lot of the basics on stations with enormous potential while my second place was owned by free spenders beating a dead horse. I guess you can’t have it all.

Stay tuned.

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