28 September 2011

Dead Links

No I’m not talking about breakfast; although some Hillshire Farm ‘Lil Smokies® or Polska Kielbasa sausage sound good about now. The kind of links I mean are the audio samples oft times featured in Gospel Aircheck. Basically there is a file sharing service that I use to store my audio and it provides an Internet link so you can either download or play directly from the blog.

It irks me when one doesn’t work—the dreaded dead link. I depend on a file to be 1oo% playable all of the time. Last post I presented an old commercial that no longer plays. What’s funny is that the adjacent file is just fine. What a mystery.

This is a round about way of saying that it would be nice to receive feedback when this happens. It keeps me on my toes. I have already discovered a few more bad links myself and am in the process of firing the culprit. Links will be repaired when and if possible. For now, I’m hungry. Pass the syrup.

Stay tuned.

26 September 2011

Re-imagined

DSCN0758Like anyone with a somewhat artistic temperament, once I create something I am never finished with it. Recently, we warmed up the old Gospel Aircheck studios to revisit an ancient piece of copy I wrote in 1984 for the inaugural Christian Youth Skate we discussed last time. The script became a 30 second spot that I also provided the voice-over for. The Music bed was an overlap mix of two songs our management restricted from airplay because they were judged too hot. It’s hilarious that Water Grave by the Imperials and Home of the Lord by Sandi Patti (duet with Russ Taff) were taboo because they sounded a lot like rock music on a mostly Southern Gospel station that in reality played everything from the Happy Goodmans to Amy Grant. Gospel 90 had an inconsistent standard when it came to music selection, to say the least. Label the format more “psycho variety” than anything else.

DSCN0702Anyway, the point is that I used my music bed selection as a deliberate stab against this hypocritical system. Somehow, if a song had a strong drum beat or an electric guitar solo, it was a no-no.  The Youth Skate gave me license to rock (yeah, right.)

Back to the present: not necessarily in this order, I remixed the original music bed, taking bass licks and drum beats, digitally enhancing and looping them. Next, I added stereo effects (laser blast stingers) and manipulated the sound by re-panning some of the original elements until the music sounded unlike it ever did before. I didn’t use my 1984 reading of the copy. We used a Sennheiser MD-421 mkII (mid-90’s vintage); the same type microphone I had at the station for the new vocal track. In 27 years my voice has changed quite a bit, so it can be considered a completely reimagined version done just for the heck of it. The 1984 original can be downloaded here and the newly redone skate commercial here. Or just click below. See what you think.

1984 Original Christian Youth Skate, press play

2011 Reimagined Christian Youth skate, press play


Stay Tuned

24 September 2011

Ready to Roll

My first Christian skate parties have been crazy fun writing about, but what leads up to the actual parties is also what makes my teen years so captivating in my, ahem, 40’s.


DSCN0792I forget exactly how I, with only a year deejay experience, am chosen to host the Christian Youth Skate in that summer of ‘84, but my personal theory is that at 18 years of age I am considered a natural for the job. My intestinal butterflies notwithstanding, the show goes on without a hitch. DSCN0766

Todays post is about my “controversial”  music selections, all of them still in my archive these 27 years later. My station manager gives me an enormous stack of CCM albums our predominately Southern Gospel format excludes—a windfall for me. My favorite discovery: Sweet Comfort Band, Perfect Timing (I occasionally listen to that record now.) These record company freebies, courtesy of Gospel 90, also include the phenomenal Age to Age by Amy Grant (especially the crowd pleaser song, Fat Baby).DSCN0655 This set of promotional Lp’s also adds Petra's wonderfully bizarre Not of this World, one of my early ‘80’s favs.

Some of the crowd (represented by buzz-kill adult chaperones) are not pleased by the heavily rock and pop-influenced Contemporary Christian I play. But, who can dance or skate to elevator music? In response, I crank-up the speakers to drown out the fuddy-duddies. If its too loud, you’re too old, pal. Not that I am a rebel; to the contrary, I have a hard time shedding my shaped-note, four part harmony heritage as well: mixed emotions. But I maintain an open mind. It sounds closer to the current top-40 I, as a teen, secretly listen to. Looking back,  in those days most local church youth groups have yet to emerge from stodgy traditionalism.  To them CCM is merely a substitute for “evil” secular music. The beat, in and of itself, is seen, by association, as of the Devil. (A famous television evangelist makes that assertion in a CCM magazine interview  and, ironically, falls from grace amidst a very public sexual scandal in 1988. Many church leaders of the era consider his views Gospel.)

Not to cast stones, I never have understood why many Southern Christians reject, and downright fight this Wonder Bread wholesome style of music performed by Honest to Goodness Believers and I probably never will. Another theory: this televangelist  sees CCM as a threat to his livelihood, at the time peddling his own brand of gospel records. Everyone has a hidden agenda.

“For the love of money is the root of all evil”—1 Timothy 6:10 KJV. Translation: greed is evil, not matter what  Wall Street says.

The skate parties have sparked a life-long love of the genre. The Youth Skate only lasts a summer, but the musical treasures remain—priceless.


See the original post that inspired this story at our sister blog: Aircheck.

Stay tuned.

23 September 2011

What Now?

Unfortunately, nothing good (luckily also, nothing bad) lasts forever.  The Peanut Whistle will go on but I am afraid radio broadcasting as I have known it is on its last legs. I have been blessed to spend a relatively short time in the industry. Roughly from May, 1983 until August of 1995—12 years. Even in 1983 radio, particularly AM, begins a terminal decline. However, it isn’t until 1996, following the consolidation of radio when I see the final nail in the coffin. Large conglomerates are now allowed to gobble up little stations in all markets into a cookie cutter clusters centrally programmed via satellite, voice tracking, the list goes on.

Stations like my first are victim of “consolidation.” The memories only remain.

The radio dial pre-1996 is a wonderfully diverse place. Yes, there are some really bad ones thrown in with the good; at least, to me, the diversity makes this ancient business much more appealing then than now.

The point is moot. Internet services like Pandora (which I use more than real radio for music, anyway) are actually getting better ratings in our top ten markets than over-the-air broadcasting. The future is on the Web, obviously.


The Next few ‘Whistle posts will chronicle my 2011 journey back to the present day: my futile struggle getting back into radio. Maybe you can’t go home again.

Stay tuned.

20 September 2011

Joyful Noise

Recently I attended a music convention held for the last decade or so in Louisville, Kentucky. Previously, it took place in Music city USA—Nashville, Tennessee (from 1971-1993).  It began in various towns all throughout the southern United states including Memphis, Birmingham and my home town Atlanta, Georgia.

The National Quartet Convention is a week long event aimed at Southern Gospel music fans. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007 and shows no sign of slowing down. Music overload, jam-packed with everything SG. I’m wore out, but loved every minute.

One more item off the old bucket list. In 2012, the Gospel Music Association Dove Awards® return to Atlanta, this blogger intends to be there as well.

Keep it in the red.

All Together Now

What first sold me on the 2011 National Quartet Convention, although I’m not a huge SG fan per se, was the fact that the Gaither Vocal Band were hosting an Afternoon Showcase performance. Not only were the current lineup singing, but it was a reunion of all the past members (except for Guy Pinrod, conspicuously absent.)

Angie and I made it just in time for the show having traveled six hours from Atlanta. Thank God for GPS. Cracker Barrel, and rest stops. Boy was it worth it! The impromptu nature of the set was thrilling to hear; as though Bill Gaither was arranging as they went along. For us this Thursday Session was the highlight of the whole convention. Gaither Vocal band has always successfully blended southern and more progressive sounds. I have followed GVB since their early ‘80’s inception and continue to be a fan although they were a little more Contemporary Christian in the beginning. This is a group not easily pigeonholed. In the early 90’s Gaither shifted his emphasis in a more southerly direction. But, that is alright.DSCN0643

Most fans are familiar with the Reunion video series. Gaither has done an excellent job preserving the best of our southern heritage. On Friday, the NQC presented the entire Reunion cast in a heavenly choir. Despite the cramped seating in Freedom Hall at the Kentucky Expo Center the whole experience, at least musically, was a lifetime dream fulfilled. More on the other performances in future posts.

Stay tuned.

19 September 2011

Four Part Harmony

for long time readers of Gospel Aircheck, welcome back! I felt this was the perfect time to return to one of my favorite topics, southern gospel.

As a youth I was knocked out by Contemporary Christian Music at a time when most of my peers had never heard of Petra, Amy Grant or the Imperials.

Up until then I had cut my teeth on the likes of the Oak Ridge Boys, The Happy Goodman Family, and especially Andrae Crouch. In those days it was all gospel music to me. The various styles had yet to splinter into the sub-genres we know today. These days it seems that the Dove Awards are the only place the divergent forms mix—never mingling on the radio anymore.

The older I get, the more the music of my formative years draws me back. Don’t get me wrong I still love to rock but the soothing nature of voices in harmony against a simple musical accompaniment comforts these aging bones.

Recently my wife Angie and I spent our second honeymoon at the 2011 National Quartet Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. We had a great time. Both of us share a love and passion for gospel music. Like Donnie and Marie Osmond she’s a little bit Country and I’m a little bit Rock-n-Roll (rest easy, the two of us aren’t related.) The point is one balances the other. The NQC has been something I wanted to do since I first heard of it nearly 30 years ago. The next couple of posts will detail our adventure.

Stay tuned.

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