Re-imagined

Like 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.

Anyway, 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

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.

---

I 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.

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). 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.

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.

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.

Powered by Podbean.com

Stay tuned

Breakfast with Burl

  The radio station I listened to most as a kid was Z-102 in Savannah, Georgia. Now, I realize that the station was only another Z-100 New York clone. This CHR format over populated the FM dial all across the USA in the 1980’s. Yes it was derivative but I enjoyed the station and copied their style often when I became a Contemporary Christian Music DJ. One unique element of good old WZAT-FM was Burl Womack. His show “Breakfast with Burl” was on my car radio every morning on my way to high school. Burl was allowed to play Southern Gospel music along with Adult Contemporary and hits of the day. Strange combination of styles but it worked! Burl had the number one show on the number one station in the market for years.

  Womack was a mature man with an easy going style and mellifluous baritone. He’d get to a point in the show where he would pour another cup of coffee (a sound effect from a cart tape, no doubt) address the topics of the day, read the school lunch menu and, as best as I can recall, played his choice of Gospel music until at least 8:00 AM. He seemed to be actually having breakfast with you. The show was aptly named. To this day I wonder why he didn’t make the jump to television, he reminded me of David Hartman, one time host of ABC’s Good Morning America.

  I met Burl on two separate occasions once at at the Savannah Skate Inn roller rink where I hosted a Christian Youth Skate and then again a few months later when he emceed a Dixie Melody Boys concert at a private school auditorium in Garden City. What struck me most about the main was his vocal power in person. His speaking voice was laid back and boomed even though he spoke softly. I was intimidated and our exchange was minimal, after all what did I as an 18 year old upstart have to offer? It was a mystery to me why he was at the skating rink and at the time I felt he gave me the brush off although he was probably hurried or surprisingly, shy. A few months later at the Gospel concert he did a splendid job as emcee and I saw a humorous side to the man not always evident on his radio show. That night I was asked to stand as representative of my radio station during the concert. Typical of me I was embarrassed, quickly stood, waved, said nothing and sat down.

  Burl has been nominated in 2009 for a lifetime Career Achievement Award by the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. Good luck to you Mr. Womack you deserve the honor. Your many years on the Savannah airwaves are fondly remembered by your fans and I am one.

Stay tuned.