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e-mail About George Johns
Present - Talent
Coach and Radio Consultant. |
February 2
As I write this I am flying at about 35,000 ft. on my way to a client meeting in San Francisco. I'm kinda just sitting here all relaxed, having a glass of red wine and marveling at the fact that I can check my e mails, watch a football game and write this piece on my lap top, as I wing my way from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Travel it seems has always been involved in the the way I make my living. Back in my early days traveling with The Jury, we were touring in cars dragging trailers filled with gear behind us. Now I'm flying along almost at the speed of sound with all the gear I need in my head.
Speaking of traveling I hate to think about it but I have flown over two million miles on American Airlines alone, not to mention probably the same amount on all the others while I've been doing this thing called radio.
As I fly west through the darkened skies, I can't help but peer out at the blackness and wonder about how this all came to be.
I guess the story really begins at the end, by that I mean the end of my band days. Strangely enough I started to feel like maybe it was time to move on just about the time we had the # 1 Canadian record in Canada.
But shortly before having that #1 record, a couple of very exciting things were in motion that I had little control or knowledge of. These events though turned out big enough to cause me to start thinking ... Maybe it was time to give up the dream and hang up my guitar.
The first exciting things that happened was I got promoted at CKY to Music Director and Production Director almost simultaneously. These promotions took me from a part time day job, to a full time career job.
The next life changing event occurred not too long after, it was the birth of my Daughter Candis. Candis' arrival in my world was possibly even more exciting than my hearing The Jury's first record played on the radio for the first time. I must admit though the thrill of her birth has been much longer lasting.
During the time my wife Lana was carrying Candis, I was wrestling around with the fact that I just couldn't see myself raising a family with the limited amount of musical skills I possessed. I had put years and years into the band, but now I was going through a few changes mentally and I needed to deal with that soon.
Everything seemed to be happening all at the same time, as the promotions at the radio station were being offered to me our record company was also pressuring us to go on an extended tour. I knew I couldn't do both so it was choose time.
I chose the one that I believed had some sort of future to it and maybe even some stability. What was I thinking, right? But nevertheless, that was the day I put my guitar down for good and gave up on the dream. I became a full time radio guy, which I have been ever since.
As I had written earlier, the beauty of having both titles led quickly to me getting a job offer to become the new Program Director of CKOM in Saskatoon.
So there I was about six months after Candis' birth, loading my baby girl, her mother and a few essential items into the car for our long cold drive to Saskatoon for the beginning our new future.
Taking the PD's job at CKOM was a excellent career opportunity for me. But I have to admit it was also very scary. We were leaving family, friends, and our hometown for the complete unknown.
I sure wasn't very popular guy with either of the two sets of Grandparents while making this career move. I was taking away their first grandchild, the one they all had been waiting a long time for.
I knew any small hopes I may have had about becoming son of the year, son in law of the year, husband of the year, or father of the year were definitely out the window with this new adventure of mine and what a long adventure it turned out to be.
The scariest thing about this first move was, I really wasn't sure what the day to day details of being a Program Director's were or even what they really did.
The only PD's I had ever known were Jimmy Darin my first, and for a short while his successor, Bill Grogan.
Bill and Jim each ran things a lot differently, and seeing as I had no way yet, I thought the best thing I could do would be to try and emulate Jim's style
The way Jim did it seemed to produce a bunch of wins for the station, not to mention we sure had a bunch of fun too as we were doing it.
Oh and did I mention that because we were having so much fun a few of us worked more hours than we ever got paid for.
Come to think of it I still work a couple of projects for Jim even now, and I still work more hours than I get paid for. How does he do it. (-:
The real truth to it was back then it was a lot more fun to hang out at the station than any place, so that's what we did. I wonder how many radio stations today have a bunch of radio types hanging around, long after their shift is over.
When I got my my first PD shot I decided that was the kind of work environment I would try to create.
When I worked for Jim as a pup, It didn't take me very long to figure out that he spent most of his time thinking about how to get more people to listen to the radio.
He always did big promotions and those promotions always caused talk. He also always had very colorful characters on the air. That all got so ingrained in me that to this day I cant think of a better way of doing it
Of course more people listening to the radio resulted in more ratings. More ratings led to fancy cars, fancy clothes, and big homes, Jim has always had more than his fair share of all that, and I sure needed me some.
My short term goal was to figure out how to get ratings as quickly as possible. I needed ratings quickly in order to achieve my long term goal, which was to get a job offer to return home to Winnipeg as a Program Director and live happily ever after.
But of course deep down what I really lusted after was to become the Program Director back at CKY, the station where making records and making radio had all started for me.
When I was growing up I always spent a lot of time just dreaming about becoming somebody. Trying to be somebody probably was the driving force behind a lot of things I did.
I played most sports and was pretty decent at them, but I wasn't very big, so I turned to music and started a band.
The band thing was very very exciting, there is nothing that feels like the feeling you get when your on stage performing. During my youth I spent most of my waking hours just wondering about stardom and how really good that must feel.
One of my fondest memories is Rolly (Termite) and me, plus a few of the other band members toasting each other and shouting ... "Lets get drunk and be somebody" as we downed our CC and Cokes and headed back to the stage for another set.
But eventually as fun as it was the band thing started to stall, and to make things worse I really didn't feel like I was anybody yet. Besides that, doing the band thing wasn't even coming close to satisfying all the pent up drive left in me.
So I had turned to radio, I figured if I ever was good enough to become the Program Director of CKY in Winnipeg, then I would definitely be somebody. Right ???
How was I to know as we drove through that frigid prairie night towards the future that we would never live in Winnipeg again. Hello Saskatoon, hello new beginning.
January 26 When my Daughter Candis turned five all I wanted to become was the man she already thought I was. When about 25 years later my Daughter Cami turned five I realized I still had some more work to do. My Brother Reg told me this week that I'm still much better at being inspirational than I am at being an A** Hole. He said he has met a bunch of them in his travels and most of them were a lot better at it than me. Damn! And I thought I was getting pretty good at it. There is a simple way of achieving happiness ... Just simply say what you mean, and mean what you say. Hey that ain't that simple! How long do you think the FCC is going to tolerate the nationalization of local radio. When I was discussing with Marnie Howard what I thought she should do with her great book "Giving Is Living" she said ... Your just fearless aren't you! I'm not sure she meant that in a good way. Robert Murphy told me that when he had a job interview in Dallas, to do mornings, he turned on the #1 Morning guy, Ron Chapman to hear how tough he would be to beat. Ron at that moment was taking a call from a woman who said she was calling from Arlington. When Ron asked her whereabouts in Arlington she told him and he said ... Oh your almost across the street from that old Texaco station they're tearing down. Robert said he was outta there, he couldn't possibly love the Dallas area as much as Chapman. Speaking of Ron Chapman, I can hardly wait to be sitting at his table in Vegas in April when the NAB inducts him in to the Radio Hall OF Fame. My main role in this affair is of course to carry his bags and park the car for Nance and him just like I have always done. There is nothing more powerful than a song, it just kinda sneaks up on you and changes your life. I only trust the people who love me. Boy that list sure could stand to be just tad longer. Shouldn't there be a little trainin' on what to do if you fall in love. It's the best and worst thing that will ever happen to you. I'm really lovin' the word yes lately and maybe that's only because I finally heard it a couple of times last week. As foreign sounding as it was, it still had a nice warm glow to it, just like I remembered. Canada is very proud of being a unprejudiced Nation. But when you hear the English speaking population talking about the French and vice versus not to mention how they both speak about the Indians, ya just gotta wonder where they came up with all that pride. Disneyland/World is just a bunch of roller coaster rides like any other park, but their image sure ain't. Hmmmmmmmmm Unfortunately it seems you don't accumulate wealth by being very nice. I wonder what's worse, being married to someone you don't love or being married to somebody who doesn't love you. After all these years, hearing my record with my band The Jury on the radio for the first time still ranks right up there as one of my all time favorite breathless moments. Joe Amaturo loves the word specificity but by the time you even learn how to say it ... It's already too late to live by it. There has got to be a good reason why there are not more statues dedicated to or honoring Mr. businessman. Jerry Del Colliano says that when Steve Jobs brings down his Tablet to us it will have access to virtually everything on it but Terrestrial Radio. If you can figure out how to get your listeners to listen to your station for an extra day a week, you'll blow the ratings apart. My daughter Candis asked me the other day if I won the lottery what would I do. I replied ... Remodel my Florida Condo, maybe by a little place in California for the summer and I guess a new car. She said no, what would you do work wise. I told her I wouldn't change a thing because right now I only work at what I want to work at, and and I only do it when I want to do it. Why would I want to change any of that. Back in the fifties, young adults had money for the first time in history and became a commodity called teens. They instantly invented Elvis, I wonder what they are inventing right now? I've noticed that your taste in women doesn't seem to evolve much as time goes on. When I was 15, twenty year old women sure looked great to me and they still do. I think radio folks at the moment are too busy working on things that have nothing to do with ratings to have any chance of getting any. I think all rock stars wish they had the charisma of movie stars and all movie stars wish they could sing like rock stars. I wonder what kind of people want to start a radio career these days. I only want women I cant have. The folks would rather listen to bad commercials than bad music. How could possibly not take it personally when you get fired? January 18
In part four of Buried Treasures I was wrote about how my hearing The Jury's first record on the air for the first time was a very special breathtaking moment for me, to put it mildly. I didn't think there ever could be another moment as strong again. But as usual I was wrong.
Being a member of The Jury as a kid was mostly just a lot of fun in our early days. Becoming a recording artist of course was an unbelievable experience, the stuff dreams are made of. But as I wrote before, I guess every up has to have it's down that's how Yin and Yang works
All that travel without any kind of serious money coming in, and none on the near horizon that I could see eventually took it's toll. Being a member of The Jury started becoming kinda frustrating for me.
At the same time the frustration was beginning to build, my part time day job at CKY on the other hand was becoming more and more fun.
I'm not sure if it was the fun or the curiosity about how radio worked that was turning me on but what ever it was I found myself spending a lot more time at the radio station and a lot less time with my guitar.
I had no idea back then that a couple of other things were already in motion and those other things were going to make the decision about what road I should take pretty easy to decide.
The first thing in a chain of events with my name on them happened shortly after Jimmy Darin ( Hilliard) left the radio station to head back to the States. Shortly there after Chuck Dann (Riley) also decided to leave, but before Chuck left he convinced management to give me his off air title. Chuck besides being an excellent on air talent was also Production Director of the station.
His claim to them was ... Seeing as I was doing all the production work anyway, I deserved the title. They agreed, and that was the beginning of the end for me and my band days.
Chuck later went on to become one of America's greatest voice over talents, so I think you could easily say that I really lucked out during my early impressionable radio years because without me even having the chops to know good from bad, it turns out I had been trained by the very best.
As I said goodbye to Chuck and thanked him for his vote I had no idea that in the not too distant future we would work together once again. Only the next time I would be his boss. I write that part with a smile on my face, because I doubt if anybody could really ever be Chuck's boss. What colorful character !
But the radio gods weren't done yet, wouldn't you know it but only a couple of months after Chuck's departure, another event occurred that really sped up all the big changes that were about happen to me.
It was sorta like the stars were all aligning with the next one, Daryl "B" ( Burlingham ) decided it was time for him to move on to a larger market so he resigned from CKY to accept a new on air position at CFUN in Vancouver, and went to work for the legendary Red Robinson.
Before Daryl left, he like Chuck also gave me with a wonderful going away gift, Daryl convinced the brass that I should have his Music Director's title. My fate was now sealed.
Those two special gifts from a couple of very special guys set up a whole new world of opportunity for me and that world of opportunity showed up in the form of yet another "Moment"
The next "Moment" jumped started a whole new exciting life for me and my family that has yet to end. A whole new life that allowed us to live a way beyond any dreams we may have had. But much more on that a little later.
Daryl like Chuck, went on to bigger things such as Jockin' on CKLW the BIG 8 in Detroit, after he left Vancouver then on to Radio Mecca in Canada, Toronto. In Canada, if you haven't played Toronto you haven't played. Daryl played and he played well.
Sadly as I mentioned before, both Chuck and Daryl have passed. I still miss them both. But I still have all the great memories of all the laughs and all the good times we had together, so they both still live on for me.
When I became both Music and Production Director of CKY it turned a part time job into a job full time job, something had to give and it was about to give real soon.
Meanwhile at the same time I was being promoted at the station the band had decided we needed one last shot at the big time and the only way to do that was improve the quality of our recordings, so we booked a session at Kay Bank studios in Minneapolis.
These studios had already produced a few top 10 hits for some other big acts, so maybe it could do the same for us.
What we needed was to record something good enough to get us American release so maybe we could go onto national fame like our band mates, The Guess Who and Neil Young.
The session in Minneapolis produced what was to to be our final record. The session itself was miserable, we had decided to take the train down and as usual somehow when we got together we always drank. By the time we hit the studio we were very hung over and sounded like S**T. But when we heard the first play back through those giant speakers it perked us up and pretty soon out came "Please Forget Her b/w Who Dat" which went on to become our biggest record. In fact it even went on to become the #1 Canadian Record in Canada.
Someone just told me the that they just saw it up on E Bay the other day for well over a hundred bucks. Oh and yes we did get that American release, but alas still no call from Dick Clark, no national fame, just more traveling and feeling a whole lot older at a time when the crowd appeared to be getting a whole lot younger.
I'm not sure if anyone could even come close to imagining what a tumultuous time this was for me. I had just become the Music and Production of CKY in Winnipeg plus had the #1 Canadian record in Canada on the charts. Hey you would think that would be enough excitement for one guy wouldn't you.
But no! Look out now, here comes that other "Moment" I was writing about earlier. But this moment though was of the breathless moment variety, a moment that calls my bluff and forces me to decide whether I'm a musician, or a radio guy. My Daughter Candis was born.
The real funny thing about Candis' birth that we both still laugh about was, for the nine months her mother was carrying her I was positive she was carrying around my son. I had his whole life mapped out for him, and wanted to get started on it as soon as we could after his birth.
Can you imagine my total surprise when they presented to me one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life, my daughter. A daughter, are you kidding me ... What the hell do you do with them?
Years later at Candis' wedding I explained to the gathered guests that not only was I in complete shock after being presented with a brand new baby daughter, but even worse, I was without plans for her.
I told them she was a complete surprise to me then and she still is now. Candis who has done many exciting things in her life and made a father very proud many many times, now raises my Grandson Nathaniel. For Nathaniel I have a plan, it's an old and almost withered up plan, but it's a plan.
I love and live for breathless moments. I was told years later while studying with the Dean of Walt Disney University that life was really measured by them and if you don't have them you wont have many memories.
I just wonder how many do you suppose your allocated in a life time. I think I have had more than my fair share because another real big one showed up showed up about fourteen years ago, when my daughter Cami was born.
As I said I live for breathless moments but enough all ready with the daughters. I'm getting tired of them pushing me around, and putting me in my place.
The birth of my first daughter Candis woke me up big time. I wasn't much more than a kid, and barely able to take care of myself let alone a wife and a brand new baby girl. But I was starting to figure out that my raising a family and playing in a Rock & Roll band was just not coming together for me.
The strange thing that really forced my hand though was surprisingly, the success of our new record. We had also just gotten our American release which we were all very pumped about, but with that also came the pressure from the record company.
The record company wanted us to go on the road to expose the record to a whole new audience and see if we could make it a world wide hit which would get us the national fame we all had been craving.
I thought about this long and hard because I had spent a good portion of my life dreaming about this day. But deep down I knew I was not really a good enough musician to play myself home should the band break up on the road.
I had never dreamed about becoming a great guitar player, I just wanted to play a guitar on stage with a band and if I was lucky enough maybe bring a record out. Hey mission accomplished so I decided to walk away from it forever.
I must tell you, that first Saturday night at home in years was a weird weird feeling, which gave me great pause.
I guess I officially became a radio guy the day I hung up my "58 Strat". Yep I still have it and the funny thing is, I often think about if the radio business today was anything like that back then would I have still walked away.
Come to think of it there's nothing like the present, maybe I should just dig out the old Fender and put it in tune I could be Rockin' and Rollin' soon.(-: Hey c'mon, Burton, Randy, and Neil are still playing.
Although I had made my decision to be radio guy and was only a couple of months into my new full time radio gig, I was kinda getting buyers remorse. Most of my radio friends had left the station and without them radio seemed pretty boring. Just in the nick of time though wouldn't you know it, another "Moment" showed up.
One day when I walked into the on air studio to put a new album in the record bin, midday jock George Dawes was on the phone and I heard him say ... Thank you so much for the offer but I'm happy in Winnipeg and I want to stay here. When he hung up I said, hey "Doody" what was that all about. He told me that a station in Saskatoon that he had once worked at, was looking for a new PD, and they had offered him the job.
I said, wow I would love to be a PD. "Doody" then said he would call them back and tell them I was interested if I wanted him to. The next thing I knew I was on a plane to Saskatoon for a job interview.
I realized a long time ago that I got that interview mainly because of those two going away gifts I had received from Chuck and Daryl in the form of my two new radio titles.
I knew how to do Production and I knew a little about music, but I knew very little about being a Program Director. When Jimmy Darin was my PD I just carried out the tasks he needed done, but I wasn't sure what he did and I wished I had paid more attention. The thing I remembered most about Jim was he was a very inspirational guy and the work environment he provided at the station was total fun. I knew for sure that was something I was going to try and bring to my first PD gig.
Luckily I guess, I turned out to be a quick study for the rest of it because becoming the Program Director of CKOM in Saskatoon soon turned my career into a rocket ship.
Getting into programming "full time boogie" I was consumed by radio and never thought much about my band days. But when that new CD showed up with the seven Jury cuts on it a new sense of pride swelled up inside of me as I listened to it, and once again I was very proud of being a member of The Jury
I totally understand what Sir Paul McCartney meant when he recently said, that he is more amazed now by once being a Beatle, than he ever was while he was one.
I have come full circle on this whole issue. I had spent most of my teenage years in high school writing songs and day dreaming about becoming a rock star, instead of learning much and my grades showed it.
I was sure when you had records out the world would become your oyster. I couldn't figure out what school and being a Rock Star had in common with each other, but after years and years of practicing and playing I woke up one day and said, this sure isn't what I was dreamin' about. So I put all my energy into radio and forgot about the band
But now as I drove along listening to the new CD, "Buried Treasures" I cant help but wonder how many of the people driving beside me are listening to a new CD with seven of their tunes on it.
The Condo complex I live in must have at least thousand folks living in it in, how many of them do you suppose ever had a record out.
Once having a record out is now a special thing with me again after all these years. My daughter Candis who lives in the record star land of LA says she never runs into anybody that ever had a record out.
But now I'm so over the top about it all, that I'm converting one of the rooms in my condo in West Palm Beach into a music room. I have framed all my old 45's and I'm in the midst of hanging them, along with a bunch of pictures and memorabilia I still have. Can you say obsessive.
Hell If nothing else I figure doing this will give the folks from up north something to stare at while they are visiting when the snow flies in the Motherland. They may cut short their stay though when they figure out they have to hear the hours and hours of stories that go with all that stuff hanging there.
Here's to Chuck Dann,(Riley) Daryl "B", Mark Parr and Jimmy Darin,(Hilliard) four great Winnipeg Dee Jays who all went on to bigger and better things and left me behind with some very high standards to live up to. But they were also kind enough to leave behind some great left overs, big left overs that I soon used to jump start a great life for a kid from Transcona.
I had no idea that as good as I thought I had it back then that I was really only in Kindergarten. As time started picking up speed, It turned out that Jimmy Darin who had done so much for me in my early days by giving me enough rope to succeed or hang myself, hadn't really even started with me yet. Turns out he had a lot more rope waiting waiting for me.
I'll need a few adult beverages before I can get in to all of that though.
January 13 Radio for me is merely the soundtrack of life or maybe better put ... "Should be the sound track of life".
Do we have the name of the person who first came up with " Politically Correct." Do we also have the correct addresses of his or her family members ?
Men are into what "IT" is, Women are into why "IT" is.
It is said for every hour you exercise, you live two hours longer.
Everybody is for or against everything until it affects someone you love.
As the poor people of the world starting numbering into the many millions was it just sheer luck for all The Kings and the rest of the rich folks of the era that the "Ten Commandments" conveniently showed up in the nick of time.
While living in Florida it is easy to spot the snowbirds, they are the ones driving around with the top down as the rest of us occasionally have to bundle up in sweaters and jackets.
Doing music for a radio station is pretty simple ... Just play more of the music folks like and less of the music they don't like. Now what should go in between the tunes. Well therein lies the problem grasshopper.
It's not about the athlete it's about the game, it's not about the actor it's about the play, it's not about the artist it's about the painting, it's not about the musician it's about the music. But there is always the exception isn't there. It is about Tiger and not about golf.
There are a bunch of radio stations in America who have achieved the lofty position of "Good Enough" The problem in beating them is even though your station may sound better and even be more exciting, their listeners are not really dialing around to find anything else.
Bruce Munson told me he wants the new Miranda Rights to go as follows ... You have the right to remain silent for 15 seconds when the 15 seconds are up certain parts of your body will begin to hurt and will continue to hurt you until you tell us everything you know.
Hey once in a blue moon finally happened and it happened on New Years Eve.
Scott Shannon told me that a lot of Dee Jays need lessons on how to be appreciative and thankful for the generous people who mentored us in our strange business.
The economy is still not bad enough for the service to get any better.
If the pursuit of happiness is happiness then the pursuit of profit must be profit. Wait a minute that doesn't make any sense, I'm going to have to rethink this whole thing.
I'm a very focused individual but you put a beautiful smart woman between me and the project and I know I'm soon saying ... What project ???
Ron Below said that a great advertising slogan for an airline would be " We Profile"
John Picano wanted to know who my favorite talents were that I had coached. Hmmmmmm!
Well in no particular order here goes, Delilah, Jeff & Jer, Ron Chapman, Loren & Wally, Jim Harper, Cris Conner, Chuck Riley, Brent Farris, Bill Gardner, Cat Simon, Don Bleu, Buster Bodine, Russ Morley, Don Wright, Robert Murphy, and Jo Myers
would round out my top 15, with a bunch more to be named later, bubbling under.
From Canada it would go Gary Russell, Woody Cooper, Sandy Hoyt, Rick Moranis, Ken Singer, Keith Elshaw, Roger Klein, General Grant, The Magic Christian and Doc Harris who are all in my top 10.
When you have talent it gives you an opportunity to create your image, from that image comes your popularity.
Women tend to forgive but they never forget, men tend to never forgive.
Kurt Johnson said 90% of the traffic information on radio is irrelevant to 99% of the people listening.
Tim Moore said, before you can solve a problem you first have to figure out if it's a Puzzle or a Mystery.
Fear is a great motivator but the problem is I feel unmotivated because I'm not afraid of much anymore.
I've always felt that I was one of the best, but at what has always alluded me.
Only the government can be politically correct because they are playing with house money (ours) For the rest of us it means sanctioning incompetence, which leads only to bankruptcy.
I just heard from Joasia Holotka ( Jo Jo ) who tracked me down by e mail. We've lost touch with each other for about a decade. When I asked her if she was still beautiful she sent me this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me5WFYWzkzI&feature=email
I'm much smarter on an e mail than I am on the phone.
When the then owner asked the then GM Ivan Braiker why he couldn't get his station to sound like WRMF, Ivan relied ... Because it's what George doesn't do on WRMF that makes it sound the way it does.
December 30 In Buried Treasures part three I was writing about The Jury recording our first tune "Until You Do" the details of which came back so vividly to me as I was driving up I 95 in South Florida listening to a brand new CD called Buried Treasures which just happened to have seven of our old hits on it.
As I was driving down the road, listening and humming along to all those old tunes of ours, it sorta put me in a trance and forced me to kinda reflect on all of the good times we had together as a band. But as they say, the good comes with the bad, so unfortunately I still remember the bad times and all the disappointments too.
All bands I think go through a lot of bad stuff, you know the long drives to the gigs, the long nights playing for four hours, the hangovers, the band fights, the not getting paid, and the real bad part that breaks most bands up ... Running out of topics to talk about while talking to people who only have the music in common.
I could handle all the bad stuff OK but it was the big disappointment of Dick Clark not calling to put us on Bandstand that brought me to my knees and ultimately ended my band days.
Hey that's how I heard it was supposed to be when you had records out. You know the limos, fine women, fine wine, fame, movie deals, and lots and lots of spending cash. Hey I always heard all this stuff kinda just showed up right after your first appearance on American Bandstand.
Dick never called man, so I think I'm outta here! But having a record out did provide me with one of the greatest moments of my life
But I think I'm getting ahead of myself here because first I want to tell you about how I accidentally stumbled into radio and I'll get back to "The Moment" part later.
When "Until You Do" was released I thought my future and what I was destined to do had finally showed up. Later, much to my surprise I discovered I wasn't even halfway to what was to become my destiny. Music was going to be my life alright, but just not this way.
Don't get me wrong I was very lucky and privileged to become a recording artist. Being in a band though led to something that turned out to be much more important in my life. Being a musician had put me in touch with the four four guys who would introduce me to what I was always intended to do.
The Jury was just part of my journey and it taught me things that I would need much later down the road a piece.
Two of the four guys who are responsible for my life as it is unfortunately are no longer with us. I just hope I was smart enough to have communicated to Chuck Dann (Riley) and Daryl B. (Burlingham) how generous they were back then for giving the band a shot at our dreams.
Daryl and Chuck were the ones that recorded our first record and you would think that would be enough but they weren't done with me yet.
Another special person of the four who figured so prominently in my life was Mark Parr. Mark was another one of the great Jocks at CKY I hung out with quite a bit. We did a little after hours drinking now and then and I thoroughly enjoyed watching how he charmed all the ladies. In fact Mark would have given Tiger a run for his money back then and maybe even still today.
One day when I went up to the station to see what plans Mark had for after his show, he talked me into trying a little board work just for grins. For some reason even though it all looked very complicated, I picked it up fairly quickly. Pretty soon Mark was bugging everyone in command at the station that CKY needed to hire me part time to help out.
Unbelievably Mark got it done. I vividly remember thinking at the time ... Hey this is just fun and now Mark you say they're actually going to pay me. You've got to be sh**ing me.
The way I figured it was until you get famous every band guy needs a day job. My day job was the best I couldn't believe my lucking out like this. The rest of the band had jobs that seemed very boring to me, I had the exciting one.
What I never even suspected was, I was working part time at something I was destined to do for the rest of my life. I thought I was a musician but It turned out I was a much better radio guy. I just didn't know it yet.
I was assigned everyday to fill in at noon on CKY FM as a board for the full time went for lunch. I got to spin beautiful music discs in stereo for an hour, back when FM wasn't cool.
The rest of my work time was spent hanging out and learning from the earlier mentioned Chuck Dann who was the Production Director. Chuck ended up shortly there after returning to America as Chuck Riley, and soon became one of the world's best voice over guys. Chuck who had taught me most of his production tricks before he left, also recommended that I replace him as the Production Director when he left the station.
Daryl B. by this time was almost a member of the The Jury he by now MC'd most of our gigs and even joined us on stage to compete with me on who could scream the loudest. I'm thinkin' now, that couldn't have been too good for his voice, I know because mine is still shot from it.
Daryl much too soon went on to bigger things in Vancouver and Toronto, but before he left he was kind enough to recommend me for the Music Director's position.
Those two moves, Chuck recommending me for the Production Director's job and Daryl also getting me the Music Director's job had sealed my fate and jump started my brand new career, long before I even knew I had one.
A side bar about Daryl here is Randy Bachman told me a few years ago that he used to listen to Daryl on the air and heard him say all the time ... This is Daryl B. "Takin' Care Of Business". Randy claimed the phrase just stuck in his head for years and one day just popped out one day as a world wide hit.
When I began working at the CKY I sorta just hung out after my short shift was over, just trying to learn the radio ropes while I waited for Dick Clark to call me with the date he needed The Jury to appear on Bandstand.
Learning all about radio was fun for me and I was very very curious about all the programming aspects and why they did everything they did. After all I had nothing else to do while I waited for Dick's call. He definitely turned out to be a Dick and not a Richard in my life.
Jimmy Darin who was the Program Director of CKY and my boss, turned out to be the fourth and probably the most influential member of that special team of four who completely changed my life.
Jim used to say to me all the time ... Hey squirrel can you do this project for me or that one over there and when your done with that do you know how to do this.
Jim was a real different kind of boss for me, It was the first time in my life that I worked at a place where you called your boss Jim, instead of Mr. Darin.
I of course told Jim that I could do all his projects and more bring 'em on. Then I would run around the station looking for someone who could teach me how to do it.
I remember one day being invited to the Jock meeting, which for me was a very rare privilege as I was the only board op to do so. At this meeting Jim was explaining some new twist to the format and at the end he asked if there were any questions. Like a fool I put up my hand and he kinda glared at me and asked what my question was. I told him I didn't think his new twist to the format was going to work because me and my friends wouldn't listen to stuff like that.
He told me that my job at these meetings is too shut up and just listen. he still says that to me to this day as we work on a couple of projects together.
Jimmy Darin of course was Jim Hilliard and still one of my best friends even to this day. When Jim left CKY to return to America we stayed in touch. In fact when he was making history at WFIL in Philly, he tried to hire me to board op the promos because he liked the little twists I gave them. I had a knack of making them all sound like movie trailers and he wanted that sound on The Famous 56.
But just popping across the border wasn't going to happen but it did start the necessary paper work Jim and I would need a little later. By the time Jim called again I was full tilt boogie into my radio career and by this time was the Station Manager of CFTR in Toronto. Jim called to say, it's time for you to stop fooling around in Canada. You need to get down here and take America on, boy!
Jim by this time after blowing apart Philadelphia was back in Indianapolis and was running Fairbanks Communications with a piece of the rock which was unheard of in those days.
Jim was busily buying up new stations as the new CEO and he was trying to run them all by himself. He said he needed me as his National PD because he had just bought a station in Dallas called KVIL and he was out of time.
Now just like when I was cutting my first record and got no premonition that my life was about to change nothing showed up when I heard the call letters KVIL for the first time. No chills, no wind chimes, no nothing to warn me that those now famous call letters were going to change my life again for the third time.
Four guys, Mark, Daryl, Chuck and Jim were instrumental in making come true everything I had ever dreamed about. As a kid I desperately wanted to be somebody when I grew up. It took all four of them to make that dream even possible.
I have just recently reconnected with Mark, but as I mentioned sadly both Chuck and Daryl are gone. I still do as I mentioned do a couple of projects with Jim but mostly we just kinda hang out and laugh a lot just like we did when we first met.
But I do have to confess that I have noticed lately that he is starting to get a little grumpy. Maybe that's just because he is so much older than me.
Another strange side bar to all of this radio stuff is ... The Jury's original singer Donny Burns also ended up in radio as a Dee Jay and big voice over guy in Toronto. J Robert Wood who booked a lot of our appearances went on to become a legendary Radio Programmer in Canada. Even Randy Bachman who played a couple of gigs with us when we were Phantoms now does a National Radio show himself on the CBC in Canada. Terry Kenny our lead guitar player became a Radio and TV engineer when his guitar pickin' days were done.
Radio it seems trapped a lot of we unsuspecting lads from Winnipeg in its sticky web.
Before getting hooked on radio I remember thinking that when you signed a record deal your moment in the sun had arrived. But I soon found out that wasn't true when yet another disappointment showed up as Chuck and Daryl explained the bad news to me. They told me other than bragging rights nothing was going to happen with the band until you get your record played on the radio. How do I get that done I innocently asked. You've got to figure out how to get Jimmy Darin to add it to the station's play list was their reply.
Well I guess I would try to figure out how to deal with all of that getting a record played type stuff come Monday when I got back from a weekend gig in Brandon Manitoba.
Once again how was I to know one of the greatest thrills of my life "The Moment" was about to happen. That moment is something very few people have ever experienced
I still remember it being a beautiful sunshine filled afternoon with nothing but a blue Manitoba sky above us as we driving out of town listening to Jimmy Darin playin' the hits. All of a sudden we hear Jimmy Darin say ... Here's the KY Instant Discovery "Until You Do" by The Jury, turn it up Winnipeg !
He didn't need to tell us to turn it up because we almost blew the speakers out as we sang along at the top of our lungs with the first ever playing of our first record. Even though many breath taking moments have occurred in my life that will always be one of the best.
I need not conjure up that unbelievable moment any more because good friend Chuck McCoy another Winnipeg boy who made good and is the V/P of all things Rogers in Canada not too long ago found the air check of that special moment in the archives of CKY when his company bought the station.
Chuck was kind enough to burn it to CD and send it to me. How precious do you suppose that is to me.
Ahhh gotta stop now because my favorite thing to do has showed up again, another radio meeting (-: But I will tell you this, the moment anybody agrees about anything I'm outta there before they talk themselves out of doing the right thing.
When I get out of the radio meeting I think I'm going to write about how recently I finally understand what Sir Paul meant when in a recent quote he said ... The Beatles are much bigger to me now than they ever were when I was a Beatle. And also how I used the two gifts I received from Chuck and Daryl to propel my radio career along at warp speed, as the Buried Treasures saga continues.
December 22, 2009 Brent Farris told me that radio used to be a part of Showbiz but when they pulled the Show & The Biz apart the magic escaped.
Have you ever noticed that kids are just mildly amused by magical tricks. That's because they believe in magic, we don't so we are totally amazed wondering how he did it.
My Daughter Candis said to me, the new catch phrase should be " If you don't fix it ... It's going to break."
Robin Garrett said the only talk she ever hears about President Obama, is just on talk radio
I was taught early in my radio career that the only two things that mean anything are Ratings & Revenue. Either I was lied to, or the guys at the top are definitely over paying themselves.
It takes a little talent to recognize talent.
My brother Reg and I were talking about the fact that radio sales people never seem to realize when they are trying to get a sales promotion on the air that it is never been about who pays our salaries or whether or not the station needs the money or not that gets our attention.
With programing people it's only about the image the promotion comes with good or bad.
Warren Cosford wrote ... There doesn't seem to be any room for mavericks in radio anymore.
What would you ever TiVo on radio even if you could.
When did free air go up to 75 cents ?
Well it looks like Obama is just like his predecessor, afraid of big business. They are all still doing whatever they want, whenever they want to, just like they all were doing when the economy nose dived. I can hardly wait to hear as usual, how it's entirely our fault.
I was just reading that Nielsen did a study with adults in America and found out of all the audio they heard 50% of it was to radio and 8% to Satellite radio. What I can't figure out is why the NAB spent so much money fighting the Satellite merger.
If they need a project why don't they spend it on trying to get car manufacturers to install regular antennas on cars rather than the hidden in the windshield type.
Have you heard how good radio sounds on a real antenna lately?
Did you ever wonder why so many recording artists moved to Canada in the early days of Rock&Roll, believe me it sure wasn't for tax purposes.
But the flight over the border all seemed to happen right after Jimmy Rogers was mysteriously beat up and hurt real bad.
The only thing besides the music these transplanted Americans had in common was, they all happened to record for the same label.
In Canada where the citizens pride themselves on being an independent nation.
But the Canadian Government of course just about copies everything America does, while speaking out against said same.
Canada like America also decided to go consolidation, even though most radio stations in Canada were making money. In fact it was said you had to try real hard not to.
The result of Canada's consolidation move is the same as the US, layoffs 900 at a time.
Now the CRTC (FCC) for some reason is beginning to grant a bunch of brand new licenses.
I can only think that the reason for that must be so all the unemployed radio people will have more choices to listen too as they sit at home with nothing but time on their hands.
What men want most from women is unconditional adoration or they might just have to wander off to find it. Ask Tiger.
Jeff Katz told me that he is so fed up with taxes that he is going to take up bunch of Floridians with him to Washington to do a Boston Tea Party Reunion.
For the last little while the wholesale price of gas has been going down but the pump price has been pretty stable. But now I've noticed the wholesale price is headed back up. They aren't going to raise the pump price are they? They wouldn't cheat us would they? Huh, the pump price is already up!
During my life I have known a few married guys who get hit on by women all the time, if they give in to temptation I would call that 2nd degree cheating as opposed to married guys who hit on women. That in my opinion would be called 1st degree cheating, and should be dealt with accordingly.
How long do think Arbitron can withstand pressure from the government to fudge the ratings for Urban and Hispanic radio stations. What do you mean check Chicago ?
I just got an e mail from Scott Shannon in New York after reading my piece "Buried Treasures." Scott said ... I know Neil Young, The Guess Who, and The BTO Boys and I also know that they like you are from that same God forsaken city in Canada, but I never heard of The Jury. How did I miss them ?
Russ Morley e mailed me that he thought bad decisions made good stories. This man knows of what he speaks.
Ron Chapman wrote ... There's not much radio left in which to practice our craft, but as the Trail Boss said in " City Slickers"; 'The Day aint' Over Yet'.
America is frightened and the more frightened it gets the more it will seek returning to the familiar womb.
Jo Myers was walking her small dog recently in Chicago when it was suddenly attacked by a St Bernard. Jo successfully wrestled the huge dog off of her little dog but was cited by the police because in doing so she had to drop the leash to save her dog's life. Don't you just love America.
Billing always follows the ratings but ratings seldom if at all, ever follow the billing.
Unfortunately women don't go to bars where men hang out but the reverse is certainly true.
Often an E mail is really only for someone who is on the CC list.
I think 50 year old women like what 40 year old women like, but I don't think the reverse is true.
I over heard Nance Chapman say to Tom Skinner with a soft Southern drawl ... Tom would you rather marry a woman who had 20 lovers in 20 years or a woman who had 1 lover in 20 years. Tom said, I would rather marry the one who only had one lover. Nance responded with ... See that's the real difference between men and woman.
It seems to me that the thing most women want in their life is choices. But my experience has been when they finally get all the choices, they seldom choose.
Scott Carpenter said ... For every dollar of income an personality makes, he pays $10.00 in Alimony.
December 15, 2009 The reason I started writing Buried Treasures in the first place was because when I was visiting a client radio station in South Florida, WFTL I had gotten a phone call from Shawn Nagey, who was calling to tell me he was putting a reunion concert together in Winnipeg with a bunch of the bands from the 60's and 70's. He was calling to ask if I would consider reuniting The Jury for the event. I had done one earlier with Neil Young, The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Over Drive in 1987, but as I told Shaun, as fun as all that was, that was it for me.
I had left my band The Jury shortly after my daughter Candis was born even though we had the #1 Canadian record on the Canadian charts. In fact it was just listed on E Bay the other day for a hundred bucks.
At the time of my leaving the group I was just beginning my radio career, and because it took off so quickly it took up most of my waking hours, so other than my brief appearance at the '87 group reunion, I hadn't given a lot thought to my old band days.
Even my daughter Candis mentioned to me that she really loves reading all this stuff about my band because it's all new to her. When she was growing up she only knew me as Dad, the radio guy. Of course she knew I once had a band and all but she had never heard me talk about it much.
Candis also told me that she was very proud of the fact that her Dad once had records on the charts before she was born. The whole thing was a very big deal to her
Candis' much younger sister Cami on the other hand has a much different opinion. Cami questions the reason we would even bother to record such lame sounding music. She's deathly afraid her friends might hear it and she will be banned from the 8th grade forever not to mention her embarrassment about it all..
When I returned again to WFTL again a couple of weeks later, the receptionist informed me that this time a CD had arrived in the mail for me. I thought it a little odd someone would send a music CD to WFTL which is a news and talk station. But OK it was free so what the heck.
The CD turned out to be an oldies album called "Buried Treasures" and as I flipped it over to see if some old favorites of mine were on it, just try to imagine my surprise when I discovered, lo and behold there were seven cuts by The Jury listed there. Wow how cool was that. I wonder what The Jury sound like in digital after all this time.
There was only one way to find out if this old Jury stuff was even listenable anymore, but I was going to do it in private. I quickly headed out the door and jumped into my car, dropped the top and pulled out of the station's driveway on my way to I 95 for the fairly long drive north to my home in West Palm Beach.
As I whipped along the interstate I shoved the CD into the player and turned it way up because I thought if might be a little noisy with the top down on the old Benz. But that might be a good thing, if The Jury sucked on this CD.
Not to worry though about the noise. The wind and traffic sounds were no match for Terry's unique sounding guitar opening for "Until You Do" as it cut through the speakers just as well as it had through those giant speakers in the studio where we had first cut it, those many years before.
When Bruce's voice hit my speakers I suddenly felt like I was being transported back in time. Magically there I was with the rest of The Jury being led down a dimly lit hallway of a radio station by two of radio's greats Chuck Dann (Riley) and Daryl B. (Burlingham)
Chuck and Daryl were two Dee Jays back then on one of Winnipeg's most popular radio stations, CKY which interestingly enough was located on what was reportably to be the coldest street corner in Canada, Portage and Main. But yet others claim it's actually the coldest street corner anywhere on the planet earth.
Even now as I think about all that transpired that night of all nights I wonder why as Chuck and Daryl led us to the studio on that cold December night I didn't get some kind of a premonition of all the things to come. I know now that before that night was done, my life was never ever the same again.
I like you, have seen all those movies where the main character always looks around, surprised by something he thought he heard, an eerie sound or maybe he just felt a sudden chill come over him as his life was about to change big time.
But those things just happen in the movies I guess, and this was real life. But come to think of it my life sure seems to resemble some kind of movie.
The whole reason we were walking down that hallway on that very frigid night was because The Jury desperately needed some kind of demo we could use to send out to concert promoters and such. We were even kinda hoping that if it turned out near good enough maybe we could also use it to get a record company interested in us.
But we all knew the odds of that were pretty slim because we were in a little bit of a bind at the moment. Our long time singer Donny Burns had recently skipped town to cut a novelty Christmas record on his own in Toronto called " Cool Yule."
I remember being really bummed out about it all because not only did we have this session booked, but we still had a bunch of dance commitments left to do with local concert and dance promoter J Robert Wood.
What with Donny's disappearing act, all we had left to record were a few original instrumentals which really wouldn't show us off as well as I would have liked, but they would have to do because I in no way was going to cancel this session after Chuck and Daryl were nice enough to arrange it for us.
Luckily for the group Terry Kenny our lead guitar player had recently recruited Bruce Walker the singer from his old band, The Chord U Roys to join us. But unfortunately we were still many rehearsals away from him helping us finish up all our dance dates let alone help us tonight. Bruce came along anyway just to kinda hang out with all of us.
I can still see in my minds eye the studio as it looked back then as we entered it through this huge sound proof door that closed with a soft swoosh like thud. To me it felt like we had just entered the cone of silence.
I can still see the once white acoustic tile on all the walls, kinda yellowing probably from the hundreds of cigarettes that had been smoked in there when all kinds of different bands had performed live on the radio from here, so many years before. Some of the old tiles over time had fallen off and were just stacked over in the corner waiting for someone to reattach them.
In the opposite corner were some neat old music stands just kind of pushed together and out of the way. Right In the middle of the studio was this huge black grand piano that seemed to be begging to be played again like it always was, back when it was still popular to have live bands on the radio. I couldn't resist so I pounded out a couple of bars of some old Jerry Lee Lewis tune on it.
Even the unsightly cigarette burns on the studio furniture looked like they belonged as I stood there breathing in the moment. Even now I can still smell the old cigarettes mixed together with the the not so good aroma of stale rancid beer and lord knows what ever else that was hanging in the air.
As I waited for are session to begin I wondered what tales this studio could tell us about all the musicians and singers that had performed here. Was The Jury destined to become another one of it's many many stories of the famous and not so famous who had all played here hoping something special was going to happen.
I knew for sure of one special person who had played here when he was a kid. He was playing for his Mom and Dad's band when they all played live on the radio every Saturday morning. He called himself Hal Lonepine Jr. back then, but it wasn't long before he was known to the music world as Lenny Breau, one of world's greatest guitar players ever.
On the nights we got to play in town we used to go to the all night Jazz clubs where Lenny was playing after our gig. We would just sit there and watch in awe as Lenny played.
I think even Randy Bachman who at one time was lucky enough to get private guitar lessons from him, would probably agree that with out Rock& Roll Lenny probably would have been the only one playing anywhere and the rest of us would have been s**t out of luck.
They say hind sight is 20-20 and I now remember the moment my whole life was about to change. I just sitting there with Terry tuning our guitars while the rest of the guys were setting up the rest of the band gear and helping Chuck and Daryl place all the mics where they needed to be.
That special moment occurred with out any fan fare as Bruce approached Terry and me saying that he was working on a new song. He asked us if we could help him with it because if we finished it up in time, he thought maybe it could tagged on to the end of the session and give our demo tape a little variety.
Terry and I jumped in with couple of words here and there that sorta rhymed plus worked out a few of the chords and added some guitar parts.
At some point the rest of the band drifted over to see what was going on and they too were soon adding their own creativity to our on the spot creation.
As we shaped the tune we started getting a little excited because the more little things we added to the song, the more English it started sounding. The British invasion was in full force by then, and we like all the bands in Winnipeg were trying to capture that great new sound that was sweeping the world as quickly as we could.
Earlier when Donny Burns was our singer, he sounded just like Elvis, that Elvis sound had served us well for a good many years but as Dylan had aptly put it, "The times they was a changin'."
With Bruce in the band now we knew we had a pretty good shot at sounding a whole lot more like today and sounding today meant sounding a lot more English.
Not only after this session did our sound change but so did our look. It wasn't very long until we started looking very English. I have to laugh even now as I remember Rolly Blaquiere our Bass player having to comb his hair back like Elvis each morning when he went back to his day job at the CNR shops.
At the shops and all over Transcona the worst thing that could ever happen to you was being called was a phony. Being a phony was the biggest crime you could commit in our town even though we had more than our fair share of gangsters living in it.
To all the blue collar union types in the shops all the Brits just looked like phony girls. So for Rolly, Elvis it was.
Finally our recording session got underway and it went fairly smoothly as we struggled a bit learning how to be a recording band as well as a performing band. We had our instrumentals down pretty tight after playing them so often at gigs, so we layed them down rather quickly.
Now the moment we were all waiting for, it was time to get on with Bruce's new vocal. We were all quite anxious to get started on it because we felt we had something a little special going on with it. But we needed to hear if it sounded as special as we thought it did once we got it on tape.
The first thing we did was lay down the instrumental backing together with Bruce's vocal all mixed together at the same level. This little technique enabled us to keep our guitars loud and very thick sounding, it moved them right up in front of the speakers. On the next take Bruce simply sang along with himself which just popped his voice right out there, without us having to turn the music track down.
After only a few takes we were done there was nothing more we could do to it to make it better. The time had come to join Chuck and Daryl in the control room and hear what we had. As the final mix of "Until You Do" played through those giant speakers we all looked at each other and smiled. With the sound of disbelief in our voices we said ... Are we just tired, or does this sound pretty damn good. Not only did it sound pretty damn good, it also sounded very very British.
Even later when our drummer Ray Stockwell bumped into Gary Peterson of The Guess Who, Gary told him when he first heard our song on the radio he thought it was a new one by The Beatles. But I'm getting a way ahead of myself here, more on how "Until You Do" got on the radio comes later on that.
Back in the control room we listened to the master several more times and I thought the repeat playing of it, just made it sound all the much better. The real burning question of the day though was what do we do with it now.
Chuck and Daryl suggested that we needed to play it for Jimmy Darin. (Jim Hilliard) They claimed that If anybody knows what to do with this it will be him. Jim was CKY's Program Director and he picked what tunes got played on the station, so he should know.
Around noon the next day Chuck, Daryl and me meet Jim back in the same production room where we had cut our song.
I only knew Jim slightly then and only because he had MC'd a couple of our gigs. I still remember standing there just scared to death as Chuck threaded the tape onto the big old tape machine. Daryl turned the pot up real loud and hit the start button. A new day had dawned and I wondered as I nervously stood there, if our new tune from the night before could stand the light of the new day.
Terry's guitar intro suddenly blasted out of those huge speakers, then when I heard Bruce's voice start singing I got goose bumps. I couldn't believe it actually sounded much better today than it did yesterday. But it was over much too quickly for my liking because now good or bad it was time for me to hear Jim's opinion. There was only silence, which to me was much louder than the song.
Jim finally broke the silence by saying ... Hey there's a guy by the name of Hal Ross from London Records coming into see me late this afternoon. Hal is on some kind of a PR tour for his label and I'm thinkin' we should make him hear this tape before I let him buy me dinner. He then turned to me and said, George do you think you can hang out till then. Right, I was going somewhere!
A few hours later Hal showed up for his appointment with Jim and once Jim got off the air we took him right back to the production room and rolled the tape. "Until You Do" thundered through the speakers one more time. I still remember as the last chord fades away, Hal Ross saying ..." HELL I'LL RELEASE THAT". Wow and just like that we were London Recording Artists. I'm talkin' label mates with The Stones man! They'll probably want us to open for them when they hear.
Even today it is too hard to explain what hearing the words "Hell I'll Release That" meant to me, and just how exciting they were to hear.
Hal true to his word went on to give us a great record deal, you know the one where the record company gets everything and the band gets nothing. But what did I care back then I remember just being ecstatic.
I literally flew down the station's stairway about ten feet off the steps, and at about the speed of sound. I was real anxious to get home and share the unbelievable news with everyone.
About halfway to the bottom I pass Neil Young who was headed up the stairs. Neil had Guitar in hand and as we nodded at each other as we passed, I remember thinking ... I wonder what he hopes to produce with just that guitar. I know he cant sing, I've heard him!
Damn they're calling me for another radio station meeting, maybe I'll use a little humor at this one to lighten it up a bit. Maybe after the meeting if we all have time, I'll tell you about the four guys who gave me two careers and more importantly got me the hell out of Transcona.
Oh yeah and just when I though there would never be another special moment another better one comes along that I can still hear anytime I want to now as the Buried Treasures saga continues.
December 7, 2009 In part one of " Buried Treasures" I wrote about getting a call from a Shawn Nagey a concert promoter who had tracked me down at WFTL in South Flotida.
Shawn had called to see if I would be interested in putting my old band The Jury back together for a 60's and 70's band reunion he was doing back in Winnipeg.
I told him thanks, but no thanks, I had already being there, done that back in 1987 when I had reluctantly gone back for the first big band reunion at The Winnipeg Convention Center.
This one had featured famous Winnipegers, Neil Young,The Guess Who, Bachman Turner Over Drive, The Jury, and a bunch of other local 60's bands. I surprisingly had a ball at that one and even ended up unexpectedly playing.
But the band phase of my life was a way over back then and was even more over now. As I said I had already done a reunion so I couldn't see any sense in returning to do it again, not to mention the fact that all the bands he had regrouping were from the later sixties and early seventies. The Jury was popular in the mid too late 60's, so this was a little after my band time, and more in my brother Reg's era when he had his band Saffron.
Reg who was in attendance at this reunion said it was kinda sad because the Rock & Roll wars that had started some forty years ago between these bands continued right up to show time.
One of the new disputes was which band is still big enough now to close the show. Reg told me the funny part was the show was running so long that by the time they figured out who was closing the show most of the crowd had already left.
Earlier when Shawn had told me all about his plans for this new reunion he had mentioned that a couple of the old Dee Jays were coming back to MC the whole affair. After I hung up the phone with him I started thinking back about all the great Dee Jays of that era.
I wonder what they are all doing now are they still alive, what ever became of them. I had spent endless hours listening to them teach me about Rock & Roll when I was just a kid growing up in Transcona. I dreamed of being just like them, hanging out with all the stars and all.
I had no idea that I would get to live the life they lived only I got to do it in double time. Hey wouldn't it be fun to reunite them at the same time as all the bands were reuniting.
These were the radio Guys I spent most of my waking hours listening to as I was trying to learn how to become a musician. I even was lucky enough to get to know a few of them when they MC,d some of the dances we played around Winnipeg.
What fun it would be to to see and talk with some of these legendary Dee Jays again. I for one would like to have an opportunity to just thank them for being a great inspiration to me when I was but a young Turk, trying to be somebody. Trying to be somebody was what fueled me through a lot of hard times later on.
The guys I can hardly wait to see again are the giants like PJ The DJ, Deno Corrie, Mark Parr, Jimmy Darin, Gary Todd, Daryl B and Chuck Dann from CKY, Frank Todd, Boyd Kozak, Don Slade, Harry Taylor, Dave Palmer, Doc Stein, Ron Legge, Bob Bradburn, Bob Washington Jim Christie and Jim Paulson from CKRC
These were the legends in Winnipeg and all of them were so much bigger than the records they played.
They were the guys that influenced so many of us kids back then who like them got sucked into the not so glamorous world of show business. Four of those special guys later changed my life forever..I have a way too many of my own stories, but for an opportunity to spend a night with these guys, even I think I could shut up for once and just listen to what they had to say.
I am still in contact with a few other Winnipeg pups from back then people like J Robert Wood, Chuck McCoy and Gary Russell who all went on to much bigger things after serving as board ops and gophers, when the legends were on the air rockin.' We all watched and listened and I know I often wondered what it must be like being them. I think we all hoped someday we would find out.
I know where a couple of them are but it's going to take some time finding the others. Warren Cosford another Winnipeg radio guy who made the big time we thought would be the perfect person to spearhead this project.
But it was not to be, there just wasn't enough time to round everybody up in time for the scheduled band reunion. But I think with the way things are going we've got this done before it's too late.
Hey this just in ... Warren says that BTO is reuniting in Winnipeg for Manitoba's 2010 homecoming ... I'm thinkin' that's when we are going to do it!
All this talk about reunions and stuff though has got me thinking once again again about my own musical beginnings. I'm talking about a way back when my obsession with music first started. Back when I was not such a stellar student at TCI in Transcona.
I wasn't very popular with all my teachers back then mostly because I used to just sit around in class all day writing songs and uttering the occasional smart assed remark instead of paying attention to my studies like I was supposed to. Well at least I finally gave up one of them.
Luckily for me one day I got invited to join the local vocal group called Shayne and The Devines and just like that my whole world caught on fire.
After only very few rehearsals we started playing at a bunch of community club dances, and school functions. I to this day still remember how terrified I was going up on the stage in those very early days
Butterflies use to just fill up my stomach all the time, but thankfully they soon just became part of the "high" of playing. Many years later when they went away, I knew it was about time to hang 'em up.
Shayne and the Devines as I mentioned were a vocal group but I always wanted to be in a band so I talked the rest of the group into adding some great musicians to our act. Talented people like Peter Proskurnik on sax, Gordy Duke on drums, Lawrence (fade) Balaquiere on Piano, Lawrence's younger brother Rolly on bass and me on guitar and just like that we became The Rebel Raiders and started playing a lot of instrumentals that were very popular on the radio at the time.
Even though I now was a so called professional musician I still hadn't given up my dreams yet about becoming a running back for The Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Hey I had to have something in my back pocket if this band thing didn't work out.
When I was going to High School I played halfback with Transcona Nationals along with my rather large best friend Jim Quail who was a line man. I think I kinda suspected if me being called a "Devine" went on much longer, Jimmy was sure to put the boots to me. ( a Transcona tradition)
As time went on even the name Rebel Raiders started sounding jive to me so we became The Phantoms, which to this day I believe was my best band.
When we went from Rebel Raiders to Phantoms we started adding a few new band members like Jimmy Harrison on another sax, I moved over to rhythm guitar when I found this kid by the name of Perry Waksvic. Perry was a huge pain in the ass, but as Chuck Berry said, he could play guitar just like ringing a bell and man could he ever wail.
Next we added Jerry Zenchuk on drums. Jerry was the first guy I had ever seen wear Hollywood shades on stage, he just looked too cool.
You would think that would do it but we also decided to add a great vocal group along with two feature singers, Gerry Anderson and Donny Burns. Gerry looked like Fabian and Donny sounded like Elvis.
The Phantoms were by far easily the best band in Winnipeg. Man what a sound. There was only one huge problem with the Phantoms, when it came time to divvy up the spending cash each night there was never enough to go around. I knew then it couldn't last, but I still remember it as being so fine.
Sometimes it's just good to be King and if nothing else for a little while we were the Kings of all the bands in Winnipeg.
But now It was time to get back to reality and reality meant we had to get back to the basics of Rock&Roll and stop fooling around. We needed to make some serious money if we were ever going to upgrade and get all the stuff we needed like bigger amps and stuff so we would have a shot at the big time.
Hey come on Rock and Roll all started with three guitars and drums. So three guitars and drums it was and The Jury was born. It didn't take too long for The Jury to become the most popular band I ever played in. We even got open for people like Ral Donner,Gene Piney, The Bill Black Combo, The Crickets Peter and Gordon, Manfred Mann, The Zombies and even legends like Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. Not to mention eventually having our own #1 record.
The Jury consisted of Terry Kenny on lead, me on rhythm Roland Blaquiere (termite) on bass who had been with me since The Rebel Raiders, Ray Stockwell on drums and Donny Burns who had been a Phantom as well, was our vocalist.
When I think back on this band stuff I cant ever remember when anybody elected me Captain of all of this, but for some reason I turned out to be the leader of the band.
Maybe I was Just the most intense about it all and could persuade the guys into doing a lot of different stuff. I know for sure I wasn't qualified to do it but I ended up deciding the fate of all the bands I was involved in plus consequently of course each band member.
Being the band leader though wasn't much fun as it sounds. It meant mostly just calming down all the disagreements the guys had with each other. I now think was just in training for what I was about to become a little further on down the road.
Maybe it was just like Randy Bachman said to me after I left The Jury and he was trying to recruit me for The Guess Who, a very nice honor but I turned him down saying that I was not even close to being a good enough musician to play with them. Randy said to me ... George I can teach you all the music stuff, it's all that other stuff you do, that The Guess Who really needs."
Oh Oh they are calling for me to board the plane,time to head for yet another meeting in yet another city.
I wanted to get into how a new CD hitting my desk took me all the way back at the speed of sound to one very special night and how four Jocks and no phone call from Dick Clark changes my life again. But all that will will have to wait for yet another time.
December 1, 2009 A couple of days ago I was sitting at a spare desk at WFTL a radio station in South Florida, waiting for another meeting to break out. I'm not a real big fan of meetings mainly because they never seem to accomplish much. But when your a radio programming consultant you get to go to a bunch of them anyway. As I sat there waiting for the call I kinda was just looking out the window enjoying all the sunshine, flowers, palm trees and tropical paradise of the place I now call home. This is sure a far cry from the cold place I was soon going to get rocketed back to. My solitude was broken by the receptionist buzzing me, not with the start of the expected meeting but with the fact I had a phone call from a Shawn Nagey. Shawn it turned out was a concert promoter who was putting together another sixties band reunion at The Winnipeg Convention Center, he wanted to know if I would be interested in putting my old band The Jury back together for it. He said a lot of the old 60's bands reuniting for what he was hoping would be a major event. The Jury was once one of the bigger bands in Winnipeg back in the sixties so he thought a lot of our old fans would love to see us again. As Shawn was telling me about his upcoming reunion concert I couldn't help but reflect on the one I reluctantly went back to in 1987. The '87 reunion was a pretty big one and was even shown on TV. The reason for the TV coverage was because It featured some very famous Winnipegers like Neil Young, The Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive, The Jury plus a whole bunch of other bands that had been popular in Winnipeg through the sixties and early seventies. After leaving The Jury in the late sixties and until the 1987 reunion concert I had been spending most of time working on my growing radio career which mostly consisted of fighting never ending radio wars all over America and Canada. These ratings battles also necessitated living in a lot of different cities like Saskatoon, Sudbury, Ottawa, Toronto, Indianapolis and San Diego, so I kind of lost touch with the band and the Winnipeg band scene while moving around so much. I hadn't thought about The Jury in a long time let alone talk about them which was just as well because when you talk about being in a band that had records out most people just want to hear about all the groupies not the music. Well If there were any I've completely forgotten about them which I'm sure my daughters are very thankful for. Besides that if any of that really went on with the rest of the group I wouldn't know because I seem to clearly remember going quickly to my own room after each out of town performance and falling asleep dreaming about having beautiful daughters someday. Do you think Candis and Cami are buying this part? I'm not really not sure what dragged me back home for that '87 reunion maybe I just missed seeing all my old band mates and was feeling a little guilty about not keeping in touch with them as much as I should have. I had thought mostly about radio and how I was going to make my way through life now that I was no longer a musician. But I do have to admit once in a while I kinda wondered what all the guys were doing and how their lives had turned out. Going back turned out to be the highlight of the decade for me. It was it was an absolute ball, and will remain a treasured time in my mind forever. ( nothing at all like those scary High School Reunions you always hear about) Back in '87 when I landed at the Winnipeg Airport I don't know if it was returning to the city of my birth that was getting to me or not, but things I hadn't thought in years started to slowly creep back into my head and started picking up speed as the day continued. It was early afternoon when I landed and I had lots of time to get to the Winnipeg Convention Center so after retrieving my luggage I caught a cab and had him drive me around a little just so I could see the old town again. As we drove through the streets of downtown Winnipeg I realized that even though a lot of time had passed since I had last been here things looked exactly the same as they always had. It was like Winnipeg was caught in some kind of a time warp. When the cab dropped me off at the Convention Center and I went inside it was alive with a lot of action. Stage hands were very busy setting up all the special lights and stuff as roadies from a few of the current bigger bands were busy setting up the ton of a equipment that later would turn into a giant thunder storm of sound. Just watching all these people setting everything reminded me about when The Jury was current. The only difference back then was we had to set up our own gear. We had a little help from"Q" but "Q" was mostly our bodyguard. A body guard you say, yes we definitely needed a bodyguard because as The Jury got more popular with all the girls we became less popular with all the boys. It would get a little nasty in some of those small towns when the local farm girls were crowding around the stage with that pick me look in their eyes. Those big farm boys didn't take too well to that but they were no match for "Q" Meanwhile back at the Convention Center I picked up my credentials and wandered around back stage looking for The Jury. I finally caught up with them as they were busy tuning guitars and stuff while getting ready for their performance that evening. They all looked great and thankfully seemed healthy enough to my eyes. We unfortunately had lost a few of the other bands members to some abusive life styles, but The Jury was still intact and at this moment just buzzing with the nervous anticipation I remembered only a way too well but it was sure great to see them again after all this while. It had been twenty years since I had seen any of them and I kicked myself for that. They all looked a little bit different but father time all in all had been pretty kind to them. They like me had lost a little hair except for Bruce Walker our singer, his hair even seemed a little thicker to me now than it was back then. I never liked him that much anyway! (-: As we stood around chatting and catching up on what had been going on during the twenty years that we hadn't seen each other, they presented me with a maroon colored satin jacket with my name on it. The jackets it turned out was what they were going to wear on stage so I was all set to join them on stage if I wanted. they said. I thanked them very much for the jacket but I told them there was no way in hell I was going up on that stage with them. Terry Kenny the lead guitar player told me that they had been rehearsing for a little while and even had played a couple of small warm up gigs to get their playing chops ready in anticipation of the big reunion concert. He mentioned that he was sorry I didn't live a little closer so I could have rehearsed and joined them on stage for the big event. I just laughed and said, Terry those playing days for me have been over for a long long time and I don't miss them for a minute. But hey I'll be back stage rooting for you guys, so break a leg man! After hangin' with the whole band for as long as I did I figured it was time to leave them alone so they could get ready. I spent the next hour or so as we got closer to show time just wandering around back stage renewing acquaintances with the guys I knew from all the other bands. The reunion was well underway and just rockin' by the time I got back closer to the stage so I would be there when The Jury went on. As I stood there waiting Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings ( huge World Stars by then) walked up and gave me a big hug. As I stood there talking with them, I had no idea that they were about to turn on me. Burton then mentioned that he was pretty sure The Jury were on next so I edged a little closer to the stage so they could see I was at least supporting their brave efforts. They were shuffling around nervously waiting for their introduction but I think I was more nervous than they were and I wasn't even playing. Then all of a sudden and with no warning, Randy and Burton shove me out on to the stage. They yelled as they pushed me out onto the stage ... It was your band George and without you up there it's not really The Jury. Oh no there's those butterflies again in my stomach along with an old Bob Seger tune pounding in my head ... Here I am again ... Up on the stage again ... Turn the page. Is this crazy, what the hell am I doing up here in front of this huge sold out crowd. I certainly didn't come all the way from California just to start playing again, and what's worse yet I don't even know how to anymore. I hadn't touched my guitar in over twenty years. But yes I still do have that '58 Strat that I traded my Olds trumpet in on when I was going to TCI back when Elvis, Chuck, and Buddy were screaming up the Charts but they played guitars not trumpets. I have my guitar still hidden away for some future Johns' that might get the music bug but I sure hope they don't. Otherwise I'm pretty sure Randy, Neil, and maybe even Eric Clapton would love to get a hold of it but I'm going to keep it around for just a little while longer. But there I was again through no fault of my own and with absolutely no desire to do so, I am never the less standing on that cold dark stage once again. The whole band by this time is just laughing at me and it helped them get rid of their nervous tension I guess as they waited to go on. What do I do now was all that was going through my mind. As I was thinking about how do I get off the stage before the lights went on, a stage hand handed me a guitar and plugged it into an amp. I quickly turned it all down just as I heard those dreaded words I never needed to hear again ... Ladies and Gentlemen would you please give it up one more time more for Winnipeg's own The Jury. How am going to fake my way through this was what I was wondering about as the crowd roared and the huge colored stage lights came on about the same time as the all to bright spot lights hit us. I just just stood there frozen praying I didn't look near as stupid as I felt. The Jury was on one more time! Miraculously as I tried to duck in behind Bruce and Terry all the chord patterns came back to me. By back I mean they came back to my hands only because my brain was still saying WTF are we doing up here. My hands though knew exactly what we were doing up here 'cause they were rockin'. Amazing! I have no idea how I got through the whole thing but I finally relaxed and tried to enjoy my myself as we played all of our hits. The crowd seemed to enjoy us and almost before it started, it was over. The other big moment of the evening for me after we got off stage, and were signing autographs on a bunch of our old records that people had brought to the event with them, was watching a much too short twenty minute version of American Woman. You haven't lived until you've seen and heard Burton Cummings howling the all too familiar lyrics as Randy Bachman and Neil Young traded ear piercing guitar licks with each other. Man that was too good. What an unexpected absolutely wonderful night it turned out to be and what a thrill it was to once again relive a little of the good part of the past that I hadn't even thought about for such long time. Then suddenly the concert was over. We all hugged and said our goodbyes with well meant promises of this time staying in touch for sure.. The evenings festivities of course had turned me somewhat nostalgic so I decided to rent a car and drive back to my hometown of Transcona and revisit where I used to live. I thought I might even drive by the old school and maybe some of the community clubs where I played hockey and made musical appearances at on the weekend when I was just a kid. I wonder if there are any bands playing in them now, kinda searching for a sound like we used to do. As I was driving around I started to get a little hungry as my excitement buzz wore down so I looked for a late night bar and restaurant that I could slip into and get a bite. I was also in the mood for a couple of pops to wash it down with. My drug of choice when I was a guitar carrying member of The Jury was Canadian Club and Coke. ( the drinking kind ) Right about now I was thinking a couple of those babies on ice would go down pretty smoothly as I let the past gently swirl around inside my head. Transcona unlike Winnipeg had gotten a lot bigger since I went to school here I realized as I got a little lost driving around looking for a restuarant. I finally found a sorta Sports Bar that was open late so I parked the rent a car and in I went. As I walked through the door, it was like they were expecting me because much to my surprise a loud chant broke out ... Transcona, Transcona, Transcona. A lot of people who had been at the concert were in the bar, along with a lot more who had seen it on TV. I guess that night they were just as proud as I was that one of Winnipeg's biggest bands back in the day, had it's early beginnings deeply rooted in Transcona. The noisy bar quieted down a bit as another hometown hero Wilson Parasiuk was being interviewed on the late night TV news. Willy at the time was Manitoba's Finance Minister and had attended that nights reunion with his wife Wilma. He was telling the news reporter how much fun it was for him and his wife to once again be dancing to The Guess Who and The Jury just like had done those many years ago when he and Wilma were just dating. "Oh what a night" late December 1964 I hummed to myself as I sat there sipping my CC and now "Diet" Coke (you've got to make adjustments) and thinking about that special night in '64.Then I found myself slipping all the way back to where it all began What's that you say ... The meeting is about to begin. Okay tell them I'll be right there. I guess how I we went from a little Transcona vocal group to a band with the #1 Canadian record in Canada will have to wait. And what about the four guys who originally jumped started my band, then turn me on to some new dreams, which completely change everything I had ever dreamed about. It's just all part of a lifelong story that not too many kids from Transcona get to tell, but the telling will have to wait for a more convenient story telling time to tell them. Right now I've got some Radio that needs tending to. November 24, 2009 Ron Below agreed with Jamie Gold that a lot of my stories need a lot of editing. Ron thought though she should have used the killer line on me ... "It's not a diamond till it's cut."
I told Marnie Howard that when she writes a sequel to her popular book Giving Is Living she should use the line ... If giving isn't really living how come in all the pictures you see of Santa Clause he's always laughing or smiling ?
A person is always the answer !
Radio can not be fixed until most of it goes into bankruptcy, the longer it takes to do so the longer it will take to fix. But soon there will be nothing left to fix.
When John Lennon said, The Beatles are just a band Yoko's my life. I don't remember anybody going ... Ahhhhhhhhh ... Isn't that sweet.
The people your always a little nervous about having in your home are always the ones who are the most fun to listen to on the radio.
How come all those athletes who are making 20 million a year always need advances before payday. What the hell do you spend that kind of money on ?
I recently heard that the only difference between making Five Thou a month and Fifty is just figuring out how to get it done. OK I'm all over it ... But just so you know nothings come to me so far.
A couple of years ago at an NAB conference in San Diego, Jeff & Jer were keynote speakers. They said at their session that when they first came to San Diego they had a big meeting with me, and to this day they still remember everything I told them that I thought they should do. Not only that but they said they still do. I wish I had written down back then all the things they claim I told them to do. I sure could use a few of them for a couple of projects I'm working on right now.
Harvey Wharfield just checked in and wanted to know what the name of that (pin head) Jock was, that wouldn't go on with out a big pay raise. Nice try Wallbanger but I only remember the names of people I love or hate(-:
I have often said that there are two types of talent Gifted, Creative and the public really can't tell the difference. The Monkees were totally manufactured but lots of times sat in the #1 position on the charts ahead of the gifted Beatles.
A couple of weeks ago a new CD came out called Buried Treasures with 7 cuts on it from my old band The Jury. Just hearing all those again got me remembering and writing about my band days which my oldest daughter Candis just loves. When she was born I became a radio guy so all she heard around the house when she was growing up was radio stuff. My youngest Cami is just embarrassed by it all. She cant believe that I'm proud about being in this lame band.
I've been involved with a few women in my life but the only ones so far who have changed what I think about life, have been my daughters.
I was telling David Gifford the other day that surprisingly to me, the two things in radio that can make you very successful are seldom done.
In sales it's making cold calls, in programming it's show prep.
David suggested that perhaps they need a name change to make them more appetizing. How about Opportunity Calls & Communication Preparation.
Giff even went on to say that the title Program Director was a little out of date, he thought they should be called DADS. Directors Of Audience Development.
"If its not broken don't fix it" I have gone round and round on that one. But seeing as the mere passage of time breaks things so I have come to the conclusion that it is breaking so you have to fix it all the time.
The further away from things you are the clearer they become.
A couple of years ago I figured the answer to that age old question ... If a tree falls in the middle of a Forrest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make any noise?
My answer is ... It makes the same noise whether any body is there to hear it or not.
But the one that still has me puzzled is ... If a man alone in the middle of a Forrest makes a statement and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?
I think in this CYA world we live in a no that in retrospect that should have been a yes should be a punishable offense.
The only meeting I feel that are worthy of attending at a radio station are the ones about how to get more people to listen to the Radio Station or get more money to come in. Most of the meetings now seem to be about something else.
Its the tunes on your iPod that are the miracle not the iPod.
A year or so ago I read in the trades that the station Jeff&Jer were at in San Diego got a new PD. When I work with Jeff & Jer I don't get involved with the station I just work with them exclusively so I seldom know the station people.
When I was talking to Jerry I asked him how the new PD was. He claimed he was great and according to Jerry was the best one yet. He went on to say that the new PD came around and introduced himself when he first got there and asked if there was anything he could do to help them. Jerry said yeah stay the f*** away from us! We haven't seen him since. We love him man he's the best.
When Jim Hilliard was the president of the Blair Company they owned WHDH in Boston. Jim noticing that the station's women numbers were great, gave the staff a project to work on. Figure out how to get some more males without hurting the females.
Al Brady Law told Jim to cancel the project because he had already figured out how to do it. Play one more Blue an hour he proudly told Jim.
How many great morning shows do you suppose there are in Canada and America ?
My daughter Candis asked me the other day what I would do if I won the Lottery. I told her I would probably buy a Maserati Spyder, I really like them. No she said, I'm talking about would you retire. I said hell no, why would you stop doing what you love to do.
My Brother Reg told me that Ringo was the perfect drummer for The Beatles because he wasn't too busy on his drums. The Beatles had a lot of subtleties in their music and Ringo was kind enough to let us hear them.
Before I was a consultant I was the National PD of Fairbanks Broadcasting. One of the things I liked to do was call all the PD's and ask them what new thing(s)
were starting this week on their radio station. When I got to Ron Chapman at KVIL, the answer I swear took up most of my day. Color me always confident about what the book was going to say. The only question was, how large should we make the victory party.
November 17, 2009 I've been told that a lotta people don't "get me" Joe Amaturo claims he got me right away when he figured out I was logical not mystical.
Jo Myers asked when her new book "Good To Go" came out, could I get her hooked up with Delilah and would she have to make a sordid deal with me to get that done.
I told her I was taking Sordids up front now because of all the collection problems I was having.
Tim Moore recently wrote that after Lou Holtz had complained to his old friend Bobby Bowden in a midfield meeting about why Bobby had left in his starters and ran up the score, which embarrassed Lou. Bobby replied I can only coach one way and one team at a time. I suggest that you just need to get better players and to coach them better so something like this doesn't happen again.
Radio used to be just like that. When did they get so brilliant that they now can coach a whole bunch of stations all at the same time.
Damn I've just been informed that my old English teacher from TCI, Mr Deering just passed way at 101 years of age.
Had I known he was still alive this long I would have begged him help me with all this writing thing. I think it's becoming fairly obvious that I didn't listen to anything he said in his English class.
I was telling Candis my oldest Daughter about a beautiful exciting woman I just met. But when she found out how much younger than me she was Candis didn't seem nearly as excited about it all as I was. She just wanted to make sure I wasn't dating her.
I guess she probably wont buy into the formula either that we men use to calculate if a woman is too young for us or not ... 1/2 my age + 7
I just love the word yes it usually leads to all my dreams and fantasies coming true.
Brent Farris told me with a frustrated tone to his voice, that the willingness to accept average is the enemy of greatness
The most popular music has always been when a white person sounded like a black person or a black person sounded like a white person or a boy sounded like a girl. The Beatles took it to a new level when they as white English men sounded like black girls from Detroit.
Giff told me he is getting ready to do what he thinks will be his best work ever. He thinks it may be his swan song so he wants it to be real special.
Even though the project doesn't start until sometime in January, he is already working night and day on it.
Jerry Del Colliano says the Beasley radio group is going back to a PD for each each one of it's radio stations. Can some real good programming be that far behind.
Tom Hoyt told me it's time to not look foolish again and he claims he is really up for it.
I think the saddest day of all for radio is still ahead of us. I dont know why it will happen I just know it will. That sad day will occur when these clowns who are currently running radio, get elected to the radio hall of fame.
How come special days are called by their name's like Valentines day, Veterans day, New Years Day, Boxing Day,(for the Canadians) Presidents Day, April Fools, Cinco De Mayo, Memorial Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Election Day, Thanks Giving, Martin Luther King Day but Christmas is referred to as Happy Holiday and goes nameless ?
Betsy Cameron told me that shortly after having she first met me, she confronted me with fact that she felt I was ignoring her and she definitely wasn't used to that kind of behaviour from men. Her claim is my response was ... It's just my way of hitting on ya baby!
When I was the National PD for for Fairbanks Broadcasting I would always do a pre book visit to all our stations.
Ron Chapman in Dallas loved these little visits because I always came with gifts that I would use to try and entice entice him to give more than the 110% he was already giving.
On this book tour I ended up in Boston where the night jock the day before the book started said he wasn't going on without a huge pay raise. I asked him to step out of the office for a moment while I called my boss back in Indy, Jim Hilliard.
Jim said he has us over the barrel George your going to have to pay the ransom, give him whatever he wants but you know what to do. On the last day of the rating book guess who was back there waiting to see him right after he got off the air?
In the movies the good guy always gets the girl, but in real life it's tough to get the girl unless you don't want the girl You can get a bunch of those girls they're easy, but the one you want is very hard to get. There's a lesson somewhere in all of that.
If it doesn't change your life style it's not important enough to worry about.
I've never understood why sales people are always trying to figure out what the client wants to do. I figure if the client knew what they wanted to do they would already be doing it.
When you watch pro football it's pretty easy to figure out not many of the coaches of players ever went to any classes in college.
There is no such thing as a Rock & Roll Christmas.
Holding on to what you have keeps you from having what you want.
Russ Morley told me that his ex father in law said to him when they were once driving on a long journey together ... Ya know Russ all women are exactly the same, they just look different. Then he drifted back to sleep and left Russ to ponder that as he drove on through the night.
Years ago a friend of mine was involved in meeting at USA TODAY where founder AL Neuharth was ranting and raving at the gathered staff about the pending doom of USA TODAY.
His claim was the paper had no chance because he was surrounded by morons.
How are we ever going to make this paper successful was his question as he held up a copy of that days paper.
Look at this story it's wonderful ,it's what the public wants. "All American Girl Wins National Cheer leading Competition"
Look how beautiful she looks. There is just one huge problem with the story. YOU IDIOTS PUT HER TITS BELOW THE FOLD !
Barry O' Brien is going to be very proud of me because I think I have cut way back on the "!" word. (Barry this wasn't good enough to go above the fold)
I wrote story about my remembrance of recording my first record over 40 years ago with The Jury.
The story turned out pretty good I thought, so I sent it to Jamie Gold who works at the the LA Times. I wanted her to give me some tips on how I could make appear like a real writer wrote it.
She said it was interesting but a little disjointed and a way too long. I tied it all together a little better and even pulled out a bunch of good stuff from the story in an attempt to shorten it and sent it to her again.
It's even longer was her reply, who do you think is going to have enough time to read this. You have got to Edit Edit Edit.
Back at it again I go, editing, pulling, squeezing, reshaping, smaller words. Her reply was ... Your not listening to me, I told you it has to be shorter, a lot shorter.
Now I finally know what it must have been like for all that air talent who had to go to all those sessions with me over the years. Pay back is a bitch!
© 2008-2009 George Johns
George Johns |
