Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

37° - overcast at 11:09am

Listening: The usual Sunday Morning fare. WDRV/Chicago - and Bob Stroud with Rock 'N Roll Roots.

Stroud segue: "She's A Rainbow" (Stones) into "Susan" (Buckinghams). Both with that 60s psychedelic violin thing. Later: Heard Leon Russell's "A Song For You". I've forgotten what a great song that is.

Wondering: Where is Steve Palec? Steve hosts "the other" Rock 'N Roll Roots program on WKLH/Milwaukee. Station has been filling his slot the last few weeks with various syndicated programs. Hope all is well.

Caught my ear: the new Gatorade TV Commercial. Music is "Sparks" from The Who's Tommy album. Very nice.

Caught another Gatorade spot during SNL last night with the bass riff from Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side". It's a classic rock party!

Underwhelmed: Consultant Harve Alan tries the new Ford/Microsoft Sync voice command system and declares it "not ready for prime time".

Harve also notes that while the voice command system works through the radio - there are no voice commands for the radio. And that's wacked. Harve's blog here.

Still waiting: but not complaining - for Jay (J.) Blackburn's (JDB) radio novel based-on-real-life. "The Radio Gypsies" due out in just weeks.

JDB sharing the cover artwork with me in an email back on Thursday.

I'm on the list for one of the first copies off the press. And I promised JDB I'd plug-plug-plug. Stay tuned!

Goodbye: To the "One-To-One" Newsletter. Publisher Jay Trachman writing in the last issue:

"I am closing it down because the enterprise is no longer profitable, and the industry is – to me – no longer recognizable.

"There was a time when I could write “Talent Tips” columns with the comfort that hundreds, if not thousands, of jocks would read and consider the advice. It’s just not that way anymore."

Read Jay's sign-off in FMQB here.

Jay Trachman's words remind me of something Randy Raley had on his blog here at the end of a post about the late KYYS:

"The business I miss is no longer the business anymore."
-Randy Raley March 2007

It ain't like it used to be. I don't think anything ever is. I go back to my hometown in the Chicago suburbs and its nothing like the small village I roamed all over on my Schwinn bicycle as a child.

My parents said the same thing about the town when I was a young.

In the mid-70s at age 18 - I joined CBS' WBBM/Chicago as "Continuity Director" - replacing a retiring gentleman by the name of George Clare. George's time at WBBM extended back to radio's first golden era.

Back in the 40s he was a sound effects guy on radio drama and entertainment programs. I remember George sharing stories from that period of his career and echoing something similar to Randy Raley's line above.

Speaking of WBBM: Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight this week shines on Newsradio 780 morning traffic anchor Bart Shore. A good read about a great radio career here.

Thanks: To WGRF/Buffalo PD John Hager for the kind words in an email this past week. Also to media sales pro, radio station broker (and lifelong friend) Roger Rafson for the nice note too!

More here tomorrow morning. Monday Night; the jobs getting in the way of the blog again!