“Love Stinks” is one of my favorite songs, along with “Come Back” (from the same album).
I majored in Eng Lit, minored in Linguistics, and I too suffer from dementia. Small world.
Are you familiar with the song “Timothy” by the Buoys? It has haunted me since 1971.
I have actually heard that song and agree with you.
There’s not much happening for dementia-related disease research/cures, but maybe now that football players have been described as being “prone” to having it, something will “break loose”.
The world needs educating. Too many people think that having dementia means we are incontinent and drooling zombies.
That’s gotta change.
I’m flattered that this thread got so much attention and I appreciate it!
Q
We appreciate you sharing your views so candidly, and reminding us of some good stuff we haven’t thought about ourselves for some time. (If I may speak in the plural: I’m fairly certain I’m not alone in this regard.)
When I think back to the time when you were on the air, I remember my parents being inclined to listen to the Andy Williams, Ed Ames, Percy Faith, news & weather format stations. They did encourage us to explore different tastes than their own, and openly applauded our interest in Ray Charles, Motown, Johnny Cash, and others. They weren’t too keen on our preferences for the Stones, Beatles, the Who, Jethro Tull, and og forbid! The DOORS! I was getting my own place around the time Janis and Jimi left this earth, and if my sieve-like memory serves, FM radio was nearing it’s peak in popularity. Did you play any or many of these artist’s works, and do your listening habits still include your old favorites?
The other thing I wanted to know is if you like that Max Baer Inde film “Macon County Line.”? I thought it was great when it came out, but I was young and frequently buzzed in those days. Still, I remember that promo voice “They were just two kids, out for some laughs, and laugh they did…until…they crossed… THE MACON COUNTY LINE!” :eek:
Finally, I want to thank you for jogging some old near forgotten memories; it is refreshing to to hear somebody else write about real stuff, instead of the usual longing for places that didn’t exist, and good old days that never were.
Funny that you should mention all those artists’ names, because it wasn’t until I got into The Beatles, Stones, Kinks etc. that I began listening to them!
Our station had an extensive library of old pop and country tunes, and I used to listen to many of them “on cue” while live on the air with the current Top 40.
“On cue” means turning the volume knob controlling a particular turntable all the way to the left till you heard a “click”. This meant you were “off the air” and could “cue” the record up. That is, you advanced the record by hand with the needle on its surface till you heard (on the studio speakers) the first “sound”, and then you backed the record up the other way maybe a quarter to a half turn.
This is the way DJ’s today make those “scratching” sounds you hear on Hip-Hop, etc. today.
So yes, I did listen to those artists and used my knowledge of their work to my advantage during those telethons I mentioned above.
During those times, we’d abandon the regular “playlist” and ask the listeneres which tune they wanted to hear in return for a pledge to the charity being supported at the time.
If we couldn’t find the song requested, then the station would pay the pledge, and very rarely was this necessary.
Oh, I was such a whore in those days! 
Your mention of “Macon County Line” made me think of one of the many times I came close to crossing my own “line”:
One of the few short times I did work in radio after leaving it completely was in 1983 (don’t remember the call letters).
I was asked to record a commercial promo for the James Bond flick “Octopussy” and to vary the “rotation” of the times it ran, I wrote several different lines of copy so that 4 different commercials would rotate on the same cart (ridge).
However, one thing stayed the same: my use of the film title’s name, “Octopussy”.
What I would do is say a few lines of script and then say the name “Octopussy” in a way that sound like this:
"Starting Friday night, at ______ theatre, Roger Moore IS James Bond in OCTO-…POOOOSY!!!"…, with reverb on the “Poooosy” part, and only there. (Reverb, for those who may not know, is a sound effect much like an echo, but doesn’t repeat the word as an echo would - just make it sound like you were in a large empty concert hall…)
One day, while that commercial played and I was on the air, the program director stuck his head in the studio door and said, “Craig, you need to cut that shit out and re-write and re-record that spot! I got little old ladies calling me on the phone and the high school kids are walking around the hallways, yelling ‘Poooosy’ at each other!”
We also used to record those SUNDAY! drag-racing promos. Wish I had one I could play for you!
Q
I do believe the rumor of Dickeys death has been greatly exagerated! My good friend was hangin in Atlanta underground with him and Duane before one of their sets there last year. I couldn’t find anything online to indicate he had passed.
I used to go to Dickey’s send off parties at the warehouse in Bradenton, Fl. before they left on tour in the early 70s. I hope you are pleased by this news, I know I am!
Ever do any club work as a DJ? I worked in a local topless joint in Bradenton as a DJ, while going to college during the 70’s. Didn’t pay all that good, but the BENNIES quite made up for that!
later, Tom.
Yes, of course Mr. Betts lives and please apologize to your friend for my gaffe! It was Berry Oakley I was thinking of! :smack:
The few times I did some club stuff was when I dj’d oldies parties (dressed as a greaser, complete with cigarrettes wrapped in t-shirt). Also did some stand-up (Thunderbird’s in PC). Had a routine about the first caveman ever to experience his bodily functions. All of them.
Q
Do you think"Pilot of the Airwaves" charted because of its appeal to DJ’s egos?
I sure do, and that’s exactly why it was written and recorded : to appeal to our egos.
You have to consider that most of us (unless we’re on a “live remote”) are just “voices” and because of that, we tend to put everything into that voice/personality.
If you listen closely, sometimes you may think that voice is “smiling” at you, and you’d be right. We do whatever it takes to “project” and present ourselves as the guy/gal you’d like to share a pitcher of beer with.
To answer your question in a bit more detail, when the song went into the “rotation”, all the jocks and office staff used to crowd into the control room, listen for that first note to get the key, then turn down the volume while we, too, sang a capella.
No doubt about it: radio folks are “attention whores”, and that song was gonna get airplay!
Thanks
Q
Speaking of songs I haven’t heard in a dog’s age… 
#36 up-thread.^
wink-wink-nudge-nudge!
Quasi
Wow!
The thread made “Best of…”. I didn’t realize that until last night when I took a look at the Front Page!
Thanks!
Q
I remember back in the 80s, for the heck of it, I read copy for a vacancy at out local station. It was more to see what the process was than to actually get the job, and I was kind of egged into it by two buddies who worked there.
They put me into a room with a sheet of copy and rolled the tape after telling me to read it cold.
There were about three news stories on it, including one about a discovery the CIA using LSD-laden swizzle sticks in their missions. That’s the one I remember the most.
I think the idea was to test not only a person’s enunciation, but also whether he was prone to cracking up on air.
Yes, I got through it okay, but I know that if I had had the chance to read it over, I could have done it in more of a newscaster’s voice.
In the same vein, one of the local dj’s here went into depth this morning about how hard it was to master “hitting the post” when introducing songs on the air. His account of how he learned to do this was quite funny.
What did you think of the Alice Cooper invasion? 
The first time I ever read the news I had written on the air, the guy who was my “mentor” Ken C. (long may he live), pulled out his lighter and set my copy on fire. They ran a tape on that as well, In Winnipeg, but it has since been lost. You should have heard how fast I read that story! :eek:
The next time I went on the air, he pulled out his ummm, schlong stood behind me and pissed in a Dixie cup.
That was my initiation! :o
We loved Alice, faithfool, and played not only the hits, but Ken would play the album cuts on his “Kaleidoscope” program at night.
Once when I was in the hospital with ulcers (!) I wrote the news from my bed using the phone and then would have it taken to the station by my wife.
In one story, I abbreviated the words “aggravated assault” in my usual way: “Agg. ass.” My replacement read it just like I wrote it!
I liked to have shit!
Og, so many memories!
Quasi
That’s good to know Quasi. Then you’d’ve been my kinda DJ, a man after my own heart.
- On the AM station, after the noon newscast, I was required to read the obituaries, which were often quite long.
Y’all, you don’t ever EVER wanna laugh while you’re reading one of those.
Well, I’m ticklish, so guess what? Yup. They snuck up behind me while reading one of those. Nothing you can do, man, except try to cover it up with a coughing “fit”.
If it wasn’t tickling, if I ran up on a name that sounded funny (“I.P. Rainwater” for instance) as one of the survivors, forget about it, I was gone.
- You know those EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) tests you sometimes hear on radio and TV?
Well, when one of those appears on the schedule, you’re supposed to actually test the damn thing!
We played a recorded version off a cart. Biiiig FCC “no-no”.
I think we later played the real thing from a station that was doing the actual test.
Still a no-no, but better than the tape.
Thanks
Quasi
TNAIS (hope you don’t mind the abbreviation?), I took another look at this and I don’t think I answered your question adequately so please forgive the mistake?
(mods: I am not trying to revive the thread. I saw it made “The Best” list and just took another look at the thread:))
Both, TNAIS.
AM was literally about 15 feet from FM - just separated by a thick window and door.
It was an interesting situation because if a jock really liked a song, he or she would click it into cue (not playing it over the air) and run the volume up as loud as it would go. A la Spinal Tap’s 11.
I think I mentioned that AM was country and FM was Top 40?
One day, while I was doing the newscast on AM, the FM jock blasted out the Beatles’ *A Day In The Life *: “I read the news today, oh boy…” and it “bled” through! We had a good laugh over it.
You asked which format I liked the best.
Not dodging the question or being diplomatic, but here’s your answer:
Back then, FM was not as prevalent as today, and many folks didn’t have FM in their homes. I remember my first Pioneer receiver. It was my baby!! I just loved the separation and placed my speakers just exactly right to listen to Floyd and those funky “mono turned into stereo” Beatles albums! In short, I loved the stereo and when I did a night shift, I liked working FM the best.
But in the daytime I liked working AM, because it exposed me to C&W. I was a rocker, but when I listened to the lyrics, I realized that artists such as Doc Watson and Crystal Gayle among many others had “something to say”, and knew my audience would be listening to this genre in the workplace and cars.
The tone of my voice reflected the type of music I was playing as well. I was a DJ skitz!
The advantages/disadvantages:
AM: Had a lot more “going on”. Farm reports, the talk show, the dreaded obits, and a call in “trading post”, so I feel like I reached a wider audience.
The disadvantages were the sundown sign-off and the cigarrette odor. I remember saying one day (I don’t smoke) that if someone were to liquify the carpet, sound-deadening wall panels and album covers and drink it down, it would “deaden” him or her!
Gross, huh?
FM: Allowed me a lot of leeway at night and I loved the Kaleidoscope program which I inherited from Ken and as long as I got the commercials in, I could play whatever I wanted. (Ja! Reuben and the Jets;), my favorite Mothers album. I also could “converse” with my audience, comment on the music, current events, etc.
Disadvantages were that in the daytime you had to follow the “clock”, which was a drawing of a clock posted eye-level and “told” you what to play - current, recurrent and oldie records- and when to play them; when and what commercials you broadcast using a “cart” (a cartridge which looked like an 8-track tape) and which were also listed on several 11 x 13 pages stapled together and one needed to sign at the bottom. This was called a log and had better by God be followed to the letter or the FCC would be one’s ass!
Another disadvantage was cutting away from normal musical programming for sports events, such as baseball, high school football and NASCAR races. This was always a “bone of contention” between myself and management because it is a “tune-out” factor, in my opinion.
Imagine yourself “rockin’ out” to J Geils and all of a sudden you hear: “It’s time for Braves Baseball on FM92!!!”
“WTF!!! I’ll just turn it to Z93 then, by God!”
How likely do you think you’d be to turn your dial back to 92.1?
See what I mean?
But apparently it generates very good revenue, so they do it - even today.
I hope I answered a little more fully this time, TNAIS, and everyone? If I have written about this before, sorry for the replay.
Thanks
Quasi
SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!!
It’s not exactly the same, and it’s very not safe for work, but if you remember the old commercials, you have to watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sZuN0xXWLc
Oh, I don’t know… if it’s your last day, find an empty cubicle, hook some cheap speakers up to the PC, find the video and make sure the volume is up, pick up the phone and dial whatever number y’all use to page overhead, lay it down softly, hit play and then beat feet.
It’s what I’d do on my last day.
Thanks
Q