in Boston
almost everyday
Like having lunch
while watching
Burton Cummings
play.
I don’t know what happened to “I’ll have you back in San Diego by the time the snow flies,” but I thought I’d make the best of it by sampling what New England had to offer in the wintertime.
After telling the listeners that we’d created a Ski Team, we claimed that we were going to use the power of the radio station to get cheap lodging, lift tickets, and maybe even some free ski stuff, we had their attention.
Then, when Tim came through with stuff like ski equipment, ski outfits, goggles, lift passes, and even accommodations on the Mountain for the whole staff; we had the staff’s attention.
Oh, and yeah, the radio station made a few bucks, too.
“Hey George,” he said, “Don’ton’t you know Burton Cummings?” “Hell, yes, I replied. “I’ve known him since he was a kid playing with the Devrons.” (Burton is shown above and standing beside me below)
“The reason I asked about Burton,” the salesperson said, “Is because he’s doing a one-man concert downtown during the lunch hour.”
“Hey, there’s no way I’m missing that,” I replied, so we put a group together and headed downtown.
When the concert ended, I surprised him by slipping up to the front of the stage and saying. “Hey Burton”!
The Globe reporter began the interview by asking Burton what things he remembered the most about his career.
Although, he went on to say, “One of the more exciting things I ever got to do was to play with Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band.
What a surreal moment, he excitedly said, “And I remember thinking, “I’m playing with the f#cking Beatles, man!”
The worst thing that ever happened, he recalled, was when the Guess Who were not only booked to play Carnegie Hall, we were also going to record it for a live album.
Then, when he asked if we’d heard the album and the reporter and I both shook our heads no, he said, “That’s because it doesn’t exist. I was so excited that I stayed up all night celebrating and missed the gig!”
Chapter XXXVIII (It All Begins in The Halls) Chapter 2/15/23
No company, no marriage
just me on my own
But I was ok
with being alone.
Did another tour
of Boston Mass
Ran on the Charles
and became quite fast.
Shortly after “Radio For Men” (Chapter XXXVII) flamed out in the Desert, my old Fairbanks boss, Jim Hilliard, persuaded me to help him get WVBF in Boston ready for sale.
He claimed it would take about six months, and he’d have me back in San Diego before the snow flew.
He also said he’d put me up in a nice place in the Back Bay, so I thought, what the hell, and hopped on a plane.
Once in the air, I ordered a couple of cocktails and settled in for the long flight.
As I sat there sipping my CC and Diet Coke, I began to think about all that had gone on since Jim, and I last worked together.
I’d left Fairbanks to start my consulting business in California, and Jim bought a TV station in Oklahoma.
When Mr. Fairbanks started selling off his radio stations, financial guy Bill Yde persuaded me to buy his syndication company from him called Fairwest.
One of the formats Fairwest syndicated was called “Music Of Your Life,” which we wanted to put up on Satellite.
The next morning when we arrived at the E! studios, I gave the receptionist my name, and she gave me the strangest look before buzzing Lee.
Once in there, he said, “Candis, you probably don’t remember but I stayed at your home in Indy a few times when your Dad was recruiting me for one of his stations.”
“Thank God he was unsuccessful,” Lee went on to say, “Because had I accepted his offer, I’d probably be having so much fun that I’d be in some god-forsaken town still honking the hits for him.”
“Instead,” he said, “I chose to go to WNBC in New York, which I hated so much, that I quit radio and moved to MTV, where I helped create VH1 and then E!on my own.”
Lee then said to her, “As we begin our tour, be prepared for some strange looks when I introduce your Dad to the staff, which I’ll explain later.”
Candis loved her backstage tour, and Lee was right; we did get a lot of strange looks.
Oh, and it also contains the reason for all the strange looks you got earlier.”
Then at some point, he said, “Long before I created E! I met a very wise man by the name of George Johns who told me something I’ve never forgotten.
What he said to me many years ago was, “Lee, whatever’s happening in the halls will eventually make its way onto the air.”
Lee, who now goes by his given name of Jarl Mohn, sent me a cool email a while back when he was running NPR. (Jarl pictured above)
The email stated that he had just given the E! speech to the folks at NPR so now another group of people is wondering who the hell George Johns is?
Chapter XXXVII (Radio for Men) 2/14/23 (37)
Me and Reid
went lookin’ for muses
In dark dingy bars
filled with losers.
We needed something
that would appeal to males
Hey, “Radio For Men”
How could that fail?
As I was saying in Chapter XXXVII (Wall Street), the Dog & Pony show that Tom Hicks and I had done together on Wall Street, according to Tom had gone well, so while waiting for the merger to come together, I headed to Europe with my special friend Jamie for a little vacation.
After spending a couple of days in Paris, we boarded the magnificent Orient Express and sipped Dom Perignon as we wound our way through the beautiful Alps on our way to Venice.
It was all fascinating, but in the ’80s, unfortunately, there were no cell phones or email, so I had no idea that the merger back home was blowing up.
Finally, after exploring Venice, Innsbruck, Luxembourg, and London, it was time to head home to begin building the best radio company in the world.
UHowever, when we got back, we discovered that the whole deal had fallen apart.
It turned out that when Bill Yde discovered that the Hicks owed more for their stations than they were worth, he walked from the deal.
And as I said, stupidly, I’d resigned most of my clients. What the hell was I supposed to do now?
The collapse of the merger had us all scrambling; my brother Reg decided to get into the internet big time. (Reg shown above in front of my place in Coronado)
He’d figured out a way to combine some of our money-making promotional ideas with the way American Airlines did their AAdvantage program using the internet.
As they say, “No risk, no reward,” and Reg risked it all when he created his Rewards Program, which ended up on 1100 radio stations around the world.
My problem was, the Adult Contemporary format I’d created in Toronto was so successful that now there at least two other types of AC in every market so I needed something new.
So what we decided to do was revisit those smokey bars back in San Diego, where we created most of the “Class” format because we knew there were a few more great ideas waiting for us at the bottom of a whiskey bottle.
Finally, after drinking more than our fair share of whiskey, the muses served us up a dandy, “Radio For Men.”
We realized that we’d been so successful targeting women that there was very little on the radio for men to listen to now.
The first thing we did was put a billboard up that featured the ladies’ restroom symbol, but just like the Ghostbusters logo, we circled and then drew a diagonal line through it.
The slug line read, “Radio For Men” begins (date) on 100.7 FM at 4:00 PM.
Then we put Reid on TV during the evening news sitting on a huge radio dial.
He began with, “Good evening, my name is Reid Reker, and I’m the General Manager of a Phoenix radio station, and I need to talk to the man of the house.”
Then he said, “Gentlemen, as you go up and down the dial, are you as tired of all that sleepy Barry Manilow music as I am?
Well, I’m not going to take it anymore because I don’t have to. So beginning this Monday at 4:00 PM, I’m turning 100.7 on the FM dial over to the men of Phoenix as we proudly present “Radio For Men.”
The radio station exploded right out of the box, and before the sun went down, the local media were at our front door.
Soon the national media, ET, People Magazine, and USA Today, were also all over us.
The Phoenix ladies were in an uproar because they thought it was against the law to do anything exclusively for men.
We, of course, counted on all the negative publicity to get the word out because we knew that the ladies wouldn’t be able to resist tuning into a radio station where they weren’t welcome.
Then, when the “NOW” organization marched on us, Reid and I did leaping high fives. Can you spell syndication, baby?
With this one in the bag, I left town to start putting our plan together to roll “Radio For Men” out nationally. It couldn’t fail.
Unbelievably, within hours, I got a call from Reid saying, “It’s over, man!” “What the hell do you mean it’s over,” I asked. Reid explained that the owners had pulled the plug, fearing women would begin boycotting the station’s clients.
Reid then said that the owners were ok with the programming; we just couldn’t call it Radio For Men.
“Reid,” I said, “You know as well as I do that nobody gives a shit about programming, they only care about the concept, and without the name, we’re just another boring radio station.”
Then, before disgustingly hanging up, I said, “I guess your management doesn’t buy into “The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward, huh Reid?”
Sex & Radio (a new geo Blog for July 17/17)
Back when I was first creating the “Class FM” format, I did so in hopes of attracting 30-year-old women to the radio. Knowing full well being a man that I wouldn’t get it perfect but what I got wrong would fill down to 25 and up to 35 nicely, so I went bar hopping hoping to find them. (hey somebody had to do the research) Much to my amazement, I found tons of 20 and 40-year-olds but very few 30-year-olds. It turns out they were working out at some fancy gym getting ready to have babies. Oh, and the reason they left the bars? They didn’t want to fall in love with an alcoholic.
A LITTLE MORE SEX AND EVEN SOME RADIO STUFF…
Is it true that women often talk about sex except until men show up?
My Blog is intended mostly for men, but the ladies are always welcome. However, I do recommend buckling up.
There comes a time in your life when the only women you want to impress are your daughters. Obviously, I’m not there yet.
Women are a hell of a lot easier to deal with when you don’t desire them.
Men don’t realize that once they commit to a woman, they’ve committed to her whole family.
If you do your radio show exclusively for the people, who don’t know who you are it won’t be long till they do.
Muses and demons alike whisper in the ears of the gifted, unfortunately, they use the same voice.
To be a “has been,” you have to have been “somebody.”
The only thing you need to pursue your dreams is courage.
The reason guns are popular is because the person who is holding one always has everyone’s attention.
Does your being an addict recovering or otherwise make you more or less tolerant of other users?
What does the FCC do?
A Man’s money lies where his heart is.
When did we get over our need to answer the phone?
The only telephones that get answered today are the ones that ring when you’re next in line at the counter.
He who controls the language also controls the budget, the agenda, and the outcome.
Persistence crushes talent.
Good talent does what the audience wants. Great talent knows better.
The worst thing about becoming #1 is you usually stop doing most of the things that got you there.
“Laughter” (new geo Blog for the week of July 10/17)
Neil Simon, (shown above) the great playwright, said a few things over the years that have managed to stick with me. Neil, of course, wrote some huge plays most of which were turned into movies such as, The Odd Couple, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Goodbye Girl and Laughter On The 23rd Floor to name but a few. “Laughter” was about the time when he was an intern writer working on a TV series called, “Your Show Of Shows,” which featured writers such as Sid Caeser, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, and Woody Allen and was always #1.Although most of Neil’s plays were humorous, he only used serious actors for the leads. He claimed that funny people were in too much of a hurry to get to the punch line whereas he felt that all of his words were equally as important.
It’s a hell of a lot easier to turn a programming concept into a sales tool than it is to get a listener interested in something that sales people need.
Does the consumption of alcohol change you or reveal who you really are?
What’s the sense of having power if you don’t abuse it?
My dream is to become as attractive as the Russian, Filipino, and the African girls on Facebook, claim I already am.
Striving and struggling come before success both in life and in the dictionary.
Feeling inadequate always drove me to become more than I could be.