Still California Dreamin’ (new geo blog for August 15/16)

Download PDF

10175002_10154435521989307_1288194006153308357_n-1

I just got back from California where amongst other things I got to spend a few days with my mentor Jim Hilliard in San Jose. Whenever I visit with Jim he always wants to discuss August 03 1981 which he claims is the day which will go down in history as the day I screwed him. He also especially likes to introduce me around to his new friends which gives him the opportunity to retell the story once again. I guess at that time I must have been going through the mid-life crazies or something because August 03 of ’81 was the day I left my job at Fairbanks Broadcasting in Indy where I was V/P Programming and moved to California. 
As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, my love affair with California began while growing up watching the Rose Bowl where I remember being very envious of the folks sitting in the stands wearing nothing but shorts and t-shirts while I was stuck inside watching it on TV because it was 35 below outside. (see picture above of this years winning Rose Bowl float which my daughter Candis helped create) Every year as I watched the Rose Bowl parade and the game I chanted … Someday, someday I’m gonna live in California man!
Years later I woke up one morning with this thought running through my head … If not now when! Shortly thereafter I moved to San Diego where I started working at KOGO/KPRI and in exchange for them not paying me very much they gave me Fridays off which enabled me to start my own consulting company. Before long I was making more money on Fridays than the rest of the week so eventually it made sense to leave. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it my consulting business became so large that I spent most of my time on the road and as I look back I realize that I lived on the road and not in California. In fact I still don’t.
 
OTHER POLITICALLY INCORRECT STUFF I’M THINKING ABOUT
 
So would a white person feel more welcome in a African American, Hispanic or Muslim bar (work with me) or them in a mostly white bar?  
 
The only thing that prevents a news person from stumbling is shorter stories.
 
Have you noticed that “Bitch” seems to have lost its gender.
 
The only thing that small children and drunks have in common is they always tell the truth.
 
When did girls stop cooking like their mothers and start drinking like their fathers.
 
Politicians are just like lawyers … On the job they fight like cats and dogs but when the day is done they all hang out in bars together. Wait a minute they too are lawyers.
 
My good friend Tim Moore wisely wrote the other day that success has many fathers but failure is an orphan.
 
You are at your best and learning the most when you’re a little bit frightened.
 
You learn the most when you’re at your worst. 
 
There are many reasons why you shouldn’t do something but it only takes one good one to make you do it.
 
The way I figure it is if 40% of Americans are Democrats and 40% are Republicans they are gonna vote for whomever their party nominates so the real power in America lies with the remaining 20%.
 
I wonder what the American women think about the fact that Bill tired of coming home to Hillary long ago.
 
I wonder why Trump keeps making shocking statements because if it’s still a tight race on election day the folks last minute will be afraid to vote for him.
 
Why would anybody think a liberal’s view of Trump or a conservative’s view of Hillary be of interest to anybody.
 
The phrases “far out and right on” have gone by the wayside with “at the end of the day and back in the day” beginning to fade. “Awesome” though continues to hang in there but how long do you suppose “Crazy” will last or did they already burn it out on The Voice.
 
Speaking of crazy I think Bernie should run as an independent in November which would make everybody crazy.
 
Why do all the candidates talk to the middle class when they’re campaigning but only help the rich and the poor once elected.
 
The reason the word “no” is so popular is because after it’s uttered nobody has to do anything.
 
Even though I really dislike the word “no”, other words that are right up there with it are … George what you don’t understand is…
 
Seeing as 73% of Americans are some form of passive and probably looking for someone to tell them what to do, I would act like a benevolent dictator on the radio.
 
Every time I go to California the gas prices are anywhere from 80 cents to a buck and a half more than the rest of the country. Recently I heard that they are finally investigating it and have found that besides excessive taxes the oil companies are shipping gas from there to other countries creating a false shortage in California which of course drives the price up.
 
America seems to be in a survival mode which was confirmed at the Indy 500 this year when the winner who was just trying to survive won the race.
 
The line of the week goes to Sue Bonzell who in response to a relationship question put forth by Brent Farris on KZST said … I’ve been around the block so many times that they’re starting to name streets after me.
 
Absolutely nothing can stop a great idea.
 
It’s never too late to become somebody.
 
America won’t start to come together until we stop using the words black & white.
 
The most difficult person in the world to defeat is the one who never stops trying to beat you.
 

Things tend to turn out rather well for the folks who know exactly how they want them to turn out.

 

I just love how our Olympic swimmer the not so politically correct Lilly King finger wagged her Russian opponent who was accused of doping right after she trounced her.

Much more at GeorgeJohns.com and on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio

 

 

 

12 thoughts on “Still California Dreamin’ (new geo blog for August 15/16)

  1. George, I wonder how large the legion of Northerners who while watching the Rose Bowl decided to change their life and move to California?

    Fortunately with TM Companies I made many trips there and with each passing one I’ve sensed it was not meant to be. I sure relate to your decision in ’81.

    TM

    • In 1966 Jack Kent Cooke brought NHL hockey to LA because he discovered there were a million Canadians living the dream there. Unfortunately he never realized he said that the main reason most of them moved to LA was to escape hockey.

  2. Just back from a stay in the Appalachians where hillbillies still run wild and a yankee should feel just as unwelcome in an all white honky tonk as any other ethnic bar.
    If I said a neighbor across the river enjoyed firing his gun at sunset every evening, would you think I was in the mountains, Harlem or East LA??

      • Since you veered into the topic – Like many others, I tend to lean liberal on certain things and conservative on others such as immigration and being able to show proof of citizenship when you vote. Modern times dictate a change to existing laws. Likewise, convicted felons and mentally unstable individuals are already prohibited by law from owning firearms. Yet, they can puchase one online or at a gun show without scrutiny. Is it too PC to expect loop holes like that to be closed? And, why is it we only hear conservatives using the phrase “take away everybody’s guns” when it’s those damn hippie liberals who supposedly really want that?

        • For me Ken like you I’m left on some issues and right on others but for the life of me I can’t figure out what the left or the right side is on most issues. Who decides I wonder?

          • The media?
            If Fox News, MSNBC, the “liberal media” and right-wing radio didn’t exist, would individuals still possess enough common sense in this day and age to make their own decisions? Or, have we all become so polarized by what we see and hear that we’re now dependant upon extremists from both sides to tell us what is right or wrong – left or right?? I believe we’re witnessing an unprecedented dumbing down of America. You only have to scan the crowds at a Trump speech to see mostly baffoons you wouldn’t trust living next door; listen to the Bernie people now and you’ll hear a lot of idiots who can’t think for themselves since he was eliminated from the race. It used to seem as though only third-world countries were incapable of critical thinking. Could that be where we’re headed?

          • I don’t think Ken that Air America or Rush converted one person. Radio is used as an entertainment device and the moment it is not it fails. A lot of people were told by there parents what political party they were gonna vote for when they grew up. Them I don’t understand.

  3. George, other than Howard Miller (WCFL-AM / WIND-AM) in the 1960s whom usually was on the top of the heap in Chicago, perhaps the closest thing to a benevolent dictator on the radio was, at least to my ears, Ron Chapman, who always seems to be more in-charge even when things were unsettled. Do you have any other candidates than Ron whom fully fit that description ? Rush Limbaugh is a dictator on-the-air in the same way as Joe Pyne (KABC) and Pyne’s understudy, Bob Grant (WMCA / WABC), but Rush is not really benevolent or accepting.

    • Most great morning men Jed had leadership quality, very few were passive so they were naturally pretty aggressive. The smart ones always acted nice though so they always did the best. Ron was definitely a champion of women which came through on the air, they trusted him and did whatever he wanted them to do. He wanted them to write his name down in the ARB diary along with the name of the radio station he worked at and they did.

Leave a Reply to Jed Duvall Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *