Geo’s Media Blog (Help!) 4/13/20

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One of my proudest accomplishments was finishing the LA Marathon with my daughter, Candis when she was a student at UCLA. (pictured above running a 10k together) One day while doing a training run on the UCLA campus, I was amazed to see a sports arena named after a coach who at the time, legendary basketball coach John Wooden.
When Candis asked me who he was, I told her that he coached the UCLA Bruins for 12 years and that during his tenure, not only did he win the NCAA Basketball Championship 10 times, he did it for seven years in a row.

Not only did Mr. Wooden coach Championship basketball teams, but he also coached two of the world’s best basketball players, Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
Bill Walton, who was a “long hair” remembers well, meeting with Coach Wooden for the first time. He was explaining to the coach that his long hair was essential to him because it showed that he opposed the Viet Nam War. Surprisingly, Coach Wooden said that not only did he understood, but he believed that Bill had the right to protest the war in any fashion he chose to do so. Unfortunately, though, he went on to say, “He wouldn’t be doing it as a UCLA Bruin.” Bill showed up at practice the next day as a “short hair.”

Kareem Jabbar (shown on top with Coach Wooden) also remembered his first meeting at UCLA with his new Coach. He was in the Bruins locker room lacing up his shoes for practice when he heard, “No no no, you don’t lace them up like that.” The next thing he knew the coach was lacing them up for him and saying as he did so, “This is how you lace them up so you don’t get blisters, lots of athletes can still play with a pulled hamstring, but nobody can play with a blister.”

To this day, and even though they have had many coaches on their way to the Hall of Fame, Kareem and Bill only refer to one man as “Coach.” Another Hall of Famer, John Wooden. 

THANK YOU!
Who helped you? Well, a lot of people helped me, so it’s about time I thanked them. Here’s to Peter Proskurnik, Rolly Blaquire, Terry Kenny, Bruce Walker, Mark Parr, Jimmy Darin, Chuck Dann, Daryl ‘B’, Gary Russell, George Dawes, Woody Cooper, George Lund, Keith Dancy, Ted Rogers, Roger Klein, Joel Thompson, Keith Elshaw, Doc Harris, J Robert Wood, Ted Randal, Hugh Heller, Jim Hilliard, Dick Yancey, Sharon Henwood, Cris Conner, Ron Chapman, Jerry Bobo, Russ Morley, Jack McCoy, Tom, and Ed Shadek, Reid Reker, Reg Johns, Jim West, Bill Yde, Frank Osborne, Bob Christy, Bill Gardner, Linda Duffy, Bobby Cole, Bruce Buchanan, Jim Harper, Jamie Gold, Mark Hubbard, Jason Williams, Rollye James, Tim Reever, Tom Hoyt, Joe Amaturo, Betsy Cameron, Barry Smith, Gordon Zlot, Tom Skinner, Brent Farris, and of course my whole family.
I have no words that could even come close to showing them my appreciation so I’ll just go with a simple thank you.

GEO’S LIFE-LINES

One of the things that radio does the best is to make people and places famous. Unfortunately, we don’t get paid for doing so. 

Only arithmetic and the truth are absolute.

Nothing worthwhile ever comes easy.

I wish all the celebrities who like talking politics would go on tour and just talk politics. How many tickets do you suppose they would sell?

I always liked the fact that when you got married, the bride changed her name to yours until I had daughters.

There is nothing more frightening than our imagination.

How do they convince a Jr Senator that we should stay in the desert and give away free money to countries that hate us?

Most women aren’t interesting enough for us to spend the whole night.

There are two types of people, those who believe that things will turn out good and those who don’t.

How come in these trying times China’s economy is ok and ours is in turmoil?

So the world’s worst BFF, Linda Tripp died huh?

COMMENTS

Norm Wilkens: You should know that I keep a lot of your “sayings” for future reference. Keep it up. (Comments)

Orly Knutson: Indy was some of the best years of my life!!! I will never forget them!! Let’s do it again!!! (The Great Gift)

Asher Benrubi: A couple of rockin’ tunes George!  That was the sound of the day!  “Not Guilty” could be a modern-day TV or movie theme song. Nice. (The Jury)

Dick Yancey: One of the fun things about selling a Fairbanks promotion is the wild claims we would make to the client. (Who Do Sales & Engineering Answer To?)

Geo: My favorite sales call was one I made with you, Dick. We’d come up with a new promotion in Indy called the “Magic Ticket,” and I went with you for the first pitch.
My role was to answer any programming questions that may come up and the salesperson you brought along who would service the account should we be successful. However, you told him to keep his mouth shut because, as you said, “We’re gonna ask for big money so it can’t look like this is our first big money Rodeo.”
The produced presentation claimed that WIBC was going to offer over a hundred thousand dollars in cash and prizes and when it ended, the owner said, “Well, I’m guessing that this “Magic Ticket” of yours is going to cost us about a hundred thousand dollars?” You quickly responded with, “Nope, only seventy-five,” and I’m pretty sure that was the first that you decided what the price was?

Dale Heath: I think maybe John was only pretending that he believed Yoko could sing? 🙂 (Q U)

Dave Martin: Bravos, George. Thank you. You have, as ever, provided a lucid theory of the case. Please let me suggest the obvious (always the hardest thing to see since it hides in plain sight): winners respect and are obsessed with the fundamentals. Winning involves the cumulative effect of essential details (e.g., superior blocking and tackling, prowess at the free-throw line).
My sense is what we have here is a leadership problem, a continuing failure of imagination. The excellent news – as you have taught us – is competing against luck remains relatively unaffected. Hard work, audacity, resilience, and having fun on the radio continues to produce incredible results. Allow me to add … today is not a dress rehearsal. Again, thanks for the inspiration, George. All the best. (Nuthin’ On But The Radio)

Bill, aka Whiskey Sour: Johnny Cash was in Winnipeg in April of ’67 at the location just back of The Bay, forget the name of that theatre.  He was so drugged up he could barely stand, the only thing holding him up was the mike stand, but he still put on a hell of a show.  A friend that worked in a dentist’s office in the Peg said he had been in with a toothache and looking for some meds……!  Not sure if that was the same date you opened for him or not? Cheers. (Specificity)

Geo: That was the same date, Bill. It was also the tour that June Carter moved into Johnny’s suite and appointed herself the leader of the band. When she started telling the Statler Brothers how she wanted them to sing, they used the ‘C’ word to describe her.

Craig Walker: George,
How can some things be so clearly true and, at the same time, so hugely ignored? Good morning radio isn’t a science. It’s an art. (Nuthin’OnButThe Radio)

Geo: Wow, Craig Walker, legendary morning man from K103 in Portland, checks in with the truth. 

Moto: The best Kevin Metheny, story ever was when he was so richly introduced to the WNAP staff, and after he’d thoroughly explained his job and position, Smash looked at him and said, “Now, exactly what is it that you do?” (Women)

Bill Johnson: Yancey bullshitted you – he never offered my team a 35% raise to work on Saturdays – we were so greedy, we all would have been there. Also, I think most of the sales staff at NAP worked weekends anyway – entertaining clients. (Radio Royalty)

Geo: Yeh, I remember entertaining potential clients on the weekend too, Bill. Sure glad that we had some trade at all those bars in Indy.

Geo’s Media Blog is an inside look at Radio, Music, Movies, and Life. For a sneak peek at some upcoming Blogs or to see some that you may have missed, go to Geo’s Media Blog @ GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting is appreciated.

 

2 thoughts on “Geo’s Media Blog (Help!) 4/13/20

  1. Thank You for helping me see the real imagination and influence of radio from the first letter you forget you wrote to me, to the days I spend with you in San Diego at KOGO, to the days WRMF where we ruled every rating book. Now it’s the Happy Hour conversations. Thanks for the journey, George!

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