Around 1971 the Canadian government told broadcasters at least 30 % of the music they played must be Canadian. I wonder if that put more or less Canadian music on the Winnipeg charts that were already jammed with Winnipeg acts like, The Guess Who, Neil Young, Terry Jacks, The Deverons, The Jury, Burton Cummings and Bachman Turner Overdrive.

Speaking of Winnipeg a bunch of us head back there in May for the CKY reunion and get to hook up with a few of the legends who introduced us to some great radio which changed a few of our lives. I doubt very much the sweatshirt that I so proudly wore back in the day still fits but the memories of wearing it still live on.

April 19th in Indy the new shorter version of Naptown Rock Radio Wars plays on Channel 20 at 9:00 PM.

It used to be that at least half the listening to a Radio Station was because some people were listening to their favorite Radio Personality. These days most Radio Stations are mostly systems so I wonder which system is the most popular.

Sales folks it seems have always possessed the innate ability it to always know what was going to happen before it happened. I have noticed though that they never tell us about it until after it happens.

Have you ever noticed that the only people who ever leave are the ones you don’t want to do so.

I think the reason Women don’t leave some of us a lot sooner may be because they haven’t yet found the new errand boy to do the “Honey Do” list.

A couple of weeks ago I was mentioning names you only have to hear once like Elvis, Wolfman Jack, Madonna, Scruff Conners, Bo Diddley, Wade Boggs, Tebow, Conway Twitty, Englebert Humperdinck, Fats Domino, Chubby Checker, Mick Jagger, Ringo Starr. Johnny Cash and Lady Ga Ga

Even if you’re not into it how can you resist reading your Horoscope on your Birthday.

Does it irritate you like it does me when a well thought out plan or idea gets shot down immediately by someone who has spent less than a minute thinking about it.

I’ve asked a few experts how I would go about making my Blog financially successful. A lot of them said to just put links to porn sites on it!

Doing your best or doing your worst never goes unnoticed.

We all kinda know what other people should do with their life it’s what we should do with our own that’s difficult to figure out.

Men are into what things are Women are into why they are that way so I guess our Government must be Feminine in nature.

Is it just me or have you noticed that more and more bartenders are saying that they are going off shift so would you mind settling up your tab and starting a new one with the next bartender. What’s up with that?

In 1966 Jim Hilliard invented a contest at WFIL called “Don’t Say Hello” which became so powerful the FCC figured out a way to stop it. I’ve figured out how to start it up again so let the games begin.

If the government takes credit for the recovery of the economy shouldn’t they also take credit for the failure.

It is so difficult to figure out what the people want to hear on the radio that by the time I get it all on to the best of my ability I’m out of time to get on what Sales, Management and the Personalities all want on the air.

Most of your peers will prevent you from doing something new and different on the Radio mainly because if it works they have no idea how the hell to also do it.

Why do people who have never made anybody laugh their whole life go on the air and tell jokes.

Anybody can sell tickets or time to a hit show it’s the people who can for a not so big deal that get my attention.

In show business “The Play” is the whole thing.

Speaking of show business radio is supposed to be a part of it but follows different rules so of course it has different results.

My Daughter Cami thinks mostly about today and tomorrow she rarely thinks about yesterday. When do you start thinking about yesterday I wonder … Could it be when you have more yesterdays than tomorrows?

http://www.georgejohns.com

I was mentioning in last weeks Blog that my Daughter Cami had recently starred in her own sweet 16 party where she went from a cute little duckling in the morning to a beautiful Swan that very same evening. She was also wearing feathers as you can see so they may have had something to do with the transformation. All I know is she looked beautiful and all I’m hoping is she didn’t become “Swan Like” a little too early in life.

Speaking of Cami I’ve already informed her that when she begins to date I will be demanding from whomever that they better treat her with total respect. I would also highly recommend that they bring her home at a decent hour even though I’ll probably still be up cleaning my gun. Oh and Cami a word to the wise, it’ll make it a lot easier on the guy if you deserve his respect.

Big Talk 8-50 recently made some programming changes which included moving some of the talk shows around. The changes of course were promoted very heavily for a couple of weeks. On day two of her new time slot I heard Joyce Kaufman say that she was getting tons and tons of e mails and texts asking where the hell she was the day before. Joyce laughingly said “Aren’t you people paying attention” Her comment reminded me of what I learned a long time ago, (I still have all the scars to prove it) a lot of people hear the radio but very few are really listening. But it does give us something to work towards though doesn’t it.

Talking about Radio and Radio folks I had lunch with Rich Stevens and Art Vuolo. I have always loved radio but compared to Art’s mine just turned out to be puppy love!

When I was in the 8th grade my baseball coach pointed out to centerfield with his bat where a bunch of pretty young things were hanging out and said, “You guys stay away from that stuff, they’ll ruin your baseball career” We didn’t know what the hell he was talking about but by the end of the season “we got it” and to this day I’m still not very good at baseball.

Now that Peyton Manning is a Bronco I see Elway handled the part where he promised Tebow that he was the starting QB going into camp this year by trading him to the Jets! So now it’s Tebow and the Jets and I’m thinkin’ they’re going to be more than a little dangerous in the red zone this year. All you Tebow haters better hope your team ain’t playing them.

Speaking of Sports I bet Peyton wins more football games than the Colts do this season.

As short as the stories are in USA Today they are all still much too long to read on the Radio.

Cyber Girl claimed that some people actually experience the wind at their back as they go through life. The rest of us feel like we’re walking into a Hurricane.

I recently saw a movie called Glory Road which was about The University Of Texas El Paso the first integrated Basketball team to compete in and win the NCAA Championship. They beat the University of Kentucky coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp back in the early 60s but the thing I don’t understand is how did Don Haskins the UTEP Coach manage to hand out College Scholarships to the kids he recruited from the streets of New York who never finished High School.

Having standards that are too high can only lead to one place. Legendary Status!

Ron Chapman reminded me that the last time gas prices were soaring I wrote that it was only to keep the riff raff away from the pumps. Hey, I think it’s working.

A friend of mine is going through a divorce pretty smoothly. I warned him that it could turn ugly at any moment depending on what his soon to be ex’s girlfriends were advising her and he needed to quickly get it in front of a Judge quickly before the lawyers steal them both blind.

Speaking of divorce I remember my old friend from Transcona Jim Quail telling me the reason we were divorced was because we could afford unlike a lot of our old buddies who are still back home trapped in prison.

I was telling Randy Michaels about a talk concept which was mostly based on the front page of the local newspaper. He advised some caution because he claimed most Newspapers aim their front page at the people who read it and we may not want their readers listening to our radio station.

The thing I like about advertising the most is it kills bad products. Mitt may want to rethink his current strategy.

The need for quality of sound seems to be disappearing. While I was young my speakers were huge and it took 3 guys just to lift one of my Macs. My daughter Cami on the other hand is quite happy listening to her favorite music on just her iphone.

At what age do you suppose I tell my Grandson Nathaniel that life is good and gets better the longer he can resist saying “I love you” to anybody other than family members.

Because of Facebook one of the most humbling things a man can do is to reconnect with some long lost lovers. You soon discover you weren’t as big a deal in their life as they were in yours. They definitely don’t have as many special memories of your time together as you do that’s for sure.

Young Women it seems spend a lot of time dreaming about the kind of life they want to live while on the other hand young men are already living theirs.

Doug Erickson has recently written some very kind words about me which is actually causing a few problems … My clients want to know when I’m going to show up with all that genius stuff Doug claims I have.

A couple of years ago I bought my Daughter the Hoody she wanted from Victoria’s Secret for Christmas. Now every month they send me their new catalog and it’s just like receiving Penthouse or Playboy in the mail and in fact I don’t dare even peek at it in mixed company.

Where is it written that Men are expected you to pick up the tab for women even when you’re not romantically involved with them. A lot of them claim they don’t have any money even though they appear to be doing a lot better than you are and of course are always sporting some good looking new High Heel Sneakers.

After many years of research I have figured out the bad girls only cost you hundreds but the good girls end up costing you never ending thousands and thousands. I did the math!

Hey if your going to be in Indy on April 19th to help Peyton Manning pack for Denver your in luck because Ch 20 is going to show the new shorter version of Dave Fulton’s Documentary/Movie “Naptown Rock Radio Wars”at 9pm. Congratulations to all my fellow Broadcast Warriors who have gone from Buzzard Boys to Movie Stars! http://youtu.be/BKZbReDv-DQ

Way back in the day when I started my brand new career in Radio as a rookie board op in Winnipeg I got lucky. It seems at the same time the British and American invasion of CKY was also underway and I was right in the middle of it. Now I’ve been told many times that luck is defined as the moment where preparation and opportunity meet. I still have no idea how or when I prepared for what followed but what I do know is I still use today what I learned back when this great picture was taken. Bottom row left to right Chuck Dann, (Riley) Jimmy Darin (Hilliard) Top row Phil Everly, Gary Todd, Don Everly, and Dean Scott. The funny thing about this picture is that even though it was taken in Winnipeg there is not a Canadian in it.

I have a theory that every woman at some point in her life has a shot at becoming a Swan. I do hope my Daughter Cami hasn’t peaked a little too early though because at her recent Sweet 16 party not only did she look like a beautiful Swan but she was also wearing feathers.

There is a lot more applause waiting for you when you turn out to be much better than you think or claim you are.

Can you imagine Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, TO, or Randy Moss ever hearing the words …. Hey you guys are even better than I heard you were.

Speaking of ‘Mello is it just me or did the Knicks start to lose it when he returned from an injury.

The PGA tour was in West Palm Beach a couple of weeks ago and it was up 64% over a year ago. There was only one reason for that and that reason was one man. How much money do you think they should pay Tiger.

Speaking of Tiger, even though he is not playing very good golf he is still largely responsible for the good life most of his fellow golf pros are living.

Half the population in the World never get lucky and on any given night the percentage even drops lower than that.

Being from Western Canada I’m not a real big fan of Quebec nor the folks who live there. But then again most of my favorite Hockey players like Rocket Richard, Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafluer, and Jacques Plante all played for the Montreal Canadiens so I guess I have made some allowances.

Red Auerbach claimed “9 out of 10 great Basketball Players will end their career ungraciously”

Speaking of Basketball It’s been a long hard road back for IU so it’s lucky that the guy who fired Bobby Knight a decade or so ago died because I’m sure by now the Hoosiers Alumni would have killed him.

Here in South Florida everybody was all excited when Miami traded Brandon Marshall to Chicago because they thought the Dolphins were making cap room for Manning. Turns out Marshall punched out some woman at a party over the weekend and the owner Steve Ross wanted him gone.

I wonder why most cars have cruise control in them, does anybody ever ask for it let alone use it.

Why do the worst sounding commercials always seem to be the easiest to sell.

I wonder it it’s even possible to go from nothing to something anymore in America.

Every time I hear the old Seger song “Against The Wind” it reminds me that as we go through life we are always going slightly against the wind. When your young you don’t even notice it and if you do it only feels like a very nice soft cooling breeze. As time marches on it seems to pick up a little speed and at some point in your life you are so tired of it you just want to yell … Would somebody please turn off the f**king wind machine.

In the World of “there are no rewards or punishments only consequences” the consequence of good programming is good ratings.

Speaking of ratings they have nothing to do with your need for them just your deserving of them.

In the good ol’ diary days we used to pound the call letters at the audience over and over. The rule was the first and last thing out of your mouth were always the call letters. What a waste of time that all was and the only thing we accomplished was to probably irritate our biggest fans who already know who we were. It’s like introducing yourself to your best friend over and over again. The final insult was that after all that pounding they only wrote down the dial position anyway.

Have you ever noticed how easy Mr. Business Man is to work with when he is frightened. Can you say … Mr. Cooperation!

Speaking of cooperation it seems to me that the people who are overly cooperative at the radio station always seem to lack an abundance of real talent.

I think getting listeners is much tougher than getting clients. Can you tell by how fair and balanced I am that I’m a programming guy.

Speaking of sales the rules of what is acceptable to their good taste on air always seem to change depending mostly on the size of the order.

A woman saying “I don’t like you like that anymore but we can still be friends” doesn’t work for me. Not enough cheese in that tunnel for me to continue to be her errand boy thats for sure.

I have always said there are two George Johns one with my Daughters and one without. The only question I have is which one is the real one. Hey don’t be looking at me I have no idea!

My research on the wants and needs of women continues and I may be getting a little closer to a little truth but they still seem a little reluctant to serve it up to me so I may need to serve them up to them larger portions of the truth serum. I just have to make sure I don’t end up using too much of it on myself because it then becomes very difficult then for me to stay focused on radio research instead of what I really want to ask.

Jo Myers told me that she used to voice track some radio shows in Denver so when she got home one day after just doing so, her Son informed her that Michael Jackson had just died. She immediately jumped into her car and went back to the Station to recut all her voice tracks. It took Whitney Houston’s death to show us that mostly what we have left now in Radio are a bunch of whiny wimps waiting to be told what to do. Sad!

I hear the Drug Company that owns and makes OxiContin supports the upcoming ban on its production. I wouldn’t think the fact that they have already made millions and millions plus their patent on it runs out 2013 which prevents any other company from manufacturing it has anything to do with their decision do you. What’s that you say … They have a brand new product with a brand new patent ready to come out called OxvNeo. Sweet!

I wonder if doing the Christmas Music thing is worth it anymore. Back when we had rolling averages it could get you a nice bump for a few months and you could make a little money with the improved ratings. Now Arbitron isolates the results so sales doesn’t even get to sell it. Then the ratings tumble when Christmas is over which demoralizes everybody. So what’s it all about Alfie!

Seeing as the economy is terrible and a lot of people are out of work not to mention gas prices are once again on the rise and predicted to soar maybe we should try something else. How about this time around Mr. Business Man is given all the rules and the rest of us have none.

Speaking of Mr. Business Man, I wonder if he is smart enough to give Jeremy Lin a raise right now since in a few weeks not only does he have the Knicks rolling but the worth of the team has gone up by several million. I know I wouldn’t want Jeremy bummed at this moment.

The way I figure it they are still printing the same amount of money everyday. The problem is It’s just going to fewer people.

How is Bobby Brown escaping the wrath of the people. I hear nothing about him and I definitely think he would be the perfect poster child for the type of man you warn your children about.

My Brother Reg is having a Birthday this week and now when I do the math he is actually gaining on me or I conveniently missed a couple of my own Birthdays.

Have you ever noticed when a celebrity is asked an embarrassing question they always answer with swear words so they cant be quoted. I bet politicians wish they could do the same but unfortunately for them their answer would become the bigger story.

Speaking of celebrities you would think they would all be a little tougher skinned by now. Hell you’re never anybody if you dont have almost as many people hating you as loving you. Just getting them to know your name is the hard part.

Speaking of folks disliking you … If you had a 10 share with your radio station that would probably make you #1 in most markets in America but would still mean 90% of the folks don’t like you enough to even listen to you for a few moments. Hard to believe a radio personality could develop a large ego from those kinds of facts.

I wonder what “Mello” thinks about the fact the Jeremy Lin’s shirt is out selling his 10 to 1 plus he’s been on the cover of Sports Illustrated two weeks running now.

Speaking of Jeremy he sure is handling his fame a lot better than some of those gangsters he plays with.

The thing I have difficulty doing is calming myself when I see brake lights come on at a green light.

I was sitting at Duffy’s the other day overhearing a conversation some folks were having about a young woman they knew who had recently committed suicide. They went on to say how terrible it was especially coming on the heels of her Brother who was a skin head Nazi being sent to prison for some horrendous hate crime he had committed not long ago.They wondered how much more of this kinda stuff could the family take. My only thought was I for one would be kinda scared to meet that family.

I think for at least once in their life every woman becomes a Swan. When my wife Lana and I first started dating she wasn’t the prettiest girl in School but when she was in her early forties we went back to our High School Reunion and she blew the School away.

Sometimes I just have to give thanks for not being as stupid as I appear to be.

It takes falling in love for men to understand what life is all about. Once in love his worries about life will be over because his partner will be giving him daily updates about things he never even thought about let alone cared about before.

I was listening to Troy Stradford on 6-40 Sports and heard him say if you ever get the chance to sit down with a Pro Football Coach within 30 minutes you will realize you don’t know anything about football.

A lot of times the person who doesn’t appear to be very powerful is the most powerful of all.

While visiting Reid Reker in Vegas recently I asked Vinny the bartender at the Wynn what kind of money the cocktail waitresses made. He said their base was $12 an hour but they got to keep their own tips. Just then a very beautiful one walked by and I asked him what she made and he said … Somewhere between 80 and 90 grand a year.

Speaking of Bars, Booze and Broads, I’m thinkin’ if women were as really much fun as they are when they’re drinking there would be fewer alcoholics in the World.

If you aren’t doing what you love to do on the radio you’re probably not very good at it … Right, Barsky!

Well Saturday Cami has her Sweet 16 party which I understand is going to be somewhere between 100 and 150 people. Wish me well!

http://www.georgejohns.com

As you can see my one on one research projects are continuing but I think I should be ready anyway for my presentation at our annual “Confab In The Desert” which is held in Palm Springs each year around this time. I plan on making a very spirited presentation this year to Gordon Zlot, Tom Skinner, Brent Farris and John Lund which will be fueled by the excellent Mojitos Tom mixes up so nicely each year. I wonder if I should bring Dessert.

One of the things I found out about Women from Women is when they fall in love their friends can no longer count on them because they just seem to disappear. On the other hand it’s very hard to figure out when a Man is in love other than when you hear a rumor that he got married so he must be huh!

There is a “Gay” rumor going around about Tebow’s college days. Barsky claims that rumors like that only get started because when you’re going to college and someone is better lookin’ than you are, you feel compelled to point out the obvious to the young ladies … He’s gotta be Gay!

Speaking of Barsky I heard him claim on Big Talk 8-50 the other day that the Nation’s debt could be wiped out in an instant if Hookers and Pot dealers just paid taxes.

I have learned that Teens seldom use e mail anymore and mainly it’s just we old timers that do. Damn and I was feeling so up to date.

PPM devices always find the “Hot” stations so if that doesn’t describe your station you better go looking for them. Good luck though there’s not a lot of ’em out there.

Have you ever been walking down the street thinking about nothing when out of the blue the perfect solution to a big problem you’ve been having pops into your head. Have you ever been happier than you are at that moment and did you feel the need to find somebody to share it with. I would venture that the pursuit of happiness is really just the pursuit of truth.

I sure agree with this statement. “Life is lived forwards but can only be truly understood backwards”

When you first hear a name like Boz Scaggs, Buster Bodine, Boomer Dinkins, Jo Jo Kincaid, Buzz Barnett, Booger Mathews, Moto Groove, Fast Freddy Fever, Shotgun Tom, Cat Simon, The Magic Christian, Delilah, Austin in Boston, Burger Jeff, Raccoon Carney, Panama Jack Crabbe, Psycho Billy Cadillac, Major Tom, Billy Raven, Johnny Dark, etc. Do you ever forget it, especially if they sound anything at all like their name.

Last week the “Honda Classic” here in South Florida was up 64% over last year because of one man. That man was Tiger of course so the question is how much should that one man band make do you suppose.

Rich Stevens said he saw a homeless guy with a sign on the corner and as he got closer to him and was about to give him some money he noticed the sign read … “This Could Be You” so Rich held on to his money just in case.

Well this has gotta be a first for Radio! Rush wont let a client called Sleep Train back on his show after they cancelled. I guess now you can say he cancelled them.

I wonder if the folks in Indy understand or care that the dropping of Peyton Manning was just a good business decision. All they know is their hero is gone.

Only close family gives you unconditional love. The only love you can ever hope for from clients or listeners even in the best of times is very conditional.

Back in the day when WIBC AM in Indianapolis was living in an FM world but ratings wise beat the next two radio stations combined we had a very neat system we used for commercials. The production department labeled each and every commercial with an A, B, or C code. A’s were great sounding spots, B’s were good and C’s were just OK and we didn’t run any D’s. We started each stop set with an A. In oversold conditions we started pulling the C’s off the air and replacing them with A’s. What a silly system eh!

Bob Christy claims because he had a similar operation to Peyton Manning’s so he knows first hand that under ideal conditions the nerves grow back into the arm only an inch a month. Peyton had his last operation September 11 … Do the Math!

In Massachusetts it’s against the law not to have a balanced budget. Just sayin’ …

Someone once told me before you make an important decision about anything you should do a good and a bad list about the matter at hand. Once done the decision becomes a whole lot simpler … Still no contest with sales folks for me but I’ll try doing the list again next year. I promise Barry. (Smith & O’Brien)

Big Bad Bobby Cole is Back in the City by the Bay Bangin’ it out Baby! http://youtu.be/bKYBQe7Dahk