I spent last weekend in Chicago with my old friend and colleague Ron Chapman. The reason we were there was because Ron was going to be inducted into the Radio Hall Of Fame and I had the honor of inducting him.
We had a lot of catching up to do as it had been some time since we had seen each other. One of the funnier stories Ron and I talked about was the time he discovered one can sometimes be too alert and even over prepared. Doing a morning show on KVIL required an early wake up call each day so Ron would try to grab a short nap at home every afternoon. He had a little hide away room in his home where he could sleep undisturbed. His wife Nance knew that the only thing he could be awakened for was if the press was calling.

Ron like me believed the only reason you do promotions on a Radio Station is to excite the air talent and cause some talk in the market place. Now if you could also get a little press coverage you were golden. One afternoon Nance startled him awake with the words USA Today was on the phone. Ron jumped up and excitedly shook himself alert, of all the press coverage he has gotten he has never spoken with USA Today so this was big. With his best rich Radio voice he said … Ron Chapman here! The person on the other end of the phone said Mr. Chapman this is Bill Tillman of USA Today and the reason I’m calling you this afternoon is to let you know that we have an exciting special on home delivery running all this week……

Saturday night I had the honor and privilege on National TV of inducting Ron into the Radio Hall Of Fame where I was allotted 90 seconds to get the job done. Hell even if I had been given 90 minutes I don’t think I could have managed to get just the highlights of his career in. To do Ron justice would have taken me 90 hours or more but nevertheless I thought I would share with you what I did say:

There are three types of people who talk on the Radio
The Gifted, The Creative and All The Rest.
I Met Ron Chapman for the first time in 1973 when the
company I worked for as the national PD purchased the station
where Ron worked. Being a newly arrived “legal alien” from
Canada I had never heard of Ron nor had he of me. I had no
Idea that he was once Harrigan of Charlie and Harrigan fame
on KLIF … Hell I’d never even heard of KLIF

It didn’t take me long to figure out how rare and special
Ron was. Not only is he gifted but he is also very creative.
I knew shortly after meeting him we were going to make
magic on the Radio together and magical it was as we
launched America’s first ever Adult Contemporary Radio
Station which Ron quickly took to #1 KVIL became so
huge it ended up being the darling of the whole Radio
industry. Ron’s brilliance as a programmer was surpassed
only by his genius as a Morning Talent magnificently
performing what we called “A Musical Talk Show”
I’ve always believed that great Morning Men are great story
tellers and their fans love to tell stories about them. To this
day Ron’s fans in Dallas are still telling legendary stories
about him

(They Had A Video Presentation of Ron’s Career Here)

When Ronald Reagen decided to run for a second term he
chose Dallas to make his announcement. Ron had the
privilege and honor that day of saying ” Ladies and
Gentlemen I give you the next President of the United States
… Ronald Reagen! Tonight I have the privilege and honor of
saying … Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the next inductee
into the Radio Hall Of Fame … Ron Chapman!

A few days ago I had a message on Facebook from a beautiful young Woman by the name of Angel Nieves. She claimed she had spent a lot of time checking me out both on my timeline and my Blog. I it seems was the type of guy she would be very interested in having a long term relationship with.
She went on to list all stuff she liked to do with the Man of her dreams like romantic walks on the beach, dinning out, going for long drives, travel, drinking champagne in a hot tub, etc.etc. I told her I also loved doing all that and in fact do it quite often now with somebody very special. That’s nice was her only response.
I was a little surprised when a couple of days later I got a message from Angel asking if I could send her $80.00 right away. Seems she had left her purse on the bus and had no money, she went on to say that her and her young Daughter hadn’t eaten for a while. When I didn’t respond I got a two part erotic e mail describing what she was going to do to me when we met. I got a little suspicious at that point because some of the graphic words she used in describing this meeting are seldom used by Women. Attached to the e mail were also some photos.(pictured) I’m not much of a breast man but all I can say is Wow! The next message I received listed an address in Lancaster PA where she needed me to send the money. When I checked out the address the only person who lived there surprise surprise was a 50 something Puerto Rican guy who had the same name as hers. Can you say scam! (Which is what the Hunny Bunny suspected all along) Linda Duffy said when you look like her you have no need for money.

The 3 words Women most love to hear are “You Were Right” Those words are already on the Hunny Bunny’s voice mail as I write this(see above)

Oh Oh another one from Facebook by the name of Clara Suzzie is on me now. Sounds like a name borrowed from a John Steinbeck novel. Clara stepped up there … She needs $1300 so it didn’t take long for the naughty photos to show up. I noticed on one of the photos a small portion of a face was showing but it didn’t match the face she was using on her facebook page. The language like Angel’s was also rougher than you would expect from a woman, so ya gotta ask your self. Is She really a He?

I think the election was more about a vote against Mitt Romney than a vote for Obama. How can anybody be for more of this.

After hearing someone claim they thought he was lucky, Frank Sinatra said … Luck is only important in helping to set up the right moment to sell yourself. After that you better have some talent and know how to use it.

So Jennifer Suma Randall asked, “What was the worst thing you ever heard that turned out later to be great”. Easy one for me. Several weeks after breaking up with the Woman I was engaged to told me she was pregnant. What! Now I can’t imagine even for a minute how I would have lived the last 17 years without Cami in my life.

You don’t have to respect every one’s beliefs you just have to acknowledge them.

Bobby Cole added … Don’t believe everything you think.

What you think and what you know are light years apart.

Men are very visual what part about that don’t Women get. We pray you have a nice personality and are also a decent human being.

Now that they are playing Christmas Music on the Radio I guess its a little too late to take down my outdoor Xmas lights.

Ron Chapman (soon to be inducted into the Radio Hall Of Fame) told me that he gets about 80 e mails a day which he deletes one at a time till he comes across one that appears to be interesting. He hits print and continues on down the list looking for more which at some point he takes them to the appropriate place where he can sit down and read them.

I think the reason a lot of older folks take up reading the Bible again is because they are cramming for their final exam.

Sometimes when I look around at my life I feel I must just be part of a reality series they are shooting using hidden Cameras.

The difficult thing for a Woman to understand is when she falls in love with an Artist it’s never going to be about her … It’s always about the Artist!

The way it works in Show Biz is the Host wins not the sidekick!

I have found that great people who do great things are usually not so great to handle.

What makes me strong is proving over and over I’m not as weak as I appear to be.

Radio has to start improving the way it presents commercials by making them more palatable. The only way to do that is make them as good as the Super Bowl commercials are or embed them.

Can you imagine how many companies would kill to have their product consumed by 95% of the population like ours is.

Gifted people waste a lot of their time worrying about what they are going to do if they lose their gift. Creative people just get back to creating.

Fame unveils who you really were all along.

You don’t get rich working for someone else.

You don’t have any shot at getting what you want if you don’t ask for it.

Making a Radio sales promotion sound like a programming promotion is a work of art.

People no longer look at the Radio when they are listening to it but a great personality can make them do so.

Seventeen years ago today I received a very special gift which I get to enjoy even now. This precious gift was somewhat similar to one I had been presented with some 28 years before but this time I had a much better idea of what to do with it.The gift I am referring to was the the birth of my Daughter Camera Anne Johns Summerfield on November 06 1995. Her birth like her sister’s changed my life. When Candis Cami’s sister was born she was involved in a very long and difficult delivery which left her little banged up and battered looking. I was also expecting a Son so the whole experience for me was one shock after another. Cami on the other hand looked nearly as perfect then as she does now nor was she a surprise, I knew for sometime she was on her way.
The Doctors had decided to do a C-section as Cami wasn’t cooperating. She seemed quite content to stay right where she was but eventually she had a smooth arrival which unlike Candis left her totally unmarked so she just looked beautiful.
I was hanging out near the delivery room door at the moment of her birth so I got to hear her loudly protesting as she resisted leaving where she had been living for the past 9 months. I had the right to be in the birthing room but Cami’s Mother Kari and I were having our problems so I wisely decided not to be in there. To be perfectly honest I didn’t think I would have made it out alive.
Recalling the births of my Daughters always brings a smile to my face as I think about the wonderful memories they have given me and in fact the mere mention of their names always causes me to swell up with pride. A good friend of mine once suggested I should change my name to George “ask me about my daughters” Johns. Surprisingly they are not much alike even though Cami since she was a little girl looked a lot like she could have been Candis’ Daughter. Hell even Reid Reker who was the first person to see her other than family said … George if I were you I would cancel the blood test your lawyer wants you to get because if I’m not mistaken that baby over there is either Candis, your Brother Reg’s, or yours. Don’t embarrass yourself! OK so back to Candis & Cami again. Candis is very out going and also very talkative where as Cami is a little more on the reserved side and kinda quiet. Cami appears a little shy but I’ve noticed that Johns rage smoldering in the back of her eyes and even though I have never seen it I hear her Mother and a few select others have, so I wouldn’t advise crossing her. What Cami and Candis do have in common though and I’m very proud of it is … They are both brilliant!
On this very day 17 years ago when they brought Cami to me she was about 5 minutes old. She was still screaming her lungs out in protest as I took her from the nurse and eased myself down into the provided rocking chair. I gently stroked her hair and kissed her forehead as I introduced myself and told her all would soon be better. I told her my job as her Father was to protect her from all evil for as long as I was able to. I gently ran my hands through her silky baby hair as I told her how much I loved her. I will never forget the sweet baby smell of her. As I continued to murmur sweet nothings in her ear she slowly started to calm down and thus began our 17 year relationship.
During her first two years I got to be with her for an hour or so almost everyday at lunch time but first I had to quickly learn how to feed, change, and burp her. Back in the day Fathers didn’t do that kinda thing much.
Cami and I have enjoyed doing a lot of fun things together through the years and I have especially enjoyed watching her grow into the beautiful intelligent young lady she is today. I got to attend many a opening night as she performed in various plays and musicals over the years not to mention all the extra curricular activities she was involved in as she was growing up that demanded my attendance also. Seeing her grow up has been wonderful experience for me and you can only imagine the thrill I get every time I discover a little of me in her. Ahhh, so this is how immortality works! 
Our 17 year journey began with her calling me Da Da first then moving to Daddy and on to Dad then finally Dude. She is now back calling me Daddy again which is my all time favorite ever since her late Grandmother Maggie informed me that any man can be a Father but it takes a hell of a Man to be a Daddy. 
Cami and I have also traveled to many fun places together over the years but I think our favorite has to be our yearly summer trek to California as we visited my side of the family. The only thing I’m sorta sad about now though is this part of our life is coming to a close. She will be finished with her high school honors program soon and be heading off to college.
I can not believe it’s already her birthday again today. It seems like only a couple of weeks ago she was dancing with all her friends at her “Sweet 16 party” where she looked just stunning in her dress of feathers.(pictured above)
As her Father I always feel compelled to try to teach Cami about the wonders of life works and try to help her unlock it’s many mysteries. She claims all my “life stories” as she calls them do is give her a headache.
Cami came along at a good time in my life as I wasn’t real sure what I wanted to do next but she sure solved all that. Having her around has made and kept me young or as Dylan wrote “I was much older then I’m younger than that now”. I cant text as fast as she can but she was the one who taught me how to do it and now it is my main way of communicating with her and most others. She also has a profound way of keeping my head on straight like I remember riding along in the car a few years ago proudly playing her one of my old Jury recordings that had just been re-released on a new CD when suddenly from the back seat she asks me if the song was almost over yet. No I responded, why do you ask … Because it’s not very good came her quick reply. Or even more recently when she asked me if I was hanging out with anybody in my building yet and I told her no because most of the people who lived there were pretty old. She exclaimed … You’re old too Daddy. Ouch! Happy Birthday my Beautiful Wee One! I love you with all my heart and always will. xodaddyxo