Monthly Archives: April 2016

(Thank You) (edited April 17/16)

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The Writing of “Guitars Radio & Wild Wild Women” has stirred up a lot of memories but what I remember most are the special people who changed my life. This next to last chapter is dedicated to them with much love.
My biggest benefactor was of course Jim Hilliard pictured at the CKY Christmas party with me, Barbara, Jack Wells, Flika and Lana.
When Jim and I first met he was the Program Director of CKY in Winnipeg and become my mentor for most of my life. He gave me the break of a lifetime by hiring me to be the National PD of Fairbanks Broadcasting where we had a great ride together but the best part of it all is … We ain’t done yet.The man needed to be thanked first though is Mark Parr whom I knew before I met Jim. It was Mark who actually got me started in radio by teaching me how to run the board one day out of the blue then drove management crazy until they hired me as a part time board op. Without out his persuading me to give running the board a shot I doubt very much that I would have had a radio career.

Next up is Daryl “B” and Chuck Riley, Chuck gave me great production ears and Daryl talked management into giving me his Music Director’s title when he left for Vancouver.

Before Jim left for Indianapolis he’d made me the Production Director so now that I also had the Music Director’s title George Dawes our midday jock (pictured) used both of my titles to get me an interview with some folks he knew at CKOM in Saskatoon where I soon became their new Program Director.
Becoming a PD was the good news, the bad news, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.

I’m told that a person is usually the answer and that person turned out to be Gary (Vidler) Russell who also ended up becoming a life long friend.(pictured with me) Without his help my whole radio career might have ended right then.

Here’s to Roger Klein who made me sound so smart in Sudbury Ottawa and Toronto where along with Keith Elshaw (photo) we created the first ever AC station.

While at CFTR I got to work with some incredible talent like the Magic Christian, Sandy Hoyt, Doc Harris, plus Earl Mann with whom I still work a little with today, but its Earl’s board op Rick Moranis I really want to thank.
Rick made all our Jock meetings hilarious but he also made a dinner I had with him in New York very special for me when he was kind enough to tell my daughter Candis who was going to NYU that I had been a big inspiration to him at the beginning of his career.

Speaking of Toronto I can’t ever leave out Keith Dancy and Ted Rogers (pictured) who managed to lure me to Toronto from CFRA in Ottawa where ratings wise things were going real well.
They also had the balls to let me launch a brand new experimental format on CFTR which changed not only my whole life but probably a few others too including theirs.

When Jim Hilliard hired me to be his National PD I put my new format on KVIL in Dallas where Ron Chapman along with his Texas Hall Of Fame Staff took it to legendary status (Ron pictured with me after I inducted him into his third Radio Hall of Fame) Not only did the huge success of KVIL launch an entirely new career for me but it also allowed my childhood dream of living in California to come true.

My first priority at Fairbanks though was WIBC/WNAP in Indy where I was back working with Chuck Riley and Gary Todd again whom I’d worked with in Winnipeg. We had an incredible line up there like Fred Heckman Lou Palmer Tom Cochran Bob Lamey Jerry Baker Buster Bodine and one of the most creative guys I ever worked with, Cris Conner who made my first few years in America a pleasure (Cris pictured with me at his induction into the Radio Hall of Fame)

I’ve gotta thank sales guru Dick Yancey (photo) who convinced me that if I could just figure out a way to creatively tie sales into all of our promotions, wonderful things like my first Mercedes would soon happen.

Thank you attorney John King (photo) for getting our promotions past the FCC so well that when Dick Yancey syndicated “The Magic Ticket” it was stamped … FCC approved!

How could I forget Norm Wilkens and his gifted artist Lotsy who created so many of our award winning billboards.(Billboard of the year)

I’ll never forget the first time I met Jack McCoy which resulted in me getting to run a lot of his great promotions first. Jack was also my secret voice on many of them but most importantly he taught me the “math” of ratings and was kind enough to spread my name across America.

Here’s to my smarter than me brother Reg who managed to combine a few of our better promotions and figure a way to put them up on the internet which made him real well.

 

When KVIL exploded and became one of the biggest radio stations in the nation I became a consultant and KOGO/KPRI in San Diego became my first client.
It was there that I met my long time friend and associate Reid Reker.(photo) The Shadeks who owned KOGO/KPTI also owned KLLS in San Antonio where Reid and I launched the first ever “CLASS FM” which became hit instantly and before long Jim West had it on over 40 stations in North America. The “Class” format was just a clone of KVIL and I thank God that we had a few talented guys around like Cat Simon, Jason Williams, Bruce Buchanan, Al Gardner, Harry Nelson and of course my old buddy Bill Gardner who when he had been at KVIL for its birth and won radio personality of year during his tenure there so he helped us out enormously in San Antonio. All of these guys understood the “Class” concept so luckily we were able to send a bunch of them out into the field to launch a few others for us.Hey how big do you supposes those cajones on Toney Brooks are. (photo) When I first met him he was running a chain of very successful AOR stations for Sandusky radio but gave me two of them anyway to put “Class FM” on. Toney turned out to be right because KLSI in Kansas City and KLSY in Seattle went on to very big things under the leadership of Steve Dinkel and Dana Horner.

 

Accountants were a bigger part of my life than I realized and Cindy Adair along with Ric Hindes (pictured) covered my financial ass more than a few times.
Before them though there was Roger Snowdon who after doing my taxes one year surprised me by claiming that I had just became a millionaire.(Rog do you still have that Mill tucked away) In San Diego it was Jerry Perkins who kept the Feds off my back but Bill Yde was the one who talked me into buying Fairwest which led to our purchasing our own radio stations. What a mind boggling experience that was for a lad from Transcona.
I can’t begin to thank my buddy Bob Christy (photo) enough for all his help and all the fun we had while working on a few projects together both in Indy and Boston. It was at WKLB that Bobby took the lead as we launched Boston’s first ever Country radio station.Hey Mark Hubbard what a joy it was to travel with you for all those years when you were running Fairmont which allowed me to have fun working with my good friend Jim Harper in Detroit.
I’ll also never forget you introducing me to a new talk show host by the name of Rush Limbaugh who against my better judgement you put on KKOB in Albuquerque “The land Of Entitlement.” Boy was I ever wrong!

Then there’s Tim Reever who taught me how to be fast and showed me how to take the events to a whole new level while still having fun and telling stories.

I can’t ever forget my favorite lawyer Betsy Cameron who not only got me involved with Joe Amaturo’s stations, but also got me into my beautiful condo in West Palm Beach.

 

I better wrap this up before I begin weeping but first I must raise my glass of a fine Sonoma County red to the folks in Santa Rosa, Gordon Zlot Tom Skinner and Brent Farris.
They are all pictured with me at our meetings in Palm Springs along with Bobby Cole whom I once traveled the nation with when he was the V/P of Programming for Fairmont Communications. I’ve been working with KZST for well over 25 years now and still look forward to each and every visit and I want to thank them for not only some great radio, but also great fun.
It’s impossible to leave out folks like super tech Matt Greeney who actually was the one who taught me how to e mail which led me to blogging and put his life in danger. Thank you Rich Stevens who designed my Blog and fixes it when I screw it all up as I constantly do and there are a lot of people like “Little Jim” who help me without realizing it and I can only hope that they know who they are. This chapter is becoming longer than “War and Peace” so I’ve got to stop somewhere but I can’t stop though without thanking all the special ladies in my life. First there’s my daughters Candis and Cami of course along with their mothers Lana and Kari plus Sharon, Linda, Jamie, Leslie, Robin, Mary, Laura, and Joasia. These ladies have not only kept me motivated throughout my journey but they also kept me excited but that’s another story for another day. geo

 

 

“BAD GIRLS” (new for May 09/16)

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11056873_10153637858399307_611287186_nThe first place in Canada that the Beatles ever set foot in was my home town of Winnipeg where they’d touched down to refuel. Shown here being interviewed by CKY’s Michael Hopkins and Frank Roberts.

 
SOME STUFF I’VE BEEN THINKIN’ ABOUT…..

Most people are a lot more honest than those chosen to represent them.

Your reputation will long outlive you.

So when your bill is jacked up at a restaurant does management share with the servers.

Why do most restaurant owners and managers look like gangsters.

Has anybody else noticed that even though gas prices have plummeted airline tickets have not.

In Canada when I worked there the CRTC cared only about the listeners wanted so your license was based on what you promised to do for them. This promise made the program director’s position in Canada a much bigger deal than his American counter part’s.

The bad times truly reveal who your friends really are.

Why do guys who have spent most of their lives in basements trying to learn how to play a guitar feel compelled to tell us who to vote for.

The truth may set you free but it wont make you popular.

When those baby clocks go off you need be very careful ’cause they tend fall in love very easily .

Even when they totally deserve it you never can hit a woman but they can hit you.

Women may forgive but they never forget whereas men forget but they seldom forgive.

Women only know how to handle men who are attracted to them.

Do bad girls know they’re bad.

Trying to figure out which ones are bad and which ones are only naughty is a wonderful quest.

I’m attracted to broken women and they to me but neither of us has any idea how to handle each other.

You soon become whom you hang out with. 

Have you ever heard of the sales department leading the radio station into battle.

Selling radio with out ratings builds character.

Sales promotions that sound like programming promotions on a radio station are always successful.

Genius is never convenient.

Courage is the only thing you need to conger up in order to chase your dreams.

Successful people tend to listen more than talk.

Even in the dictionary struggle comes before success.

Have you ever noticed how long it takes people who have nothing to say to say it.

Working your way through problems is like lifting weights, it makes your brain stronger.

Action erases all doubt.

Why do people who have never done anything claim to know what you should do.

You learn with your ears not your mouth.

Sometimes it’s just best to do what the little voice inside you is telling you to do if for no other reason than to silence it.

Much more @ GeorgeJohns.com and on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio

 

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Q U (new for May 02/16) #2 of my 12 most read Blogs for 2016

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When I was about 15, my friend Pete and I joined a weightlifting club in Transcona called the CNRA which was located in the CNR shops. Come fall I was planning on playing some football so I hoped I would be able to bulk up a little.
As skinny and as small as we were we must have looked pretty funny to all the giants who worked out there like Marshall Quelch, (pictured above back then and today) Ray Lasko, Morris Todorchuk, Al Atamanchuk and a few others. A whole bunch of them went on to become champions but Pete and I certainly weren’t destined for any of that and in fact the only guy there who was smaller than us was our trainer “Scotty” who never took any shit from anybody. After our workout, we’d all head for the steam room where they all really took us to school by teasing the shit out of us. They enjoyed describing in intimate details all the disgusting things they claimed we’d be begging girls to let us do to them pretty soon.
The first time I ever saw Marshall Quelch who was nicknamed “Q” was my first day of school just after moving to Transcona from North Kildonan. The whole front yard of Central School was fenced in and as I nervously walked through the gate which had a sign on it saying “no bikes” towards the steps of the school I heard the roar of a motorcycle right behind me. I jumped out of the way in the nick of time as a black Harley went right by me. The guy riding it was wearing jeans, a black t-shirt with the sleeves cut off to show his guns and tatts. He of course was wearing motorcycle boots with a GI cap on his head and when he put the kickstand down on his chopper and reached back into his saddlebags for his school books I noticed that he was also smoking a cigar. Shocked, I asked someone who the hell that was and they said it was Marshall Quelch whose father was the Principal of our school.
Years later “Q” who by then was Western Canada’s weightlifting champion not to mention also being a black belt Karate expert became the Jury’s bodyguard and from that moment on no farm boys ever messed with The Jury again.
12924557_10154714288214307_2013173381811029525_nThe reason I bring this all up now is because Cami recently posted a new picture of herself on Facebook and “Q” must have seen it because he sent me an E-mail stating that by the looks of it I may need his help again.
It’s been a while he wrote since I’ve had to straighten out some disrespectful punks for you but claimed he’d enjoy doing so again if anybody ever messed with my daughter.
He reminds me a lot of Mike in the “Breaking Bad” and the “You Better Call Saul” TV series and legend has it that today he makes his living taking hunting expeditions up into northern Manitoba where he hunts bear with a bow and arrow. Good to know that after all these years that “Q” still has my back.

I THINK I MAY HAVE A REAL THINKING PROBLEM…
 
When I was 15 twenty year old girls looked much better than girls my own age did and they still do.
 
The sexiest part of a woman’s body is her face.
 
Radio did much better when the accountant’s office was out back with the engineers.
 
Why does management think that their need for money is forgiven by the listeners.
 
Why do bad ideas get on the air much faster than the good ones (see above)
 
When air personalities claim that they don’t understand what you mean is usually when they don’t like what you mean.
 
Why is it when you’re having a memory making good time is usually followed by your having to say that you’re sorry.
 
I think a “You” Phone would be much more popular than an “I”phone.
 
Creative people make much more money than the gifted do.
 
Life is only results not effort.
 
There will always be lot of opportunities to work on someone else’s dream.
 
The more often you lose the more you know about winning.
 
Women only start to make sense when you begin to love them.
 
Well endowed women never seem to hide it.
 
If you don’t like what you see in the mirror, change yourself or get rid of the mirror.
 
New money always acts like old money very quickly.
 
You never want to wake up to the realization that you set your goal too low.
 
Sometimes you are only one step away from changing your whole life.
 
Resisting temptation is never ending.
 
Finding someone to share your success is not difficult.
 
What you hear or read is mostly just somebody’s opinion.
 
Your habits are your choices.
 
Agreeing with something doesn’t make it true.
 
Is leaving out the truth the same as lying.
 
I think John was the only person on earth who thought Yoko could sing.
 
Have you ever heard of a successful radio station being led into battle by the sales department. Check that have you ever heard of any business being led into battle by the sales department.
 
Much more @ GeorgeJohns.com, on Twitter@GeoOfTheRadio.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

When Is A Gift Not A Gift. (new for April 25/16)

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150429_10151835972279307_1070841649_n600527_477427558937365_1986591815_nIf you’re a gifted pianist do you get to choose what you do or are you destined to play concerts with symphony orchestras for the rest of your life earning only chump change.
When my daughter Candis who is a singer but was also a Dean’s list kinda student at college entered the work force, she’d constantly turn down promotions.
Candis reasoned that she didn’t want her day job to interfere with her singing career. In that same vein I had a running coach by the name of Thom Hunt (pictured) who not only was a gifted runner but was also world class fast and I would have given anything to be that fast. One day though he asked where I lived and when I told him he said … Ahhh that big white place with the wall around it. (pictured) He went on to that he rented a small place right around the corner from me, thank God for unanswered prayers. Now that my new thing is writing my new gifted hero is Tim Moore and I’m hoping that he’s living large ’cause this gifted thing is starting to look more and more like a curse.

SOME OTHER STUFF TO PONDER…

It makes me uncomfortable when I hear women say that women should represent women first. Isn’t that kinda sexist.
 
Speaking of women why does long hair make them look even more beautiful.
 
I wonder how you would explain to an alien from outer space why the females on our planet paint their faces.
 
Not all wives believe in alimony, just ask the second wife.
 
Young women today are nothing like their mothers.
 
Intellect is easily overwhelmed by beauty. 
 
You have no future if you don’t think about it.
 
Once accused you lose.
 
Color me blown away when I discovered that the players on “I’ll Take You There” by the Staple Singers  were white hillbillies from Alabama.
 
Not talking about black people ain’t gonna help black people.
 
It’s not fate that makes you successful.
 
Can you imagine any foreign dignitary coming to America and telling us how we should be running our country.
 
Contrary to what I read, someone must like the current radio execs, they’re still getting paid.
 
Why is bad service always explained away as being done or not done for reasons of safety.
 
Even the people who went to Harvard should be smart enough to figure out that the NCAA basketball championship game should be played on Sunday.
 
Is anybody really shocked to hear that government officials from all over the world including America have been hiding money in offshore accounts.
 
If your radio station has a cause you’re more than halfway there already.
 
I love the kind of radio that follows all the rules until it sounds better not to. 
 
Having daughters makes it a lot tougher to be for gun control.
 
Real justice may not be what you think it is.
 
Why would you ever buy a stock you don’t have inside info about.
 
The only way to get a decent job is to be educated or gifted but if you’re both, everybody works for you.
 
Getting money on a radio station is a hell of a lot easier than it is trying to fit it into the system.
 
The only way to know for sure if you are winning is to have won before so you know what it feels like, smells like, sounds like, looks like and tastes like.
 
Unfortunately once somebody has won big, talking them into wanting it again is difficult.
 
One of the great things about America is we can laugh out loud at politicians and criticize greedy business men without the fear of being imprisoned or even executed like they do. God I hope that’s still true.
 
For years and years we’ve heard that perception is reality but Aristotle would beg to differ. He claimed thousands of years ago that “A is A”.
 
The only way to survive a phenomenon is by doing something very different very fast.

Wow now Prince is gone too!

Much much more at GeorgeJohns.com, on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio.