Monthly Archives: December 2017

My Most Read Blogs Of The Year. #5 “Dear Nathaniel” (Aug 28/17)

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Dear Nathaniel,
Hey, buddy, I’m writing to tell you about the beautiful woman I fell in love with more years ago than she wants me to remember or mention. In fact, I was so smitten with her that I left my band “The Jury” and started my radio career so I could spend more time with her.
I first met this beautiful creature in Winnipeg at the St. Boniface Hospital where I was waiting for your uncle Curtis to be born. Can you imagine my surprise when your Mom showed up instead? And there I was with no plan but knowing your Mom, she probably had one. 
Over the years Nathaniel, your Mom provided me with so many cherished memories that I thought I would take this opportunity to share a few of them with you.
With our #1 record
still on the charts
My baby girl Candis
grabbed hold of my heart.

Time to grow up
and be a man
But I still kinda miss 
being a kid
in a Rock&Roll band.
I fondly remember her first Christmas, the presents around the tree looked similar to how they look at your place at Christmas time. They almost covered the entire living room floor, and I can still see her sitting in the middle of it all just looking around while licking the Smartie I was feeding her whenever your Ra Ra wasn’t looking.
It almost took all day to open up her gifts and the one I remember the most was the green race car her “little” Grandpa had given her.  What made this car special was that it had peddles so you could drive it around which proved a bit awkward for your Mom seeing as she was only three months old at the time.
Your mother it turned out could sing before she could talk so she loved the Christmas tree the most at Christmas time. All the ornaments that were hanging on the tree just looked like microphones waiting for her to sing into them.
When she started school in Indiana, she was an average student until she met her 5th-grade teacher Mr. Koke who turned her into an A student.
As I may have told you, I spent most of my life trying to be somebody. However, it was while attending some ceremonies where your was being presented with several scholastic awards, that I realized that I was finally somebody. I was Candis Johns’ Dad.

As smart as your Mom was and still is, like you, she wasn’t a nerd she was into lots of different things. In fact, when she was your age, she was really good at gymnastics and ended up finishing 3rd in State plus even found time to also be a cheerleader for the Carmel Pups.
Nathaniel, your Mom, is one of those rare individuals referred to as an “A” type which only 23% of the population is. Your Mom wasn’t shy about anything, and because my career demanded it, we moved quite often. Every time we moved into a new neighborhood, she would immediately go door to door to ask if they had any children who could play with her? 

Her “showbiz” career I believe started in the second grade where because she was one of the smallest in the class, she got to wear the Donald Duck costume at a school event. I believe that her only job was to pass out pamphlets or something, but once that duck costume went on, she was on. She shocked all the teachers and students by doing cartwheels down the aisles and shaking everybody’s hand as she danced around.

Your Mom Nathaniel was so outgoing that even though we didn’t move from Indianapolis to Coronado where she started Highschool until late November, she still won “freshman of the year.” (pictured above with uncle Curtis and your great-grandparents Sandy and Betty Johns) The following year she was the “junior of the year” and the lead in the school’s big musical production of “South Pacific.” (see newspaper picture below)

During her Junior year, she took speech and debate and managed to qualify for state with a piece that she created as she approached the stage and in fact, won the whole tournament with it. (see picture above)
Even though your grandparents weren’t very excited about, she finished high school in France. (I’d made a deal with her that if she got straight, A’s in her upcoming exams she could go) When she returned home to graduate with her class, (see picture below), Buppa purchased a surprise “welcome home” billboard for a week at the entrance to the Coronado bridge. Unfortunately, it stayed up for several months and turned into somewhat of an embarrassment. because whenever she was introduced to someone, they’d say, “Are you the chick on the billboard?”

Your Mom began her college career at NYU in New York where she studied drama.(your grandparents were not excited about her living in New York) Discovering that she could learn acting anywhere, she switched to academics, made the Deans List, and then transferred to UCLA. Going back to New York for a visit; she popped in to see her old drama professor at NYU, who wanted to see if she still had her chops, so he had her read for him. After doing so, he told her that she was wasting her time going to college because she was as ready as anyone was to audition for Broadway plays. He offered to call me and explain the situation, but your Mom thankfully told him that there was no need for that because I was already her biggest fan. Whew!

While studying at UCLA, she was also writing songs and singing with at places like the Whiskey and the Roxy where Buppa got to see her perform quite often. (singing at the Roxy above) At that time singing was her whole life but she like your grandfather also loved to run, so we decided to run the LA Marathon together. (see picture of us running a 10 k below) Running that Marathon with your Mom was the hardest but greatest thing I’ve ever done. Most of the time we trained apart although we did do an excellent run together along the Mediterranean in the South of France when I took her there for her 21st birthday.

After graduating Magna Cum Laude from UCLA, (I’m thinkin’ Suma for you) she began working as the assistant to a record company president named Charlie Minor which eventually led to her becoming the Licensing Director for WEA. (Warner Bros. Electra and Asylum Records) At the same time, she was also recording an album with her band The Tortured Poets. Unfortunately, by now she was too smart to sign the onesided contract, so the album was never released. However. Buppa still has it, so I get to enjoy it over and over again.

The next thing your Mom decides to do is become an Ironman. (see picture above) Are you sh**ing me! 
I’ll never forget the night before the competition which was being held at Camp Pendleton enjoying a carbo-loading dinner with your Mom. (your Dad couldn’t be there because he had been bitten by a rattlesnake while running trails back in LA) The company Commander at some point got up on stage and said to the thousand or so entrants, “We Marines are supposed to be the toughest people on earth, but I don’t have a single Marine here today who can do what you’re going to do tomorrow.” I think your Mom missed the part about the event being called the Ironman, not the Ironwoman.
At WEA, she was a rising star and well on her way to becoming an executive where all of a sudden out she walked away from it all. She married your Dad and the next thing I know, you show up and she becomes “Supermom.” 
Huh?
Love, Buppa.

​https://georgejohns.com/the-blog/let-me-candis-johns-4/#.XFhurRmE0_0.gmail
 

Much more @ GeorgeJohns.com and on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. #4 rolls out tomorrow. 

 

My Most Read Blogs Of The Year. #6 “How Bizarre” (Nov 13/17)

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The other day I was thinking about how easy my job was at WIBC /WNAP for the ten years or so that I was involved. The on-air talent along with the backstage people at Fairbanks Broadcasting were simply the best and I’m proud to say that we ruled Indy. WIBC’s 19.4 share with a 27 in the morning wasn’t too shabby, oh and did I mention that we also had WNAP tucked in right behind “Big Mama” in 2nd place? Surprisingly though, very few of the incredibly talented people who worked at the two-story brick, are in the Indiana Hall Of Fame. Whereas most of the staff from our station in Dallas, KVIL are already in the Texas Radio Hall Of Fame. Hey, and they had to compete with the talent from places like Houston, San Antonio, and Austin to get in there.
I have no idea why Jim Hilliard who ran Fairbanks and was also the president of the Indiana Pacers is not inducted? You can’t get any more “Hoosier” than that. Speaking of industry giants how come Gary Todd, Orly Knutson, Jerry Baker, Bob Lamey, Paul Page, Chuck Riley, Lou Palmer, Harry Andrews, Buster Bodine, and Mike Griffin aren’t in there yet? I think it’s fantastic that Cris Conner and Tom Cochran are deservedly in, but unfortunately, Tom was inducted for his TV stuff, not for the great news work he did on WIBC/WNAP.
However, even though a few nasty words come to mind about the why of it all, the thing I find even stranger, is that the Indiana Hall Of Fame is funded by a trust that our owner Mr. Fairbanks set up before he exited the planet. Hell, it’s even called the “Richard M Fairbanks Hall Of Fame.” How Bizarre!

A FEW MORE BIZARRE THINGS

You can’t change what you were or weren’t born with so you might as well get on with what you’re gonna do. But whining about it I would think would be the least productive.
 
If you took away Republican or Democrat away from any candidate’s name, most Americans wouldn’t know who the hell to vote for. 
 
There doesn’t seem to be many socialists in government; they take care of themselves pretty well. 
 
The way it is and the way it should be are light years apart. 
 
Go ahead and dream about tomorrow but you better live for today cuz it’s all ya got.
 
The most popular music usually is a black person sounding white or a white person who sounds black.
 
If you didn’t hear it yesterday, it’s probably not true anymore.
 
Any other words other than yes mean no.
 
I do believe that Custer was the last American general to lead his troops into battle. Now they just send them.
 
Life always feels like you’ve been going against the wind. However, when you’re young, it only feels like a slight breeze, but as you age, you begin to grow weary of it. Especially when it begins to feel like a hurricane.
 
The biggest shows on the radio were always for all things that were good, and against all things that were evil.
 
The only reason to have a guest on in the morning is so that you can get them to say what you can’t.
 
There are only two movie themes, an unfamiliar path leading to a familiar ending or a familiar path leading to an unfamiliar ending.
 
You know it’s gonna be a bad year when even the people who never planned on paying you, don’t buy anything.
 
Radio today has become so lean and mean that even yes means no.
 
If the staff were in charge of who got paid what how much do think today’s radio leaders would make?
 
The five forms of death are.
1. You stop breathing.
2. You no longer notice beautiful things.
3. You stop making love.
4. The little child in you dies.
5. You stop learning.
 
The client is not always right, but our job is never to let him know it.
 
Working hard does not always get rewarded but working smart sure does.
 
The thing I liked the most about Reagan was that he allowed the middle class to get rich. However, they put a stop to that as soon as he left office.
 
When I was about 12 years of age, I was lucky enough to hear R&B merge with Country & Western music which produced Rock&Roll and the whole world changed.
 
All traffic reports sound better on the radio when you do them for the folks who are not driving.
 
When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you’re toast.
 
When an air talent enthusiastically endorses something he doesn’t believe, it’s called hype. When he does believe, it’s called passion.
 
The population in South Florida swells by a couple of million each winter, but just like radio everywhere the revenue goes down. What’s up with that?
 

When National business was at least 40% of a station’s revenue, the GM’s secretary took care of it. Now that it’s minuscule somehow its become a V/P position.

So all the college pollsters look a little lame since the U trounced the Irish huh? Would love to see them in the playoffs against Alabama.
For sneak peeks at upcoming Blogs, go to GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. #5 publishes tomorrow.

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

My Most Read Blogs Of The Year. #7 Remembering Daryl ‘B’ (Dec 10/17)

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As you probably know Warren, Daryl was a very good friend of mine and used to tour around with us back when we were known as the Phantoms. Daryl and I shared a mic each night with which we tried to out scream each other. (see below) Looking back I now realize that wasn’t very wise seeing as Daryl made his living with that great voice of his.When we evolved to the Jury, not only did Daryl help Chuck Dann (Riley) produce our first record, “Until You Do” but when he left Winnipeg for Vancouver, he talked management into making me the Music Director of CKY. My having the MD title, ultimately led to my getting my first PD gig at CKOM in Saskatoon.
The picture on top shows Perry Waksvik, Donny Burns, Daryl, and Kenny Taylor as we were about to hit the road for what probably was probably yet another wild night in Tuelon Manitoba where J Robert Wood had booked us. Little did I know that Donny, J Robert, and I, would eventually become radio guys too.

On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 12:22 PM, Warren Cosford <warrensnetwork@gmail.com> wrote:

To REALLY appreciate this aircheck……you would have had to have grown up in Winnipeg.
We had TWO “hot” Top 40 stations…..CKY and CKRC.  It was 1962 and I was trying to figure out how to get into Radio. I used to hear this kid named Burton Cummings calling both stations to promote the appearance of this band he was in.  I think they were called The Deverons.  One of the Jocks he used to call was Daryl B…..who worked for a short time at CKRC before CKY hired him away.

Much more @GeorgeJohns.com and on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. #6 pops up tomorrow.

 

 

My Most Read Blogs Of The Year. #8 “Death Is Relentless” (Jan 30/17)

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I think a worthy quest might be to find out once and for all if there really is such a thing as … Too much money, too fun, too beautiful, too fast, too big, too sexy, too wise, too young, too strong, too funny, too majestic, too small, too exciting, too clear, too far, too healthy, too good, too naughty, too gifted, too suggestive, too agressive, too mean, too warm, too vain, too ugly, too huge, too mysterious, too Sensuous, too nice, too skinny, too high, too teaceful, too smart, too friendly, too now, too wet, too truthful, too perfect, too special, too well endowed, too rare, too happy, too pretty, too uptight, too solid, too ravishing, too blonde, too grand, too cute, too old, too faithful, too loyal, too successful, too horny, too tall, too cheap, too talented, too good, too wonderful, too reasonable, too together, too industrious, too lovely, too hip, too today, too tight, too timely, too much or just plain too f**king cool?
 
OTHER THOUGHTS I  HAVE ABOUT OTHER THINGS
 
Sometimes the most complicated questions have the simplest of answers.
 
When I first moved to Ottawa, my new radio station was in the middle of negotiating with a union. However, when they wanted the all-night guy paid more than our superstar morning man because as they said, his job was tougher.  It was the last time I took any of them seriously.
 
Speaking of Canada I find that the French people who winter down here in South Florida are much friendlier than those in Quebec and they also speak English.
 
I read that 24% of the world thinks that America stands in the way of World Peace. On the other hand, only 6% think China does, and 2% think Russia gets in the way.
 
I’m much better looking, smarter, braver,  and sexier, texting than I am on the phone.
 
Living well is much better than living longer.
 
Growing up is one of the toughest things you ever have to do. Both of my daughters have managed it well, but I continue to struggle.
 
It’s the fear of death that keeps us pursuing life.
 

Only when your buddies start dropping around you, do you, realize that you’re no longer a bulletproof nor a “Young Turk.” 

The good news is that 93% of Americans still listen to the radio, but the bad news is who would listen to it if they had to pay for the privilege.
 
When I was growing up at home I don’t ever remember it being about me. That sure changed and I can only wonder what we’ve created.
 
If your ship seems to be taking too long to come in you may consider swimming out to it.
 
It’s pretty easy to figure out who’s doing the boss.  They’re the person who starts ordering everybody around shortly after the affair begins.
 
Most people resist learning but enjoy teaching.
 
There are just as many rich politicians living in Mexico as there are in America. How come nobody asks them why their citizens are leaving.
 
There is more talent off the air now than on it.
 
“It’s not personal it’s only business” is a ridiculous phrase created by some wimpy businessmen hoping that it would keep them from getting the s**t kicked out of them for their greedy actions.
 
What we did in our leisure time is what we will be most remembered for.
 
When you count up all the people in government agencies and private charities we may have more people helping the poor than we do poor people.
 
I remember when a radio station used to have enough airstaff to field a baseball team. Today, I don’t think they could field a team by using the staff of the whole station.
 
Most of the politicians are rich and getting richer and 99% of us ain’t. Who the hell do you suppose are they represent?
 
Wouldn’t it be great if the politicians needed more from us than just our vote?
 
To be happy one must be balanced. However, to feed the family, somebody needs to be obsessed about money.
 
When my folks were young, the slogan of the day was “better dead than red.” What’s the new one?
 
Has a woman ever been outed about being sexist, a black called racist, or a Jewish person accused of being prejudice?
 
I live in fear of Duffy’s coming out with a new menu is because that usually means that along with putting a couple of new things on it, the old prices just went up.

Much more @ GeorgeJohns.com and on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. #7 comes up tomorrow.

 

 
  
 

 

 

My Most Read Blogs Of The Year. #9 “Aw Shit!” (May 08/17)

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Sometimes it’s hard for me to communicate with the fairer sex because like most men I use a lot of football metaphors to get my point across. Recently my youngest who suffers from panic attacks occasionally, was in the middle of a crisis at college and while trying to calm her, I made an error in judgment.
My fatal faux pas occurred when I was urging her to stay focused so we could come up with a quick solution to her dilemma. Had she been a he, I would have simply said, “We need to put the hurry-up offense in.” Knowing however that she wouldn’t understand any of that, I searched my brain for other words that meant the same.
Unfortunately, I went with the first thing that popped into my head which was not only stupid but proved the theory that ten “atta boys” can instantly be wiped out by one. “Aw shit!” What I told her was that we needed to get on top of this before it got out of hand, so she needed to get into the “panic mode.” Can you spell D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R?

MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT IMPORTANT AND NOT SO IMPORTANT  STUFF.

When war gets loud, the music usually gets soft.
 
The only people who should never live for today are the young; they still have a shot at tomorrow.
 
When dreaming that you’re reading a book, who in the hell wrote it?
 
Whenever I get frightened, I get angry; and my rage kicks in which is hard to control. However, my new thinking is, why not just go with it. Hell, the worst that could happen is free room and board, not to mention clothing and medical kicks in for the rest of my life.
 
There is nothing sacred about the law; it’s man-made.
 
The best thing about falling in love again is that you get to tell your stories again.
 
We all understand why a guy may be “pussy-whipped” but we don’t have to respect him for it, do we?
 
The best motivational words for some people are, “Don’t you ever!”
 
When you’re a kid, you do your best to hide what’s different about you. However, eventually may want to flaunt it because it’s probably what will make you successful.
 

If you’re struggling with something, it most likely means you’re not very good at it. You should only do what you’re gifted at because it will be easy and everybody is gifted at something.

According to Brent Farris, the only rehearsal that radio does today is when you rehearse the words that you need to use to explain why you sucked today.
 
No great story ever began with, “So there I was eating this great salad…”
 
Romantic movies lie to women just as porn movies do to men.
 
What the hell happened to all those people who supported Hitler in Germany, and voted for Nixon in America, they seem to have disappeared.
 
Whenever your lady asks, “Who’s that woman?” The only correct response is, “I don’t know!”
 
Worry comes from the dark side of your imagination.
 
Just ’cause you don’t need glasses don’t mean you have vision.

What warning do you ever get when you’re about to leave being a “Young Turk” behind?

In football just like in life, a great defense can win you the Superbowl, but it can’t get you there.

It doesn’t matter where you stand; it’s only in what direction you’re moving that counts.

Only the media is excited about social media; most of the regular folks just use it.

Speaking of Social Media, has anybody but Zuck made a buck off of Facebook yet?
 
As we drown in a sea of information, we could all use a little wisdom.
 
The only sports teams that ever achieve greatness are the ones whose the fans stop show2ing up when they stop winning.
 
Have you or anyone that you know seen anybody wearing a PPM device?
 
I wonder why the people who have absolutely nothing to say, take so long to say it.
 
Opportunity always needs a little help before presenting itself.
 

A lot more @ GeorgeJohns.com and on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. #8 publishes tomorrow.