Monthly Archives: January 2018

Never Ever Interrupt Laughter. (new geo Blog for the week of March 12/18)

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My old friend and legendary Detroit morning man Jim Harper and I were exchanging radio rants the other day as we are want to do. Jim (pictured above) was complaining about the fact that morning show folks are just reading the stuff they find on the internet today and don’t even bother to rewrite it, so it’s radio friendly. Not only do they just read it he went on to say, they act like it’s their exclusive content which is stupid because if they found it on the internet, so did everybody else. I couldn’t agree with Jim more because we know what the definition of art is. “Observing life and then commenting on it.” 
Back in the day when Jim was tearing up Detroit on WNIC, “Detroit’s Nicest Rock” I was his driver and the guy who got him coffee, we spent a lot of time discussing concepts and philosophy. In those days, finding content was a little tougher than it is today because there was no internet but we did have USA Today. The good thing about USA Today was that the local folks didn’t read it, they instead read the Detroit Free Press which of course Jim also had. Unfortunately, though, we didn’t have either exclusive so it was Jim’s comments about a story that we assumed his listeners already knew that made the difference. Jim put his own spin on it kinda like Johnny Carson did.
Not only did Jim add his comments to the story, but he also added exaggerated emotion and localized it. Then he would hand his prepared killer close to the story to one of his team members which when delivered correctly would cause Jim to fall off his stool laughing. Luckily, just before hitting the ground he would manage to hit the button that started the next commercial but unfortunately for the client, you couldn’t hear the beginning because of the laughter.
The first rule of showbiz may be that you need to be noticed first but a close second is, “Never ever interrupt laughter unless you’re paid to do so.”
 
OK, BACK TO THE FRIVOLOUS STUFF.
 
I was formally educated in a pool hall on my way home from school.
 
The worst person you can lie to is yourself.
 
How does Nassar molest 150 girls over the years and we’re only now learning about it?
 
In Britain, like in Canada and America, everything is left to the spouse. Yoko, for example, owns everything created by John Lennon and John’s son Julien receives nothing. However, just down the road in Buckingham Palace, the Queen’s son Charles gets it all, and Prince Phillip is out of luck. How does that work?
 
When I became a Father, all I cared about was my kid’s happiness, but unfortunately, they don’t appear to be that happy. Color me sad.
 
Free money fixes nothing.
 
So if white people only listened to white music and watched white athletes play, how well would that work?
 
When I started out in radio in the mid-sixties, I was making $15.00, but the auto workers my age in Detroit were making $210 – $250 a week with bennies. What the hell did they do with the money?
 
Beware of people bearing signs.
 
Thankfully all the members of my band The Jury are still alive which is not true of most of the younger groups that followed us in Winnipeg. My daughter Candis claims that it’s because we were ahead of the drug era.
 
My folks sure had more to protest than we do but didn’t because they were too busy working.
 
When my Dad retired in Canada, he was eligible to collect unemployment insurance for a year but unfortunately, I couldn’t get him to apply for it. He said, “Son I’ve gone through my whole life including the depression without welfare, I’m sure as hell not starting now.” No matter how hard I tried to convince him that it wasn’t welfare, he wasn’t listening. Not much of that pride around anymore.
 
I am totally against someone having one more right than I do. I want them all!
 
Back in the day, musicians made records so they could get off the road. Now they make them so they can get back on it. 
 
Everybody is gifted, in fact, there are at least seven intellectual gifts, and all you have to figure out is what yours is and take it for a nice long ride. 
 

It seems that every week is daughters week and having two of them I’m all for it, but I was wondering if anybody knows when son week is?

Speaking of kids, even though she claimed that she was having your baby, only she gets to leave with it, you only get to pay for it. Marry on!

They say that this may be the last time that we have to change the clocks because it looks like daylight saving time may become permanent in Florida.
 
Much much more @ GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting appreciated.
 
 
 
 
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The Two Lies! (new geo Blog for Feb 12/18)

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I just read a great Blog by Tim Moore who is not only a brilliant writer and a radio guy, he’s also a good friend. In his Blog Tim stated that fatigue is not only our mortal enemy, it lies to us also. His words which I only know too well, brought back memories of when my daughter Candis and I were training for the LA Marathon. (Candis is pictured over my right shoulder while we running a 10 K race through Balboa Park in San Diego) This was going to be our first marathon and even though we were going to run it together we had to train for most of it apart because I lived in San Diego and Candis went to UCLA. I started my running addiction shortly after moving to San Diego to start my own radio company. Being in my 40’s,I also decided to get in shape so I started running a couple of miles every day.Now if ever consider running as I did, San Diego is the perfect place to do it. It’s always a little chilly in the morning and as you begin to heat up you feel like you could run forever.
As I said, I only ran a few miles a week but Candis who was running track in High School talked me into doing a 10k. I’ll never forget looking back as we went up a steep hill and discovered that there were hundreds of people behind us. I remember thinking, Wow, if a guy trained a little, I wonder how fast he could get and with that kind of thinking I was soon hooked.
Because Candis lived and went to school in LA, she did most of her training around the UCLA campus. I on the other hand got to use the San Diego Athletic Club as my training headquarters. I loved SDAC for a few of reasons; it was right near Balboa park and all its running trails, it had a steam room and I got to hang out the world-class athletes who were training for the Olympics. One day after a hard run when I was relaxing in the steam room Thom Hunt, who was in there also, surprised me by saying,  “George I hear that you’re training for your first Marathon.” When I responded that indeed I was, Thom, who is an elite runner asked if he could give me a little advice? All I could think was, “Are you kidding, does the Pope shit in the woods?” He said, “George there are two lies in a marathon.” At the 10-mile mark, the first lie called euphoria will show up and tell you to pick up the pace because you have shot at winning this thing. About 20 miles into the race the other lie called fatigue will show up and try to tell you that if you don’t stop right now, it will tip you over. My advice is to ignore both lies.”

Sure enough, when Candis and I were finally running the marathon, right at the 10-mile marker as Thom had earlier predicted and I had completely forgotten, euphoria hit me. I foolishly talked Candis into picking up the pace because I felt so good that I thought we had a shot at gaining on the race leaders. Unfortunately, at the 20-mile marker, the 2nd lie showed up when a huge gorilla jumped on my back and did his best to  prevent me from taking another step. Candis and I had previously set a goal of finishing the marathon in under 4 hours but around the 22-mile mark she panicked and said, “Dad if we don’t pick it up we’re gonna miss our goal.” I don’t know how I did it but even with that big gorilla on my back, but we finished in 3 hours and 50 minutes proving that Thom was right about both lies. However, after the race, I was so sore and exhausted that I couldn’t even sit down, so I just fell over.

HERE ARE A FEW  OTHER THINGS TO PONDER 

Well, as far as I can ascertain the only person to make a buck off of Global Warming so far is its creator, Al Gore. In fact, if I’m not mistaken he’s already managed to make several million of them.

I wonder what the Canadian people who live for hockey think of the greedy owners of the NHL who won’t allow their players to play for their country in the Olympics.
 
Speaking of big Al, he’s doing a much better job of scaring people about climate change than his wife is at getting those dirty lyrics off the radio.
 
Watching Netflix’s second season of the Crown, I would love to know what the Queen thinks of it?
 
What happens in California if the rich and the wealthy both leave to escape taxes?
 

I believe that most content comes from the dark side, in fact, every line in my Blog only shows up in my head when I’m irritated or provoked.

I wonder if anybody ever had the balls to confront King Edward before he died to tell him what a loser he was. Just because he was pretty and used big words didn’t change the fact that he married a slut and sucked up to another real loser by the name of Hitler.

So why would anybody think that America’s rich should take care of poorer Mexicans when Mexico’s rich won’t?
 
Do people other than musicians accidentally OD while on painkillers or do they just OD?
 
I think the word “painkillers” says it all.
 
When you’re for something, it also means that you’re against something else.
 
I think news reporters should have to disclose whether they’re Democrat or Republican.
 
What if everything was the same except Trump was black. It shouldn’t change anything, but it would change everything. Reverse racism is still racism.
 
Every race is prejudice as are all religions.
 
Winners spend most of their time trying to close the gap between what they’ve done and what they are capable of doing.
 
The right person saying the wrong thing works about as well as the wrong person saying the right thing.
 
Why do the Democrats want the Republicans to act like them? What sense would that make?
 
It’s only after becoming successful that you have an opportunity to try and figure out what it was that made you successful. 
 
How a man treats a man, who can do him no harm nor good is usually a pretty good indicator of just what kind of a man he is.
 
Everybody believes in free speech until someone says something that they don’t like.
 
You would have to double your income for your life to change.
 
Speaking of money, how is it that when politicians leave office, they exit as members of the one percent club which they weren’t when they first got elected?
 
Fear is a natural reaction; courage always has to be conjured up.
 
Much more @ GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter@GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing appreciated.  
 
 

“The Man In The Mirror” (new geo Blog for Feb 05/18)

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Being a Centrist, I’ve always had questions for both political parties and their card-carrying followers. One of the issues I’m most concerned about began right after George Bush senior followed Ronald Reagan into office and stated, “I’m going to run a kinder and gentler administration.” He then, of course, rushed right out and started a war with Iraq.
Unfortunately, not only has our war in Iraq raged on and on and on, it’s lasted through several presidencies with yet no end in sight. I’ve always believed that we have to support our troops, but we don’t have to support the idiots who sent and continue to send them. That being said, I don’t understand why more folks aren’t more upset with how Obama handled his part of the war? Didn’t he run for the presidency based on his getting us out of the middle east? Didn’t we give him two terms to do so? Hell, you would think that eight years would be more than enough, World War II lasted less than four. However, not only are we still there, amazingly enough, there are even more of us still there. I wonder who Obama sees when he looks at the “Man In The Mirror?”

HEY IM ON A ROLL HERE SO LET’S KEEP GOING

Speaking of Presidents, our newest, recently passed a new tax bill, and if I’m reading this correctly, “If you make less than 250 thou a year or are rich, you’re fine. If not you’re f**ked.”

I wonder why Mr. Trump just because of his new tax bill thinks Mr. Businessman is gonna start spending money. Most rich guys I know like to hoard it. Hell, even the drug cartel guys would rather bury their money and let it rot before giving it away to the needy.
 
If fear is not a deterrent, why is there so little crime in the north end of Boston? 
 
My daughters can always count on me, but others can only count on me as much as I can count on them.

Being the first pick in the NFL draft may be the last thing you want because it will probably ruin your football career.

Even when pressured, Brady’s not nearly as stupid as Jay Cutler was all season. Although I hear it was Cutler’s wife who made him take the QB’s job for the Dolphins because she needed the ten-mill it paid.

Speaking of Brady, can you imagine what that sportscaster in Boston was thinking when like an idiot he called Tom’s five-year-old daughter a pissant on WEEI?

I was shocked to discover when I moved to America from Canada that I automatically became a bad person because I was white.

Every man involved with a woman who claims to love football needs to remember that her lips aren’t naturally red

Speaking of football, what a Super bowl huh? I hope they didn’t celebrate in Philly by burning the town down.
 
Buried in every difficulty is an excellent opportunity.
 
I was starting to feel like I’ve been going to a new “Star Wars” movie has for most of my life. Then I realized that I’m much older than that because I’ve been going to the opening of a new James Bond flick, a decade longer.
 
I can’t resist beautiful women but the ones I like to hang out with, are the ones I love to talk to.
 
Nobody can give you power; you have to take it.
 
Experts are only able to handle the world that no longer exists.
 
Just because someone doesn’t think as you do doesn’t make them wrong, but one of you sure is.
 
A person usually becomes what he thinks about.
 
I must be getting paranoid because I’m beginning to feel like people who are unlike me have more rights than people who are like me.
 
I wonder if those CIA clowns who convinced George Jr. that Sadam had weapons of mass destruction are still around doing bad for the greater good?
 
How can tell when the New Yorkers arrive in South Florida for the winter? You hear horns honking.
 
Ya gotta believe that some NFL coaches must look out at the field now and then and say to themselves, “I can’t believe what I’m paying these mother f**kers!”
 
Every time you wonder why somebody doesn’t fix something that’s the time you need to realize that you’re somebody.
 

If there really is a heaven, the recently departed Cardinal Law sure as hell won’t see it.

Why do I think that we are moving ever closer to the day pedophiles sue for their rights?

One of the Best Weapons that you possess is your ability to choose.

I guess that scam they’ve been running in California, New York, and Massachusetts is over huh? You know, the one where they say, “Hey, don’t worry about our exorbitant state taxes, you can deduct them.”

I’ve been a part of the media since 1963 and never once was I told by an owner or management that we had to do things a certain way because the station(s) supported a particular party. In fact, they needed and wanted ratings so much so that they preferred we stay away from politics less we turned off the people with an opposing view. I guess nobody at the Grammys got that memo.

For a peek at where those who read the geo Blog are, click on the link below.
There’s a whole lot more @ GeorgeJohns.com. on Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. I Appreciate you sharing and commenting as always.

 

 

 

Geo’s Media Blog. (Music & Sex) 1/29/18. #3 in 2018

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When I was in my late teens I used to follow a band around called Johnny Lauzon and the Big Boppers. I loved the band because a couple of my friends were in it. Peter Proskurnik played sax and Gordy Duke was on the drums and in fact, Peter was the one who got me into music. Every Thursday night I would travel to the Normandy Ballroom on Sherbrooke street in Winnipeg to watch the Big Boppers in action. On one of those special Thursday nights, I spotted a very pretty girl who was also very petite with pale white skin that was in direct contrast to her luxurious jet black hair. Her name was Sandy and as I said, The Big Boppers played every Thursday and there I was every Thursday trying to get her to dance with me. She’d occasionally throw me a bone and dance a couple of fast ones, but never anything slow and mostly, she just ignored me. 
Eventually, I learned to the play guitar well enough to form my own band called the Phantoms (later The Jury) and when the Big Boppers moved on, we replaced them at the Normandy as the Thursday night house band. Surprise surprise, on our first night, Sandy was all over me and when I offered to drive her home, she excitedly accepted. Not having a car of my own yet, I was driving my Mom’s Nash Metropolitan which looked just like the one pictured above. On our way to her place on that very cold January night, we stopped somewhere on the way to listen to the radio and make out a little. Before long she was whispering in my ear that she wanted me, and she wanted me right now. 
Ok, visualize this, here we are in a tiny two-seater, her skirt hiked up to her waist, my pants around my knees and there’s a whole lot of panting and moaning going on. It was 35 below outside, so there was no “Doing It In The Road” as Paul McCartney once sang, if it was gonna happen, it was going to happen right here in the car. Even opening a door or window to get a little leg room was out of the question but knowing that there is no rain check for this sort of thing, I was determined to complete my mission.

Unfortunately, I guess it wasn’t meant to be, the only thing that was happening was that we were so heated up that we longer needed the car’s heater. Finally, I gave it up though when I realized that as close as that sweet prize was, it was still so far away.

GEO’S LIFE-LINERS

Instead of bitching about Trump non-stop, it would behoove the Democrats I would think, to spend a little time figuring out who they’re gonna run against him?

Is it fair to say that the shine is off the NFL as we wait for New England and Philly to play each other in the Superbowl? I think they may have seen their best days.
 
The world doesn’t owe you a thing; you owe it because after all, it was here first.
 
You can’t demand respect; you have to earn it.
 
Can you even begin to imagine how much money must have passed through Mr. Amazon’s hands during December?
 
I spent most of my youth wishing that I was older which came true much too quickly. However, now that I’ve come to my senses and wish to return to my youthful times, apparently, nobody is listening.
 
The thing I find amazing about millennials, as smart as they think they are, they’re just as dumb about drinking as we used to be.
 
One of the differences between men and women is that men waste a lot of time thinking about getting laid. Women just do it.
 
Hey ladies, I think even you may agree that it should be a lot tougher for a woman to collect millions of dollars from a superstar athlete other than just talking him into not using a condom.
 
I wonder if Man would have ever attempted flight had he not seen a bird first?
 
The real reason radio is in trouble is because accountants don’t have ears.
 
If you need to know what a man is made of,  give him a little power.
 
I wish the folks on the right instead of just laughing at the left would throw out a few caustic one-liners themselves.
 
Only one person is listening to the radio at a time, and that stops the moment someone else walks in the room.
 
Blonde women earn 7% more, how dumb is that?
 
I think it may be time to stop talkin’ and start doin’.
 
Beauty is costly.
 
If the civil war like my friend Bobby claims was fought over the freeing of slaves, how come black folks don’t mark the victory with a celebration?
 
Speaking of the civil war, a lot of white people gave up their lives, so I don’t buy that we’re all bad.
 
There can be no progress without change.
 
I don’t wanna marry the right woman; I want to marry the one I can’t live without.
 

When you shake hands with the devil, you just know it ain’t gonna end well.

I wonder why the people who spent most of their early lives in a basement learning how to play guitar think that we want to hear their opinion on how to vote?

Do kids today that they’re much smarter than their parents were at the same age?

I think they should hold the Pro-Bowl and the Superbowl in the same city which would make everything bigger for everybody concerned.

Geo’s Blog above is about #Sex and #Music with a few “LifeLiners about #Trump and the #Democrats thrown in. Much more @ GeorgeJohns.com On Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting is appreciated.

 

APPLE.

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THINGS MAKING DEPOSITS

Apple

The Story

Apple is writing the US economy a $350 billion check.

Tell me more.

Yesterday, Apple said it has a big five-year plan. That includes building another campus and adding 20,000 jobs. It’s also saying ‘thanks, new tax code’ and bringing most of its funds held overseas – a reported $245 billion – back to the US. Combined, the plan’s expected to put $350 billion into the US economy. Oh, and the Fruit’s also giving many of its employees a $2,500 stock bonus.

theSkimm

This is just the latest example of how the overhaul of the tax code is changing the way US companies do business. Don’t be surprised if Apple’s competitors start opening their pocketbooks too.

 

Much more @ GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Appreciate sharing and comments.