Monthly Archives: June 2018

Oh Canada!

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Dr. Doug Dodds (pictured) who does radio in the Cayman Islands sent me the following link to remind me of my heritage. He tells me that there are a lot of Canadians living in the Caymans so they are airing this tribute on their BOB-FM in honor of the upcoming Canada Day on July 1st. Thanks for sharing Doug.

bbiCday.mp3

For a sneak peek at some upcoming media blogs, music blogs, sports blogs, philosophical blogs, romantic blogs, retro blogs, satire blogs, fantasy blogs, business blogs, lifestyle blogs, radio blogs, political & politically incorrect blogs, reality blogs, manly blogs, lovely lady blogs, love & marriage blogs, family blogs, and even some sex drugs and rock & roll blogs, go to GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter@GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting appreciated. 

 

Geo’s Media Blog. An Inside Look at Radio Music & Life. (Rolex Rollers) 7/04/18

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I’ll always remember when I visited the Hilliards in Aspen over the July 4th weekend. Jim and Barb had a beautiful home at about the nine thousand foot level which made the view spectacular, but the breathing a little more than difficult. (see photos above)
Anyway, every year on July 4th in Aspen they have a parade which winds its way down the main drag which features the kids and grandkids of the locals along with the Rolex Rollers of course. The Rollers are a bunch of tough looking old street dudes who in real life are multi-millionaire wall street types. Every year around the 4th, they skip shaving for a few days, don their do-rags, along with some leather and then ride their shiny new Harleys at the front of the parade. This year was supposed to be really special though because rumor had it that Dennis Hopper from the movie “Easy Rider” was scheduled to lead them out.
As we made our way down to the parade route, I noticed that they had a sort a sort of staging area where they stored all those mean machines until parade time. I, of course, took full advantage of the situation and slowly wandered around checking them out and was in awe of the cool paint jobs everyone of them had. They looked very expensive and I’m thinkin’ that they were because I’m bettin’ that they were all custom made.As I stood there looking around at all the bikes and wishing that I owned one of them, Peter fu*king Fonda rode up on a what looked like his chopper from Easy Rider, I f*cking lost it!

GEO’S LIFE-LINERS

REALITY.
Very seldom do the new owners bring anything good to the table.

There’s a big difference between a liberal and a socialist but a Socialist Liberal is a whole other thing. Whew!

Very few men grow up dreaming about having children?

As my old pal, Albert said, “Logic will get you from A to B, but it will take your imagination to get you the rest of the way.

Shouldn’t we be talking about why all these people are fleeing their countries and then doing something about that?

The more freedom you get, the less secure you’re gonna be because the bad guys just got more freedom too.

There is nothing finer than discovering that the shy girl you fell in love with turns into a carnival ride at sundown.

Sometimes a smile can be more than just an effect and can actually make something happen.

Unfortunately, if you ever do get to do it your way, you’ll probably be doing it alone.

America is event-oriented which explains the sudden interest in soccer. Hey, there’s nothing more worldly than the World Cup.

So Lebron turned his back on Clevland one more time huh?

RADIO.
Sterling Faux claims that if I were in the hockey world, I’d definitely be known as a player’s coach.

When I was a baby board op, the GM’s obsessed about us being able to hit the news right after the time tone at the top of the hour. Unfortunately, there was no way to time that all out so we created some instrumental beds of varying lengths called kickers. Those kickers saved our ass.

If you don’t say a few memorable things on the radio every day, pretty soon you won’t be saying anything at all.

The talented radio people seem to like me ok, but dee-jays sure don’t.

Isn’t strange that every time there are cutbacks in radio, the executives still manage to hang on. How do they do it?

Speaking of radio executives, how come when a new company takes them over it doesn’t recognize their brilliance?

You can’t do classic rock on the radio without real classic rock jocks.

MUSIC.
What I still can’t understand is why jazz drummer Gene Krupa who got busted for weed, got labeled as a doper. Hell, back in those days most of the great jazz musicians were well-known Heroin users who couldn’t get drafted because they were addicts. Only Gene got the “druggie” label though?

Are those guys who grew up like Wayne and Garth did in their folk’s basement still trying to tell us how we should vote?

I bet Bruce Springsteen has never heard the words, “Thank you for your service.”

POLITICAL & POLITICALLY INCORRECT.
Speaking of people fleeing their country, shouldn’t we be calling out their leaders for it?

Why does everybody want America to change, we change all the time, it’s the rest of the world that needs to change.

If we could just talk all the mothers in the world into not letting their sons go to war, it would end all wars. What the hell could the governments do about it, we still live in a world of women and children first.

Women don’t realize how powerful they are already. They have no idea that they’re just chasing fools gold as they strive towards equality. In fact, the more equal they become, the more the government will ignore them because they will have lost their power.

I don’t understand the thinking behind why some folks continue to fight for their candidate even though a different one was elected.

Why do I have the feeling that if I used Maxine Waters words to describe her, I’d be labeled a racist?

I was just reading that civil rights leaders were meeting to figure out how to block the nomination of any justice to the supreme court if they were not independent and fair-minded. Isn’t a little late for that, shouldn’t that have been taken care of before they became judges?

#Peter Fonda and #Dennis Hopper in #Aspen is in the story above. #Geo’sLifeLiners rant about #Freedom and a bunch of other #PoliticallyIncorrect observations follow. Much more of it is @ GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Subscribing is done by putting your email in the comment section below. Sharing and commenting is appreciated.

 

Geo’s Media Blog. (Classy) 7/23/18

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Leaving Fairbanks Broadcasting to try my hand at consulting was a very scary thing to do, and I remember thinking, “Hey, if I’m gonna starve to death maybe I should do it where I wouldn’t freeze to death first.”Luckily the Shadek family who owned KOGO/KPRI in San Diego became my first client.
I loved San Diego and I also loved the fact that the Shadek’s owned a radio station in San Antonio where I could launch my new format, “Class FM.” The concept was modeled after KVIL which was extremely successful in Dallas as it was once again in Palm Beach at WRMF. However, I needed to get some ratings without Ron Chapman or Fairbanks being involved if I had any hope of getting this consulting thing going. With a little help from Reid Reker who was of my ops manager at KOGO and a lot of help from Bill Gardner,(pictured on the billboard) we launched America’s first “Class FM.” Bill who we lured out of Chicago with V/P stripes had been through this with me once before in Dallas, so it didn’t take him and his crew long to blow San Antonio away. Then Jim West agreed to represent me but he was so so good that immediately I needed a lot of help. Can you spell oversold?
Back in San Diego, Reid and I were doing another radio experiment on KOGO called the “Radio Magazine” which I think would work today. However, even though we got it up almost to a 5 share, it took an enormous amount of time and creativity but we were running out of time, Class FM was on fire. Meanwhile, across the hall was KPRI, an AOR station that was getting soundly beaten by KGB. Knowing that good people are always the answer, I quickly brought in Buster Bodine and Don Michael Gerrard who had both worked with me at WNAP in Indy. Like with Bill Gardner, it’s so much easier to do a project with people who have already know what you want. So after making Buster the program director, we tightened up the music and began to launch some of the promotions that we’d done together back at the Buzzard.
As I look back on it now, I think that the main reason we succeeded with KPRI, was probably because we didn’t give a damn. Buster was putting his successful Voice-Over business together and Reid and I were very busy with “Class.” None of us were worried about putting food on the table so we just ended up just having a lotta fun with KPRI and doing a lot of crazy things on the air.
Surprise, surprise, wouldn’t you know it, we beat the unbeatable KGB. This resulted in a visit Ed Shadek, the company’s president who said, “George, thank you so much for beating KGB, I’ve always hated the music we play but I just couldn’t walk away from it a loser. However, thanks to you, I can now walk away from it a winner, so now I need you to replace that sh*t music we’re now playing with some of that classy stuff from San Antonio?”

GEO’S LIFE-LINERS.

 

TRAVEL.
Of all the places I’ve been, Hawaii is still my favorite. Now if I could ever figure out how to get there by train, you’d never see or hear from me again.

I don’t know why I’m such a train freak, but no matter how long it takes me to get somewhere, I still get there too quick.

 

Remember when we used to get dressed up to get on an airplane

 

POLITICAL & POLITICALLY INCORRECT.

I hear lots of Trump bashing coming out of Canada but very little about Trudeau. What’s up with that?

Speaking of Canada, I remember when God Save The Queen used to be played at the end of the movie. Well, that’s gone, maybe it’s time for our anthem to also disappear from some events. Who decides where it gets played anyway?

So how the f*ck did Jann Wenner who can’t sing, dance, or play a musical instrument become powerful enough to decide who goes into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Even more importantly he also decides who doesn’t. Shouldn’t the fans, the artists, and Dee-Jays decide?

Let’s see if I have this straight, The Philadelphia Eagles have the right to diss the presidential office, but the president doesn’t have the right to diss them?
 
People who make a difference should be invited to the White House not overpaid athletes and movie stars. They don’t make a difference.
 
So I wonder what the Jews, Irish, and Chinese, who were also slaves, think about the blacks getting all the attention about it?
 
How come even though we have all this debt there is no concern about us running out of welfare money?
 
Do thugs of any race or religion deserve any respect or rights?
 
Being a good athlete does not make you a good human being.

Somebody is getting rich off these hundreds of charities but it sure ain’t the poor.

LOVE & MARRIAGE.
Love is a word that should be used often but not overused.

Pro athletes and beautiful women get about the same amount of time. Twenty years.

Women aren’t as innocent as they think they appear to be.

The only women I agree with about women’s rights are my daughters.

Any beautiful woman can bring any meeting to a halt without saying a word.

YESTERDAY.
A few of the things that are disappearing from our lives are stores in the Mall, DVDs, CDs, maps, books, safety, the ringing of landline phones, and the sound of car horns when the New Yorkers finally go home.

Only Joe Coker did the covers better than the originals.

Isn’t it weird that when the groups who are touring today had hit records, you could see them for five bucks but now it costs hundreds and they don’t have any hits now?

INSPIRATIONAL.
To live your life any way you want to is the ultimate success.

Hey, the Red Sox still have the best record in baseball with 70 wins.

Intelligent people reasonably informed seldom disagree.

Wouldn’t pro hockey be fun if there were pro hockey teams all over the world and you could only play for your country? The Stanley Cup would come down to continent against continent. Whew!

Sometimes I put my topics and Life-Liners on Facebook first to see if they get any traction.

My Good friend Gordon Zlot who owns KZST in Santa Rosa California and is being inducted into the Bay Area Broadcasters Hall Of Fame. Congrats Gordon, well deserved.

#Geo’sLifeLiner Comments about #Trump #JannWenner #Trudeau and other politically incorrect stuff are above. #Geo’sLifeLiners about other things plus a sneak peek at an upcoming Blog or two @ GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter@GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting is appreciated.

 

Geo’s Media Blog. An Inside Look at Radio Music & Life. (Livin’ Large) 7/16/18)

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The only thing finer than being in Carolina in the mornin’ is when you’re going to work in the morning at the “Big One” in any state. In fact, as my friend Mark Hubbard said, “Being the GM of the top rock station is the best job in the world, you pay for nothing.” Hell even being a part-timer their gets free tickets down front. 
When I was working out WVBF/WCLB for a few years, the station was located in the Pru Tower as was a great restaurant named Legal Sea Food. This made fine dining very convenient but unfortunately, the line waiting for a table was usually a block long. However, a few of us had been given a special business card by the owner who had written on it, “Please seat my friends as soon as possible.” Within minutes of presenting that card, we’d have a table and an apology for the delay. 
At Gritzbys in Indy, when they brought our drinks over, we simply said, “WIBC tab” and just like that, there was no tab.
In Palm Beach, we had several radio stations that we were operating, but if you needed something special, the call letters WRMF usually got what you needed, including the best table in the house at Cinderella’s Castle.
One of my more fun memories of being treated like radio royalty occurred in Dallas when Ron Chapman and I were attempting to lure Bill Gardner into joining us at KVIL. Bill was flying in from Minneapolis later that afternoon so we planned on taking him to an early dinner at the hot new restaurant in town which was out of New York and was the prototype for TGIFridays. We couldn’t have planned Bill’s visit any better, it was the middle of January but the weather was just beautiful, which I’m sure Mr. Gardner would not be able to say about Minneapolis.
Bill claimed that we’d be able to spot him pretty easily because he looked like a “Dallas Cowboy Hippy.” Sure enough, when we picked him up at Love Field he’d nailed it, but we went with a sexier description for his billboard. (see above) Anyway, after putting Bill and his luggage in the car, we headed for the restaurant, unfortunately, when we got there, it was already packed. Hey, no problem, with the weather being so nice, we didn’t mind standing outside to get our name on a list.
As we stood there chatting, all of a sudden the manager was standing beside us with a horrified look on his face. “Mr. Chapman, Mr. Chapman, he said, “What are you doing outside, your favorite table awaits you inside!”

(Ron and I are pictured above at two of his three Hall of Fame inductions. The smaller photo on the bottom is at the NAB Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, the other, in Chicago where I had the honor of inducting him into the National Radio Hall of Fame)

GEO’S LIFE-LINERS

FAMILY
If a family member’s life was in grave danger, would you stand down and let the law handle it? I doubt I would.

Children make even the strongest vulnerable.

Having dinner with my friend Heidi Reever who is a new “empty nester”, I asked her if it had been tough raising three sons? She claimed that it really wasn’t because unlike daughters there was absolutely no drama. However, she went on to say, there are those times like if one of the boys farted, there’d be hysterical laughter for at least 45 minutes.

I never thought about abortion or equal rights until I had daughters.

BUSINESS

The fun part about working for Jim Hilliard was that if your presentation for some wild new idea was at least half decent, you more often than not heard, “Hell we’ve gotta do that!”

Where does Mr. Businessmen get off thinking that he should be rewarded while only attempting to succeed when the rest of us have to wait?

All the air talent hear when the sales folks talk to them is a quacking sound.

POLITICAL & POLITICALLY INCORRECT

Seeing as most politicians become rich after they get elected, I think we should make them buy their jobs just like they do in Vegas.

Do you know anybody besides lobbyists and politicians that think lobbying is a good thing?

Only people who win the lottery know that they were lucky, everyone else thinks they deserve all they’ve got, if not more.

Is it true that they are thinking of making people on welfare do a little work for their check?

If a man is financially responsible for a child how is it that he’s not involved in any discussions about having the child?

Watching the movie called Glory Road which is a true story about a coach by the name of Dan Haskins who fielded the first ever all-black starting line up. They won the 1966 NCAA basketball championship but what the movie never explains is how Dan managed to recruit these kids from the streets of New York, drag them to El Paso, and then enroll them in college when they didn’t even have a high school education?

Because of Fathers Day, I’ve been thinking about my Dad a lot. He was on his own since he was fourteen and went through the depression in the 30’s without ever collecting welfare. In fact, he called those that did, bums. Who am I to argue with him?

RANDOM THOUGHTS

The only good thing about not listening to advice is that you get to take full credit for everything that happens to you, good or bad.

Only strangers call it LA, locals call it Los Angeles but it’s just LAX to me man.

It’s true that guns can only change things temporarily, but bullets are forever.

How come most people in films smoke?

The only people who think a lady should cut her hair are envious girlfriends, hairdressers, and gay folks.

I wonder if gifted people understand that they’re just members of the lucky sperm club?

Brent Farris wants to know if you suddenly die, does your obit or your job opening appear first?

Think about this the Red Sox who have the best record in baseball this season have already won 66, oops now 67 and now 68 games. In 2004 when they won their first World Series in the modern era, it only took 98 wins. Should we order up the tickets?

And as for you Winnipeg, I’m canceling my Grey Cup Tickets again.

Women will share everything except their money.

Stuff about the #RedSox, #BrentFarris, #GloryRoad, and how to #LiveLarge, is above. Everything else is @ GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting is appreciated.

 

 

 

 

Geo’s Overtaxed Blog 7/9/18

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The other day I was writing about being at the press conference in Winnipeg when they were handing Bobby Hull a million dollar cheque. (see picture above) Bobby had just signed multi-million dollar deal with the Winnipeg Jets, but the league kicked in the extra million hoping his jumping to the WHA would encourage other NHL players to also do it.
I doubt that the NHL players of today realize that it was Bobby who got them the huge salaries that they now enjoy. Anyway, Bobby was smart enough back then to deposit that million dollar check into an American bank account. Had he deposited it in a Canadian Bank, the feds would have taken 90% of it.
I became very familiar with this situation when I jumped from Ottawa to Toronto where they doubled my pay. However, when I opened up my first paycheck, I was horrified to discover that my take home was about the same as it was in Ottawa. Unbeknownst to me, I’d moved into a new tax bracket reserved for the rich which I indeed wasn’t.
Jim Hilliard is also very familiar with what I’m talkin’ about because when he first became the PD of CKY in Winnipeg, I know for a for a fact that he was a card-carrying Democrat. However, after seeing what the Feds did to bonus cheque he got for producing a good rating book, Jim said, “Now that I’ve seen the future as seen through the eyes of socialists, I know exactly where the Democrats are headed, and I’m not going there.” Hell, when I lived in Canada, even I voted for the NDP.(socialist party) As I’ve always said though, “That free health care sure is expensive ain’t it, eh?”

LIFE-LINERS

RANDOM QUESTIONS & THOUGHTS.
Do stars only desire those they can’t have?

I’ve been in love with six different women but I’m still alone. Hey, maybe I’m the problem? Nah, couldn’t be. 🙂
 
The biggest mistake rich people make is thinking that they’re smarter than everybody else which makes them very vulnerable.

I wonder how the pay thing with the Eagles works now? A few years ago Don Henley and Glenn Frey decided to take a more significant share of the revenue because as they claimed, they were, The Eagles. (can you imagine John and Paul saying that to Ringo and George?) Does Don now get to take most of it home because he no longer has to share it with Glenn?

I dislike confrontation mostly because I can’t trust myself in the situation. So when someone begins to drift away, I don’t deal with it, I just bid them “Bon Voyage.”

Aaron Rogers may go down in history as the first pro football player ever to sleep with an Indy driver.

As legendary UCLA coach John Wooden said, “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change may be.”

Speaking of basketball in LA, the good news is that Lebron James is going to the Lakers, but the bad news is, LeBron has to face the Warriors more often.
 
As you may or may not know, there is no cure for addiction so choose yours very carefully. 
 
Why does America choose to attack its leaders, other countries have the same rights as we do but they seem to respect the office more. Once they all leave office, they’re fair game, but for now, we should show a little class.
 
To err is only human, but figuring out how the error is someone else’s fault is not only human, it’s very creative.
 
How many people do you suppose would pay for today’s radio? Hopefully, we’ll never find out.
 
If you’re a runner, like everything else, only the first step is painful.
 

I still don’t get the connection between football and police brutality?

The stock market needs to grow some cajones.

POLITICALLY INCORRECT BLOG
Is anything changing slower in the equal rights movement than women picking up a tab now and then?

Who’s safer, a white guy in a bar filled with black folks or a black guy in a bar with whites? Only asking because racism needs to be thrown out of both bars.

I don’t know of any politician who runs for office so he can give away free money to foreign countries. Where do they learn that shit?

MUSIC BLOG.
Some of the people who are not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are a lot more interesting than some of those who are.

Speaking of the Hall of Fame, why is the press afraid to call out Jann Wenner, he’s the one blocking deserving artists from getting in the Hall for personal reasons.

I just read an article which claimed that whatever song was #1 on your 14th birthday would define your life. Mine was “The Yellow Rose Of Texas” and even though when I was 14 I had no idea where Dallas or San Antonio was, nothing changed my life more than those two cities did.

Is there anyone more fun than a little girl? Unfortunately, when they become women, not so much.

FINANCIAL BLOG 
I need someone to explain to me what a good economy is? For eight years I listened to Obama brag about how good the economy was and now Trump claims that it’s even better. All I know though is that the prices keep going up but no extra coin is rollin’ in.

Geo’s Blog above is about Hockey Legend #Bobby Hull, #Canadian taxes, #Music and some other #Life-Liners. Many more topics are @ GeorgeJohns.com. On Twitter @GeoOfTheRadio. Sharing and commenting is appreciated.