A few weeks ago when I wrote a piece entitled “Livin’ Large” in which I used a quote from my good friend Mark Hubbard. After reading it, Mark called to ask, “When are you going to write about the time we got stuck in a bar in Nashville? You know, when we were trapped there because of an ice storm and you were driving me crazy with that, “Ain’t it a shame stuff.”
Mark at the time was the president of both the Fairmont and Osborn Communications groups and because I was his programming consultant, we made a lot of market visits together. In fact, we’d just finished one up at K101 in San Fransisco and were on a flight to Nashville to meet with the folks at WLAC. However, upon arrival, an ice storm was hitting Nashville which made our plane the last to land before they closed the airport. After getting our bags, we learned that the freeways were also closed so there was no way we were getting to our hotel downtown. Luckily though a van from the Holiday Inn near the airport was parked at the curb so we jumped in hoping that they had a couple of rooms.
The hotel was wide open, so after putting our bags in our rooms and freshening up a little, we met downstairs in the bar where we ordered up some drinks and a couple of burgers. As we sat there eating, we couldn’t help but notice that we were the only ones in the bar and Mark said, “I bet on any other night we wouldn’t be more than 30 feet away from a dozen demo tapes in here.” Then all of a sudden a pretty little lady wearing tight fittin’ jeans, cowboy boots, and carrying two acoustic guitars that looked like Martins, climbed up on the small stage in the corner and began to sing. Mark claims that he still remembers me turning to him after she sang a couple of tunes and said the words that he’ll never forget, “Ain’t it a shame Mark?”
He now says that he uses those very same words during a few of his business lectures at Notre Dame. However, back at the bar in Nashville that night, he just said, “What the hell are you talking about?” Look at that pretty girl up there I said, “Singing just for us, she’s probably from some small town where she’s a star and all the folks have told her that she’s good enough to make a record. Finally, after hearing many stories about how folks like Randy Travis, Dolly Parton, and others all being discovered in bars like this, she moved to Nashville.” I get that Mark replied, “I’m just not getting the shame part?” Ok I say, she’s only up there singing in an almost empty bar because she’s been told a thousand times that you never know who’s watching you, so always sing your heart out.
Well, guess what Mark, they were right, she’s hit the jackpot, we’re here, and we’re sitting right in front of her. Not only are you the president of two big radio groups but you also have a ton of music connections. I consult radio stations all over North America, know a bunch of record guys, even had my own records out, so I kinda know how it works, and if that’s not enough, my daughter Candis is a big deal at Warner Brothers Records. Either one of us could probably make a phone call tomorrow and get her a record deal, so tonight’s the night she’s been praying for. She’s been working long and hard for this moment, and it’s finally here. However, the shame is, neither one of us is gonna make that call tomorrow. She ain’t good enough!
LIFE-LINERS.
MOVIES MUSIC & RADIO
Professor Dick Taylor claims that ReelRadio will return.
When Radio Hall Of Fame member Ron Chapman told me that he wanted to be big enough in Dallas that he’d have difficulty walking down the street, I ordered a new Vette. Hell, I figured we were already halfway there.
A good on-air product produces more revenue than selling it does
Radio Consultant John Lund says that aircheck sessions should last no more than thirty minutes and I agree. I give myself that amount of time to hopefully hear something that I like so I can say, “Can you do anymore just like that?” If they tell me they can, the meeting is over. However, if I don’t find anything I like within the thirty-minute time limit, the jock is over.
Motivational parties do very little whereas rating parties change lives.
Santa Rosa radio guy Brent Farris claims that the Comcast folks are all tied up in meetings trying to figure out how to get people to stop canceling their service after they binge-watch all their favorite shows. Hey, Comcast has creating any new product ever come up?
A creative person can beat a gifted talent but if the gifted person ever learns creativity, the rest of us don’t stand a chance.
Publisher Jerry Del Colliano says that the time to stop chasing your radio dream is never.
We now have more ways of communicating than we have things to communicate.
Radio consultant Tracy Johnson says, “Always record client interviews, always.”
Radio executive Bob Pittman told me that the only reason he took a part-time radio job in Jackson Mississippi was so that he could afford to take flying lessons. He’s been flying ever since.
REALITY.
Courage is simply a matter of overcoming fear.
It’s not the taste of liquor that makes it so good, it’s the effect.
If you don’t set your own goals you’ll soon be working on somebody else’s.
It’s difficult to make yourself happy but virtually impossible for others to do it for you.
Blind faith is just that, blind!
Who’s ever claimed that they’re being overpaid?
Being the best also pays the best.
Not being afraid to die is not courageous, it’s crazy.
The only place on earth that has free healthcare, free education, free clothing, free food, free housing, and free utilities, is a place called prison.
Most folks only change when something very emotional happens to them.
The Red Sox still have the best record in baseball and the Blue Bombers won over the weekend so life is good.
PHILOSOPHICAL.
You can never be any more successful than you think you can.
Even though it appears to true and everybody agrees that it is, it still may not be.
When Walt found someone who could draw Mickey better than he could. He fired himself.
GEO’S POLITICAL BLOG.
Not only is Trump politically incorrect, he’s not even political.
The people who surround the presidents are much more dangerous than presidents.
GEO’S LOVE & MARRIAGE BLOG.
Beware of women with cats, they may be all out of love.
Using a poem, a song, a movie, a play, a dance, a painting, a sculpture, or a photograph in order to communicate may do wonders, but a kiss will do it better.
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