Coming back to KSHE-FM, here's a recording of their HD 3 Stream, My 80s Channel! Wow!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
HERE'S ANOTHER HD RADIO STREAM FROM ST. LOUIS!
This is a recording of THE VERVE, the smooth jazz channel of KIHT-FM HD 3 in St. Louis, Mo.
ANOTHER ONE!
And now, let's go down the dial to WARH-FM HD 2 in Granite City, Mo., just outside St. Louis!
CHECK THIS OUT!
Hey, check this out! It's a feed from an HD2 radio station in St. Louis, Mo. None other than KSHE-FM HD2!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
THE FRIGGING MARATHON!
Just a few days ago, WDRM-FM at 88.5, the radio station of Dorchester Massachusetts University, pulled the plug on their bloodsucking "mara-mara-marathon" fundraiser. Over the past 12 months, the station has fallen on hard times. First of all, a lot of the eclectic music offerings-folk, jazz, alternative, Celtic, electronica, etc.-got replaced by news and classical music. Most of the disc jockeys who were volunteers were let go and paid professionals took their place.
Next, WDRM signed several consultants to dictate programming policies, and the overnight jazz segments were replaced by nonstop playing of the "Holy" Koran(yeah, right) for the benefit of the growing Arabic audience in the Boston area. The night after the Koran readings began, a group of Christian and Jewish girls broke into the studio and ransacked the equipment, breaking the tapes that were playing the crap. A dozen campus police officers had to be called in to break up the melee. They arrested all the girls and took them down to the police station. For more than 3 hours, the cops interrogated the girls over what they did until several lawyers came down and ordered them released.
The following night, we had a torrential rain storm that dumped 7 inches of rain in the Boston area and points South and Eastward. (Around dawn, the rain changed to snow and froze everything into ice(not to mention buried us in a 1 to 2 foot snowfall)! The equipment was ruined and had to be replaced.
So the WDRM staff decided to do a marathon fundraiser that weekend. They were asking the listening audience to raise about $2.5 million between Friday at 6 a.m. and Sunday night at Midnight. They prologued each hour with a stupid song that went something like this-
"Join us now!
We're on the Marathon!"
And the rest of it I don't know. But they were asking people to contribute money to help cover the equipment costs and restock their musical library. More than 3,000 recordings of various styles of music-on CD and vinyl-were destroyed, many beyond repair. Also, they needed help to solidify their new program line-up.
"Listen, folks!" one of the announcers said. "A lot of public radio stations have had to make cutbacks and changes, and we, too, are in a quandry. If you can help us in any financial way, we'd appreciate it."
And after their appeals, they'd play that lousy song:
"Marathon! Marathon!
Mara-mara-marathon!"
Yeah, that was a sucky piece of music. Because people had lost their homes in the double whammy storm, they were without power. Also, phone service was severely disrupted. By the time the marathon officially ended at midnight that Sunday night, WDRM-FM had only raised about $142,000. So what did the trustees of the station decide to do?
They started it up again at 6 a.m. the next morning and went another 10 days. I was working answering phones and doing on air shifts. And here I was listening to that stupid "mara-mara-marathon" jingle ad nauseaum. On the 12th. day-a Thursday-I was doing the noon to 4 p.m. shift.
"Listen, everybody!" I said to the listeners. "We've had a very lousy time this past week and a half. As we move into this 12th. day of the WDRM-FM marathon, we're asking you people to help us out of a tight spot. We've raised about $552,000, but we still need to raise $2 million more. Our goal for this fundraiser is $2.5 million. If you can..."
Suddenly, I got a phone call from the manager(who was out of town basking his fat butt in Cuba, which he wasn't supposed to do).
"Yeah...what? You're kidding...okay, I'll let 'em right now."
After I hung up, I spoke into the mike saying, "That was our general manager in Cuba, and he has ordered us to call a halt to the marathon. To those of you people who didn't respond, I'm very disappointed in you. To those of you who did, thanks from all of us. We're going to go off the air now until further notice. Thank you and God bless. And by the way, our G.M. doesn't have any right to be in Commie Land!"
We ran the national anthem and I got up to say thanks to everyone on the phones and in the control room. After that, I left the studio and found a place to have a good cry...
But there was one problems; the tears wouldn't come. After all, public radio listeners who find their favorite musical programs being sacrificed for the sake of the almighty dollar feel betrayed when their station turns away from their mission and starts going after ratings and dollars. It's just not fair.
After I left, there was a report that one of the people answering the phones started a fight with someone in the control room. But....that's a story for another day.
TO BE CONTINUED....
Next, WDRM signed several consultants to dictate programming policies, and the overnight jazz segments were replaced by nonstop playing of the "Holy" Koran(yeah, right) for the benefit of the growing Arabic audience in the Boston area. The night after the Koran readings began, a group of Christian and Jewish girls broke into the studio and ransacked the equipment, breaking the tapes that were playing the crap. A dozen campus police officers had to be called in to break up the melee. They arrested all the girls and took them down to the police station. For more than 3 hours, the cops interrogated the girls over what they did until several lawyers came down and ordered them released.
The following night, we had a torrential rain storm that dumped 7 inches of rain in the Boston area and points South and Eastward. (Around dawn, the rain changed to snow and froze everything into ice(not to mention buried us in a 1 to 2 foot snowfall)! The equipment was ruined and had to be replaced.
So the WDRM staff decided to do a marathon fundraiser that weekend. They were asking the listening audience to raise about $2.5 million between Friday at 6 a.m. and Sunday night at Midnight. They prologued each hour with a stupid song that went something like this-
"Join us now!
We're on the Marathon!"
And the rest of it I don't know. But they were asking people to contribute money to help cover the equipment costs and restock their musical library. More than 3,000 recordings of various styles of music-on CD and vinyl-were destroyed, many beyond repair. Also, they needed help to solidify their new program line-up.
"Listen, folks!" one of the announcers said. "A lot of public radio stations have had to make cutbacks and changes, and we, too, are in a quandry. If you can help us in any financial way, we'd appreciate it."
And after their appeals, they'd play that lousy song:
"Marathon! Marathon!
Mara-mara-marathon!"
Yeah, that was a sucky piece of music. Because people had lost their homes in the double whammy storm, they were without power. Also, phone service was severely disrupted. By the time the marathon officially ended at midnight that Sunday night, WDRM-FM had only raised about $142,000. So what did the trustees of the station decide to do?
They started it up again at 6 a.m. the next morning and went another 10 days. I was working answering phones and doing on air shifts. And here I was listening to that stupid "mara-mara-marathon" jingle ad nauseaum. On the 12th. day-a Thursday-I was doing the noon to 4 p.m. shift.
"Listen, everybody!" I said to the listeners. "We've had a very lousy time this past week and a half. As we move into this 12th. day of the WDRM-FM marathon, we're asking you people to help us out of a tight spot. We've raised about $552,000, but we still need to raise $2 million more. Our goal for this fundraiser is $2.5 million. If you can..."
Suddenly, I got a phone call from the manager(who was out of town basking his fat butt in Cuba, which he wasn't supposed to do).
"Yeah...what? You're kidding...okay, I'll let 'em right now."
After I hung up, I spoke into the mike saying, "That was our general manager in Cuba, and he has ordered us to call a halt to the marathon. To those of you people who didn't respond, I'm very disappointed in you. To those of you who did, thanks from all of us. We're going to go off the air now until further notice. Thank you and God bless. And by the way, our G.M. doesn't have any right to be in Commie Land!"
We ran the national anthem and I got up to say thanks to everyone on the phones and in the control room. After that, I left the studio and found a place to have a good cry...
But there was one problems; the tears wouldn't come. After all, public radio listeners who find their favorite musical programs being sacrificed for the sake of the almighty dollar feel betrayed when their station turns away from their mission and starts going after ratings and dollars. It's just not fair.
After I left, there was a report that one of the people answering the phones started a fight with someone in the control room. But....that's a story for another day.
TO BE CONTINUED....
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
THIS IS WHAT TOP 40 RADIO HAS BECOME!
When I was growing up, Top 40 music meant great songs and songwriters, legendary hits and so much more. Below is an example about the way it's gone in the past 10 years!
| Katy Perry - California Gurls .mp3 | ||
 | ||
 | Found at bee mp3 search engine |  |
Thursday, August 26, 2010
MUSIC IS LIFE!
Check out my new Live365 radio station Music Is Life!
http://www.live365.com/stations/urbietorbi25
http://www.live365.com/stations/urbietorbi25
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
I'VE POSTED A PODCAST!
I'd like you to take a look at a podcast that I've added to this blog called "Do You Remember House?" Check it out below.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
THERE ARE SOME TRUTHS!
The reason I titled this blog "The Big 9-0" is because the first American radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, is celebrating its 90th. anniversary. Of course, the first real radio broadcast was on Christmas Eve 1906, when Reginald Fessenden did a Christmas Eve broadcast for ships on the sea. And of course, CFCF in Montreal, which recently shut down as CINW, was founded as an experimental station in 1919.
But it was on Election Night 1920 that KDKA radio, a station of the Westinghouse Electric Company(which owned it at the time), did the first voice broadcast when they did the election results that announced that Warren G. Harding was going to win. In the 1920s, radio stations took root around the country, including WBZ in Boston, WGN in Chicago, WCBS in New York and KGO in San Francisco. Within 10 to 15 years, radio networks came to be, including the Columbia Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company.
In the early days, radio stations were an experiment in how to reach the potential audience. They would broadcast everything from ethnic music to sports. And of course, it's brought us closer to our world. Who could forget the Hindenburg disaster? The War of the Worlds with Orson Welles at the helm? The crash of the stock market? The Pearl Harbor attacks? And of course, we all remember top 40 AM radio and live baseball games.
The first radio stations were experimental radio stations used for propaganda and news purposes. Radio stations could reach halfway across the country and the world. We all remember when people in the rural areas could hear The Grand Ole Opry or FDR's Fireside Chats. By the time President Kennedy came to power, radio was losing its influence with the onslaught of television.
In the 1950s, FM radio was founded, but it was only used for graveyard formats like classical and easy listening music. However, thanks to its superior sound, FM soon replaced AM radio as the most popular band for music. Many AM top 40 stations were done in by FM in the 1970s and 1980s. And today, many Canadian radio stations have left the airwaves, including 2 AM radio stations in Montreal back in January.
We've also seen the rise of satellite radio with 50 or 60 channels of music, offering everything from classical to country to AM rock, rap and more. Radio stations are experimenting with HD radio, which can offer more radio stations without the subscription fees that satellite radio charges. And please don't even think of making me count the millions of internet radio stations that are at our disposal.
While many of the "clear channel" torch stations have been broadcasting for nearly 9 decades, some radio stations have gone the way of the horse and buggy. I remember when radio stations like WLYN in Lynn, WCAS in Cambridge and WWEL in Medford would offer niche formats like folk music, ethnic programs and beautiful instrumentals. Many of these stations would sign off at sunset, because of FCC rules. I know that WCAS would air catchy jingles at sign-off like this:
"Drinking wine can make you queasy!
Drinking rum can make it worse!
Only thing that keeps me sober:
740 kilohertz!
Hey!
Kick the dog and pass the bottle!
Eat potatoes! Wear a dress!
Quote Jim Joyce and kiss your mother!
Tune your dial to 'CAS!"
Or FCC Man stripping WCAS of all powers until sunrise the next morning.
"Oh, no! I'm losing all my powers! I can feel them fade!"
Here in Boston, I've never been able to get KDKA clear because it's bordered by WBZ, another clear channel radio station that is mostly news/talk. I grew up listening to 'BZ for the big events of my life, such as the Red Sox, the Beatles, and more. And the announcers of that station are legendary: Carl DeSuze, Gary Lapierre, Dave Maynard, Larry Glick, Alan Dary, Jerry Williams, Larry Justice, and more!
I also have some nostalgia for all the daytime radio stations that used to sign-off at sundown. A couple of them still do, but most of them have licenses that will allow them to operate at reduced power at night. They're the ones offering niche programming, like beautiful music on "Listener Supported WJIB" or ethnic programs on WJDA in Quincy or WLYN in Lynn.
Radio has changed in the last 90 years, and I've been around for almost 50 of them! And my, how times have changed.
But it was on Election Night 1920 that KDKA radio, a station of the Westinghouse Electric Company(which owned it at the time), did the first voice broadcast when they did the election results that announced that Warren G. Harding was going to win. In the 1920s, radio stations took root around the country, including WBZ in Boston, WGN in Chicago, WCBS in New York and KGO in San Francisco. Within 10 to 15 years, radio networks came to be, including the Columbia Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company.
In the early days, radio stations were an experiment in how to reach the potential audience. They would broadcast everything from ethnic music to sports. And of course, it's brought us closer to our world. Who could forget the Hindenburg disaster? The War of the Worlds with Orson Welles at the helm? The crash of the stock market? The Pearl Harbor attacks? And of course, we all remember top 40 AM radio and live baseball games.
The first radio stations were experimental radio stations used for propaganda and news purposes. Radio stations could reach halfway across the country and the world. We all remember when people in the rural areas could hear The Grand Ole Opry or FDR's Fireside Chats. By the time President Kennedy came to power, radio was losing its influence with the onslaught of television.
In the 1950s, FM radio was founded, but it was only used for graveyard formats like classical and easy listening music. However, thanks to its superior sound, FM soon replaced AM radio as the most popular band for music. Many AM top 40 stations were done in by FM in the 1970s and 1980s. And today, many Canadian radio stations have left the airwaves, including 2 AM radio stations in Montreal back in January.
We've also seen the rise of satellite radio with 50 or 60 channels of music, offering everything from classical to country to AM rock, rap and more. Radio stations are experimenting with HD radio, which can offer more radio stations without the subscription fees that satellite radio charges. And please don't even think of making me count the millions of internet radio stations that are at our disposal.
While many of the "clear channel" torch stations have been broadcasting for nearly 9 decades, some radio stations have gone the way of the horse and buggy. I remember when radio stations like WLYN in Lynn, WCAS in Cambridge and WWEL in Medford would offer niche formats like folk music, ethnic programs and beautiful instrumentals. Many of these stations would sign off at sunset, because of FCC rules. I know that WCAS would air catchy jingles at sign-off like this:
"Drinking wine can make you queasy!
Drinking rum can make it worse!
Only thing that keeps me sober:
740 kilohertz!
Hey!
Kick the dog and pass the bottle!
Eat potatoes! Wear a dress!
Quote Jim Joyce and kiss your mother!
Tune your dial to 'CAS!"
Or FCC Man stripping WCAS of all powers until sunrise the next morning.
"Oh, no! I'm losing all my powers! I can feel them fade!"
Here in Boston, I've never been able to get KDKA clear because it's bordered by WBZ, another clear channel radio station that is mostly news/talk. I grew up listening to 'BZ for the big events of my life, such as the Red Sox, the Beatles, and more. And the announcers of that station are legendary: Carl DeSuze, Gary Lapierre, Dave Maynard, Larry Glick, Alan Dary, Jerry Williams, Larry Justice, and more!
I also have some nostalgia for all the daytime radio stations that used to sign-off at sundown. A couple of them still do, but most of them have licenses that will allow them to operate at reduced power at night. They're the ones offering niche programming, like beautiful music on "Listener Supported WJIB" or ethnic programs on WJDA in Quincy or WLYN in Lynn.
Radio has changed in the last 90 years, and I've been around for almost 50 of them! And my, how times have changed.
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