A more formal hello

[umtrr-author]

I have posted a couple of times here so I thought it appropriate to offer an official introduction. I didn't see anything in the rules either way on this but other boards I'm on usually appreciate it so here goes.

I'm "George in Ellison Park" and my family and I live in that general area (roughly diagonally across the real Ellison Park from the Crawford studios). I'm a native of New Jersey (what exit? 14C then 12) and moved to the Rochester area in 1989 to attend graduate school.

Though it was my overriding childhood ambition to do so, I have not ever been employed, gainfully or otherwise, in the radio business. However, I have had my share of "general public" airtime, perhaps most notoriously as a frequent caller to Allan Harris' show on WHAM (I was known as "The CEO of the Allan Harris Show" for several years). I was also one of the original Voice of the Voter panel and was a guest on 1370 Connection during the most recent Constitutional Convention (failed) attempt. I have fond memories of what was for me the glory days of New York radio and I was also known to hang out my bedroom window with the radio to DX stations around the country, including WKBW Buffalo. (The nonchalance with which 8 to 12 inches of snow were forecast on the air amazed this Jerseyan.) I have been told that I made the right move to find a more stable career and I must admit that those who gently steered me in that direction were right given the current situation of the industry. (But if I hit Mega-Millions, look out...)

Since I know enough to know that I really don't know much about this business, I expect to be more of a lurker and learner than anything else. I will try to pipe in when and if I have something reasonably intelligent to say! I certainly recognize some of the folks here-- I've even met some of you-- and I'll try to be a good guest here.

If you're curious, my rather unusual handle is a reference to the 'net and e-mail based model train review column I have written for the last 11 years (the Unofficial Micro-Trains Release Report or "UMTRR"). If there are any other model railroaders out there please feel free to say hello.

I also enjoy writing about other topics and like so many others I have the website to prove it. Those of you in the business might find the story I wrote about my radio debut amusing, if a "period piece" now (daddy, what is a "45"?):

http://www.irwinsjournal.com/ijonline/ijairtime.htm

All for now... we now return you to our regularly scheduled programming, already in progress...

Cheers,
George

 

[SirRoxalot]

Welcome to the Jungle

To use RR parlance, Welcome Aboard!

It will be useful for those who are deeply immersed in the radio biz to be reminded of the viewpoint of the listener, so don't denigrate your input. Often, the listener is the last thing on the minds of people fighting budgets, regulations, corporate dictates, and the myriad layers of befuddlement that seem to grow daily. Your input may very well refocus the discussion on the most important and increasingly rare element in the radio universe - the listener.

I haven't visited your webpage yet, or read your foray into broadcasting, but I will when time permits. In the interim, don't be shy as you navigate the collection of bombasts, bullies, bimbos, benefactors, backbiters, blackguards, bores, and brains - all of which I myself have been from time to time - that inhabit our little corner of the virtual world.

Rox

 

[alw]

Why Rox.....You're positively gallant!

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Rox, I like what you said and how you said it.

George, many of us were fans of radio who were lucky enough to get the change to get involved. I never got into radio with the idea of making a fortune but wow it sure got tight after awhile. I probably should have hung up the headphones sooner than I did. I don't regret my time behind the mic but I may when I see those reduced retirement benefits in a few years!

Your opinion is just as valid as anyone else here, maybe even more so since your opinion won't be tainted by having worked on the inside. Maybe radio would be better if there were a few more listeners like yourself who were active and involved.

I never worked in WNY radio, I always wanted it. Probably better it stay an unrealized dream!

Mike

 

[SirRoxalot]

Gallant today, Galling tomorrow

Why Rox.....You're positively gallant!

alw, I'm going to copy your statement to a safe place on my hard drive so I can break it out the next time someone else finds my presence less than desirable.

I'll drop it in like a good review of a bad movie...

 

[jefflaurence]

"The Bug"

Hi George..as a 11 year old living in suburban Los Angeles in the early 60's I got the "bug" early..My first crystal radio (alligator clip attached to the "dial-stop" of a rotary phone worrked) netted me hours of earphone pleasure listening to KMPC in LA, and the little daytimer KKAR/1220 in Pomona..the only two stations I could hear on it. One day my family was out for a drive and we happened by KKAR's studios. Rounded glass bricks lined the plush lobby..the two towers in the field out back were impressive...And remember this was a 250 watt daytimer..but there was a lovely receptionist, and a bustling staff of news people, sales people, and producers..and in the control room with the big console with knobs and lights and micrphones..between two HUGE transcription turntables..there was a guy in there with the most beautiful voice..and he had headphones, and a suit and tie, and was "doing a music show"

I HAD TO DO THIS!

Fast forward a few years..and after moving to Niagara Falls from L.A. in the MIDDLE of the blizzard of 1966, I still had the bug, and like so many of my brethren on this board had my little "radio station" in my bedroom with my Lafayette 100mw transmitter that I built from a kit. My parents used to eat breakfast every Sunday and found that the restaurant in the Parkway Motor Hotel..off the rapids in Niagara Falls was a good place to eat. It also housed the main office and studio (singular) of 1270/WHLD..Every Sunday..without fail I would wolf down my food, and bolt to the station where the fellow working to run religous tapes let me watch, and help file records. I loved it, and ate it up! I think I did this most every Sunday for 2 years! There were two young men who let me come in and watch. They had "the bug" and were nice enough to teach me more about it. One was Chris Cage (Caggiano) now in Indiana..and one was Sal Paonessa (still working for WJJL and for the NCSO)

One day the general manager Eddy Jo, called my father and asked if I would be allowed to come and open the station up and run tapes one Sunday because the guy I used to watch was sick and he had heard that I knew what I was doing. He said yes, and I did it..God was I excited. I was IN!
I was 16.

Through Niagara Falls, and Buffalo..Toronto, and Syracuse, Rochester, Ithaca, and Tampa Bay, Florida all the way up here to the seclusion of the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina..I have never done anything else to make a living..but I could see a problem with one owner having so many stations in one building. The money was drying up for personel, and I went the production route..hoping that there would always be a need for commercial audio production. Eventually I was fortunate to build my own studio and that's where I am now 37 years later.

This industry has given me and continues to give me milestones..both good and bad. A fair paycheck for work perfomed and delivered with gratitude and enthusiasm. and most of all membership in a fraternatiy of amazing men and women who have "the bug"

George if you win the Mega Millions..you owe it to your inner self to give this a try..even in this dicey economy..if you have the desire..there's nothing quite like this business!

www.jefflaurence.com

 

[umtrr-author]

Thanks, Jeff, and thanks for the great story! I'll bet most if not all of the folks on this board have a similar one.

For me it was listening to the music AMs in New York City, Rambling with Gambling, and American Top 40 that helped plant the childhood bug. When I discovered that the walkie-talkies bought for my brother and me (from the dear departed EJ Korvettes) could transmit all the way across the street, of course I had to try my hand at a "radio station."

I switched to a cheap cassette recorder, wrote newscasts and commercials, spent too much money on 45s, and played quite the eclectic mix of music-- format defined as "whatever we had". We always played "one in a row!"-- there was just the one record changer, you see. I had a friend who joined in not much later and we would each do several different characters for the show.

We even tried game shows including something called "People at Large"-- for a Christmas show, the question was, "Can you spell Andre Kostelanetz?" (He conducted my favorite version of "The Skaters Waltz.")

Our station couldn't afford a helicopter so our reporter was stuck in the "Traffic Toyota."

First as a team with my friend, then my brother, and then solo again, a bunch of 60 or 90 minute tapes were produced, most of which are still around someplace. For some reason I preferred PM drive over AM rush and I tended to fall into the groove of doing 3:30 to 5PM on the 90 minute tapes, after which I "tossed" to a solid two hour news block, locally produced of course. When CDs overtook records, I was there with two CD players-- hurray, two, three, and four in a row! Including "Tuesday Twofers" and "Four Barrels," four in a row from my... oops, I mean your favorite artists...

The rest...

...is not history.

But that's OK.

I have a deep abiding love of music of many forms that cannot and will not easily be stuffed into a "format" and I do still casually follow the industry. This love of music has carried over to both my children although my daughter Thalia Elizabeth has been more open about it. As a family we trekked all the way to Parry Sound, Ontario to see a Glass Tiger concert, for example; a story I'll leave for another day. And I have great memories of having fun and pretending, which nutured creativity (and some would say an overactive imagination) that serves me well in my current work life and avocations especially my writing.

In my current position of employment, I work at home; I'm an "extreme telecommuter" literally under the stairs in the basement for the home office, with the head offices six hours away in either direction and that means nearly 100% of my communication with co-workers is audio. "Pretend radio" turned out to be really good practice for that.

Though the MegaMillions jackpot has been "reset" at this writing, it will grow again... and I think you'll know if I won if I suddenly post a call for resumes and airchecks. You'd better know your music though! You'll have to select your own playlist of records... er, digital files...

Cheers,
George