Here is a YouTube video featuring "Over The Rainbow" with host Bob Brown with guest Russell Azbill. The interview took place on 11/15/23.
In case you missed my October 11 blog post, Russell Azbill passed away on October 10 at this home in Jamestown, New Mexico.
The topic of the video is Unidentified Flying Objects, ghosts and other paranormal items.
It looks like not everybody in the media is enamored with Kamala Harris or her campaign.
A North Dakota radio station is contemplating suing Harris's campaign over an ad that has headlines implying they are supporting her.
The Washington Times reported:
A radio station is contemplating a lawsuit against Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign over its practice of altering headlines in online ads to make it appear that news outlets are supporting her bid for the White House.
Campaign ethics experts called the ad manipulation strategy “sloppy” and a threat to Ms. Harris’ claims of running an honest operation.
Steve Hallstrom, president and managing partner of Fieldstone Group, which operates WDAY Radio in Fargo, North Dakota, said the Harris campaign “lied to every single person who saw that ad.”
“We have reached out to the Harris campaign and demanded they terminate this ad immediately, and we are considering all options here, including legal action,” he said. “This is not right, and they should not be allowed to get away with this and tarnish our reputation — whether it’s a family-owned North Dakota company like us or a major national news organization.”
To read more, go here.
| Above, Jim Ladd. |
DJ Jim Ladd died yesterday at age 75 from a sudden heart attack.
Ladd was a practicioner of "freeform" radio and played what he wanted thematically, not some pre-programmed canned junk station "suits" wanted. He was a popular DJ on stations KMET and KLOS.
I enjoyed listening to his radio shows during my work night shifts, particularly when he played sets of The Doors and had Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarak on as a guest.
Deadline reported:
Jim Ladd, the longtime Los Angeles FM deejay known as “The Lonesome L.A. Cowboy” who had hosted a SiriusXM show for 12 years and was the inspiration for Tom Petty‘s album The Last DJ, died Saturday of a heart attack at his L.A. home. He was 75.
His death was announced today by fellow veteran DJ Meg Griffin, who hosted Ladd’s Deep Tracks show in his place today. Griffin said his wife Helene Lodge-Ladd had asked her to announce the news at the start of his show that aired live weekdays from 2-6 p.m. PT. It was Ladd’s first national program.
“I am so sorry for the shock that just hit you as you are listening right now,” Griffin told listeners. “He never stopped caring. He delivered the truth. He lived for the music.”
To read more, go here.
Ever since Rush Limbaugh passed away on February 17, 2021, I have not listened to anything on AM radio. Despite that, if I were to buy a new car, I would not want a radio in it that doesn't include the AM band.
AM radio is a vital source for news, weather reports and emergencies.
But some automakers are dropping the AM band on new EV and some fossil fuel vehicles. This is prompting a, surprisingly, bipartisan response in congress.
From NOLA.com:
WASHINGTON – Reception was scratchy until the AM knob was tuned precisely, but for truckers all over the country in the 1970s and 1980s, WWL’s Charlie Douglas kept them company throughout the night from New Orleans.
The soundtrack for workers on oil rigs off Louisiana’s shore came out of KLEB in Golden Meadow.
Terrestrial radio communication based on "amplitude modulation" was the first national media and came into wide use at the same time as the light bulb. As technology improved, AM evolved to become the primary player of rock and roll, country music and the blues in the 1950s and 1960s.
The latest evolution towards internet streaming and satellite technology poses a fatal risk to AM, and broadcasters are looking for a congressional solution.
Some makers of electric vehicles have stopped including AM radio. A bunch of other manufacturers plan to remove in-dash AM access, even in fossil fuel cars.
WWL and other radio stations around the nation are asking listeners to “take two minutes” to inform Congress of their support for AM radio. Broadcasters this month are on Capitol Hill lobbying for the “AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2023,” or S.1169, which would require installation of AM broadcast radio in cars without cost to the consumer.
Even in a fractured Congress, the bill by Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, has found common ground among usual ideological foes from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
To read more, go here.
| Above, Rush Limbaugh reacts after President Trump announed that he will be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the 2020 State of the Union. |
The late conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh may be honored with Rush Limbaugh Day if legislation establishing it passes the Missouri legislature and signed by the governor.
The New York Post reported:
A proposal to honor late conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh with an official state designation is one step closer in Missouri.
The state’s GOP-led House approved legislation Thursday that would designate Jan. 12 as “Rush Limbaugh Day,” marking the Cape Girardeau native’s birthday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The measure now needs approval from the Senate prior to the end of the legislative session next Friday. The sponsor of the proposal, Rep. Hardy Billington (R-Poplar Bluff), tacked it onto another bill regarding several other proposed state designations, according to the report.
Limbaugh, 70, died in February after a yearlong battle with lung cancer.
To read more, go here.
| Above, Gallup's and Window Rock's KYAT plays classic and modern country music. |
Ever wondered why stations play the same thing and new artists can't get airplay on them?
You can thank the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and Bill Clinton (for signing it) for this.
About the Telecommunications Act of 1996 from Future of Music:
Major Findings
Evidence of Consolidation
1. Ten parent companies dominate the radio spectrum, radio listenership and radio revenues. Deregulation has allowed a few large radio companies to swallow many of the small ones. Together these ten parent companies control two-thirds of both listeners and revenue nationwide. Two parent companies in particular, Clear Channel and Viacom, control 42 percent of listeners and 45 percent of industry revenues (see Chapter 3, pp. 24-25).
2. Consolidation is particularly extreme in the case of Clear Channel. Since passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Clear Channel has grown from 40 stations to 1,240 stations — 30 times more than congressional regulation previously allowed. No potential competitor owns even one-quarter the number of Clear Channel stations. With over 100 million listeners, Clear Channel reaches over one-third of the U.S. population (see Chapter 3, p. 24).
3. Oligopolies control almost every geographic market. Virtually every geographic market is dominated by four firms controlling 70 percent of market share or greater. In smaller markets, consolidation is more extreme. The largest four firms in most small markets control 90 percent of market share or more. These companies are sometimes regional or national station groups and not locally owned (see Chapter 3, pp. 31-35).
4. Virtually every music format is controlled by an oligopoly. In 28 of the 30 major music formats, nationwide, four companies or fewer control over 50 percent of listeners (see Chapter 3, pp. 36-39).
Effects of Consolidation
5. A small number of companies control the news Americans hear on the radio. Four parent companies control two-thirds of the nation’s News format listeners. Two such firms, Viacom and Disney’s ABC Radio, also control major television networks (see Chapter 3, p. 38).
6. Format consolidation leads to fewer gatekeepers. A small number of companies control what music is played on specific formats. Coupled with a broad trend toward shorter playlists, this creates few opportunities for musicians to get on the radio. Further, overwhelming consolidation of these formats deprives citizens the opportunity to hear a wide range of music (See Chapter 4, pp. 61-63).
New musicians can't get airplay to be discovered and older artists, like George Strait, can't get airplay on "country" stations thanks to the "gatekeepers".
According to Country Rebel, Strait is not alone:
Country singer-songwriter Jamey Johnson is a huge talent, but radio stations won’t play his music. They got together and wrote about their frustrations with being kicked off country radio and titled the song “Kicked Outta Country.”
The song opens with the lyrics, “I just got the news today, the record I sent them they threw it away/It don’t fit the format, don’t make the list/They said I’m too old, won’t even be missed.”
Throughout the song, he sings about when country radio stopped playing Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash. He notes that they continued to write what they knew, sing what they wrote, and they didn’t care what anyone thought.
So, if you are wondering why all we hear on the radio is the same pabulum, this is why.
Thank goodness there are still some independent radio stations around. In the Gallup, New Mexico area, there is a "Navajo Country" radio station, KYAT, that plays classic and new country music, including George Strait, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Sr., Roy Rogers and, if you can believe it, Walter Brennan. It's a damn good station!
Rock is dead, that is why I switched to country.
| Above, Jeffrey Silver in "Superman On Earth" (1951). |
Jeffrey Silver was born on February 25, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Space Patrol (1950), The Charles Farrell Show (1956) and The Silver Theatre (1949).
I spoke with Jeff silver on the phone several years ago. At the time he was not in good health and hardly ever left home. I too hope he’s still alive.
| Above, Mick Rich during the campaign in Gallup. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
During Mick's 2018 campaign for U.S. Senate, he got to know a number of New Mexico's radio talk show hosts. But he struck a friendship with Eddy Aragon, "The Rock of Talk" and owner of KIVA radio in Albuquerque (95.9 FM / 1600 AM / online: ABQ.FM).
Beginning in early 2019, Mick will host a weekly half-hour talk radio show of his own on KIVA. "The Mick Rich Show" will discuss current issues of importance to New Mexico. Mick will offer his views, interview community leaders, and take questions from callers.
"I've always cared deeply about our state and its people, and I've always thought a lot about how to solve our problems," Mick said.
Tune in to Mick's show beginning in January at 1:30pm on Saturdays.Following Ronald Reagan's losing primary campaign of 1976, Reagan went back on the radio with a program discussing the day's issues. It seems that Mick Rich is following in Ronald Reagan's footsteps.
| Above, Dodger Stadium. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |