Lesbian Chat Rooms

Posted on by

They delivered our new refrigerator a few days ago. The guy in charge was in his mid-30s, early-40s. The younger guy was a sophomore in high school. As they wrestled the box down from the pick-up truck, I asked the young guy if he’d rather be online. “You bet he would!” , said the older guy. “So would you,” offered the teenager. I asked the older guy how he spent his time online and –before he could answer– his assistant said: “Lesbian Chat Rooms.” The older guys jumped in with something like, “You mind your own business now.” It was a topic they had discussed previously.

Now, I’m as fascinated by Lesbians as any other heterosexual male, but my first thought was: The Internet is here to stay. When the guys (representing two generations) delivering my refrigerator spend enough time online to make their way to the Lesbian chat rooms… well, this just isn’t a fad. The Net has achieved penetration.

XM Satellite Radio

Posted on by

Next Tuesday I’m scheduled to have an XM satellite radio installed in my 4-Runner. If you haven’t seen the TV commercials or billboards, it’s a new subscription radio service that offers 100 plus channels of digital music and information for about 10 bucks a month. The line-up of news channels is pretty amazing: USA Today, Fox News, CNN Headline News, Weather Channel, CNBC, BBC, C-Span. I don’t know anyone that has the service yet and that sort of surprises me.

The parallels to cable TV are obvious. I remember when cable was first introduced and people asked, “Why would you pay for TV when you can get it for free?!” The answer seems equally obvious these days. HBO alone gives me Band of Brothers, The Soproanos, Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, Oz, The Wire, Dennis Miller and on and on. I have no idea if satellite radio will catch on. Or what impact –if any– it might have on traditional radio.

For me it’s about choices. The Web has spoiled me in this regard. I don’t want to listen to what “most of the people” want to listen to. I want to listen to what I want to (know many good reggae stations?). And I’ll pay to do so. On a recent 15 hour drive from Florida to Missouri, I found a few radio stations I liked but I quickly drove out of range and back into “radio wasteland.” I never really thought Internet radio was much of a challenge to traditional radio. I’m not so sure about this.

July 19, 1947

Posted on by

Radio station KBOA went on the air on July 19, 1947. Today, 55 years later, that station doesn’t really exist anymore. Frequencies have been sold and shifted, call letters transferred. But the station’s early days make a great story. Five years ago I created a website in an effort to preserve some of that history. My father worked at the station for 30+ years and I worked there for a dozen. I recently came across recordings of jingles, old commercials, and oral histories by the men who put the station on the air.

It was a time when radio shows had names (Noonday Serenade, Rise and Shine, Old Camp Meetin’ Time) and commercials were read live or recorded on huge discs. The recently unearthed interviews offer a unique insight into the time, the people and the communities they served.

Mr. Rudy

Posted on by

Mr. Rudy will celebrate his 81st birthday this month. He calls himself “The World’s Oldest Disc Jockey” and it could very well be true. He got his first announcing job in 1946 at WLOF in Orlando, Florida. What’s that…56 years? I don’t think he’s been on the air continuously but he was never off for long and always near the edges. I stopped by (they’ve messed with the call letters and frequencies so much I can’t tell what’s what) in Kennett, Missouri, a few weeks ago and stood in the back of the studio while he finished his shift. I can safely say there is nobody else on the air doing the same kind of radio as Mr. Rudy. He’s celebrating his birthday by performing with, The Redneck Rhythm Rangers at the Kennett American Legion Building. (Musical footnote: one of the musicians is Wendell Crow, father of Sheryl).