Happy Hare's
Grab Bag
It is enlightening to check in on
John
Rook from time to time. Although it
has been a few moons since John turned
radio upside down with bold
revolutionary ideas, his latest burst
onto the scene is fueled by his moral
indignation that the musical artists of
the 50’s. 60’s and 70’s have not been
recognized for the immeasurable pleasure
they gave us. John has conceived of a
Hit Parade Hall of Fame celebrating
those great artists who fulfilled the
nation’s musical tastes, only to be
tossed aside without a trace..
John is seething with Old Testament
righteousness. Like a Biblical Prophet,
he has come roaring out of his idyllic
Idaho ranch to right a wrong. Join John.
Cast your vote for your favorites of the
Boomer era. John will use your vote to
help create the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
His long term plan is to create an
actual Hit Parade Hall Fame, with some
cities already under consideration.
In his own words, John writes, “More
than 20,000 fans worldwide have voted in
the first annual Hit Parade awards with
Elvis Presley leading more than one
hundred recording stars of the years
1950 through 1975.
Ten weeks after starting the on-line
voting process, the top ten favorites
are:
1. Elvis Presley
2. The Beatles
3. Frank Sinatra
4. Bobby Darin
5. Neil Diamond
6. Ray Charles
7. Ricky Nelson
8. The Beach Boys
9. Neil Sedaka
10. Pat Boone
More than a quarter of the votes come
from fans worldwide with many from
Australia, Canada and England. The
universal appeal of American music is
evident with a number of votes also
being cast by fans in Belgium, Brazil,
France Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan,
Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway,
Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
South Africa, Thailand and Turkey.
Based on the vote of fans, the
nominating committee will announce the
first round of inductees in the Hit
Parade Hall of Fame on December 2007.
Click on this site and register your
vote.
The coming generational tsunami of
Boomers, with its great spending power,
will revive 35-54+ radio. Radio has
already lost 18-24’s.* because it
ignored them. “Boomer Radio” the sexy
new demo….Va Va Boom!”
The Blasts from the Past explode into
history
May 6th, on an idyllic Sunday, the San
Diego Press Club saluted a number of us
“blast from the past “jocks representing
an era stretching from 1955 through the
80’s. When I emerged from the Army in
1955, I went to KCBQ in San Diego when
“rock” was considered a tool of the
Devil. I wasn’t all that certain about
it myself when I began playing rock,
much of which sounded tinny to me.
Tributes were paid to Ernie Myers, Mel
Hall, Perry Allen, Bill Gordon, Charlie
and Harrigan, great morning guys.
Charlie, (Jack Woods) was a major player
in Texas radio. You in Houston will
remember Irv as the Harrigan of Hudson
and Harrigan. Mac Hudson went to San
Diego to join Joe Bauer.
At the event that afternoon, when
introduced in lavish terms, we went up
to the mic and told the crowd a couple
of our favorite stories, pleased to find
that they remembered. The applause was
gratifying, and some of us received
standing O’s.
The one jock who came prepared with an
actual air check from the 60’s was Mel
Hall, a superb radio personality in
1959-60 at KDEO in San Diego, before he
went to Program Direct WJJD in Chicago,
KQV in Pittsburgh. And KRLA in Los
Angeles where he rode herd over such
high spirited jocks as Emperor Hudson,
Bob Eubanks, Kasey Kasem, Charlie
O’Donnell, Dick Biondi, and Dave Hull.
The air check Mel brought and played for
the crowd is a great example of a
vanished art: superb Zen-like control in
the midst of the chaos of the hyper
production of those days. Mel now owns
and runs a national creative service TV
and Radio Production Company called
Cinira. Here, you can listen to that
1959 air check by Mel who was superior
to any of the star personalities he
bossed.
Click onto the link below while
depressing the Control button. Then,
click onto Download. Heeeere’s a couple
of minutes of Mel.
http://vbfile1.voicebank.net/sandboxes/tmp/shortlist_1179430049603.html
Bing Bang Walla Walla Scam Bang
I enjoy suggesting program material for
you talents and programmers who are
currently plying our mystic art. Here is
vital information that applies to all of
us.
Subject: Jury Duty scam
Most of us take the summons for jury
duty seriously, but enough people skip
out on their civic duty, that a new and
ominous kind of scam has surfaced. Fall
for it and your identity could be
stolen.
In this con, someone calls pretending to
be a court official who threateningly
says a warrant has been issued for your
arrest because you didn't show up for
jury duty. The caller claims to be a
jury coordinator. If you protest that
you never received a summons for jury
duty, the scammer asks you for your
Social Security number and date of birth
so he or she can verify the information
and cancel the arrest warrant. Sometimes
they even ask for credit card numbers.
Give out any of this information and
.... Bingo! Your identity has just been
stolen.
The scam has been reported so far in 11
states. This scam is particularly
insidious because they use intimidation
over the phone to try to bully people
into giving information by pretending
they're with the court system. The FBI
and the federal court system have issued
nationwide alerts on their web sites,
warning consumers about the fraud.
I checked Snopes and this is for real.
Below is the link if you want to check
it out. They will tell you it is a "real
fraud."
Google onto…. jury duty scam social
security number urban legend
Pass it on.
http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
“The American Idol” Code is Broken
*Radio has already lost 18-24’s.
Where did they go? Ipods, of course and
the other high tech whiz bangs, but the
kids have adopted “American Idol.” So
much so that they are now electing other
youngsters. That is the key to “Idol.”
One Finalist is a young basic hip hop
singer, Blake Lewis, a scruffy talented
kid who arouses the maternal instincts
of the young teen girls. Jordin Sparks,
a 17 year old girl singer of luminous
talent, has outscored all older women by
a wide margin in the race toward the
finals. The young viewers (voters) own
the show. Simon Cowell realizes it and
plays to them.
He even criticizes singers when they
sing a pop standard ”That song is too
old for you,” he will declare to a
contestant, The kids “get it”, and
usually that contestant is gone the
following week. He made that
pronouncement to Lakisha Jones one week
and she was voted out the next. He even
told her that she had sung so well that
he could kiss her. She took him up on it
and presented herself for a kiss. He
laid one on her but, I am not certain it
was an affectionate kiss, but one more
like the Mafia “Baci di Morte,” the Kiss
of Death. Lakisha was old by Idol
standards. Same with Melinda Doolittle,
a great talent but low in “Buzz ,” the
measure used by computer scorers. Her
ouster was a shocker, unless you know
the code.
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Looking for Good Bar Jokes.
A dyslexic man walks into a bra.
A jumper cable walks into a bar and the
bartender says “Okay you can stay, but
don’t start anything,”
A man walks into a bar with a slab of
asphalt under his arm. “One beer,” He
orders, “and one for the road.”
A horse went into a bar and the
bartender said,” Why the long face?”
Or……..
If the shoe fits, get another just like
it.
Everybody lies, but it doesn’t matter
because nobody listens, anyway.
If you’re feeling blue, start breathing
again.
Have you noticed how now that the kids
all have camcorders you never hear about
UFO’s?
Happy Hare’s Box of Chocolates
(You never know what you are going to
get)
Returning to San Diego from stints in
Cleveland, Detroit, and New York, I went
back on the air at KCBQ. I have no idea
where my inspiration came from, but I
decided “live” on the air that we needed
a brace of Pandas for our local Zoo.
Defying the cardinal radio rule that you
have to know where a bit is going before
springing it on the air, I impetuously
contacted Herb Klein, a San Diegan and
President Nixon’s Communications
Director. He fixed me up with a Mr.
Tsung, the Chinese Trade Commissioner in
Toronto whom I called on the air, and
declared our country’s deep need for
Pandas. The guy turned out to be hip He
laughed and said in perfect English,
“That’s a great idea. I’ll get back to
you.”
He didn’t get back to me. Instead, the
Chinese Government sent two Pandas, not
to San Diego, but to the Washington D.C.
Zoo. The Chinese naturally assumed that
a State Gift should be given to the zoo
at the nation’s capitol. I had forgotten
to ask him to send them to San Diego.
This chapter is dedicated to General
Custer, the inventor of the Arrow Shirt.
