Things that bring a smile to your face

[LaceyLou]

Boston. You're looking at Boston Common and can just see Charles River in the distance.

[CMRivdogs]

My wife was just in Deadwood, SD for a work related thing. Part of it involved being at Mount Rushmore. The sun was just right.

[LaceyLou]

Wow, I thought I lost this two decades ago.... my guess is this is about 40 years old. 

 

[Deleterious]

The girl just informed her company she would be sticking with her December 13th retirement date.

She originally planned to go last June.  But they talked (guilted?) her into staying until the end of the year.  They approached her again about staying into the new year and she said no.  Happy for her.

[casimir]

Got to see my oldest and her high school choir perform at Carnegie Hall earlier this week.  It brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye.  I’ve never had any interest in going to NYC, but ain’t no way I was missing this.  Obviously the theater has its history and ambiance.  Fortunately we were able to easily see her from our balcony.

Then we hustled her down to Philadelphia for her final matching band performance in the Thanksgiving Day parade.  It was raining and we got a bit of a late start to walk to where we thought would be a good viewing spot.  We literally got to the spot just before the float in front of them.  As we were approaching and couldn’t really see much, I thought for sure I heard one of their usual parade songs.  We kind of lucked out to see/hear them perform one of their Christmas songs, too.

[Motor City Sonics]

Our radio station broadcasted outside in the cold last Tuesday - Saturday in front of Kroger in Ann Arbor to raise money for Food Gatherers in Washtenaw.   The effort raised the equivalent of 1.076 million meals (and counting).   Passed our goal of 1 million.   And it was really really cold this year,  and it was worth the effort.  

[CMRivdogs]

11 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Our radio station broadcasted outside in the cold last Tuesday - Saturday in front of Kroger in Ann Arbor to raise money for Food Gatherers in Washtenaw.   The effort raised the equivalent of 1.076 million meals (and counting).   Passed our goal of 1 million.   And it was really really cold this year,  and it was worth the effort.  

One of the many reasons why "live and local" is still important in the broadcasting industry. Despite of what the suits say

[Motor City Sonics]

12 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

One of the many reasons why "live and local" is still important in the broadcasting industry. Despite of what the suits say

We're quite local.   we play a lot of independent Michigan artists and their songs sound great in the mix.   I don't know why stations don't support local or regional music anymore (well, I do know, because it takes effort and there is a very tiny risk, and you can't do anything risky ever anymore, right?)    Playing Jack White (which we do) doesn't count because he gets played everywhere now.    WXRT in Chicago has started playing a lot more Chicago-area artists and it's working great for them.   It's not hard to figure out.  

[CMRivdogs]

3 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

We're quite local.   we play a lot of independent Michigan artists and their songs sound great in the mix.   I don't know why stations don't support local or regional music anymore (well, I do know, because it takes effort and there is a very tiny risk, and you can't do anything risky ever anymore, right?)    Playing Jack White (which we do) doesn't count because he gets played everywhere now.    WXRT in Chicago has started playing a lot more Chicago-area artists and it's working great for them.   It's not hard to figure out.  

I think it goes beyond the music as well. I'm a fossil. It's been close to 40 years since I worked on air at an actual station and nearly 30 years being on the air. I loved smaller markets. Those stations just outside the metro areas.

We never tried to compete directly with the Big Guns. We knew you'd never win that game. We did an interesting mix of current pop, throw in some "crossover country and the same with the "soul" music. We worked out deals with the community newspaper, touched base with the "powers that be" in local government and community groups. Promoted ourselves as the hometown sound. In had a really good music guy to do the programming and I was the "front man". 
 

Unfortunately you can't do that much anymore. The locally owned stores and services are greatly diminished. The big box stores stopped doing local radio in the 70s. Now all the local advertising I see on social media are basically one man or small operations who can't afford to much "paid" advertising (or so they say). And the property that used to be radio tower sites have become dead shopping centers.

[ewsieg]

17 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

We're quite local.   we play a lot of independent Michigan artists and their songs sound great in the mix.   I don't know why stations don't support local or regional music anymore (well, I do know, because it takes effort and there is a very tiny risk, and you can't do anything risky ever anymore, right?)    Playing Jack White (which we do) doesn't count because he gets played everywhere now.    WXRT in Chicago has started playing a lot more Chicago-area artists and it's working great for them.   It's not hard to figure out.  

Depends on what Jack White you're actually playing.  Even the WRIF didn't support him much with the White Stripes.  Glad to hear about WXRT too, if radio actually followed suit, it would give some uniqueness that could help out a station in every market.

[Motor City Sonics]

1 hour ago, ewsieg said:

Depends on what Jack White you're actually playing.  Even the WRIF didn't support him much with the White Stripes.  Glad to hear about WXRT too, if radio actually followed suit, it would give some uniqueness that could help out a station in every market.

When the No Name (That's How I'm Feeling) single came out,  our station and WDET were the only one that played it around here.   WRIF and Alt 98.7 didn't touch it that first week.   That first week it was not on Spotify, it was not on You Tube and not available to buy -- the only place you could hear it was on the radio and they totally blew it.     We banged it and made a big deal about it.    And the thing that is so ironic is that they both ended up putting it in rotation.    Because neither station is programmed in Detroit by someone who knows Detroit.   Both of those stations suck and don't pay attention.     Couldn't make an exception.  Couldn't break that playlist sent by corporate.   It's garbage.   

 

[Tigeraholic1]

 

[smr-nj]

16 hours ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

 

Oh, it’s been very weird. No lie. Very big “wtf” just hovered over our street.

[Deleterious]

It's going to end up being some marketing thing isn't it?

[Tigeraholic1]

1 hour ago, smr-nj said:

Oh, it’s been very weird. No lie. Very big “wtf” just hovered over our street.

Everytime I see this stuff on the news I think about you Sue. 

[smr-nj]

45 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

Everytime I see this stuff on the news I think about you Sue. 

There’s even a magazine called weird NJ.

I fit here. 😁

[Dan Gilmore]

[oblong]

[gehringer_2]

8 minutes ago, oblong said:

LOL - took me way too long to get it and I was trained to be a chemist who does plumbing (i.e. Chemical Engineer, )

[Motor City Sonics]

1,172,941 meals  is the final count.  

[LaceyLou]

I still miss WFNX and WBCN. Sigh....

[Motor City Sonics]

13 hours ago, LaceyLou said:

I still miss WFNX and WBCN. Sigh....

I went to speak to Kurt St. Thomas about a job at FNX once.  The building was in Lynn.    It was slightly above being condemned.   It was perfect for that station, actually.  It fit the whole vibe.    LOL

 

Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin.  You never come out the way you went in.  

[oblong]

[Motor City Sonics]

On 10/24/2024 at 3:32 PM, LaceyLou said:

The view from my rooftop....

Is a Rat gonna walk across your railing like at the end of The Departed ? 

[LaceyLou]

1 hour ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Is a Rat gonna walk across your railing like at the end of The Departed ? 

In Boston, it's a definite possibility.... 

(might be time to watch that movie again)