Stuff

2010-11-16T04:51:00.000-08:00

I'LL WHINE HERE SO I DON'T DO IT ON THE AIR!

I've been thinking about sending you this letter, and yesterday, a listener complained that we spend too much time talking about money - about the station's need for money, about all of us working all this time for a paycheck. Someone said "If you can't stand the heat, go out and get a job." I'm often reminded too of the riches that you can't count in financial terms; family, friends, health, and in the case of MartiniInTheMorning.com - tens of thousands of listeners who tune in every day.

They tune in for The Greatest Songs Ever Written, "Our Music" presented in a fun, contemporary way, unlike a lot of the few stations still playing this kind of music...and for many come here for a sense of community. We come from all across the USA and from countries around the world. We come together for love of singers and songs. Whether it's Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin or Ella Fitzgerald or Bobby Darin ... or one of many "Classic Cool" artists...or Diana Krall, Michael Buble, Steve Tyrell, Rod Stewart or one of the many "Contemporary Cool" artists doing the music we love ... whoever, whatever brings us here, we're all in this together. There are very few radio stations programming "Our Music," and many that play some of it, mix it with the strangest combinations of other artists and genre. So together, those who love the music, the presentation, and the community, work together to get the word out, to grow the audience, and yes, help us reach some kind of financial viability. There I go again talking about money.

The fact is, YOU are probably not the person we should be talking to about money. But the people we need to reach seem to allude us. Don't get me wrong - we know people who know people and have asked them to help open doors to investors, venture capitalists, big advertisers and others. I don't even know the addresses, much less how to open those doors. But we know people who do. They're the ones we should be talking to about money. But sometimes in the course of business, I have a tendency to tell you on the air, just what's on my mind. Sometimes I overshare. I remember when our kids were young, sharing on the air that one of our boys was spending a lot of time in the principal's office. He didn't like the notoriety that followed. I've shared a recording of Karen's snoring on the air, as well as other things you're not supposed to talk about on the radio...when we have a spat, or the fact that she'll be 50 in January. So sometimes I grouse about being broke - I know in the current economy, many of us are struggling and I figure it's relatable.

But there's an old rule in radio that nobody tunes in to hear about YOUR problems ... they tune in to escape from THEIR problems. I know that sometimes out of frustration and sometimes out of a tendency to overshare; I have violated that rule and will try not to in the future.

I will, however, share with you here, my frustration. There are MILLIONS of people who love the music we play, and for the most part, like the way we do it. We have the ability to reach ALL of those people who don't currently have a radio station they like, playing their music. There are those who argue in favor of the "Jukebox" services on the Internet where you can sorta choose your own songs. But if everyone wanted to choose their own, they'd use an iPod or other MP3 device. There is a reason millions of people listen to the radio every day. Actually, there are many reasons. It has nothing to do with technology - it has everything to do with human nature. Radio starts with the music ... but it is so much more. It's about a connection, a link to another human being sharing an interest in, affection for, the same kind of music you like. It's companionship. It's community - knowing you're part of a group of people who have sought out this radio station that plays music that you all enjoy. Adequately funded, MartiniInTheMorning.com could reach everyone who has a desire to listen to this music, presented this way. Everyone. And if we reached them, the few commercials and sponsorship messages we would run, would deliver amazing results for our advertisers - sufficient for us to make money and continue doing this for a long time. The record companies whose artists we play would sell LOTS of CDs (and downloads) ... artists we play would sell LOTS of concert tickets - YOU would get to hear the music you love and lots of it! Everyone benefits.

Someone is going to figure this out and make a lot of money. It doesn't necessarily have to be me. It could be our investors (I'd love that). It could be our advertisers. (I'd love that too.) But most of all, the people who should benefit the most, are YOU. You found us. You tuned in. You invited your friends, family, and even total strangers to tune in. You put up with me whining about our financial struggles.

We initially set out to raise about $5-million, based on our belief that we'll be able to bring between $5-million and $10-million a year to the bottom line within 5 years. We've since learned how to do everything on the cheap - a fact of life in this economy. So the new reality is that we can probably hit the same numbers more quickly, for a lot less money - less than $1-million. To some, this is pocket change. For me, it's an overwhelming task because raising money is not what I do. I was sitting here in our living room this early morning, around 3:30 am, and found an "App" on my iPhone that allowed me to enter the address of a radio station Al the Engineer and I put on line yesterday for a friend. It's not done yet or I'd tell you about it - totally different genre from what we do. But I was listening to that station that I put on the air - if they had the address, someone in London or Kansas or New York could listen to that same station on their computer or SmartPhone, etc. A strange sense of accomplishment came over me. It's the same feeling I get when someone tells me they just discovered MartiniInTheMorning.com and really enjoy it. THAT'S WHAT I DO.

Someone is going to figure this out and make a lot of money. It doesn't have to be me. But what a shame if it doesn't happen. There are millions of people waiting. Toyota announced on Monday that they'll begin putting Internet radio in some of their cars. It's going to happen. It will be as easy to listen to an Internet station as one with a transmitter and tower. And the same rules will apply. If you tell people it's there and they like the listening experience, the station will be successful.

We can be successful - if those of us who know how to do this stuff get to do what we do - and someone who's an expert at bringing in investors and advertisers, does what they do.

2010-07-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

OMG ... I am SO humbled. Our attorney dropped me a note recently, responding to a thank you I sent him. For the record, he is a pro bono attorney. We can't afford to pay attention, much less pay for legal services...especially with what's been going on lately. We've had some unexpected challenges lately. We've had challenges before, but the source and and ferocity of these challenges were pretty overwhelming. Our attorney led us through the valley of the shadow of death. I'm sorry for a lack of faith, but I feared evil. Nevertheless, when the worst was behind us, I told him that my wife Karen just kept repeating over and over, Thank God for our attorney. Thank God for our attorney. Thank God for our attorney. If we were Catholic, I suspect she would have been stroking rosary beads or whatever it is you do when you're doing your hail Mary's. In our case, it would have been hail to our lawyer.

He Wrote Back: Brad: You're welcome. Karen is welcome, and please direct your prayers to the Man upstairs. We all work for Him. I'm just trying to follow his orders (Proverbs 3:27).

I'm a Little Rusty. But of all the books of the Old Testament, I've always liked Proverbs with its many timeless truths, common sense and inspired wisdom. As I wrote that to our attorney, I added that while 'You've previously caused me to jump for joy or walk confidently having the benefit of your generosity and wise counsel, You've never brought me to tears. I am humbled.'

I Give Thanks. At our peak on the radio at Fabulous 570/690 here in Los Angeles, we had over 300,000 weekly listeners (exclusive of Lakers' listenership). So I know there is an audience for this music. On the AM stations, the average age of our audience was high ... making it difficult for the station to garner much advertising business based on 25-54 ratings, one of the most sought after demographics for advertisers. On the Internet, our average age is under 50. BUT we don't have 300,000 listeners here in L.A. or across the country and around the world. We will. We must.

I honestly believe it will happen. It will happen because of our listeners. Sartain's Menu (http://sartainsmenu.com) a specialty sauce company in Petaluma, CA, sends our Listener Invitation Cards out with every order they ship. Dacook's Eatery in Lacey, NJ, encourages their diners to tune in to MartiniInTheMorning.com. Playne Jane Boutique in North Miami, FL passes out Listener Invitation Cards, as does the UPS Store in Corvallis, OR, and my wife's antique store, Bungalow Antiques, Design and Salvage in Agoura Hills, CA. It will happen because Louise Marie Del Santo in Cranston, RI, posts notes to her THOUSANDS of Facebook Friends every day, encouraging them to tune in. It will happen because Rita Weisburg in Montpelier, VT, rubs shoulders with Vermont Governor Jim Douglas and needles him to play MartiniInTheMorning.com in the lobby of the state capitol. It will happen because of our dozens of unintentional volunteers, from Mother Miriam Garfield, whose career has placed her as executive assistant to a who's who of American business and show business; and because of Heidi the Merchandise Queen, who embroiders every MartiniInTheMorning.com logo-wear item with loving care in the living room of her small one bedroom apartment in Granada Hills, CA; it will happen because of bookkeeper Shaneh Woods in Xenia, Oh, web and graphics guy extraordinaire John Chinn; our IT Guru Jeff in El Cajon, CA, our engineer/in-house bartender Al The Engineer Taddeo who keeps us on the air. It will happen because of our weekend presenters, Harry Young, John Van Camp, Rod West, Janie Oliver and Kitty Collins, who have over 100 years of on air experience between them. It will happen because of William Graham in South Jersey who wants to make sure we're state of the art when it comes to the computer hardware and software that keeps us on the air. And they are all "Unintentional Volunteers." I say unintentional because most of these positions, including the several I fill, SHOULD be paid positions. It's also about Tom and Lauren Bornt, he's a school administrator and she's a teacher, who volunteer to do whatever needs to be done around the station; bringing me Starbucks, loading new music in our library, and keeping the bar stocked. It's about Blaine Sutliff in Burbank, CA, who comes to our weekly lunches at Lucy's 51 in Toluca Lake, CA ... the proof of concept for our desire to do live lunch and Happy Hour broadcasts from sponsor restaurants wherever we have listeners. Blaine, through his business Autoskill, Inc, also sponsors our Team Martini in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Blaine has personal motivation for supporting us in our battle against breast cancer. But his love for the music is clear, and his support goes much farther, making it possible for me to take our "Unintentional Volunteers" to a nice lunch this past Christmas. Thanks to Blaine, I was able to say Thank You.

All of these folks come together and play a key role in keeping the music they love on the radio. For Shaneh in Ohio, it's Jonny Blu and 21 year old singer/actress Renee Olstead. For Heidi The Merchandise Queen, it's about returning Steve Lawrence to the airwaves. Everyone has their favorite, but at the end of the day, it's all about the music ... and the audience. From Los Angeles where we started, to Las Cruces, NM where LaDawn Morgan listens; from New York, NY where Michelle Lisanti swoons everytime we play a Steve Tyrell song to Quiervechain, Nord, France, where Patrick Kolbacki listens for Michael Buble Double Plays; from Kragujevac, Serbia where recent university graduate and new school teacher Yasmina Blagojevic has a shrine to Dean Martin and contributes Dino songs missing from our library to Wichita, KS where Lora Webber listens to MartiniInTheMorning.com and has the odd singer, like Tony DeSare, stop by and perform in her living room in exchange for a home cooked breakfast.

They Love This Music. We love this music. And with the strong support of a small group of Unintentional Volunteers and investors, all of whom started out as listeners; we will succeed. If YOU love this music, please, click here to join our campaign to Keep the Music Playing on MartiniInTheMorning.com!

That's Not the Point!

2010-01-23T19:49:00.000-08:00

THE BARE NECESSITIES. When I arrived at home last Friday, the changes were immediately apparent. And it's not like it should come as a surprise. When I was traveling for a record company in the mid-90's, Clear Channel in the late 90's/early 2000's ... I would often come home to, shall we say, surprises. Once, when we were living in Boise and I was traveling the country with the roll-out of the Prophet automation platform, allowing stations in the largest markets to begin streaming on the Internet, I returned from an extended trip to New York, walked into the house to throw my bags in my home office ... it was a DEEP, DARK RED ... red like the dance hall in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge. Another trip home from a business trip, our once white Boise living room was a butter yellow. So arriving home last Friday, the 1920's farm table in our entry was gone. In its place, the turn of the century church pew that used to sit across the hall. Above it, my decades old Gettelman's Beer sign that had previously hung on the family room side of our two sided fireplace. Where the church pew had been since we moved into our Woodland Hills home in 2003, was a small milking bench.

IT DON'T MEAN A THING...Later that evening, I went into the bedroom, and our master bathroom. Gone was the beautiful 100 year old mirror, a rack on the wall that held some of Karen's pretty magazines. The magazines weren't there next to the toilet for reading; rather for their color and beauty. She is always a master of Form before function. She didn't care if the TV worked, as long as it looked good. She wanted a stereo and the music that came out of it as long as she didn't have to see the stereo, the speakers, the wires, any of it.

YOU'D BE SO NICE TO COME HOME TO. But yesterday (Saturday, January 24, 2010) it hit me. I helped Karen and Ron Householder put up a shelf in Karen's new space in her store, Bungalow Antiques. Like me, Ron is an antique husband (not because of our ages, but Ron is married to Marion Householder, one of the partners in Karen's antique store). The partners each have a space, the store has space, and they lease the remainder to other dealers with taste and merchandise that matches the store's. Karen has taken a second space, and I realized yesterday, it was to sell our stuff. Karen has searched for and collected that stuff, as long as we've been married. And that stuff, while truth be told, is just stuff, it is the stuff that turned our house in Los Angeles, a serious step down from everyplace we'd lived previously, from a house into a home.

L.A. IS MY LADY. Our move to L.A. was one we debated for a long time. I remember being scolded by Clear Channel President John Hogan when he realized Karen and Bailey were still living in Boise and I was commuting from work in L.A., back home, almost every weekend. Radio can be a very flaky business (never more so than now). We didn't know how long the L.A. assignment would last. Karen was born in Boise. Her Mother, Father, 2 sisters and brother all lived there. She owned a successful, well-respected antique shop there. We really didn't want to pull Bailey out of school in a town where she had made lots of friends ... and move her to L.A. if I was going to be transferred again. Everyone said the only way to insure Bailey gets the same quality of education (and safety) was private school. We surely couldn't afford a home at L.A. prices AND private school. In late 2002, I was asked to stay in L.A. to program and do the morning show on the station we'd just launched, Fabulous 570 KLAC. So in August of 2003, Karen, Bailey and me moved into our new home in Woodland Hills, CA, primarily so we could put Bailey in the district with the highest rated public high school in L.A. We would hope for the best.

AS TIME GOES BY. Fast forward to January 26, 2006. I'm in the hospital (that's a LONG story for another blog). I get a call that the station has been sold and our last day on the air is January 31. We knew it was coming, just not when. Clear Channel was being pressured to reduce its radio holdings and one way was to force it to count stations with transmitters in Mexico toward the legal limits on the number of stations in each market. This had never been the case before. Fabulous (XETRA) 690, my station, whose transmitter was in Rosarita, BCN, Mexico was a partnership between Clear Channel and a Mexican broadcasting company. Clear Channel had 8 stations in L.A., it owned 7 of them outright. They owned 37% of the one in Mexico. It had to be sold. Bailey was a sophomore in high school. Two and a half years to graduation. We had to stay put. As I told a friend at Clear Channel who was trying to create a corporate position for me in Atlanta, we've moved our family all over the country for my radio career and have 4 grown-up children who were really struggling adults. Then there's Bailey. We want to shoot for a little better outcome for her. So no more moving till she graduates.

THE SECOND TIME AROUND. So the idea was to take what I'd developed for Clear Channel and refine it, making it compatible with a little broader audience than the audience that seemed to be willing to listen to music on AM. The challenge with AM radio seemed to be that no one under about 50 had EVER listened to music on AM. Advertisers tend to shy away from radio stations whose average age is over 57. So we had to broaden the format, making it more palatable to a slightly younger audience, along with the audience that had made this music popular the first time around. We set out to do it on the Internet as an example of what we could provide to broadcast AM and FM radio stations struggling to be the #3 or #4 rated station in one of the mainstream formats, Adult Contemporary, Country, Top 40, etc. We believed then, and are even more convinced now, that we offer a programming alternative that will make stations A LOT more money than being an also ran in one of the Me Too formats that dominate music radio today. We spent most of Q1 and Q2, 2006, trying to raise capital to begin streaming. No luck. Then Roger Schlesinger, our "Mortgage Minute Guy," who offered us a spare office from which to operate, offered to invest enough money to allow us to begin streaming.

IT HAD TO BE YOU. So along the way, it's been a struggle. Thanks to a small handful of friends, our Unintentional Volunteers, all of whom started out as listeners, we've managed to staff the radio station and keep it running these past 3 1/2 years. They are energized by an ever growing audience, an audience of loyal, devoted fans of The Greatest Songs Ever Written ... YOU! Combined with a few friends (also listeners) who threw in $35,000 each (and some serious credit card debt), and 5 listener support campaigns, we've somehow managed to keep the lights on, streaming bills paid, and rent paid. I never said I would be able to get to people with a LOT of money, and raise enough capital to fully fund the business. That's what I needed partners and investors for. And believe me, they've tried. My part of the deal is to create the product. I can do that. The only collaborators I need there are our listeners - song and artist requests, suggestions and complaints have helped tweak the programming, growing with our audience.

THE GOOD LIFE. Through the struggles, I've endeavored to let you know that we're all in this together. The economy started heading south (we got there first), and made things more difficult for everyone. I would often relate to you, hopefully in as humorous a way as possible, that like you, we're not getting our hair and nails done as often (yes, I used to get my nails 'Done'), we're drinking well vodka instead of the good stuff, and we're staying in for dinner when we used to go out. A lot. Back then, we had a great income, savings, a house that was rapidly escalating in value. I have joked over the last coupla years about how sushi is no longer in the budget, nor vacations, or fixing our furnace that's been broken for months. When I share stories like this, it's not to make anyone feel guilty, or to evoke pity. It's to tell you that we're all in the same boat. We not only FEEL your pain, we're living it. I've been accused of trying to inflict Guilt Trips on you, and I feel horrible that my attempts at humor could be taken that way. Years ago, I learned a lesson from a very famous L.A. based radio personality. When he first came to L.A., a Mercedes dealer offered him a car in exchange for doing their commercials. This personality did those commercials and talked about his Mercedes on the air. Research showed that 99.9% of his audience could not afford a Mercedes, and couldn't really relate to him as a result. He changed his strategy and began endorsing a Toyota dealership. That taught him that he needed to walk in the shoes (and drive in the car) of his audience for them to see him on the same level as themselves. Now, this is a personality who for most of his career in L.A., was making millions of dollars a year. I'm not in that position, but I've wanted all along to assure you that as YOU struggle with this economy, we do too.

WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I. So why did I share the comment in Facebook yesterday about us being very close to losing our house to foreclosure? It wasn't to bring about pity, sympathy or make someone feel guilty. It WAS to say this: WE ARE COMMITTED TO MAKING THIS WORK. We are so convinced that we are on the right track, that we're willing to give up everything we've worked for, to make it work. We know we're close - the audience is growing, thanks in large part to YOUR efforts to spread the word about MartiniInTheMorning.com. Every day we hear from people, even folks who listened to our old radio station here in L.A., who say "I didn't know you were on the Internet. I love listening!" So we know there's an audience and that eventually this will all pay off. That is the ONLY reason I shared the comment about losing our house. So you'll know we believe, we have faith, and we're willing to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to make this work.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME...13-million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure in 2009, so while it's painful, we know we're not alone. So many people are struggling. I've always heard that if you can make a thing work when times are tough, you'll be way ahead when times are good. That's what we believe will be the case with MartiniInTheMorning.com. We'll make it - it hasn't been easy - but the business will make it. We'll survive this difficult time. The economy and fear of losing everything has kept so many people on the sidelines (perhaps the more sane ones). They will come out of hiding when things turn around. We will already be up and running, and will go from surviving to THRIVING. We will be miles ahead of everyone else.

WHO'S SORRY NOW. I'm sorry if my candor and attempts at humor have made anyone doubt the future of the station. Someone told me about a listener who thought, "Why should I support the station financially when it's going to go away soon?" I'm afraid that maybe my comments might have scared away some potential investors. But come on, we're 4 years into this! If we can make it this long on a wing and a prayer, with a little bit of funding, we'll be around for a long, long time. Our listeners, their support, prayer, encouragement, love, faith and determination, have gotten us this far. Together, we're quite a team. Together, we'll be victorious.

So now, anyone got one of those big refrigerator boxes? I'm betting Karen's decorating skills can do wonders ... a picture here, a plant there. Home, Sweet Home.

La Vida Boca

2010-01-03T20:20:00.000-08:00

This Could Explain Why We're Broke - I make a living with my mouth. On a sunny Saturday in April, 1971, third class radio license just received from the FCC, and it was my first opportunity to open the microphone on a radio station. Through Armed Forces Radio and a dozen radio stations - I've been blessed to do something I enjoy. But sometimes, too much of a good thing is, well, too much of a good thing.

It's Just Laryngitis - That was my response when uber artist manager Ken Kragen called one morning in 1991. I jokingly told listeners at then country KNAX-FM in Fresno, CA, that building a 2-story house was a mistake, with 5 kids. "I lost my voice yelling upstairs to the kids," was my story. But that morning as Ken Kragen was driving from L.A. through California's Central Valley, he tuned in to our station to make sure we were giving his country artists, Kenny Rogers, Trisha Yearwood and Travis Tritt, their due. Ken Kragen is a guy who knew something about people who use their voice for a living. Not only did he manage the aforementioned country singers, but artists like Lionel Richie, the late Harry Chapin and comic legends The Smothers Brothers are among Ken's famous clients. We also know Ken for "We Are the World," the USA for Africa charity effort, and his famous 1986 "Hands Across America," stunt.

It's NOT Laryngitis - was Ken's response. He asked if I'd seen a doctor and I said that after a cold had turned into a lingering problem with my voice, I had visited a local ear nose and throat specialist. "No, I mean someone that works with people who use their voice for a living...?" he asked. "I'll call you back within an hour," Ken said. Less than an hour later he called back and said, "Ok, this guy technically isn't taking new patients, but you have an appointment next Monday with Dr. Robert Ossoff." The challenge for this Fresno radio disc jockey and program director was that Dr. Robert Ossoff was Chief of Otolarygology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN (yes, THAT Nashville!).

The Doctor is At the Airport - on his way back to the office - that's what the receptionist told me when I arrived for my 8:30 am appointment, after taking a red-eye, overnight flight from Fresno, through LAX, to Nashville. I was in good company; the doctor's 8 am appointment was Johnny Cash (yes, THAT Johnny Cash). Mr. Cash and his wife June Carter Cash were sitting in the waiting room when I arrived, and when the doctor arrived, they were ushered in while I waited my turn. It turns out Dr. Ossoff had been summoned to Kansas City the night before to attend to an up and coming politician who had lost his voice after hundreds of speeches on the campaign trail. When I went in to the examining room and the doctor apologized profusely, he told me the story and asked if I'd heard of this guy, explaining that he was the governor of Arkansas and was making a run for President.

Ignorance is Bliss - After a series of very uncomfortable examinations that involved a "Rigid Scope" down my throat and a "Flexible Scope" up my nose and down my throat, Dr. Ossoff said "Well, the good news is, it's not cancer." I was worried about my career, but had never even considered such a diagnosis. But the doctor explained that a significant percentage of vocal chord injuries as severe as mine, turned out to be cancer. The bad news - hemorrhagic polyps on my vocal chords - probably the result of my continuing to work (and yell upstairs to the kids) through what I thought was just a cold related case of laryngitis. Three weeks later I was back in Nashville for surgery. Two weeks of total silence - and three months off the air - followed.

Learning from My Mistakes - Well, you'd think I would, anyway, but after waking up last Monday with a cold, the flu, something ... I kept working. I had to. We had meetings with a broadcast executive who might finally help us reach broadcasters for possible syndication, and advertisers for, well, money. On top of that, we were in the final stages of long negotiations for a significant investment that would help us take the business to the next level. There was waaay too much going on for me to take time off. So the meetings Tuesday and Wednesday were, well, interesting. Some discussion took place at dinner Tuesday night at a loud Mexican restaurant in Encino. The meetings continued the following day at Lucy's 51, at our regular Wednesday 2-Martini Lunch broadcast. Being on the air was bad enough, then discussions over the music and talking, one of the worst things for my voice when it's already affected by a cold - trying to compete with the noise.

My Voice is Coming Back - But it's not back yet. So I'm going to take another day. I'll be working, in fact I'll be up early Monday morning, in chat, on Facebook, Twitter, etc. We'll be taking requests and check-in via the Request and Check-In Links on our website http://MartiniInTheMorning.com - but I'm not certain my voice will survive another operation. So I'm going to sit this one out. But in the meantime, I'll rely on you, as usual, to keep spreading the word. Invite your friends, family, and even total strangers to tune in to MartiniInTheMorning.com - and as soon as my voice recovers, I'll be BAAAACK.

Oh...PS - I know some folks have had trouble connecting to MartiniInTheMorning.com over the last week or so - there are two options if you're having trouble; MartiniVision http://MITM.tv ... and another we'll post on the website tomorrow, assuming it doesn't require any verbal discussion.

2009-12-25T07:10:00.000-08:00

December 24th: Panic. We got to Bailey and her boyfriend Cory's cabin in the mountains (Big Bear, CA) at about 4:30 pm Christmas Eve. After a mild panic when Karen's Jeep Liberty equipped with her Christmas tires, started sliding backwards down the hill on Eucalyptus street in Sugarloaf, we got the Jeep into 4-Wheel Drive and managed to get to the kids' house without further incident. But then it hit. The map commercials about AT&T have some relevance at this winter wonderland 7000 feet above sea level. Bailey has Sprint; Cory, Verizon. They both have service. Mine and Karen's iPhones; not so much. Then the real horror. I still have work to do on Christmas music on http://martiniinthemorning.com/ and Cory can't find his wireless Internet adaptor. I have no phone service to get calls or text messages from Shaneh Woods, Jeff our IT Guru or Al the Engineer or the Accountants to tell me we're off the air.

No Internet! Even if I had phone service to take those off-air calls, no Internet connection allowing me, through the miracle of modern technology, to fix the problem. These kids are living in primitive conditions. Never mind the California King size Tempurpedic mattress (we sleep on an antique double bed with a mattress well beyond its "Use By" date) a kitchen stocked with far more food than we ever have at home, and every video game device known to man. No Internet connection?!?!!? How will these kids survive?

The Dawn of Christmas Morning. I'm the last one out of bed. So maybe there is something about those Tempurpedic mattresses. Although, just like when we're in hotels, I'm used to our tiny little bed. I rolled over a couple of times during the night and couldn't find Karen. Do they make Tempurpedic mattresses to fit antique bed frames? It could also be the altitude, the fresh blanket of snow and the smell of pine trees all around the house. It could be the smell of the real wood fire burning in the fireplace and the hot coffee my brother-in-law had brewing at 6 am. There is something special in the air. Maybe it's Christmas. Maybe it's a little relief from what has been the most challenging year of my personal and professional life. I've lost jobs. I've gone through divorce and become a single Dad without a clue of how to move on. None if it could have prepared me for 2009. This has been harder than anything I've ever faced. Maybe this little break in the storms of life is just what the doctor ordered. The great gift in a stable beneath a brilliant star, the gift that inspires the blizzard of gift wrap and tears of joy over the simplest of gifts, puts even the most troubling year in perspective.

We want our life back. Karen and I have been saying that for some time now. We have given everything to get this business rolling because we believe in it so much. We know we're on the right track, and our friends, listeners and colleagues reassure us we're not crazy. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But from a business standpoint, we're reassured. Everyone has sacrificed. Everyone involved in the business; our families; our friends. I know the new year doesn't begin for another week. But this bright Christmas morning full of family, friends, and the love we all share for one another, gives me hope, that this day, inspired by that new beginning so many years ago, is, as Steve Allen wrote, The Start of Something Big.

Merry Christmas from somewhere so far away from L.A., so far away from the troubles we left behind yesterday. The troubles that won't seem quite so overwhelming tomorrow. You, our friends, listeners, colleagues, and the artists whose music we play, inspire us to continue. It's been a tough year for everyone - but this this special day, inspired by that first Christmas, gives us hope for a brighter new year. Right now the smell of bacon sizzling in the fresh mountain air is inspiring me to get moving.

Thank You - and a Video Blog

2009-12-18T10:24:00.000-08:00

So Many Generous People! Our listener community, our Lounge Lizards in Exile, are amazing. If you think about it, we've been on the air for over 3 years and while we're growing, the lack of cash from marketing means the only way the word really gets out is word of mouth. Your mouth. The good news is, through your generosity, your enthusiasm, and your belief in MartiniInTheMorning.com, we ARE growing. So thank you!

Support. Actually, if it weren't for the generous support of MartiniInTheMorning.com listeners, we wouldn't be around at all. We have a few, mostly Friends and Family, investors. But the reality is, our only income is from you. We've had a trickle of ad revenue. But that's it. Someone asked me yesterday if the record companies, music publishers and even artists whose music we play and whose concerts we publicize, have participated in any way. The answer is a qualified, UMMMM. Everyone wishes us well, hopes we succeed, and loves it when we play their music and talk about their concerts. When it comes to moral support, our cup runneth over. When it comes to REAL SUPPORT, helping us with the rent, streaming costs, phone bills, dry cleaning (ha!) it's been YOU!

Yes, we've had tons of moral support. I offered our landlord and streaming vendors some moral support when the rent and bills were due, and they weren't amused. Don't get me wrong, we DO appreciate the moral support. But for us to provide the entertainment YOU expect, and the help the industry, this genre, needs to survive and even thrive, we have to really grow in 2010. That's going to take more than moral support.

Fewer and Fewer radio stations are playing the music of Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Ella and other "Classic Cool" entertainers. Not that long ago, there were over 1000 stations playing the songs of George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart, Jimmy Fields, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, all the great songwriters of the Great American Songbook. Today, some estimates suggest there are fewer than 300 broadcast stations in the US programming this music (even fewer making it FUN!).

That's what we're here for; to play The Greatest Songs Ever Written by classic artists like the ones mentioned above, and the Contemporary Cool performances of these great songs by artists like Michael Buble, Steve Tyrell, Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Tony DeSare, Renee Olstead and other talented new artists joining their ranks every day. In 2010, with your help, we'll continue to grow, and we'll reach new heights. Our goal is to double the size of our current audience - FAST. If everyone listening to MartiniInTheMorning.com right now were to encourage two people to tune in, we'll achieve our goal. That allows us access to bigger advertisers, bigger ad budgets, and more opportunities to grow our listener community.

What we WON'T do is change our approach - we're a community made up of people who happen to live across the USA and around the world - brought together by a common affection for a kind of music and the lifestyle for which it is the soundtrack. We will always maintain the connection we've built, the regular contact with you, our friends, listeners. We will never become a boring jukebox (you can use your iPod for that!) or another radio station over-saturated with commercials - we'll limit our commercial load to 4 minutes per hour, unlike the 15-20 minutes currently the average on over the air radio stations. Additionally, over the next few weeks, we will increase the interaction we have with each member of our community.

You got us here. Together we'll take this to the next level in 20010. Oh hey, speaking of new stuff and taking it to the next level...I've been encouraged (over and over and over) to do a video blog. I never had a camera to do one - but The Accountants got one, I borrowed it, and before they take it back, here's my first video blog. I'll apologize in advance. Seasons Greetings, and thanks for being one of us!

Thanksgiving to end an era

2009-11-29T17:54:00.000-08:00

Our Purpose - Karen and I are parents. I mean, we're individuals, we're a couple, we're friends, lovers, entrepreneurs, we have many roles. But when we met in 1987 and married in 1988, there were children. Hers and mine. We didn't have that newlywed period, the time when you solidify that relationship before the stork arrives. Along the way, we've had good times and times and challenging times.

Our first Thanksgiving was ... I would say, interesting. I was hosting the morning show on KNAX-FM in Fresno, CA. Karen, as "Storm Kelly," was our weather reporter. I had been flirting with her on the air for some time. At a meeting of the Junior League of Fresno, our sales manager was asked to chide me for being rude to "Storm," on the air. I think it came from my having asked her out on the air, and her turning me down. I then began telling (making up) stories about her dancing on the tables at local night spots. The ladies of the Junior League didn't find that humorous. So Thanksgiving rolls around and Karen (as Storm) invites my kids and me to have Thanksgiving dinner with her and her two kids. Of course I accepted. Her kids, my kids, and a fire. I was on the air Thanksgiving morning. Karen called me to say there was something burning. It was a plastic-y odor. Seems Karen didn't know about the bag o' turkey stuff, the giblets and, well, whatever's in the plastic bag deep inside the bird's insides.

OOPS. Dinner worked out. We ate. I did what Chambers men have done for generations. I sat down in front of the TV, watch football and fell asleep.

Our first argument. She cooked and didn't expect to have to do all of the clean-up by herself.

Fast forward. Thanksgiving has been full of surprises and fun over the years. Our house, my sister's, my Mom's. Wherever we've stopped to give thanks for the blessings of the year gone by, there have been kids. Lots of kids. Eventually, hers, mine and ours. The hers and mine grew and went. But there was still the ours in the menagerie. But this Thanksgiving was the last. It's not like the kids are ... well, gone. Not really. What we've learned is that the bigger the kids the bigger the problems. They're still around. But these past few years, there haven't been as many of us around the table on that Thursday in November. But Bailey was still there. And sometimes a friend whose family, from another country, didn't do much on Thanksgiving, or a boyfriend who did everything he could to impress Bailey's Mom and Dad. But Bailey was always there.

This Thanksgiving was the last. On Friday, November 27th, I came home from a meeting with Bob Decina. Bob came to Los Angeles to offer his business acumen to help advance MartiniInTheMorning.com - to help us become a more successful business. I met with Bob Friday afternoon, and invited him to come to our home in Woodland Hills to watch the Boise State Broncos play for a shot at a BCS Bowl Game. When we arrived at our home on Lockhurst Drive, there was a U-Haul truck in front of the house.

It was Bailey's U-Haul. That Thanksgiving was Bailey's last as a resident of her Mom and Dad's, mine and Karen's home. She was moving out. Actually, as I write this, she HAS moved out. Bailey is an avid skier and snowboarder. She has taken a job at Big Bear ski resort for an opportunity to paid to pursue her passion. She has moved to Big Bear, just 2 hours and 4-thousand feet from our home in Woodland Hills, CA, but she might as well be moving to the other side of the earth.

Tonight, Karen and I bought a Christmas tree. Not the 9 foot variety we bought in better days, but a Christmas tree nevertheless. It wasn't the diminutive, Charlie Brown-esque size of the Christmas tree that made it significant. It was the fact that for the first time in our 21 1/2 year marriage, we bought a Christmas tree without assistance and advice from kids. Hers, mine, ours. We are now empty-nesters, and our nest has its first tree not selected by kids, and the first tree that will not be the destination for gifts from Santa Claus, or gifts from Karen and me, to our five kids. It's our tree. Just ours. Karen will decorate it, take pictures, and use it as an example of her decorating expertise. Maybe it will bring some business to her antique store and design consultancy. For many years, selecting the tree, decorating it, seeing the smiles on the faces of Ryan, Callie, Nick, Nicole and Bailey, has been the raison d'etre for many a noble fir. Those trees have brought immense joy to our little family.

We had a tradition - that when everything else was on the tree, Dad held the youngest of the kids on his shoulders while they carefully placed the angel atop the tree. In better times, the trees were taller, requiring a trip up a ladder with kids that seemed to get really heavy around Christmas. I asked Karen tonight if we should forgo the angel. It doesn't seem right that there should be an angel atop the tree without one of the kids to do the honors. I'm writing this blog to put off the inevitable. Life goes on. I guess the angel does too.

We'll create new traditions. Karen and I have been partners through thick and thin. Karen has stood by me through a radio career with its ups and downs, a brief (and ill-advised) venture into the record business, and now into a promising yet struggling MartiniInTheMorning.com. Her friends are often surprised that unlike many antiquing widowers, I enjoy the frequent forays to flea markets, estate sales, and yard sales. Karen has taught me that one man's (or woman's) trash is another's treasure. She has built a business on her ability to tell one from the other. Despite her expertise in that area, she continues to treasure me, as I cherish her more today than yesterday. I will cherish her more tomorrow than today. Between now and then, we will place the angel on the tree. We will ooh and aah over the tree. And while this one era ends, another begins, as will new traditions and new adventures in what has been an interesting life. We will continue to be parents, we will relish our role as Grandparents, but more than anything else, we will return to where we started, our strength, as partners, lovers, best friends, and companions through what remains a life blessed with love, joy, triumphs and trials.

Time to put the angel on the tree. Karen has been carrying me through the MITM struggles. I guess it's my year to lift her to the top of the tree

Steve Tyrell

2009-10-18T00:52:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since a concert, a night out, was in the budget. Starting a new business changes your life, especially when you're underfunded and fighting an uphill battle, programming music basically abandoned by the mainstream radio biz. Especially when conventional wisdom in the radio biz suggests that "There's no there, there." Anyway, there was a time when we went to a lot of concerts ... especially Steve Tyrell shows. Steve is the "Poster Child" for the revival of what is commonly called The Great American Songbook. And he's one of us. Steve is a Baby Boomer with great rock/pop credentials. He is the epitome of what we're doing - reintroducing some of America's greatest music - to a generation that once dismissed it as their parent's music. Having artists like Steve, his pal Rod Stewart and others like them recording these songs, makes that reintroduction make a little more sense.

Friends Jazz up our life. Last night, Saturday, October 17th, we went to see Steve with long time friends and Lounge Lizards in Exile Gary and Sue Rakestraw. Gary's a little like me ... grew up on rock 'n roll and top 40 music and somewhere along the way his tastes change - or broaden. As a generation, most of us still have our Rolling Stones and Beatles albums. But there's a time for everything, and music for every mood. There's something about Steve Tyrell, and an ice cold Ketel One martini at Catalina's Jazz Club in Hollywood. I still like rock 'n roll ... a lot of today's pop music too. But that martini in Hollywood ... nothing completes the picture like Steve Tyrell doing The Way You Look Tonight or I'm in the Mood for Love ... cocktail music!

Smile. Steve's Saturday night show at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood ended the way many Steve Tyrell shows in the past, started. When Steve returned to performing after the passing of Stephanie Manteris-Tyrell, his wife of almost 3 decades, he opened his shows quietly walking on to a dark stage to the opening notes of "Smile." Clearly, my friend Steve was singing ... and smiling ... through the pain of this profound loss; the loss of his wife, best friend, mother of his children, and an accomplished professional colleague. Saturday night, Steve Tyrell closed his show with that same song, cut 17 of his debut album, A New Standard. I smiled, with tears in my eyes. I've missed Steve's performance of those songs. Don't get me wrong. I've loved just about everything Steve has done since that first album. But those 17 songs, that album ... that's how I was introduced to Steve Tyrell, and re-introduced to this music - inspired, and convinced that there is an audience and a business here.

Renewing himself. Since the September 1999 release of A New Standard, Steve has released 6 albums (Click here to see all 7). I've really enjoyed the way he has integrated songs from the new albums into his shows. Most recently, Steve has introduced songs from an upcoming album, songs that introduce some of us to songs he didn't previously record, songs in which he played a role as writer, producer or some other part behind the scenes. One of those songs was one of two hit pop duets Steve produced for Linda Ronstadt.

Underneath the same big sky. The first date for Karen and Brad Chambers came in 1986. We had tickets for a screening of An American Tail, the animated movie that featured as its theme song, Somewhere Out There performed by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram. Our screening was a Saturday matinee. I sat on the aisle. Then my two kids and her two kids. Two 5 year olds, two 3 year olds. Then Karen. That Saturday afternoon, the movie's theme song became Our Song.

Serendipity. Fast forward to 2003. With help from friends like Burt Bacharach and his wife Stephanie, Steve Tyrell was working on his This Guy's in Love album. Steve invited me to stop by his Sunset Boulevard studio after work. As I walked in I saw a picture of Steve and Linda Ronstadt. He explained that they had worked together on Somewhere Out There. He told me the story behind the song, co-written by his then partner Barry Mann. I thought back on the 6-months that led up to this moment ... this whole relationship was meant to be! Karen had "Discovered" Steve Tyrell (with a little help from Martha Stewart) and was playing his A New Standard CD in her Boise, ID antique store. I had just launched Clear Channel's XM Satellite Radio channels and The Toad, a Classic Country radio station in Riverside, CA and my next assignment was to create a more contemporary version of the Adult Standards radio format, for use on Clear Channel's KLAC-AM in Los Angeles. I went home to Boise one weekend and heard the music Karen was playing in her store... this soulful guy injecting some R&B and a real contemporary feel into these timeless songs that are decades old. I got in touch with his record label, arranged a meeting and Steve became The Voice for the radio station. And this evening in early 2003, I'm in his studio and find out it's all come full circle - not only does he give us these great contemporary interpretations of timeless Standards - BUT HE PRODUCED OUR SONG!

Somewhere Out There was not part of last night's show. But that's ok. Steve Tyrell doing the songs from his album, A New Standard ... including 3 songs from the Father of the Bride movies, Irving Berlin's Cheek to Cheek, Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields' I'm in the Mood for Love, Duke Ellington's Don't Get Around Much Anymore and closing with Smile made for a really special evening. We're still smiling.

Thanks Steve.

Click here for Steve's itinerary on our website.

Our Baby Graduated from High School

2009-06-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

It Happened So Fast! I know we all say the same things. Where did the time go? It seems like it was only yesterday. For me, it was 36 years ago. North Salinas (CA) High School Vice Principal J. Wayne Kurlak was at the podium when I walked up to snatch my diploma. I reached out for the big handshake and he held back a moment, said "FINALLY," then shook my hand. I guess I was relatively well known around campus, maybe too familiar around the office.

For Bailey it's the beginning of what has to be a brighter future. The past 3 years have not exactly been easy on Bailey or the experience I wanted to provide to the "Ours," in the "Hers, Mine and Ours" menagerie Karen and I created with our marriage July 2nd, 1988. Karen brought to the marriage her daughter and son, then 7 and 6. My contribution was my son and daughter, 7 and 5 on the day of our wedding. On December 2nd, 1990, the "Ours" arrived to increase the population in our Fresno, CA home to 7. And on Thursday, June 18th, she joined 840 classmates graduating from El Camino Real High School.

In 2006 as we prepared for Clear Channel to sell the radio station I helped create, "Fabulous 570/690," there were opportunities to stay with the company. They all involved moving.

Again. From 1988 through the station's sale, we had moved from Fresno to Dallas to Nashville to Harrisburg (PA) to Boise. I worked in L.A. for over 2 years before we decided to bite the bullet and move Karen and Bailey from Boise to L.A. Actually, Clear Channel Radio President John Hogan practically insisted on the move. He didn't mind my commuting back and forth while I was traveling, doing project work for the Clear Channel corporate programming staff. But once I was officially reassigned to the L.A. radio stations, Mr. Hogan thought my family and I should be living in the same city. So despite the station being sold, Bailey's here. She has adjusted as well as can be expected to L.A. schools, has a lot of friends, and we're not moving her.

Enter MartiniInTheMorning.com. Even before committing to stay in L.A., a number of people in the industry had encouraged us to do something similar to the old radio station, but on the Internet, to keep alive the modernized version of the genre we had created. So who knew that a year into the life of this Radio-Internet hybrid, the U.S. would slide into a recession making it very difficult to find capital for a new business? OK, the truth is, no one, least of all me, knew much, if anything, about raising capital. Everyone that has been involved in this effort is good at what they do, and they are all passionate about the Martini Mission. In fact everyone involved from the beginning to today, started out as a listener, lovers of the music and the Lounge Lizard Lifestyle. But the fact is, none of us really knew how to ask people for a bundle of money, no matter how OBVIOUS the opportunity; the audience for what we're offering.

As parents, we want things to be better for our kids than they were for us. That's human nature. It's not that my brother, sisters and I had it that bad. I just wanted to do more for our kids. Radio has never been an easy business, and my experience would suggest a stubborn determination to succeed despite every sign suggesting I find a new line of work. It got so bad at one point that after losing a house in a fire, my kids and I spent a night with all the possessions we could haul out of the house, in our car. That was a real low point and I was determined to never let my family down like that ever again. We had a couple more low points. We were never homeless again, but it hasn't been easy. So we REALLY wanted Bailey's high school experience, especially her senior year, to be something REALLY special.

As it turns out, it was special. Despite our inability to make it materially special, this past weekend WAS special. It reminds me of my oldest son's pre-school graduation. His Mother (my ex-wife) moved just before his graduation. He was crushed. Just minutes before this special ceremony, my Dad, Sister and Niece all walked in the door. When my son saw them, you would've thought he was graduating from college with honors and a job paying a 6-figure salary. Same story this weekend. It was our oldest son, my Sister, Karen's Sister (affectionately known as 'Granny Psycho') and her daughter. I hope having close family here for Bailey's special day might have made up for some of the difficulties over the past year.

It's not just material stuff. When Mom and Dad are stressing over their businesses, struggling to make ends meet, everyone feels it. It affects everything. Despite it all, Bailey has been pretty amazing. Maybe she learned by watching some of the mistakes and struggles her older half-brothers and sisters lived through (and survived). And despite the fact that the "Haves" at her school (not to be confused with a strong contingent of "Have Nots"), were getting graduation presents ranging from new BMWs to vacations abroad, Bailey seemed content with a few cards, a little cash, and a scrapbook her Auntie Kay put together from pictures spanning from December 2nd, 1990 to the present.

I am in awe. Living through the last 3 years, the struggles, the deals that went wrong, the deals that never became deals, and the deals that aren't done yet (we're holding our breath), Karen and Bailey have been unbelievably strong. I thought things had been tough for the older kids...divorce, remarriage, step and ex struggles, moving here, moving there, new schools, new friends, leaving old friends behind...but as her childhood wound down, Bailey has turned into a pretty amazing young woman. Karen and I are so proud of her, and hope she lands a really good job because Mom and Dad might need to borrow some money. Kidding. Sorta.

What a Wonderful World

2009-03-31T08:07:00.001-07:00

IT IS! I'll admit, the last 2 1/2 years have been a struggle, as we work to sell our new vision for programming and monetizing radio. Whatever it's been and whatever it becomes, I'll always call it RADIO. My first opportunity to turn on the microphone switch at a radio station occurred in April, 1971. I was almost 16 years old and until I got in trouble for bad grades, rode my Kawasaki 90 to work. For most of the time from April 1971 until Clear Channel was forced to divest Fabulous Radio (originally 570 KLAC, 690 XETRA at the end), I made a living turning on a microphone, teaching others to turn on a microphone, and creating programming that compelled folks to tune in. But these last 2 1/2 years, not so much. I'm doing all the same things and more. Just not earning a living. Karen reminded me last night that it hasn't been much fun for Bailey in this, her senior year in high school. We had opportunities to move with the company, but decided to stay put. Bailey has moved enough, Fresno to Dallas to Nashville to Harrisburg to Boise and now L.A.) and as her older brothers and sisters have proven, moving around with Dad's career is not always conducive...to anything. A lot of kids survive it. We just decided not to do it with Bailey. So she struggles with Mom and Dad.

WHY IT IS A WONDERFUL WORLD.

Jan in Los Angeles has been through a lot. Many times, shortly after playing What a Wonderful World, I'll get an email or a note through our request link. Jan is thanking me for playing it, and reminding me, IT IS A WONDERFUL WORLD.

In 2003, Steve Tyrell played Fabulous 570 KLAC's Mistletoe & Martinis concert.

Rod Stewart, two albums into his Great American Songbook series, came to the show primarily to hear and meet Steve. Not long after, Steve was asked to produce Rod's third (and eventually fourth) Great American Songbook album. On a visit to the station, Steve brought rough mixes of songs to be released on Rod's Stardust: Great American Songbook Volume III. I took Steve upstairs to play them for Roy Laughlin, longtime General Manager of Clear Channel L.A./KIIS-FM. Steve commented that when completed, one particular song would have Stevie Wonder playing harmonica. That song evoked a reaction I hadn't seen in all the years I'd worked for Roy. What a Wonderful World brought Roy to the brink of years. Neither Steve nor I had any idea that just a few years earlier, Rod Stewart performed that song at the wedding of his friends Roy Laughlin and (Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM sidekick) Ellen K.

Early in our effort to get MartiniInTheMorning.com rolling as an Internet radio station and ultimately a network providing this music to radio stations, one of our partners lost her Father. At his memorial service, to celebrate his life while mourning his passing, they chose What a Wonderful World.

I find it amazing that a song that celebrates the life while mourning the loss of a dad, husband, and grandfather; is the same song that celebrates the culmination of a love affair, the beginning of a family; and the same song that celebrates life, recovery and renewal. The very same song touches the hearts of so many, in so many different ways. Another example:

MICHAEL BUBLE'S HOME gets airplay elsewhere, so we've never given it as much attention as his Standards. Mainstream Adult Contemporary radio is so afraid of sounding OLD that most would never consider playing Michael's Orange Colored Sky, Mack the Knife or I've Got You Under My Skin, despite the fact that with David Foster's production, they're as cool and hip (more so in my humble opinion) as Michael's self-penned Home. We started getting requests for Home some time ago. Chris Johnson, an IT pro at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital requests that we play it until They're All Home, a reference to American service men and women serving in the world's most dangerous places. The real kicker was when a Major in the US Army emailed from a place called Qayyarah Airfield West. The airbase is about 180 miles north of Baghdad and for the US men and women serving there, a million miles away from HOME. Major Dean Huard requested the song for the US troops in his command who longed for HOME.

Friday, March 31, we lost Tom Johnson. His son, Lounge Lizard in Exile Lance Johnson sent this email over a year earlier, January 24, 2008.

Love your station. It is rare when I do not have it streaming and
enjoying the music. I live in Austin, Texas but have been spending the past
several months in Gonzales, Louisiana with my dad. I entered a request for
Michael Buble, Best is Yet to Come online but wanted to give you more detail to my request. I am getting married on Feb 16 to a wonderful woman named Janet. The song was to be our "first dance" at our wedding which was originally scheduled in June and was to a be a huge event. Recently my dad was diagnosed with lung and brain cancer which he is battling admirably (we also lost my mom to cancer in August). As a result we decided to have the wedding sooner and make it a small, intimate gathering at my Aunt's home in Baton Rouge.

It will be a special, yet bittersweet occasion. So, the best is yet to come for all of us. My life with Janet and a better place for my dad when that time comes. I am hoping we have him for many years to come. Thank
you for the wonderful music!
Then, one year later, February 19, 2009, Lance wrote:
Hi Brad/Michelle,
Well, we made it an entire year! Feb 16 was our 1 year wedding anniversary.
We spent Valentine's weekend in the French Quarter and had an awesome
time. Janet had never experienced that part of my hometown and she really
enjoyed the sights, sounds, food and craziness of it all. She was also able to
spend some time with my Dad in Gonzales.

My wife flew back home to Texas on the 17th. I have remained behind with my Dad once again. We celebrate the time he has had. It has truly been a gift and we are not giving up. So, as I spend more time with Dad and listen to Martini in the morning, send a few good vibes our way. Take care guys!
Lance & Janet

Then, Monday, March 30, this:

Brad/Michelle,
I wanted to let you know that my father lost his 16 month battle with cancer on Friday night (Mar 27) at 9:19pm. We were all together as a family and he was comfortable and peaceful. Thank you for your support and kind wishes throughout this journey. Dad is now "Home" with my mom.
Take care,
Lance

They say HOME is where the heart is. We are blessed to be able to play music that touches the hearts of so many; None in the same place or in the same way. That's the beauty of this music. Lance and Janet, Major Huard, and everyone whose life has been affected, even in a small way; YOU are the reason we fight this fight to overcome that CONVENTIONAL WISDOM that suggests this music is just for old farts and has no place on today's contemporary entertainment scene.

YOU are the reason I say, WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD.

Modern Day Miracles

2009-03-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

I'VE WORKED WITH TECHNOLOGY FOR A LONG TIME. My first experience with broadcast studio automation very early on. Computers in the studio. No CDs, no tapes, no records. It was a strange and trying time for everyone in radio. I had the privilege of working with some of America's top radio personalities in some of the most listened to radio stations in the country, as they made the transition to today's high tech radio broadcasts. From Rick Dees in L.A. to Elvis Duran in New York, to talkers like Bill Handel, John & Ken and others, whom I was also proud to add to Clear Channel's XM talk channels. Reducing the amount of technical stuff the personalities and their producers have to do, allows them to focus more on content. As a personality who was never the most technically adept, I was proud to play a role in this process. That was, for the most part, in the late 90's, early 2000's.

FAST FORWARD TO 2009. Bailey, our 18 year old daughter, says I can't say OMG! in my Facebook and Twitter posts. She didn't say anything about my blog. OMG! Long time Lounge Lizard in Exile/Martini in the Morning listener Reverend Jim (Jim Thomas from Bethel, VT) commented accurately that it "Takes paint drying to a whole new level." But as technology goes, it was pretty exciting. With a little modification to the operating system, my Apple iPhone became a mobile TV station. Ustream, the streaming technology behind the video streaming from our studio (about as exciting as watching paint dry), has come up with a new, albeit unofficial, iPhone application that turns every iPhone into a mobile TV station. OK, so it's not high end, high quality video. But what if, today at the Ventura (CA) Antique Show, we had run into one of its more frequent shoppers, legendary comedian and actor Jonathan Winters? We could have logged on and talked to Mr. Winters - who wanders around the antique show waiting for someone to recognize him so he can do an impromptu, totally improvisational, comedy show for all fortunate enough to gather around him. WHAT IF we had a cool star spotting? This camera thing is better than the vulture paparazzi zooming around L.A. following even the most tarnished stars. Karen's antique shopping opens up all sorts of possibilities. A few weeks ago at the Santa Monica Flea Market, Marissa Tomei, most recently of Wrestler note aside a resurgent Mickey Rourke, was shopping sans make-up, making this rarely starstruck 53 year old a believer in natural beauty. Who else? Oh, at a recent Rose Bowl Flea Market, the Granddaddy of them all, Corbin Bernson was hauling off some man's trash - his newest treasure.

I'M NOT TURNING PAPARAZZI ON YOU...but how 'bout Grand-Paparazzi? One day, when we get this freakin' radio thing to start making money (or losing less would be nice...), we might get to visist our 4 Grandsons in Boise, or better yet, bring them to Southern California to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck and Goofy (the Disney Goofy...they already know their Grandpa!). Imagine being able to stream that directly to the Internet. It might not mean a lot to you, to our Lounge Lizards in Exile, but for my Mom (on a good day when she remembers them) or my Dad traveling the world in his 45 foot motor-castle or Karen's folks or, well, you get the point. This is breakthrough stuff. And not just for family stuff, but for SO many businesses!

THERE'S AN APPLICATION FOR MARTINI IN THE MORNING! I'm not sure what it is yet, or maybe more importantly, I'm not sure what it's not. Daniella Chaso, listening and watching from London, UK said This could turn into your very own weekly reality show LOL. Perhaps call it the 'Brad Around Town Adventures.' Once again, I'm not sure anyone would watch, but there's something there. Reverend Jim, spotting one of the items that showed up on camera, added, Hey, Brad, pick me up that Mercedes grill! lol. And Steve Thom in Indianapolis spotted a booth at the antique show, full of antique gas station pumps; Haha! yeah, i'll take that gas pump for $550 if it still runs! of course; doesn't everybody need a working gas pump?!

HMMM - If not a Martini in the Morning app, maybe Karen features a different antique show each week and our viewers text in when they see something they like, we buy it and ship it to them.

WATCH FOR MORE 'BRAD CAM' Monday, March 30th! We'll try it out during the show, and when Renee Olstead visits our Lounge! Visit http://MartiniInTheMorning.com, click on the MartiniVision link, then the Guest Cam button.

So It Comes Down to This

2009-03-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

YOU. We've done our part.

REMEMBER James Earl Jones in the movie Field of Dreams...BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME. We built it. You're here. But that's where it gets complicated. I've built dozens of radio stations over the course of my nearly 40 year love affair with radio and the people who love listening. Ten years ago, I was on a conference call with some higher-ups, and the decision was made to switch a rock station that wasn't doing well, to Top 40. The call was on a Tuesday. The launch date for the new format was the following Monday. Not trying to shy away from a challenge but concerned about the short fuse, I said something to the effect of "Boy is that fast." A Senior VP with the company chimed in and said "Bradley, we've made a decision on Thursday to flip a format on Monday. This is easy!" It wasn't easy, but we pulled it off, and many others just like it. Just a couple years later, I inherited the launch of 7 satellite radio channels, part of my employer's equity deal with one of the (then) 2 satcasters. There were so many moving parts - it was a real challenge. It wasn't pretty, but we got it done. In fact I was still programming or overseeing several of the channels when asked to created "The Toad" (a Classic Country station) in Riverside, CA, and KLAC/Fabulous 570-690 in Los Angeles.

THE POINT TO ALL OF THIS IS THAT WE KNOW HOW TO BUILD IT. Frankly, YOU have played a HUGE role in how http://MartiniInTheMorning.com has been built. In fact, YOU are the reason we built it. When Clear Channel was forced to divest our old station here in L.A., I could have moved on to something else with them. But the more I got to know YOU, the more I realized there is a HUGE audience for this music. So much so that I felt compelled, obligated, to launch the station online with an eye toward getting on as many radio stations as possible. Just a few years ago, there were over 1000 radio stations broadcasting some flavor of Standards. By most estimates, there are now fewer than 300. Our goal is to reverse that trend for YOU.

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME. We built it. You're here. So it's you and me against the world. Now what? Hollywood is so good at Fantasy. IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME. Without advertising? Marketing? Smoke signals? THAT has been a real challenge for us. That and raising money to pay for it. We'll save that for another discussion. But getting the word out...IF we had the aforementioned cash, that too would have been much easier. We don't. BUT, we DO have YOU, US. And we all know a few people. Some of us fear that We're Weird, and that none of our friends share our taste in music. Maybe we are Weird. But you'd be surprised how many of Us have migrated to this music despite having grown up on rock 'n roll or top 40. So weird or not, if each of US were to send a quick note, email, Facebook, Twitter, snail mail, or even make a phone call to a few of our friends, THAT'S ADVERTISING.

Today is a very critical day for our little community. We are constantly being evaluated, re-evaluated, and unfortunately, undervalued. Today, especially. Our genre is constantly being written off as music for old farts like me. The fact is, even in this lousy economy, 40+ consumers who make up roughly 75% of our audience, control 57% of all discretionary spending. To get the attention and appreciation we deserve, we have to speak up. It's time to shout it out, borrowing here from the late Peter Finch in Network, I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!

WE BUILT IT. And now more than ever, we need YOU, our marketing department. Click Here for a list of things you can do to help spread the word so when evaluated by those who dismiss the format as too old, or irrelevant, we can prove otherwise. Not much on the list...yet. Got something to add, send me an email. Please!

I Listened to a Cooking Show

2009-03-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

ON MY WAY TO WORK THIS MORNING...I wanted to listen to the radio. I listened to the 10 am news on CBS Radio's KNX-AM here in L.A. - then it was Melinda Lee's cooking show. I listened to it all the way from Karen's store to our NoHo Studios. Sure, I'm interested in cooking...actually, it's the eating I love most. But I listened to the cooking show because there was Nothing else on. There are some great talk stations, but I'm so stressed out as it is, I don't need someone yelling at me. The other CBS news station KFWB-AM runs infomercials all weekend. That's the last thing I want to listen to. As for the music stations, I still have many friends at the Clear Channel music stations, from my 6 years with CCLA. CBS has some fine music stations too. I hear Bonneville's new station The Sound is good, and Saul Levine's Go-Country is a good Country station. But NONE of them are what I want to listen to.

MAYBE I'M TOO OLD FOR THE MUSIC STATIONS. I don't think that's it. But it's like a sweater that's just a little too big, or too small. There's nothing that's a really good fit for me. I think a lot of people are experiencing that. We were listening to KOST 103.5 earlier in the week and they were playing something I KNOW isn't targeted to a 53 year old guy (me). So here I am listening to a cooking show!

MILLIONS OF 40-PLUS CONSUMERS, RADIO LISTENERS, HAVE ABANDONED MUSIC RADIO in favor of talk or other spoken word formats. Is it because the suddenly don't like music, or prefer cooking shows? Or is it because there's nothing on that they like, so they listen to talk?

I DON'T KNOW FOR SURE but I'm betting it's the latter. When we were involved in the launch of several channels on one of the big satellite radio companies (I probably shouldn't say which one, but there's an "X" in their name), they discovered that the young adults originally thought to be the most likely early adopters for satellite radio, weren't. The problem was that young adults are generally well served by mainstream over the air radio. They might not be thrilled with certain aspects...short playlists (repetition), too many commercials, etc. But they're not mad enough to buy new receivers (originally a couple hundred dollars each plus installation for cars) and spend $12.95 a month for what they've been getting for free.

THE GOOD NEWS that came out of that research was that there was a group that was "Mad as Hell," and wasn't going to take it any more (Goldie Hawn borrowed that line from the 1976 movie Network in an interview with AARP-The Magazine on the occasion of her 60th birthday, referring to the lack of entertainment targeted to older consumers). The satellite radio company discovered that 40+ consumers were feeling disenfranchised, ignored by mainstream, youth obsessed radio. Despite the fact that this group represents 29% of the US population and controls 57% of all discretionary spending, most ad buys are targeted toward 18-44 year olds. In its current form, radio has no choice but to aim their programming at an audience it can monetize with commercials. So we were asked to re-aim 2 of our channels on this satellite radio service, toward 40+ consumers. Satellite radio wasn't worried about selling commercials. They needed to move satellite receivers gathering dust at Best Buy, and sell monthly subscriptions. Here was a group that was "Mad as hell..." (motivated) and had all that discretionary spending power (means). They had the means to act on their motivation.

IT WORKED. 40-PLUS CONSUMERS RESPONDED. Now, broadcast radio has a real problem in that HD/FM Multicast radio, created to compete in the digital landscape with satellite radio, isn't taking off like the industry had hoped. There are HUNDREDS of new digital quality radio stations available that NO ONE IS LISTENING TO. There are 25 in Los Angeles alone. 23 in the NYC area. Maybe if there were something on these new stations, different enough, something not readily available on mainstream AM and FM radio, something targeted to folks who have the means and the motivation to go out and buy new receivers (with no monthly subscription necessary), maybe HD Radio would fulfill its promise.

MAYBE IT'S http://MartiniInTheMorning.com! There is no doubt in my mind that we could sell HD receivers and give radio's digital initiative a shot in the arm. I wish we could afford to make house calls. But with our financing, someone will have to bring them to the clinic for the medicine necessary to heal what ails them. The doctor is IN!

This One Will Be Shorter. I Promise!

2009-03-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

I FIGURED SOMETHING OUT - And I think it's part of the reason big radio has trouble taking us seriously. We're not a Format. When you talk to someone in radio who thinks in radio's traditional "Box," they ask what your Format is. I have a tough time explaining it because the traditional labels have a black eye in the industry. Not as much with listeners. I think, as singer/songwriter Tony DeSare said when he was in our Lounge last week...it's not about labels. It's about entertaining people. As long as you have great songs with interesting, meaningful lyrics, strong melodies, great performances of the music and lyrics, people will listen. But labels ARE significant in the radio industry. If we say we're a Standards station, that's radio-speak for OLD. The accepted industry Format listing is Adult Standards. That's industry speak for REALLY OLD. As I said yesterday, we believe that's more because the presentation, the way the music was delivered, became old and stale...and not a reflection on the music.

WE'VE TRIED TO NAME THIS FORMAT but it defies definition. Truth is, it doesn't really matter what we call it, at least not to the people who really matter - listeners. Probably more than any other Format name, we've called it Contemporary Standards. The approach, the way we try to deliver this is in a contemporary package. There's no reason this music shouldn't be presented in a way that is as modern and fun as your kids' favorite Top 40 station - maybe not as obnoxious - but fun, modern, even hip. Cool.

WHATEVER YOU CALL IT, it's still not a Format by traditional radio definition. IT'S A LIFESTYLE. The music and everything that goes around it, on the air, is the Soundtrack for YOUR Lifestyle. It's the music and so much more. The music becomes part of your life. It's music that feels right for the way you're living. Sure, there are times when, if you're a boomer like me, you're likely to get in a crazy mood and drag out an old Stones album, or hearing Rod Stewart do a Standard will make you yearn for Hot Legs. Ok, maybe not that one...Maggie May or Tonight's the Night. Or Stay With Me. BUT, more often than not, as you live your life, run your routine, do what needs to be done, you'll be listening to OUR MUSIC. Your friends will come over to play cards, have a cocktail, whine about the kids, and they'll hear your music, and ask What's that you're listening to. You'll tell them and they'll say...Cool.

To that we say, Live, Love, Lounge. Oh, and Listen!

Our Listeners

2009-03-12T06:44:00.000-07:00

OUR LISTENERS DEFY LOGIC. Well...depends on WHOSE logic and whether it's REALLY logical. Conventional wisdom in the radio biz, and I think to the extent that they are SO connected at the hip with radio, the record business too...is that only old farts like the music commonly referred to as Standards. So is conventional wisdom really all that wise, after all? Ask Jennifer in Manistique, MI. She's 26. Brittany in Surprise, AZ listens to our first over the air radio station, 1480 KPHX in Phoenix...when it's not too staticky on her way to school (high school). She'll be 18 in May. Then there's 29 year old Kevin, a student at Bryant University in Rhode Island. When he requested Bing Crosby's True Love, he said "Love you guys! Finally a place where a young guy like me can enjoy this great music and not feel out of place! THANKS!"

RADIO SCREWED UP CONVENTIONAL WISDOM! Conventional wisdom about Standards, or whatever you want to call our Format, is that only the generation that made this music popular the first time around, should be listening to it now. Maybe Kevin in Rhode Island hit the nail on the head...Finally a place where a young guy....can enjoy this great music and not feel out of place! A young guy might feel out of place at a nursing home. And that's the way this music has been presented for SOOOOO long. The big broadcast networks who supply a version of this format to radio stations on sort of a subscription basis, decided that they needed to Young the format because the big ad agencies don't want to advertise on stations whose average age is north of 60 (ACTUALLY, 18-44 is the most sought after advertising demo today). Q: How did they Young the format? A: Did they take the presentation out of the nursing home? NO! They started mixing in 60's and 70's pop songs - songs that have been played over and over on old pop stations for so long no one younger than 60 cares to hear them again. And I'm convinced the only reason ANYONE listens to them is that they're so frustrated with youth obsessed FM music stations, and tired of being yelled at by Rush and all the talk stations, so they're just glad to have SOMETHING that belongs to them instead of their kids and grandkids.

OUR UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM. It's definitely unconventional. Whether it's actually wisdom remains to be seen;

You have to get older to get younger. The problem, the reason this Format brought in an older and older audience is that the radio stations playing this music allowed themselves to get old with the listeners. The presentation became, well, old...and irrelevant. The music is still relevant. The main reason it took a dip in popularity in the 60's is because we (boomers) weren't making our musical choices based on musicality. We were making music choices based on rebellion, anger, and a sense of power. In 1965, the rallying cry Don't trust anyone over 30 resonated with the largest generation ever to walk this earth. As boomers flexed their considerable muscle, Frank Sinatra was 50. Dean Martin, 48. Ella Fitzgerald too. Were we going to listen to music from people our parents' age? Of course not. So rock 'n roll ruled the day.

MUSIC OF WHOSE LIFE? It didn't help that as we aged and mainstream top 40 became more urban or dance or hip hop or whatever the flavor of the day happened to be, the stations playing Frank, Dino, Ella, et al, were BOOOOOOORRRRRRRING. Country gained a lot of boomer converts as top 40 became younger and rappier. Rappish? We missed the boat! And we had our chances. Harry Connick Jr. came along in 1979. Linda Ronstadt did her Nelson Riddle stuff in the early 80's. The movie Swingers introduced Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and a brief fascination with all things swing, which reintroduced some of the classic big band stuff. But the stars were never in alignment. It was a little here, a little there, never reaching critical mass.

HERE AND NOW. It's Michael Buble', Diana Krall, Renee Olstead, Steve Tyrell, Rod Stewart, and a lot of names you might not know yet. Erin Boheme, Jaimee Paul, Tony DeSare, Matt Belsante, Ryan DeHues. Then there are the Standards performances we didn't know existed. After scoring big hits with songs like "Addicted to Love," "Simply Irresistable," "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On," and "Bad Case of Loving You," rocker Robert Palmer released "Ridin' High" in 1992, a collection of REALLY well done Standards. Who knew that R&B star Marvin Gaye was a HUGE Nat King Cole fan and did a whole album dedicated to his idol; that early pop star Sam Cooke recorded several Standards, and that half of rock 'n roll's royalty would duet with Frank or Tony (or both in the case of U2's Bono); that Elton John would record George and Ira; that Beyonce' would play Etta James in a movie or that songwriter and record producer Steve Tyrell would play the wedding singer in Father of the Bride and become the soundtrack for more weddings than Liz Taylor, Mickey Rooney and Zsa Zsa Gabor combined.

WHO KNEW baby boomers (and most of the Cocktail Nation) would graduate from beer and wine to martinis, cosmos and other drinks that look good in a martini glass? And who knew that Carrie, a 30-something Internet technology exec in Denver would listen to the local (now defunct and we know why) Martini radio station when she and her friends gathered for cocktails, swaying and swooning to Dino, Frank, Buble'...and look at one another perplexed when that station tried to Young the format by throwing in a Dave Matthews Band or Blink 182 song from time to time. Carrie told me she loves both. BUT NOT ON HER MARTINI STATION. OK...we WOULD play Dave Matthews or Blink 182. But only if they did a (good) version of a great Cole Porter or Gershwin or ... you get the point.

RADIO'S CONVENTIONAL WISDOM says that Carrie, Jennifer, Brittney, Kevin and countless other UNDER 40 listeners shouldn't be listening to us play Nat King Cole as I write this. Radio's conventional wisdom says that 87 year old Harry in Lake City Center, FL and 90 year old Earl in Mission Viejo, CA SHOULD listen. They all do. Are there enough of them in Los Angeles to fuel a radio station with enough juice to meet today's financial demands? Dunno! Are there enough in Boise or Birmingham or Buffalo? Dunno. Are there enough of them NATIONALLY (Internationally? This IS the Internet) to create a community that generates enough revenue from various streams of income that result not so much from dishing out 20 minutes of what marketing guru Seth Godin refers to as on the air Spam (commercials), but from connecting them all into a pool of passionate participants who support appropriately targeted products, services and events? We're betting on it. We rolled the dice September 5th, 2006 and thanks to folks like Harry, Earl, Carrie, Jennifer, Brittney, Kevin plus dozens of volunteer professionals and listener/investors, we're headed to the cashier now...not to cash out, but to reinvest, to better connect with our community as it grows.

Hal Gaba

2009-03-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

SINGER ERIN BOHEME JUST TEXTED ME - She's a 20-something. That's what they do. Text. She texted me to say Concord Music Group Chairman Hal Gaba passed away this morning. I've had several opportunities work with Concord Records over the years we've been involved in the effort to revive The Great American Songbook on the radio. They're unlike any label I've worked with before or since. Just a couple years ago, I had the opporunity to visit with Hal in his office and I think the words texted to me by Charles Pignone, Co-President, Frank Sinatra Enterprises - sum it up; "Very sad - Hal was a class act." That makes Hal a rarity in the record business these days. We just played Michael Feinstein and Keely Smith songs on http://MartiniInTheMorning.com. They're both on Concord Records. Our friend Tony DeSare is on Telarc, another Concord Music Group label. Monica Mancini's new Concord Records release will be out soon. The list goes on. Hal has been responsible for a lot of great music.

Rest in peace Hal.

MY WIFE KAREN TEXTED ME - When NBC News reporter and excutive Tim Russert died. I was a big fan. I hope someone will text someone else when I'm gone.

Paying the Bills

2009-03-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

I was SHOCKED. I told Al the Engineer that since we started playing a few commercials for our Phoenix station 1480 KPHX, which simulcasts http://MartiniInTheMorning.com, we've had some complaints. In fact, I can see our listener numbers drop as soon as the commercials start. Most of our listeners seem to be willing to put up with my blabbing because they know we'll get back to the music. But let a commercial come out of the speakers and BAM! There they go.

AL THE ENGINEER WAS SURPRISED. He said some of the L.A. radio stations...owned by the biggest and therefore, theoretically, smartest broadcasters in the business...are running 16 minutes of commercials per hour. I said NO WAY! When I left Clear Channel, I think most of our music stations were at around 14 minutes per hour during the day, maybe 15 or 16 in morning drive (6:00-10:00 am).

TODAY WE COUNTED. During the 11 am hour while I got ready for our 2Martini Lunch feature, we monitored a Los Angeles Oldies station whose call letters will be changed to protect the over-commercialed. K-Birth, we'll call them, ran two breaks in the 11:00 am PDT hour. Including station promos, touting a contest or event, totaled 19 minutes, 15 seconds. That's almost 10 minutes per break. OK, so the good news is you still get 50 minutes of music.

IS THAT GOOD NEWS? It certainly makes our 2 minutes of commercials per hour look pretty harmless! In our 8 am hour, our "Talkiest," because we host Roger Schlesinger - The Mortgage Minute Guy, we played 15 songs. That's in morning drive when most music stations player fewer than 10 songs in an hour. "K-Birth" played 9 or 10 in the 11 am hour when most stations tout "More Music, Less Talk."

AND OUR LISTENERS ARE MAD ABOUT 2 COMMERCIALS AN HOUR? OK, there are options. You can get a batch of "Standards" on some Internet channels with no commercials, no talk. It's basically a jukebox. Or your iPod. When we met with a company interested in maybe buying us, they asked how many songs we had in our library. I told them a little north of 5,000. I knew that broke every rule in radio. Most "Adult Contemporary" stations have under 450 songs. The Internet company that asked about our library...said we shouldn't be playing more than 350 songs. And that's what the jukebox channels do...it's the same few hundred songs played over and over with no hosts, no interruptions, no companionship, no sense of community, no fun.

SO LET'S REVIEW - http://MartiniInTheMorning.com - 5000 songs in the library, played 17 songs in the 11 am hour when "K-Birth" played 10.

RADIO WORTH PAYING FOR - For $10, you can be part of the team that brings The Greatest Songs Ever Written back to prominence. We can't do it ourselves. We aren't capitalized sufficiently to have a marketing budget. So, YOU are our marketing department! BUT we need EVERYONE who listens and who can, to drop $10 in the bucket (click the bucket to drop in your $10) ... and we'll be able to play all that music abandoned by the mainstream radio biz.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? $10 - we'll discuss the rest later. (Click the bucket to do your $10)