Lunaticradio.com Show Roast

Just finished producing a 3 minute spot for the upcoming Lunaticradio.com Show. They are apparently doing a 'roast' of the show which will be aired next week via their station, the podcast, and on Rockland USA (SAT. 7PM EST).

When they asked me to participate with a recorded roast, I wasn't sure how to approach it. While I was playing around with some rants on MS Word and the mic the idea of making it into a bit came to mind. I turned my roast into a cheesy Vegas lounge comedian bit slamming the show.

Using Cool Edit Pro I first recorded my fully prepared script in several takes editing out what didn't sound 'right'. I also added some space between liners for additional effects.

An additional track was created for the opening announcer at the club (which was me again). After recording I raised the pitch by about 10% while adding some additional effects to make the voice sound different than my own.

Several more tracks were added to add the crowd noise, clapping, laughs, rimshots, drums, and more. Then with some careful and tedious listening, the arrangment of all sound clips are put together making additional adjustments to the tracks when needed. In the end, it came out sounding like a real comedy club complete with bad jokes, drunken audience members, drum rimshots, etc. Yes, the jokes are really bad which makes it funnier (IMO).

Anyway, check it out this next week on the Lunaticradio.com show either on the podcast, Lunaticradio.com, or on the expanded version of the show on Rockland USA via Live365 Radio Network next Saturday at 7PM EST.

New Music First

The new music releases are incredibly slow this time of year. I sure hope it picks up soon - haven't been able to add that many new tracks in a while now.

This week we added the new release from American Hi-Fi 'Geeks Get The Girls'. Yet another track with the same style as Bowling For Soup's 1985. Oh, and what a coincidence - American Hi-Fi will be touring with Bowling For Soup. Great. Now you can hear several hours of the same style of music.

Latest release news from the industry:

DECEMBER 13
SINGLES:
AIMEE MANN (AAA)/King Of The Jailhouse (United Musicians/Music Allies)

JANUARY 3
SINGLES:
3 DOORS DOWN (Hot/Mod)/Let Me Go (Republic/Universal)

JANUARY 10
SINGLES:
BRIAN MCKNIGHT (AC)/Everytime You Go Away) (Universal)
JACK JOHNSON (AAA)/Sitting, Waiting, Wishing (Brushfire/Universal)
JOSS STONE (Hot/Mod)/Right To Be Wrong (EMI)

JANUARY 24
SINGLES:
CARBON LEAF (Hot/Mod AC)/Life Less Ordinary (Vanguard)
STEPHEN KELLOGG & THE SIXERS (AAA)/You've Changed (Foundations/Universal)

JANUARY 31
SINGLES:
FEATURES, THE (Hot AC)/Blow It out (Universal)
JACK JOHNSON (Hot/Mod AC)/Sitting, Waiting, Wishing (Brushfire/Universal)

Interesting Web Links

Satanic Santa Claus - http://members.aol.com/santalie/index.htm is a website for a guy who believes that Santa is Satanic. (Maybe the guy's dyslexic.)

Drunk Santa - http://www.santarchy.com/ is a repository of photos of drunk and debaucherous Santas.

Webcam - http://www.komar.org/cgi-bin/xmas_webcam is for a guy named Alek who's really into holiday lights. But wait, in addition to being able to view his gaudy display, you can also turn his lights on and off from your computer. Alek has a lot of time on his hands.

Nose Picking - www.proudpickers.com is the home for proud nose pickers.

Wacko - http://www.geocities.com/northstarzone/CELL.html This guy believes that cell phone towers are a part of a vast government conspiracy involving mass mind control. Get him on the air TODAY.

Email me more links to some websites no matter what the subject. Keep the emails coming.

Sirius Radio Digital Traffic Maps?

How cool is this! SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO will deliver real-time traffic data from NAVTEQ over its system. The service, which sends digital map information for car navigation systems, will initially cover 30 markets with expansion to 50 markets planned.

Rockland USA Expansion?

Just got home after getting off of my 'day job' 24 hour shift with only 3 hours of sleep. At any rate, I finally made a decision regarding my initial 2005 plans for Rockland USA - make it bigger so more of my listeners can get into the broadcast.

Here's the deal. If you are not familiar with how Live365.com works - us broadcasters have to pay for certain packages which allow us to have only so many free 'commercial supported' listener slots. Currently I am paying thousands of dollars a year to have as many listener slots as I can afford to get my dedicated listeners entertained every day.

During the second half of 2004, most of those free slots have been filled up by 11:00EST. The only way someone could tune into the station is if they were a VIP member of Live365. (A VIP membership at Live365.com gives the listener a commercial free stream of Rockland USA - plus gets you into stations that are out of free listener slots. Rockland USA receives money for the amount of time a VIP listener is tuned to the station which is VERY important to our existence).

For 2005, Rockland usage Pop Rock station will triple the amount of free listener slots! We will also receive double server storage for even more of your favorite hit music. The possible downside to all this great news is that we may be listed on the Microsoft Media Player radio station listings and also the iTunes radio list. That means our audience size will explode due to the increased exposure. We will continue to pay for more free listener slots as we can afford to do so.

The only possible casualty to all of this is the closure of the new station Rockland USA: Mix which has been doing ok in the ratings - just not sure if I can afford to expand the mother ship and keep the new smaller station. Somethings gotta give.

Anyway, I would love to hear your comments on this and any of the other blog posts. Rock on everyone!

PIC: Deer have bad days too

This happened in off Rt.29 in Northern Virginia (D.C. metro area). Apparently sometimes deer resemble sheep - whatever the leader does the rest will follow. The deer were running through the woods and leaped over a fence. Little did they know that on the other side of the fence was the busy Rt.29 highway about 40 feet down.

New Releases: Corporate Crap

Sometimes I think the major record labels just release junk because they don't have anything else to do - or they think the consumers will buy it no matter what. Who makes these decisions anyway.

Here are the latest releases from Rock, Alternative, Hot AC, Modern, and AC that I have to pick from along with my decisions on whether they will be aired on Rockland USA or not:

1. BARENAKED LADIES f/ SARAH MCLAUGHLIN/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings (Reprise) : What do you think my decision is with this one. LOL. Listen, I'm all about a good Christmas carol but not this one. Obvious attempt to make some money off a holiday tune. Only an all Christmas playlist station would play this crap.
2. BOB RIVERS/Walkin’ ‘Round In Women’s Underwear (Lava/Atlantic) : Ah yes, Bob Rivers. You know I do have some of his tracks on Rockland but even Bob is getting a little old. Kind of like how Wierd Al got old. I may throw this in on the actual Christmas Special airing Christmas Eve and all day Christmas. I need fillers. This track is amusing the first time you hear it but old the second.
3. JET/Back Door Santa (Lava/Atlantic) : Finally, a good rock version of a classic song. I think the last artist to sing this song was Bon Jovi? This is a definite new addition to the station - a holiday track that doesn't sound like a holiday track. Get it?
4. JEWEL/Winter Wonderland (Lava/Atlantic) : I think most guys agree that Jewel's pretty hot. This track is much too slow to be on the station though, sorry babe.
5. KILLERS/Mr. Brightside (IDJMG) : When VH1 played their last song (to death might I add) they said 'The Killers are the best thing to come out of Sin City' meaning Las Vegas. Funny thing is my friends in Las Vegas have never heard of them. Marketing gimmick? Track is ok I guess, have to consider it later and see how it does on the charts. Don't think it will climb far.
6. ROB THOMAS/New York Christmas (Lava/Atlantic) : This was a release from last year but the record companies thought it wise in marketing to re-release it after only one year? What's up with that. Yeah I'm gonna add it because it fits into the genre of the station. Rob Thomas was the lead singer for the now split Matchbox Twenty.
7. MOTLEY CRUE/If I Die Tomorrow (IDJMG) : The 'crew' has reunited. That's cool. More hype than substance in my opinion. Their new track just reminds me that some bands should just stay in retirement. What, you reunited because you ran out of dope money?
8. STRATA/Never There (Wind-Up) : Not real familiar with these guys. I'm sure it's a great pure rock song but doesn't pass my '30 second pleasure' test. Not adding.
9. U2/All Because Of You (Interscope) : Actually I already have this posted into the playlist with reservation. I'm not all that excited about this track but added it thinking it will probably end up in the top 20 ranks because of the 'Vertigo' hype. Monitoring how this does with the listeners.

PLAYLIST KEY: WILL BE ADDING / THINKING ABOUT IT / NOT IN YOUR LIFE

Don't agree with me on my selections? Post your comments.

How I Select New Tracks

One of the most time consuming jobs of running Rockland USA is researching new music releases in the genres of Rock, Alternative, Hot AC, Modern, and AC (AC=Adult Contemporary). It's always my goal to get music posted into the programming before a listener hears it on terrestrial radio - basically in their car. That said, I am very picky with what new tracks I will select. Because Rockland USA is a 'popular rock' station, it is my job to listen to a track and predict if the track will end up in at least the top 20 of the national airplay charts.

Yes, I'm anal.

To select a track I head on over to some radio industry websites that announce the new track releases, listen to a sample and make a decision. I usually only give a track about 30 seconds to impress me. Pretty shallow eh? If the track is too 'hard' or loud, I won't consider it. If it is too slow I won't consider it (though I guess you could consider Evanesence's 'My Immortal' as slow but it was damn popular. Exception made.

Sure the station is 'sugary sweet' but let's face it - most of my audience listens from their cubicles at work and because of that the music must be 'work friendly'. I still test the limits of that station rule from time to time and make adjustments accordingly. Whatever the majority of my listeners want - they get!

Latest new tracks:

• 3 Doors Down - Let Me Go (New album coming out in February 2005)
• Bowling For Soup - Almost (This style of music will get old real quick)
• Jimmy Eat World - Work (I like this track - pure pop rock hit)
• Melissa Etheridge - Christmas In America (Slightly political but still a great track)
• Simple Plan - My Christmas List (Kind of funny if you listen to the words)