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It practically gallops!

States of Mind – Part 3

For the past ten years I have been making an effort to visit all 50 states. As my personal quest nears its completion, I decided to write down recollections of the 46 I’ve seen so far, listed roughly in chronological order of my first visit. This multi-part series began on July 1.

My wife and I made a day trip to West Virginia when the kids were young. Several of her family members went to the apple butter festival in Berkeley Springs and we tagged along. I haven’t done much else in West Virginia except for stopping at the Walmart along I-81 on the way to New England in 2009.

Business brought me to Dallas, Texas. I was assistant promotion director at WAVA when we took a plane full of listeners to see the Redskins play the Cowboys. I was impressed that the bar in the hotel lobby offered Dr Pepper from the bartender’s soda gun. On the morning of the game, we marched through the deserted streets of Dallas and got videotaped for the NFL Today. It was so long ago that the NFC was on CBS and that Irv Cross introduced the segment.

My first trip to Tennessee was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the death of Elvis. Don & Mike broadcast from the strip mall across from Graceland alongside deejays from all over the country. We saw Jim Bohanan at a 7-Eleven on our way to the site. We were positioned near Reitman & Miller from WKTI and shared some celebrity guests with them like Barbara Eden and Major Bill Smith, who believed Elvis had faked his death. 15 years later, I would move to the other end of the state and embrace all the good things about Knoxville and the Smoky Mountains.

Another unusual Don & Mike broadcast brought me to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We were there on the day that Oral Roberts was supposed to be called home. The plans for the broadcast fell apart and I ended up doing a call-in from a pay phone at a Waffle House. It was my first time visiting one of the restaurants.

The mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana, invited us to broadcast from his city. Bill Hudnut would often pop-in on the Don & Mike show at WAVA when he was in DC. When we went to visit him, he gave us each the key to the city. More recently, on my son’s college search, we visited a school in Terre Haute on the day the Colts were arriving for training camp.

More states tomorrow!

July 3, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

States of Mind – Part 2

For the past ten years I have been making an effort to visit all 50 states. As my personal quest nears its completion, I decided to write down recollections of the 46 I’ve seen so far, listed roughly in chronological order of my first visit. This multi-part series began on July 1.

Delaware was usually a pass-through state for me. When my family moved from New York to Virginia, we traveled back and forth several times. Delaware was always a good place to stop for lunch or dinner because, as I recall, it had little or no sales tax. As an adult, my wife and I took a day trip to Rehobeth Beach.

My mother had several relatives in Maryland. I can remember visiting them and listening to one of the cousin’s George Carlin albums with headphones. On the way there and back, we would stop at Maryland House on I-95. I have a vivid memory of attending an autograph-singing session with some of the Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium. My dad was doing public relations for National Bohemian at the time. I can remember staying at the Cross Keys Inn on that trip. Years later I went back to the Cross Keys Inn for a job interview with a morning deejay named Glenn Beck. While I waited for the appointed time for the interview, I browsed in a bookstore and saw filmmaker John Waters browsing too.

Virginia will always feel like home to me. I graduated from George Mason University. I met my wife because we both worked at Wolf Trap, although at different times. Our kids were born in Virginia and we bought our first house there. My radio career was launched at WVBK in Herndon before I got an internship at WAVA in Arlington. Before my parents moved us to Virginia, we would visit relatives in Midlothian, a suburb of Richmond. My parents took us to Colonial Williamsburg, where I saw a slide show about archeology. I recall the professor lamenting that people didn’t write down when an everyday object, like a beverage bottle, changed. Nowadays there are plenty of people who write articles every time a new Coke bottle comes out. I always enjoyed visiting Virginia Beach and plan to get back there after my 50-state quest is complete.

While I was an intern at WAVA, my sister was considering a transfer to an art school in San Francisco. Our father had died the year before and I volunteered to travel to California with her for a campus visit. While we were there, we drove down Lombard Street and across the Golden Gate Bridge. About six years later, I made my first trip to Los Angeles when Don & Mike did a promotion with the Arsenio Hall show. We broadcast from a diner in Beverly Hills and sat in Arsenio’s audience. My wife and kids came along even though Frank Jr. was only a few months old at the time. I had no idea then that less than two years later, I would move to California and stay for ten years. We loved our community in Burbank and especially our parish, St. Finbar. We grew to prefer Disneyland over Walt Disney World. We spent a weekend in San Diego, a weekend in Napa and several weekends near Hearst Castle.

More states tomorrow!

July 2, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Just One More Thing…

Peter Falk died Thursday night. The actor who played Lt. Columbo also had a passion for painting, which is how I ended up in his driveway with Mark & Brian. The guys liked getting out in the Mark & Brian Mobile whenever possible. They also loved doing celebrity interviews. However there weren’t too many stars willing to let us broadcast from their homes.

I don’t recall the details of why we were invited to Peter Falk’s place. Maybe it was the only way to get him on the show. What I remember most is that we weren’t allowed in the house. There was an outbuilding at the end of the driveway that looked like it had been converted from a garage to a greenhouse to an art studio. Falk did allow me to step inside the studio to see his paintings. Several of them were nudes.

Charlton Heston also let us on his property but not in his house. The guys interviewed him on his driveway too. John Travolta and Kelly Preston let us in to the backyard for a poolside interview, which concluded with a dip in their pool.

Before my first trip to Los Angeles, I arranged for Don & Mike to interview Casey Kasem at his home. We went to the front door but were escorted around the house to the back patio. Years later when I was doing some freelance work, I interviewed actor Ken Howard at a table in his backyard. It must be something in the celebrity handbook: don’t let deejays in the house.

June 24, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Amigos de Garcia

modeling "Raising Hope" trucker hat sent to Fox VIP members To get into the spirit of “Raising Hope,” Fox sent members of their VIP group a “Raising Hope” trucker hat and reusable grocery bag. Even better than the promo items is access to the next two episodes before they air.

“Raising Hope” was created by Greg Garcia, who also created “My Name is Earl” and “yes, dear.” I knew Greg back in the olden days when he worked at WAVA during summers off from college:

I drove the van around to concerts and such. After WAVA I graduated college and went to work at WTEM where I did promotions as well as being the board op on the Tony Kornheiser show. From there I moved to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue a career in sitcom writing. I got my first job in 1994 writing for a show called “On Our Own.” After that I wrote on a show called “Family Matters” for two years. In 1995 I created a show that was ironically “Built to Last” for NBC that was canceled after three episodes. From there I went to a show called ‘Getting Personal” on Fox and then to animated show called, “Family Guy.”

“Cheaters” airs on Tuesday, April 19. Jimmy (Lucas Neff) urges Sabrina (Shannon Woodward) to find out if her college boyfriend is cheating on her. They drive to the college and catch Wyatt (Ryan Doom) kissing another girl. Jimmy pines for Sabrina and is looking for a crack in her long-distance relationship. Meanwhile, Maw Maw (Cloris Leachman) falls for Mel (Jerry Van Dyke) while at senior daycare. They both think the Korean War is still being fought. Maw Maw also doesn’t remember that her husband is dead, so she thinks she’s cheating.

“Everybody Flirts… Sometimes” airs on Tuesday, May 3. Burt (Garrett Dillahunt) successfully flirts with his pool-cleaning clients. Virginia (Martha Plimpton) and Jimmy try flirting with less desirable results. Two guest stars do great jobs. Kerri Kenney-Silver of “Reno 911″ is unrecognizable as a sexy homeowner with a pool. Tichina Arnold is a scene-stealer as Virginia’s friend. One of the biggest laughs in the episode happens when Jimmy befriends his boss Barney (Gregg Binkley) and compliments his work-out regimen. If you can’t wait until the episode airs, Greg Garcia posted a photo from the scene on his Twitter feed, which you can see by clicking here.

April 16, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Poe Folks

“Steaks on the table at 7:30!” I can still hear Bobby Poe Sr. make that  announcement at his annual convention. I was saddened to learn that Bobby died on Saturday at age 77. Bobby Jr. has posted his dad’s life story, written in the Poe Kat’s own words.

The Pop Music Survey Convention brought the music industry to the Washington suburbs. I made it to a few of the gatherings in the late ’80s and early ’90s at the Sheraton Reston and the Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner. The convention ended its 25-year run in 1996.

The Bobby Poe conventions gave me the opportunity to rub elbows with radio heavyweights like Scott Shannon and Steve Kingston, who would travel from New York for the event. Shannon complimented me in front of my bosses from WAVA by saying he wanted to hire me. It helped me get a nice raise that year.

The music business was always well-represented. One year I walked into a suite sponsored by a record company as Marc Cohn started playing “Walking in Memphis.” One of the more memorable personalities I would see at the Poe conventions was A&M executive Charlie Minor, who was murdered in 1995.

Bobby Jr. announced the news of his father’s passing on Facebook. There are some great pictures from the old days on Bobby Sr.’s Facebook page.

January 25, 2011 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Three Big Dog Night

It was a thrill for me to have a former boss in the audience at last night’s Einstein Simplified show. I felt a bit like the opposite of Mark Thompson’s character in “Mother Ghost.” That guy is angry over his father’s failure to attend any of his Little League baseball games. I was psyched to have a mentor see me perform.

I’ve worked for some well-known program directors in my career. Mark St. John has always been a favorite because he was supportive of me as I transitioned from assistant promotion director to morning show producer at WAVA. He let me try other things too. He taught me how to use the music-scheduling software and had me edit the logs when he and the music director were both out of town. Other bosses have unwittingly pigeon-holed me into one role. St. John saw me as versatile.

Radio is a small world. I work for a company that utilizes Mark’s services as a radio consultant. The job brings him to Knoxville once or twice a year. This year it happened to work out that he arrived on a Tuesday and could make it to The Square Room. His decision to attend inspired Paul Moore of Q93 and Darren Stephens of Hot 104.5 to come to the show too.

September 22, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Count to Three

Everyone knows that Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977. In the course of my radio career, I worked on a fair number of Elvis-themed broadcasts. The most notable was a Don & Mike live remote from Graceland on the tenth anniversary of the King’s death. The most memorable may have been the January 8th birthday show when they interviewed the authors of “The Death of Elvis.” The mental images of the King’s autopsy described in that book remain with me to this day.

Don Geronimo did an “Elvis Death Day Show” yesterday on KHTK. I was able to catch some of it online, including the reading of the list of 31 items Elvis insisted on having at Graceland at all times.

Grave of Elvis, August 2008 - from http://www.frankmurphy.com/2008/08/all-shook-up.html I took my wife to Graceland two years ago. We timed our visit to miss the huge crowds who flock to Memphis for the anniversary but we did get to see many of the flower arrangements they left behind.

I didn’t realize until this year that Elvis shares his death anniversary with two other giants of pop culture. Bela Lugosi died on August 16, 1956. According to the Internet, Peter Lorre and Vincent Price were at the funeral. Lorre supposedly said to Price, “should we drive a stake through his heart just in case?” Please let that be true!

Babe Ruth died on August 16, 1948. He is buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. I have several relatives who are also buried there. I remember going to the cemetery as a child and my father pointing out Ruth’s grave marker. I told my kids that I will take them to see it the next time a family funeral brings us to the area. I also said that we should drive over to Hartsdale and search for Judy Garland’s grave while we’re in the neighborhood. She died on my 8th birthday.

Bill Johnson at Babe Ruth's Grave in May, 2008 Bill Johnson, a former colleague from Knoxville, is a Yankees fan. Two years ago he made a pilgrimage to New York to see a game at the old Yankee Stadium and to visit Babe Ruth’s grave. He was kind enough to send me a picture of him placing a Yankees cap at the headstone.

August 17, 2010 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

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