Worth Abbey

Hello, Father Jamison.
I hope life is treating you well.
Regards.

R I P Brad Delp

Brad Delp, whose strong vocals helped Boston to a string of 1970s and '80s hits, was found dead at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire this afternoon (Friday). Local police said that Delp, 55, was apparently alone at the time of his death, but no indication of foul play was found. A police statement indicated that they were called to his house to respond to "an untimely death." Local police and the state Medical Examiner are investigating.
Among the hits on which the Boston native's keening tenor can be heard are "More Than a Feeling" "Long Time," "Peace of Mind" and "Amanda."
Delp had recently gotten engaged to longtime girlfriend Pamela Sullivan. They were planning to marry this summer. A Boston tour with R-E-O Speedwagon was also scheduled for the summer months.
The Boston website now says, "We've just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll."

What a voice. WOW! I've heard the songs a hundred thousand times but yet, for some reason, I never got tired of playing their music. The selling point of that band was that incredible production and that incredible sweet voice, I can't imagine that band being that successful without that voice. The high notes he hits in "Rock and Roll Band" are out of this world and I guess he now is, too. To this day "Hitch A Ride" is one of my all time favorite songs. How tragic.

My Burger of the Month

I am NOT a fast food guy, don't eat it much. I would rather prepare something than order it. In fact I don't remember the last time I had fast food, but I do love Whoppers and always have. Driving by the Wendy's on West End Avenue here in music city, I got the hankerin for a burger. So, I got the single with cheese and small fries and it was pretty tasty.
An hour later, I am tired. Coincidence? I think not. Nice diversion but I can't do more than one every three months, if that.

An End and A New Beginning

A dream of mine has been realized and a dream job has come to an end. As of 3/23/07, my on air career will end for good. We will have a public burial of my headphones, show prep and all of the paperwork I have accumulated over the years. All of the research from the consultancy, all of the music tests will either be buried or burned. IT ALL MUST GO!! At a certain point in a person's life, they realize that maybe they have left the business behind or the business has left them. I hit that point about three weeks ago. I missed being on on the air, I missed "the business". Well, I have found out that the "business" I missed no longer exists. I am not a liner card reader, I am much too old for that. I have realized that what I have to offer isn't what the radio companies are looking for. So, with that in mind, I am thrilled and overwhelmed to be added to the sales staff at KMOX. I will be trading in my headphones for a three piece suit and the marketing and promotional acumen that I have accrued will now come to fuition. I have given this business 31 years of love, I now hope to capitalize on that and make CBS and myself a great deal of money. It was an easy decision to make. I will be working again for Dave Ervin who fired me at Smooth jazz a few years ago. I have always liked Dave and did NOT burn that bridge. He had a vision of what he wanted and I was not a part of it. Pretty simple, but that's the business and I accepted it, didn't squawk about publicly and now some 4 1/2 years later, he is my boss again. This is a wonderful opportunity for me and my family. I will be writing the obituary of a career and recap everything. I really started to like Nashville and I know I hurt my friend Al Brock, but he also understands the magnitude of this incredible opportunity.
I am thrilled. I said it before but this time I mean it..when it comes to being on the air...I..am...done.

WKRP Encore

Ten minutes with Jennifer Marlowe...thank God for Youtube

Hottest Album Covers?

This is Toni Braxton, she's really hot.

Ah geez..a subjective thing for sure, but I can't think of any others.
Maxim's list is here.

It's Over

5/12/1976-3/8/2007

The gestation period started in 1972 when I first attended radio school. I was 16. I was introduced to the radio school by my brothers second wife. With work and regular school happening, this part of my life had to be put on hold until after work and/or college. I went back to radio school at the age of 20 and finished the 18 month course in nine.



It was born on a sunny day in May of 1976 it was a Saturday. The first song was 'Chevy Van' by Sammy Johns. The location was WHBF-AM in downtown Rock Island Illinois. A man named Dick Stuart saw something in this long haired kid and offered me Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. The following week, Mickie the night girl took a week off whicH allowed me to put together a 'tape'. You needed one of those to do anything. Thank you Dick Stuart. I hope rumours of your ill health are untrue.



This allowed me to get my first full time job at 99plus stereo KFMH in Muscatine Iowa in October of 1976. This was a 100,000 watt mafugga with a free form format that allowed the jocks to pick their own music. I was in heaven and I was also in the poorhouse because the pay was next to nothing. What a great time that was, I did the job for the love of the music at such an early age in my career. Little did I know that this would be the second to last time in my career that I could play what I wanted. Thank you Steve Bridges. I got in the business listening to guys like you. You are as big a prick now as you ever have been and I know you take that as a compliment.


I was approached by the management at an AM station in the Quad Cities and asked to put on an album rock show at a station that played Barry Manilow in September of 1977. I went and bought the records, put together playlists, rotations and mentored the night gal, nevermind she was 13 years older than me. At seven PM every night, the strains of Simon and Garfunkel would fade and the dulcet tones of Ted Nugent, Rush and Black Sabbath would permeate the air. It was my first foray into programming and it was good. We went from a 4.5 men at night to a 17.3 in three ratings periods on friggin AM radio, for God's sake. I was fired because a local FM station figured it out and we changed our format to...disco...ew. This was the last time I got to play what I wanted. Thanks Jim Mahanay for firing me, you and I both knew it was coming.


In the summer of 1978, WXLP-FM signed on the air and I was jealous not to be a part of the first staff there. When I lost the AM gig, I immediately went to the station with my 'tape'. I was hired and started the next day. I did middays until John Keith left mornings to teach. I didn't last long in the morning slot. Our slug line was 'Stereo Album Rock' 97X. We told our audence we were in stereo, that's how long ago it was. Thanks Tom McGuire and Jim Ohara, it's hard to believe you are still there.

In he fall of 1978, Max Floyd, Program Director of the legendary KY102 in Kansas City was test driving his new car. Instead of flying to Chicago to attend a convention, he drove and stopped in the Quad Cities for the night. He woke to my morning show and when he returned to KC offered me a chance to do nights there. He wanted me to be 'Bizzaro Man' on the air, whatever that meant. A very strange thing happened the night I spent at the Sheraton Airport Inn, which is about 20 miles from KC. I was in KC interviewing for a job and while watching TV that evening, the episode of WKRP in which Johnny Fever was offered a job in LA was being shown. I thought that was extremely strange. My show was from 6-10pm, a timeslot to be an entertainer and that I did. I moved to afternoons in 1982 and continued the personality radio with countless ratings successes. During that time, a mighty competitor arrived in KC called 'KCI'. It was helmed by a man named John Beck, they put up a valiant struggle, but John ultimately left to head KSHE95 in St. Louis in 1984. In 1984 and 1985 I was either number one or number two in the ratings. When I did lose, it was to the cat down the hall spinning country tunes, Phil Young. Once John got set in St. Louis, I wrote him a letter starting my undying desire to work at KSHE, a station I had fallen in love with in the early seventies.
In the summer of 1985, I left KY 102 to do afternoons at KSHE. Thanks to Max and a hundred people in KC too numerous to name. Thanks to Tammy, who at the time, was THE love of my life and a woman I will think about to the day I die.

my hero

Thanks to Youtube, here is 10 minutes of my man.
Right before the end, Johnny deals with syndication. This show was SO ahead of it's time

City Skylines

Growing up where I did, I can assure you that Ava Missouri did not have a memorable skyline. A nice square, for sure, but no building over four stories. The Quad Cities had a small one, but the problem here is which figuring out which city supplies the skyline...Rock Island...Davenport..etc. I have always been fascinated with skylines. My older brother had a game when we were kids that allowed you to build your own skyline, and if I remember right the game was called 'Skyline'. Oddly enough.


Nashville has a beautiful skyline..dominated by the Bell South er..eh..I mean the Batman tower...


When I first moved to KC, I remember driving in my UHaul and being awed at the sight I saw coming from I-35.


And really, this is a breathtaking sight. Coming in every Friday night, I look forward to seeing St. Louis' skyline from about 4 miles away.




In someone's list of the top 15 skylines in the world, this is number 15.
This would be Guangzou China, It aint no KC that's for sure.

The 29th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

How fun was this..I laughed out loud in a number of places at this play. I saw it last night at the TPAC and LOVED it. The story of a spelling bee; but as in all great plays, it is all about the characters. The boy scout and his erection at exactly the wrong time, the nerd and the nerdette, the asian girl who has so much expectation thrusted upon her. Great music, great humor. It is a bit racy and the bit where the asian girl has a conversation with Jesus is hysterical. Very, very funny and may be the best thing I've seen since I've been here.
Randy gives it 4 and 3/4 stars.
Rewarding, very, very rewarding.

It's March MADNESS Baby

...and it's my favorite time of the year. NHL is winding up to the games that count, opening day is just around the corner and the NBA is getting to the crux of the biscuit. But, for shear entertainment it's March Madness for me. I love the fact that some unknown can bitchslap Duke. I am looking forward to selection Sunday and screaming at the TV for leaving out Missouri State again this year. When filling out your brackets, always pick the favorite. You'll win in the end. Meanwhile, I'm rooting for Belmont or some school like that...
PS...that's Oscar Robertson in the picture. He was OK.

Phun With Photoshop

SEC Champs

I am now a huge Vandy women's basketball fan.

The head coach is a friend of the show. They just won the SEC tournament and should receive a number two seed to the tournament.

Good luck coach, you deserve it.



ah...I hope I didn't jinx you.

Now...THIS is funny...a little

CHARTER MEMBER All Time Album Hall of Fame

I get more posts and emails about my thoughts on music than any other subject. I guess it's true that you write better about the things you know.

What I am going to do over the net few months is write about some of the music that has been very important to me over the years. There are a few albums that I have listened to more than others throughout my life and those particular releases to me make up my Hall of Fame. Here is one entry as a....

Charter Member



I started listening to this when I was a senior in high school. I first heard the haunting version that Gregg gave "Midnight Rider" on the radio. As I was perusing the local art gallery known as "Co-op Tapes and Records' in Moline, I came upon the whole album. Immediately buying it after hearing only one song (but knowing it was an Allman Brother), I know this as one of the most painful, gutwrencing albums ever.
Remember 1972-3 was not a good stretch for anyone connected with the band. I think this is the recording he said what he had to say by himself.


After the gritty soul of "Midnight Rider", "Queen of Hearts" is a slow steady southern blues/jazz torch number with a sweet guitar from Tommy Talton, a real nice middle 8 from "Fathead" Newman and a tasty run on keyboards from Gregg himself. Dimly lit smoky bar, late at night and the stage teeming in blues.
"Please Call Home" was one of my favorite ABB tunes anyway and he nails this to the wall. Great arrangement of a great song. "Don't Mess Up A Good Thing" was written by St. Louisan Oliver Sain. Gregg has some major ties to St. Louis because he married a woman from here. This is the only up tempo song on the record, almost a gospel shuffle and the only song that has any happiness to it.
"These Days" was written by Jackson Browne and apparently the story goes like this...they had known each other for awhile and Gregg heard Jackson play this live and immediately asked if he could "borrow" it. Jackson said sure and now says this is his favorite version of the song. This cat's in pain, ain't no doubt. Nice pedal steel and keyboard work here. This was the first version of this song I had heard. ..."please don't confront me with my failures...I'm aware of them"... "Multi Colored Lady" is the saddest of the sad. He's riding a bus and meets a sad woman and well, you know...he tries to cheer her up and fails but after a while, she smiles. This was big with me when I was riding the buses (and hitch hiking) myself for awhile.
"All My Friends" is THE definative statement about his life at that time. ..."someday we'll find we should have relied on time...". Gregg closes the album out with a respectful take on "Will The Circle Be Unbroken", a song to this day makes me cry.

This is a sad album for sad times. During some rough stretches (like driving back from St. Louis to the Quad Cities with 103 degree fever and having a cop stop me then let me go because I look "horrible"), yeah stuff like that. We all need an album or two to release all the sad, bad juju and this is truly one to do that. But, to me its a true classic, one that I listened to more than the others and a Charter member of the Randy Raley All Time Album Hall of Fame

The Entertainment on my Birthday

This is Poco. Without a doubt one of my favorite bands. They played "Rose of Cimarron", "Heart of The Night" and "Indian Summer". HappyfriggingBirthday to me!! I sang along at the top of my lungs. That's how Bonnie Bramlett(see earlier post) met. She thought it was cool that I loved the music so much.


The headliners Pure Prairie League. I have been with this band since "Bustin Out" and know their history. Vince Gill was in the band for awhile and gave them a number one song "Let Me Love You Tonight". I had just seen these guys this summer at the Jefferson Barracks Bash that Emmis Broadcasting put on(see earlier post). Still excellent with Craig Fuller back in the band.

After they played, Lonnie Mack and Bonnie Bramlett tore the place up with rendition of "Tennesse Jail" that just kicked ass.

My Birthday Part Two

This is me onstage at Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville on my birthday raising money for Mike Reilly of Pure Prairie League fame. Mike had a liver transplant and it didn't go well. So radio to the rescue. This is me auctioning off items to the highest bidder. Pleadings, tauntings and beggings are all OK when you are an auctioneer.
Thanks for the pics, Em.

Johnny Cash's Final Resting Place

On my birthday, with my friend Emily in Nashville, and after having consumed a fine cheesesteak or two, we decided to drive in the snow to see where Johnny Cash rests. I had the address and it was Yahoo to the rescue. Johnny is in a public cemetary on Johnny Cash Avenue in Hendersonville TN. It took us about 20 minutes to get there from downtown. As we were crusing through the cemetary, I stopped a young man on a backhoe who was more than thrilled to help us locate it. It seems to be a point of pride for them. As well it should be. June and he are buried on the crest of a knoll just about in the center.


Johnny's grave


Right next to him is June's


A very tasteful black bench hovers over the headstones.


The other side of the bench.

What a great way to spend a birthday afternoon.