Rob!

I'm a fairly consistent reader of "My Blog" though I think only made one post and that was some time ago. (How long? Don't ask me. I've got the mad cow.) I think one of the reasons I am so eager to read the blog and, even more so, "My Story" is my longing for radio the way it once was - a profession. What the hell happened??!! To paraphrase (or is it bastardize?) Pete Seeger, where has all the talent gone? Radio has become little more than a juke box. I remember fondly not only the days hanging out of the production room window on Adams Street in Green Bay but the phenomenal amount of work and pride that went into broadcasting. Remember when production was an art and even local spots were subject to hours of fine tuning with a grease pencil, scotch tape, a splice block, and a stopwatch? To say nothing of the contests and the incredible amount of audio production that went into those events. Oh for the days when the national buys were performed by Top 40 greats - Coke commercials by the Supremes, Johnny Rivers and Petula Clark ("Coke afta Coke afta Coke"). I still love the old STP spots ("The Racer's Edge") with the orchestra of full strings. Whatever happened to jingles, drops, imagination, a tight board and professionalism? There was a time when even the cheapest buy deserved time in the production studio and live reads were considered bush league. Now you're lucky if some poorly written nonsensical copy read by someone with little command of the English language even has a music bed, boring as it may be. Ahh those were the days. I feel sorry for those who came after us and know nothing of what radio should be. The only place I hear any production skill at all these days is ESPN radio. There are a few youngins there who take some pride in what they do and have the freedom to showplace some talent. I suppose CDs and MP3 players have made real radio a thing of history but it is a sad goodbye that I bid. Hell even the music sounds better on vinyl. Well, at least the records without cue burn. Anyway, 'nuff ranting for now. Glad you're back. Have a great weekend.

Marco

P.S. Didn't make the Minnesota State Fair this year but did get that check in the box last year. I still think the place to eat your way through a weekend is the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. It takes a good two days to eat your way from one end of the park to the other.

How you remind me of those days in Green Bay. I agree with everything you wrote. I could fill pages complaining about the differences between then and now. Or at least what I perceive is 'now'. I'm as far out of it as possible and it is only this Blog and the rest of the web-site that keeps ROB SHERWOOD alive. Funny you should mention vinyl because I wrote the second blog before reading your contribution....you'll understand.

In a way, radio is a monster that nothing can kill. I don't believe CD's and MP3 players have killed radio anymore than juke boxes or 8 tracks did in days past. Corporate greed and consultants and creative vacuum haven't killed it either. My niece is 12 and she listens to it in much the same way that 12 year olds listened to me 122 years ago. I told her mother if she ever calls a DJ on the phone she has to go, immediately, into a nunnery.

Write more, Mark. I haven't seen you in 40 years and in my mind's eye you look like you did in 1966. Horrible to think of reality!!

So, blog like they vote in Milwaukee...early and often. R