JIM ROSE REMEMBERS RADIO Issue #483

Posted by Jim Rose at 3/27/2008 9:29 PM and is filed under radio broadcasting media,Past News Letters

WELCOME TO JIM ROSE REMEMBERS RADIO
March 28, 2008 [Friday]
Issue #483

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ALL THE NEWS THAT IS NEWS

RICHARD WIDMARK (1914-2008)
An actor who plays both heavy-weights and men of courage, Richard Widmark, dies at 93 on Monday, March 24, 2008 at his home in Roxbury, CN after a long illness. Susan Blanchard, Richard's wife, tells The Times a fractured vertebra that he suffers in a fall last year is the beginning of his illness. Karl Malden first meets Widmark in NY when they are both hustling for radio work in the early 1940s. They later appear in five movies together. Karl tells The Times that he is a fine noir knave and more - I lost a dear friend, and you don't have friends like him. He was a good actor. He knew what he was doing, he could do it well, and he hated anyone he worked with who wasn't prepared, because he came ready to go. Widmark makes his debut in 1947 as a giggling sadistic killer. Director Samuel Fuller once says he walks and talks like no one else. Richard is at home on a horse, too, like William Wellman's Yellow Sky, John Ford's Cheyenne Autumn,Two Rode Together, John Wayne's The Alamo and the epic movie How the West Was Won. In 2002 film critic Richard Schickel tells The Times there was a kind of hard-core urban cynicism about him that was really different than previous urban bad guys in the [James] Cagney or John Garfield vein, where there was a kind of sweetness lurking there. He's, to me, one of those people I was always glad to see on the screen because it promised some edge that wasn't entirely conventional. There was something slightly mysterious about his behavior, and you felt a slight unpredictability about him. When one reaches 64 it seems just about all of our movie, music, radio, TV favorites and friends leave us like the lyrics in Rock group Kansas' 1978 tune Dust in the Wind. We devote our lives to our chosen careers such as radio in my case but in the end it becomes nothing more than ashes from a fire. Right now Peggy Lee's 1969 song Is That All There Is My Friend? comes to mind. The fantastic songwriters Lieber & Stoller must feel exactly the same way I do when they put those words to paper. Peggy Lee brings them to life like no other singer. Give Peggy's tune a listen sometime.

GUITAR HERO BRINGS LAWSUIT
Six major retailers have pending lawsuits to force them to stop carrying the video game Guitar Hero. Classic manufacturer Gibson Guitar says on Thursday, March 20, 2008 that it sues the retailers to protect its intellectual property and will continue to do so against any other person in accordance with the law and its rights. Names in the suit are Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Amazon.com, Toys 'R' Us and GameStop. Users push buttons on a guitar-shaped controller with notes on the game screen. The Nashville, TN based Gibson Guitar claims that Guitar Hero maker Activision Inc. infringes on their patent of technology to copy a musical performance by the game play of Guitar Hero. In retaliation, Activision sues Gibson and says Gibson's patent assertions are bunk. Activision issues a statement, Our Guitar Hero retailing partners have done nothing wrong. We will confront this and any other efforts by Gibson to wrongfully interfere with Activision's relationship with its customers and its consumers. And the beat goes on.

TRIVIA QUESTION: In the 1990's, Sawyer Brown covers the popular truck driving song Six Days On The Road. Who has the original hit version? The answer lies below.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

•DAYNA STEELE longtime Houston album Rock DJ has a new tell-all book Rock to the Top: What I Learned About Success From The World's Greatest Rock Stars. See Dayna on the cover of Reader's Digest Best of America April 2008 issue. •KTFM FM Border Media San Antonio, TX Jammin' Oldies switches toThe New 94-1. New PD Mark Landis tells JRRR the new Rhythmic Hot AC format debuts at noon on Tuesday with a blend of currents, recurrent from 2000's, 1990's & 1 80's per hour. •WALLY PHILLIPS legendary Chicago morning voice on Tribune Talk WGN-720 from 1965-86 and afternoons until January 1998 passes away at 82 due to Alzheimer's. Wally inducts into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993.

ENTERTAINMENT AND NEWS MILESTONES

•1953 THE CARLISLES (No Help Wanted #1-1953) debut on the Grand Ole Opry on March 21st. •1963 DINAH WASHINGTON (What A Difference A Day Makes #8-1959) dies of accidental overdose of sleeping pills on December 14th. •1975 GEORGE JONES & TAMMY WYNETTE learn how to spell d-i-v-o-r-c-e on March 13th. •1981 DAVID LYNCH tenor singer with The Platters dies of Cancer on January 2nd. •1991 CLARENCE (Leo) FENDER maker of the Telecaster & Stratocaster guitars dies on March 21st. •2001 JUDY CLAY R&B singer dies in a car accident on July 19th.

EMAILS YES WE HAVE EMAIL

RAY WHITWORTH (DFW-Arlington, TX) Hey Jim: Sorry I have to go against my very good friend Andy Waldrop on this one. I have always believed in fair, equal competition, so quality programming is produced as a result. The merger is another "telecom Virus", with competition being eliminated. I do agree with him, however that radio overall on earth IS NOT RADIO but some 24-7 commercial with no quality, warm bodies, voice tracked crud, and less informative and entertaining with each passing year. XM and Sirius actually HAVE competition and the quality is a sheer pleasure to tune into. The NAB (Not About Broadcasting) has been a dirty joke since the early 90's. The FCC (Funded by Clear Channel) is a group of 3 out of 5 guys who rubber stamp anything the corps want. Mel Karamzan was one of those who placed radio on life support, and it appears he is rushing the satellite merger onto a careflight helicopter. We were promised quality, healthy competition, and jobs with the telecom '96 act. Now we have this. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Ray Whitworth

GLEN ASHWORTH (Lebanon, OR) ClearChannel was a beast that NEVER should been allowed to happen. And it's really too bad other companies are following their BAD example. Glen Ashworth

WAYNE WARNER (Springfield, MO) Jim, a family member gave to me a satellite radio and a year's subscription. At the end of the year, I realized I would have to pay $10 per month to subscribe. It was not worth that to me. Do you know whether there is any way you can convert these radios to something useful besides a door stop? Wayne

DAN GALLO (Houston, TX) Jim, Who woulda thunk that it would be the left that would exhibit the most outward signs and expressions of racism? Gee, it somewhat invalidates my generation’s participation in the Civil Rights Movement back in the Sixties. There’s a great old Moms Mabley line that fits: "Sometimes, I think the whole darned world done gone crazy!" I’m with you on that, Moms, wherever you are! Dan

JENNIFER VIHARO (Pittsboro, NJ) How about this for a quote: "On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." H.L. Mencken. Rather appropriate wouldn’t you say if either Hillary or Obama gets in the oval office?

WALTER HAMMOCK (Houston, TX) Subject: Jim Rose Remembers Radio (#481-42) March 24, 2008 [Monday] What was the answer to the trivia question? I'm stuck on brain dead right now...site looks great by the way, vast improvement.

TRIVIA ANSWER: In summer 1963 Dave Dudley has the original hit version of the popular truck driving song Six Days On The Road which climbs to #2 on the Country charts.

FRANK HALEY (Albuquerque, NM) Subject: Jim Rose Remembers Radio (#464-32) February 13, 2008 [Wednesday] Wow Jim, I pulled this address out of my address book and put in your new one, so this e-mail ended up in my Junk mail box. So, how does it feel to be in the junk pile?? Ha Ha... Frank (The Old Texan) Haley cjf Isa. 9:6 "When the sunshine of God's love meets the showers of our sorrow, the rainbow of promise appears."

CHUCK DUNAWAY (Houston, TX) Jim: Sounds like your dog and my cats are the most pampered and loved animals on the planet. That isn’t bad either. My cats are a never ending source of pleasure for me. I have a friend in Shreveport who is almost constantly on Oxygen and his two dogs keep him alive. He keeps telling me that had he known he’d live so long he’d have taken better care of himself. Wouldn’t we all? Chuck

CHARLES GEORGE (Dallas, Texas) Subject: Great newsletter as always. Hi, I hope you and Tejas had a good Easter. I bicycled to my mother's house where she fixed me a ham sandwich, potato salad, and a glass of tomato juice. It is about 15 minute bicycle ride, 1.5 miles. I have a keyboard from Radio Shack and recorded a tune by Stephen Foster that I hope you and Tejas will like. I enjoy music though not the best one around. I usually like a song until I have learned how to play it myself on my guitar or other instrument that I can play. Though after forgetting about it like it once again. I was trying to remember the call of a station that had R&B from Beaumont on 1250. I could hear it at times along with a station I think from Little Rock, though my memory is hazy. I use to hear WOKJ and another station with black programming at night in the 60's on 1550. Charles George here in Dallas, Texas

CAROL BURNETT (1936-p) Words, once they are printed, have a life of their own.

Jim Rose and Tejas
Houston, Texas États-Unis
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