Talk 2 Listen 2

No that isn't a score... ;-)
I am a talk radio junkie. Have been for years. I guess it would seem a bit strange that a person who has and still does, think about and create music should not spend his time listening to the music 'media.'

It is not that I don't appreciate much of the output of the popular music industry. Especially in recent years, as vocal groups have become very popular.

I suppose one reason that I prefer talk may be the distraction of 'background music' represents to me. I tend to pay too much attention to the music.

Sidenote: I remember, in the mid-'70s, when my great-good friend Eric P. Kantor had a part-time job at the then Hilton franchise just North of the Plaza and, convientiently, across from Grant Hall, the main building for Conservatory vocal students. (This is not the converted elementary school that bears that moniker today. This was up @ 45th and Main, across Warwick Boulevard from the KC Art Institute. More than half the music school was separated from the main UMKC campus back then. The old location of Grant Hall is the present day Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. But I digress. Big surprise, huh? ;->) Eric started out as a valet and quickly moved up to the front desk, a position he was particularly suited to. ANYWAY, he used to drive the people from MuZaK crazy. Within a week of a new tape installation, Eric had identified every song and could sing along. Big No No. This was supposed to be BACKGROUND. I can’t remember for sure, but I think that six months of replacing tapes every week and they finally gave up…

I don’t know that I really start analyzing the tunes ala Music Theory per se. (Hi Dr. Bean!) I just pay attention to music. Any music. I do have some tunes I listen to on occasion when there is nothing interesting on the band, but I just don’t multi-task as well…

The REAL reason for this posting is the great pleasure I had in listening to Jerry Doyle as he filled in for Michael Savage last night. I had run across some info. somewhere a while back that Jerry was now a talk show host, but he was not on the air in KC.

The Talk Radio Network (catchy name, huh?) http://www.talkradionetwork.com/ has a number of interesting hosts. Michael and Laura Ingraham are on KMBZ. Others I have enjoyed while on the road include B1 Bob Dornan and Barry Farber.

The Talk Radio people do have streaming available, but, assuming I am reading the info. correctly, runs $60/yr. PER SHOW. Given my opinions on overpriced WIFI, which will become more evident as we go along here, this just ain’t gonna happen. I might consider a one time fee for all the feeds, archived for my convenience, but this. What are they thinking? (I know, I know, they’re thinking they are in the live radio business, not an internet radio archiver. But they have CONTENT here. Everybody needs to think about reusing content or going the way of the dinosaur…)

If Doyle’s name sounds vaguely familiar, you are obviously not a SciFi fan. His major claim to fame is his starring role in the Emmy-Winning 1990s SciFi TV series Babylon5. Jerry played my favorite character, Michael Garibaldi, chief of security. Later, after reading Jerry’s bio, I was hooked. The radio has a good background that includes info. on Jerry multi-faceted career path: http://www.talkradionetwork.com/pg/jsp/general/host.jsp?chartID=3&position=5

As it mentions in the bio. Jerry had a bad case of temporary insanity and ran for a California seat as a Republican. ;-) I lost track of him after hearing about that.

Very interesting show style. From the limited time I got to listen in, he seems to be one of us Libertarian leaning types…

Assuming I can figure out the affiliate info. (the talkradionetwork site is not the easiest I have run accross) I plan on finding him on the air as I travel.

I recomend you do the same.