One of my prized possessions are the original LPs that comprised the very first “American Top 40” program. It had it’s debut on July 4th, 1970, hosted by fellow Detroit area native, Casey Kasem. An early radio gig I had included running the control board during “Casey’s Coast to Coast”…
Today in 1940, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello debuted a summer replacement show (for Fred Allen) on NBC radio. In October 1942, the comedy duo launched their own program on the network. Here’s their most famous routine, “Who’s On First?” In 1965, Roy Rogers’ horse Trigger died at the age…
By Scott Westerman Deal directly with your current unpleasant reality but never lose faith that you will prevail. This is the essence of the Stockdale Paradox. It can change your life. Whenever I get the chance to lead a new team, the first book I share with them is Jim…
Life has intervened these past few weeks and I haven’t had the time I had hoped to keep up with you here. Hope you have been following us on Twitter and Facebook. I didn’t put a hot link on the FB word because I’m attempting to migrate our group to…
5 years ago, I wrote “The Last Monday Motivator“. Today, I’m back in the saddle again with some learnings and lessons.. In the interim a lot has changed. People are more addicted than ever to our devices, the Internet, to Netflix, to Facebook. The list of things competing for our…
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. We each have within us the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” ~Harriet Tubman I don’t know what it was that made me drive to the Haslett Village Barber Shop that afternoon in 2011. That…
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. We each have within us the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” ~Harriet Tubman I don’t know what it was that made me drive to the Haslett Village Barber Shop that afternoon in 2011.…
For us radio folks, transmitter buildings are religious artifacts. Here’s the WJR transmitter site in Riverview. Cyril Edward Schley designed the art deco structure in 1935. He apprenticed with theater architect, C. Howard Crane. Schley, also designed Detroit’s Rio and Telenews theaters. Originally, WJR had a diamond shaped Blaw-Knox antenna, similar to the one that still…
May 30, 1966 was a watershed in Beatle history: The first song in the Lennon/McCartney cannon that didn’t focus on romance. As Paul McCartney tells the story, an aunt challenged him to “write about something other than love.” Paul loved the challenge and went to John Lennon’s place to take…
Life is an evolutionary art. We are in a constant state of becoming and never know at the beginning how things may turn out. Such was the case for Canadian Dennis Eugene McCrohan. He and his brother Jerry, changed their names to “Edmonton”, in honor of one of their favorite…