The View From the Phlipside

These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside

I like to joke with cashiers, usually when the computerized check out machinery is acting up, that all this new technology is here to make our lives easier. The reaction is usually "Yeah right". Well I've got exactly that feeling as I look at the latest attempt of the music industry to try and find it's way through the maze created by new technology.

A little history just to set the stage. In the modern era of the popular music industry the system has been largely set up to the advantage of the record company and disadvantage of the artist -whether that was singer, musician or writer. What a lot of people never understood was that if you were a singer or musician who didn't write your own music or at least not your hits you never made a dime from having that song played over and over on the radio. And that's still largely true today.

With the change in the way we the listening audience buys our music there are folks out there trying to make sure that the artists get taken care of on the business side. And that's a good thing. I'm not so sure that a bill pending in Congress called the Performance Rights Act is the right way to go. The PRA works on the basis that radio (AM and FM) have been getting a free ride for years and it's time to pay up. Under the bill radio stations would pay an yearly licensing fee for the music on top of the songwriters royalty payment. Small stations (like those here in Jamestown) would pay $5,000, non-commercial stations (like WRFA) and college stations would pay around a thousand. Large stations would pay a lot more.

I see several problems with this idea. First it will send a lot of small stations completely out of the music biz. In the end that's not good for the listeners or for the musicians. Second it ignores any value that the artist gets from the free airplay. You want a commercial on the station you pay for it. Radio play has driven sales for generations. Now radio stations will give away valuable air time and pay for the privilege. That just changes the direction of the unfairness. Finally small community radio stations and college stations will get crushed by the added burden. Most of these stations work on very tight budgets.

I'm all in favor of making sure the artist gets paid. A smart fellow once noted that the worker is worthy of his wage. And the current system is outdated and unfair. Instead of settling for the quick and dirty version why not spend the time to get it done right?


Call that the view from the Phlipside

The View from the Phlipside

These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside

There's an upside and a downside to being a cult hit. The upside is that since you're a cult hit you can get away with a lot of things that a mainstream show or whatever simply couldn't do. The advantage of being the quirky, ignore the rules kind of a thing means you can do whatever you want. For example, imagine being a TV program that actually requires replacing the lead actor every so often. It's actually part of the whole "reality" that you've created. You never have to worry too much about actors getting too demanding or having other projects on the side. If they get too problematic, poof, they're gone. And the show keeps on moving.

The downside is that fans of these kinds of shows tend to be even more fanatical than your common garden variety. I mean they can just be nuts. You thinks fans of "Lost" are crazy? They've got nothing on this next group. All of this is in relation to what? One of the most successful, off the wall, go its own way TV franchises of all time, you should pardon the expression. I'm talking Dr. Who.

For Dr. Who it's all about different people playing the Doctor. It's all about the Dr. having different looks, different personalities, different eccentricities. It's also all about people arguing over who was the best Doctor. Jon Pertwee? David Tennant (who is certainly the most popular and with good reason)? Maybe like most American viewers you have a soft spot for the first Doctor to be seen in this country, Tom Baker. If so I've got some good news waiting for you in the Tardis.

At 75 Baker isn't really up to jumping around and racing in and out of trouble with that scarf any more. So they've created a new way for us to get a fix. Baker will star in a series of audio adventures of the Doctor. The first will be available from the BBC in September with at least five total planned.

You'd think Dr. Who fans would be ecstatic. Well some of us are. The rest are arguing about where these stories will fall in the "official canon". These are folks who will argue about who is a proper Doctor and who isn't. Now we've got a proper Doctor but do these stories have a proper place among the proper stories? It's enough to make a Time Lord's head spin.

And let's face it, a true fan of the Doctor's wouldn't have it any other way.

**********

So this is what the end of the world looks like. The very apocalypse is upon us and as befits then ending of all things it comes from an unexpected direction. A marriage proposal in a comic book.

I was utterly, utterly appalled to hear the news that after almost 70 years at Riverdale High, constantly being chased by two classic comic beauties Archie has finally broken down and chosen one over the other. That's right Archie has finally decided to spend his life with just one of the two girls that have had their eyes on him longer than your humble commentator has been alive. On September first the latest issue of the long running comic book hits the stands appropriately with only a couple hands, a diamond ring, an enormous valentine's type heart and the words "The Proposal" on the cover. In case you haven't heard by now Archie will propose to the dark haired beauty Veronica Lodge.

At which point the world will end. I can't believe that Archie and the folks behind him will allow him to make such a monstrous mistake. Let's face it just on the surface this is easy to spot as the wrong choice. In the world of Betty and Veronica it's Betty. Just as in the world of Ginger and Mary Ann it's Mary Ann. Always. Every time. Surely that's obvious. Let's face it, Veronica is a spoiled rich brat who is all caught up in herself and her rampant consumerism. On the other hand we have Betty - star athlete who can not only whip up a great meal at home but can fix the car along the way as well. I just can't figure this one out.

The next several issues will show that the comic book is playing around with the story line. The proposal takes place some five years in the future. The multi book story arc will include the wedding (of course) and a couple of kids down the road. It is interesting to note that no one seems to rule out that this may not be the final story line here. Not to say that Archie might get a divorce (the mind reels at the concept) but that there may still be something up the creative team's sleeve.

So now we just sit and wait to see if the apocalypse is really coming.

***********

Pity the poor TV anchor person. It's not enough any more to just deliver the news in clear concise terms. You can't get by with a sterling voice and reassuring presence like Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow. No, now you have to have the right look. And not just your hair and eyes and firm jaw line. You have to wear the right clothes, clothes that make you look good and professional but mostly good.

Once upon a time a lot of stations did trades with local clothing stores. You may remember seeing credits at the end telling you where the anchors clothes came from. In the current economic situation fewer and fewer places will do that. If you think that the anchors all get clothing allowances you may want to think again about that too. No the clothing you see the anchors wearing usually is their own. Unlike you and I who can show up week after week in the same stuff they need to keep their wardrobe fresh. And that can get expensive.

Enter Jolene DeVito, former TV news anchor in Dallas Texas. She now offers a place where TV anchors can sell their old stuff and buy new stuff from other anchors looking for a cheap(er) way to freshen the look. The website is called TVNewsCloset.com and it's only been up for about two weeks but is already making sales.

I'll give them this much I think it's a great concept. Many local TV anchors don't make as much money as you might think. And with all due respect they need to do their shopping a little more upscale than the local J.C. Penney's. And that costs big bucks. DeVito is part of professional coaching firm for TV professionals. I'm sure she coaches the importance of getting the details right. Which makes the big goof right in the middle of her home page rather disheartening (she forgot to remove a place holder in her HTML editor when she designed the page).

In the end it's a pretty innovative idea at a time when news divisions are getting squeezed harder and harder. Sadly it's especially tough on female anchors because we insist on being much more pre-occupied by what they wear. I mean come on, if Walter or Dan or Peter showed up in the same suit every Tuesday for six months would we even notice? But somehow it's "important" that a female anchor keep her wardrobe "new". One more way that we've managed to forget about what's important in a newscast. You know, little things like facts and good reporting.

Call that the view from the Phlipside

The View From the Phlipside

(These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary show on WFRA-LP Jamestown)

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when I'd report this story. But here it is and it even makes an awful lot of sense. Coffee shops are cracking down on laptop users. In fact some are even giving the laptop brigade the old heave ho. That's hard for me to imagine. Let's face it coffee shops and computers have an almost primal link. There's a local place here in Jamestown that will RENT you a laptop if you'd like to surf while you eat even! Here's what's going on:

With the economic downturn folks have more time on their hands and they're spending it looking for jobs, networking, just trying to stay up with their lives. And let's face it, it's pretty boring being at home all the time. So you go down to your favorite coffee shop. But where you used to only spend an hour or so there before, because you had to get back to work, now you can spend HOURS there. Of course since you're out of work you're not going to be spending a lot of money. So you're going to nurse that cup for as long as you can. That, needless to say, is where the rub is. Coffee shops are businesses, very often small businesses. The lunch hour is especially vital for the survival of most of these businesses. The last thing they need is a lot of low spending squatters taking up all the retail customer real estate.

So several small coffee shops in New York City and a couple in San Francisco have laptop free times during the day now. 11 AM to 2 PM weekdays and 10 A to 3 P on weekends you need to do your surfing somewhere else. Other places are also limiting use during prime evening hours. In addition some places are increasingly worried about the electrical usage from these long term users. Outlets are being covered over to keep laptop users from plugging in. In at least two coffee shops in the Big Apple laptops are just verboten at any time.

How the backlash is going to develop will be an interesting development. But one person notes there's also an interesting sidelight to suddenly having to go elsewhere for your wifi (oh, let me suggest the public library is a great place to get some work done). What can develop out of this is the return of one of the greatest of all communications mediums. Remember when you went to the coffee shop - for some great conversation?

*****

I know for a lot of older folks there are few things more annoying than watching the younger generation typing away furiously on their phones. There's something about the absorption into the process of sending text messages that just makes some people crazy. Of course we're also watching people do it while walking and sadly we've seen recently in Buffalo two young people killed apparently while the driver was texting. Never the less I think we need to acknowledge that whether we like it or not texting, in all its various forms, is here to stay. And here's the proof.

Item number the first - Black Hawk County in Iowa is now set up to receive text messages on its 9-1-1 service. At the start it's only on one service provider but you can expect to see that change (who wants to be known as the cellular service that won't let you call for help?). At first my reaction was "Come On!" but even a quick look shows that's this not a bad idea at all. If you are hearing or speech impaired being able to text emergency services will be a huge advantage. You're no longer tied down to specialty equipment in order to make the call. There are added advantages for situations when talking to the operator could endanger your life (think hiding in a closet while an abuser or even worse may be searching the house for you then add in kidnap victims and hostages). Plus this is a simple and quick means for the younger generation to communicate. I can only look in awe at the speed my younger friends can type out a text message. In emergencies speed IS of the essence.

Item the second is even more interesting. Twitter, the text message based micro blog service, seems to have found a new arena - religion. I'm sure there's been lots of religious tweeters before but there are two very interesting ideas under way. If you're Jewish saying a prayer at the Western Wall of the remains of the Temple in Jerusalem has always had a special place. But not everyone can get there. No worries! Now you can tweet your prayer, it will be printed out for you and placed in the wall! Meanwhile the Roman Catholic church seems to have its eye on the future as well. Cardinal Sean Brady of Ireland recently endorsed the idea of sharing prayers on a daily basis via either text or Twitter.

So be careful the next time you get grumpy with a young person texting near you. They might be chatting with a higher power.

*******

Periodically while I'm watching TV a commercial will really grab my attention. Sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. If they really grab me I share them with you. Today it's the new Ford campaign that has grabbed me.


Before I get started let me make something clear. What follows is NOT a criticism of Ford's cars and Trucks. In fact as the son of a car guy (and former Ford employee) I'm very impressed with the current and coming models from the Blue Oval Boys. I just wish I could say the same about their current ad campaign.


Let's begin with a quick review – the automotive industry in the US has been getting hammered over the last several years. Within in the last year two of the big three have gone through bankruptcy and had to go hat in hand to the federal government for money to keep them alive. The exception to this was Ford. With some better management and product design they were in better shape to weather the storm and come out the other side ready to roll.


Which is why the current ad campaign puzzles me. It's the tag line that is the true source of my discomfort. “Why Ford? Why Not?”. Why Not? Really? Why Not is something I usually say when I agree to do something that I'll regret having done the next morning (Again this is NOT a comment about the product just the ad campaign people. Do NOT write me letters claiming I'm slagging Ford cars and trucks) A car company that has managed to do what Ford has done in the last year deserves a better ad campaign than one that say's “Hey, we're better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick”. Why Ford? Cause we're not as bad as THOSE guys.


The reality is that I think they're really close to a much better ad campaign. Let's keep everything else about the campaign, the look, the spokespeople, everything except the tag line. How about we use the ad time to tout all the great things about the new Ford products – styling, options, fuel efficiency. Then at the end it's “Why Ford? That's Why”. Positive and assertive rather than negative and insecure. It would be a campaign that aggressively pushes Ford forward as a winner, as an innovator and as a product you want in your life. Not something you're willing to accept until something better comes along.


Why should Ford change their ad campaign? That's why.

Call that the view from the Phlipside

Thoughts on the blog

I started this blog six years ago as a way to keep people up to date on my adventures at General Convention 2003. Since then it's been a lot things for me. There has been one question I've always struggled with however. Is this primarily a ministry related blog or is it a personal blog that includes my ministry? It seems like there should be a dividing line between my "work" and my "life". At the same time I don't believe that a life in faith is properly lived out divided from the rest of our lives. We live our faith out best when it simply becomes part of the whole, coloring, flavoring and influencing who we are and what we say and do. My faith has certainly become that for me.

At the same time I know that I'm not now, nor am I likely to ever be one of those "nice Christians". It's just not in my nature. Some of what I think and occasionally say would set off some folks. Not just in the blogosphere but potentially in my "real" life as well. So I am faced with the question of how much I censor myself here simply out of self preservation. My lifelong attitude is that I work very hard, really sink myself into my work (and perhaps especially the work I've been doing for the last 9 years) and that any "company" dumb enough to fire me I probably don't want to work for. I've been told that's fairly arrogant. OK, I'll take your word for it. Why a company WOULDN'T want an intelligent, hard working employee who is willing to be as honest as he can for the good of the company I'm not quite sure. But then I don't get a lot of what passes for common wisdom. Some places prefer compliance to competence. So far that hasn't been a problem with the diocese (Thank you God and Bishop Michael!)

With that in mind I intend to broaden the scope of what I write about here. Currently it's mostly youth ministry and fairly trivial personal stuff. Beginning on Friday I'll be sharing the scripts to a media commentary program I do for a local low power FM radio station operated by our local Arts Council. I've been in and around the media my whole life either as a Baby Boomer raised by the TV, as a movie fan and later as radio professional. The opinions are fun for me and worth every penny the station pays for them (I'm a volunteer). I do three shows a week, each about two minutes thirty seconds. I'll combine the scripts into a single post of about 1200 words. No guarantee of profundity but it's something I do. In order to give priority to their broadcast I'll post the scripts on Fridays.

I will probably also begin to branch out into other topics all of which will be colored by my theology. We'll see how that goes. Again I have no idea if I have anything worth listening to but we won't know till we start.

It's time to see if this blog can stand the strain of being a fuller representative of its author.

Wish me luck.

Peace

An intereting question

Adam McLane the tech guru at YS (and all round good guy) wrote a very interesting article about "What to Say When the Youth Pastor Leaves". He notes a behavior I'd never heard of before, folks being paid off to say they had quit when in fact they were being fired. It strikes me as an incredibly dishonest thing for a church to be doing and, as Adam notes, rather cowardly. Apparently the idea is that you're "sparing" the congregation and/or the youth pain if the pastor is leaving "voluntarily" and to ease the pain for the pastor you bribe him/her to lie.

I wrote the following in the comments then thought it might be appropriate for me to offer here on my own blog too. Here's what I said:

"Having said that let me note what happened in my last job (in the media not the church). I was offered the choice. I could quit or be fired. No mention of any penalty one way or the other. I chose to “quit” for the good of the staff. We’d lost several other key players (I left with 17 years experience and from a management post) within the last 6 months. Employee morale was in the toilet and in my considered opinion it would be better for the ongoing work environment if I “quit”. So I wrote my letter of resignation, packed my box, got hugged on and walked out. Was it a lie? From a plain reading of the situation yes. I did not leave voluntarily, I was out the door one way or the other (and in the long view thank God for that!).

So did I do wrong? I’m comfortable with what and why I did it. Be interested in other thoughts."

I have no doubt that my subterfuge was thin enough that everyone recognized it for what it was. My passion for my job and that company had in fact been the final straw that had pushed me out the door (note to self - don't tell consultants they're wrong, even when they are.) I was the "face" of my radio station and had been for over a decade. Unless I got a new and better gig I wasn't going anywhere. But I didn't think my co-workers, who had to remain behind, would be best served by having yet another long timer shown the door by management. Maybe I was wrong but as I said I'm comfortable with what I did.

Any thoughts?

Weekend Update December 8

The Weekend That Was - Ok my weekends have gotten way too busy! Looking forward to a nice quiet weekend at home sometime soon. Let's see Friday I wandered down to the Christmas party for our local Arts Council low power FM radio station (WRFA) where I volunteer and record a short media commentary program. We had a Christmas parade in downtown, in the bitter cold. Temps in the mid teens. Chatted with some folks, listened to a few minutes of a short live concert from 10,000 Maniacs (which was very cool)and then went home. Saturday was an organizational meeting with my Lutheran friends then off to college to take the kid out to dinner for her birthday followed by a concert with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. TSO is a major hit with the ladies in the family. I enjoy them. But we didn't get home till about 2 AM after driving through some really nasty snow. So I slept in on Sunday (and yes feel the tiniest bit guilty). Did a lot of snowblowing and a lot of cooking (marinara, red pepper hummus, spicy chicken peanut soup and baked some bread). Watched a little bit of the Bills looking wretched, most of the Steelers looking fairly bad (till the end), watched a movie (see below) then called it a night. Didn't feel like much of a weekend break, really.


The To Do List - No change from last week. Which is bad. "More little projects, dubbing DVDs so they're ready for the January mailing, camp stuff, revitalization team. Oh and attending a meeting for the faithful remnant left after members and clergy of one of our congregations departed TEC. And a doctor's appointment." Sigh. Yet I actually did get some stuff done last week!


What Am I Procrastinating About? - It has become apparent to me that I need to regress to my youth. I need to have "homework time". Time when I'm not allowed to watch TV or do other fun stuff till I get my work done. So I'm going to set aside 7-8 PM every night as homework time. Yeesh.

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To? I bumped off two Goldsborough written Nero Wolf books "Death on a Deadline" and "Silver Spire" then jumped into another Richard Brautigan book "Trout Fishing in America". Brautigan was a strange guy but I'm really enjoying his stuff. I know some of his critics hammer him for his naivety but I find it charming and a wonderful change of pace. In case you're wondering this book really isn't about trout fishing. Although trout fishing does occur. My favorite chapter so far was the trout fishing in America terrorism incident in the 6th grade. Just delightful.

Not much music this week. Jammed out to my "radio" mixes on my ipod. Music that spans ZZ Top to AFI. Got some serious work done to it.

Great movie last night - Elizabethtown with Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon and Alec Baldwin among others (oh, gotta mention Bruce McGill (D-Day from Animal House). I just really enjoy seeing him in stuff). A warm, funny romance about small towns and family. I really liked it a lot.

Next Up The to do list is getting LONGER instead of shorter. Argh.

How Am I Doing Feeling a little disconnected spiritually right now. Probably a good time to really get into Advent.

Peace

A new project and a milestone

I just realized that my previous post was #500 for this blog. Not an overwhelming production for a blog that is almost 6 years old but not too shabby either I think. I began this simply as a way to stay in touch with anyone who might be interested in what was going on at General Convention 2003. And it's just perked along from there. A neat milestone.

I've been working on a project with my home parish over the last year. It's a 15 minute radio program on Sunday mornings. We're always looking for new ways to reach out into the community and introduce ourselves. I'd been functioning primarily as a behind the scenes producer for the show till this fall when Fr. Eric asked me to share the responsibility for hosting the show. He does half and I do half. My first challenge was to figure out what I was going to do that was different from his shows and still appropriate. What we decided on was an introductory series on what it means to be an Episcopalian. That series now has a name - "Who We Are". By necessity they are brief thumbnail sketches of who we are since I have about 14 minutes (plus intro and outro). The tone is very informal and conversational. So far I've done:

A Walk Around St. Luke's - Our church is an English neo-gothic and folks find it a little intimidating. So I took my recorder and just walked people through the door explaining to them what they can expect.

Structure of the Episcopal Church - This is a look at how we are organized and make decisions.


Myths about the Episcopal Church - Concerning Henry the VIII, that we're not a "Bible church" and the frozen chosen. This was the FIRST one I suggested.


Liturgical Worship - An interview with our associate rector Mother Susan about what liturgical worship is, why we do it and it's place in the Episcopal Church.

The links will take you to our audio blog where the streaming audio is available which is pretty cool in an of itself. But this is the really cool part for me - I'm a recording artist! We've been looking for other ways to do some outreach and get our identity out there. So St. Luke's has it's own Cafe Press store which features among other things a CD of my first four programs! Which is just so cool! The stained glass on the various items are all from our church. The four gospel logos was put together by Fr. Eric (they don't occur like this in the church, they're on four separate windows)which I thought turned out really well.

I give the church credit, they are open to trying new ways of communicating. Still waiting to see how effective they may be.

Weekend Update - December 1

The Weekend That Was - We call this a "Run-Go-Look-See-Do" weekend in our house. And they're not the ones we enjoy the most. It's a long holiday weekend so we started with the kid home from college, then the 3 hour drive down to the in-laws. Things there went well, no arguments with the FIL which is always to be avoided. We had a nice stay and came home on Friday. Very glad to see that no significant snow had been added to the piles. Saturday was Happening reunion followed by a meeting of our youth ministry revitalization team. I'm trying to remain just a team member but I may have been a little overly involved in leading this meeting. I worked very hard to just ask questions and try to keep us all on task rather than making statements. I think I succeeded. I reminded them again that they can tell me to shut up at any time. We did some excellent work in laying out our goals for the next year. Ambitious but still within reasonable grasp. All of this in Buffalo so that was all that PLUS 3 hours round trip. Sunday was church, where I FINALLY caught up with Kaitlin and Paul (Kaitlin is a former youth, now married to Paul. They live in England where Paul is a curate up near Newcastle if my English geography doesn't fail me). Kaitlin is the oldest daughter of a long time friend who is now my friend as well. Oh and she informs me she reads this blog. Hi Kaitlin! I'd missed them the Sunday before and they're headed back early this week. Then lunch with the kid before she heads back to college, grocery shopping, volleyball practice, then home to do a bit of cooking (spaghetti sauce, excuse me while I go give it a stir..........OK I'm back). My lady wife and the kid got caught in the post Buffalo Bills football game traffic on their way up to college. So it's going to be a long day for my lady.

But it was a pretty busy weekend. And that revitalization team has given me some more stuff to do!


The To Do List - More little projects, dubbing DVDs so they're ready for the January mailing, camp stuff, revitalization team. Oh and attending a meeting for the faithful remnant left after members and clergy of one of our congregations departed TEC. And a doctor's appointment. Sigh.


What Am I Procrastinating About? - I have what amounts to a simple accounting project at home that I need to get done before Christmas that has been sitting on my desk for a couple months now.

What Am I Watching/Reading/Listening To? I've given up on the Kerouac. I'm just not in the mental state for it right now. So I'm going back to something familiar. Robert Goldsborough took over the Nero Wolfe "franchise" and has done a very nice job with it. "Death On A Deadline" is my current comfort read. I'll grab some new books at the library this week.

Watched an edited version of "White Christmas" Saturday night. Decided that doesn't really count so I'll have to do my annual viewing later. The editing was dumb too.

Listening to some familiar stuff, mostly 10,000 Maniacs, checking out some contemporary folk music on Pandora, the free internet radio station (I'm becoming a big fan) and OH YEAH! Listening to WNIA, the radio station at Niagara University, where the kid is now a DJ. She's on Tu and Th 9-11 AM (all times Eastern)and Saturday 4-6PM. They stream the station so everyone can listen in. Her air name is DJ Phoenix (oh these kids). Yes, the apple hasn't fallen very far from the tree.


Next Up It's a little frightening to realize that December is here and how much I REALLY need to get done before the new year. No more messing about. Gotta get down to it.

How Am I Doing Feeling pretty good. I gained only about half a pound over Thanksgiving which is a miracle! The rest of life is looking OK. I feel pretty good (shhh,let's keep that between just us. Don't want to jinx it!)

Peace

Farewell Porky

This blog entry is only of interest to you if you're:

A: Into the history of rock and roll radio in its earliest days, and/or
B: Into Pittsburgh radio of the same era.


At age 90 the "Platter Pushin' Poppa", the "Daddio of the Raddio", the "Bossman" Craig "Porky" Chedwick is leaving Pittsburgh.

Here's why this is important -

The Porkster is one of the great ORIGINAL rock and roll DJs. Never heard of him? Doesn't surprise me. The rock and roll historians tend to glide over the Pittsburgh native. You will find his name at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their display of the great early names of radio DJs. He's the only Pittsburgh DJ to make the cut. But if you ask the great acts and artists of those days THEY know Porky Chedwick. Porky was one of those daring young men who played black artists for white audiences. Put him right next to Alan Freed (if you don't know who Alan Freed is I'm going to have to ask you to leave this discussion right now. Go look him up. Only then will you be allowed back into polite rock history discussion society). Porky later was the father of Oldies radio as well.

His radio career isn't over yet despite the fact that he got started in the late 1940's. He's done over 7,000 record hops. Pittsburgh honored him two years in a row with his own "Porkfest" Oldies festival. He's been recognized for his history on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. His greatest years were with legendary Pittsburgh station WAMO.

And Porky was all about Pittsburgh. He's lived his entire life there. By the time I paid attention to the radio Porky was a "relic" but you still knew the name. He's as much a 'Burgh Thing as the Bucs, the Stillers or Iron City.

In August Porky and his wife will leave his hometown behind and head south to Florida. Not to retirement (as one commentator puts it "...Porky would never consider retirement because he can’t find a rhyme for it!") because he's got plans for doing his music thing down there too.

But it's the end of an era in my hometown and for the industry I loved and served for so many years. His "air chair" will never be filled.

Peace