Yesterday my radio show, Jimmy Church Radio, went live.
We finally finished the site two days ago and we thought we were ready to fly.
Well, things never go as planned.
First, the night before the first broadcast I couldn't sleep. I was awake in bed, in the dark, until 5am. We planned on the first show to air around 3pm on Saturday. Well, it aired at midnite.
My brother in law, Sam, is providing the space for our studio in an unused office at his rather large (and growing) catering company in North Hollywood and we arrived around noon. We have set up a nice little studio which is sound proof and ideal for what we need until we expand. After eating, drinking coffee and a little conversation we got to setting up all of our equipment for the session.
Our first technical problem was that after installing all of software on his computer system (we have a duplicate setup, with multiple computers here at home) we found that our digital interfaces for the audio wouldn't run on Vista, no matter what we tried. Our only alternative was to record into Windows Recorder (crap audio) then import those files into Adobe Audition and edit from there.
This took about four hours to figure out and by the time we were ready for me to start the show my mind was fried. The process was very time consuming and I never really got into the zone where my mind and mouth connect at the same time.
We ended up coming back home with the audio files and finished the show here.
Then, we attempted to upload the show to our servers. The one-hour file was too big. It was supposed to be fine, according to our hosting company but it just wouldn't upload.
We had to then cut up the show into 10 minute segments (really nine, to be safe) ...which meant another full-on edit session.
Like I said, we were well-cooked and live on the web at midnight.
Today was a little different.
We decided to forgo the nice studio and record the show our house where we know that from a technical side we don't have any issues.
The show, from start to finish was on the web in two hours. It was great. I was able to get the juices flowing (recording real audio makes a world of difference) and I actually sounded like I knew something...faking intelligence is half the battle...and now the next problem to deal with (one we didn't plan on) is getting rid of Vista and installing Windows 7 over at Sam's place...until then, I like broadcasting from my couch in the living room. Nice.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Day Three - Peyton Manning and the Colts Pt. 1
Today, when I wear my Colts cap around La La Land the comments I get are all the same..."You've got it easy, you've got Peyton" or "Another undeafeted season".
Not so, my friends. Slow down.
A true Colts fan from Indy has ridden through some of the darkest times that any NFL team has gone through.
I was living in Indy when they built the Hoosier Dome...without a team to play in it.
Then I got the phone call saying that the Colts have left Baltimore in the cover of darkness and possibly were on their way to Indy. When they arrived you would have thought that it was the Queen of England pulling into town. It was really the Colts and we had a team for the Dome.
The Hoosier Dome sold out every day since.
We didn't get the Colts of old...no Johnny U., Burt Jones (I remember that Burt was 2nd or 3rd string then retired right after they arrived).
We endured Art Schleeeeester, Jeff George...it was really really stinky times.
Then, after one more losing season (I can't or won't recall, but maybe 2-14) we drafted Peyton Manning.
What I noticed about Peyton that rookie first season was his poise in the pocket. Unshakable, steady and professional. He didn't look like your normal rookie college guy trying to make the transition to the NFL syle offense. He had that in spaids from the beginning.
At that time he had Marshall Faulk and Marvin Harrison and it was a tiny seed, a little germ of things to come. Indy had a team.
But, it would be a long, long time before a Superbowl.
We traded Faulk to St. Louis, who then went to the Superbowl and won.
Each year we got knocked out of the playoffs...Pittsburg, New England...but, yes, finally we got there and won three years ago.
Peyton doesn't have five rings. He has just one.
So, lighten up everybody. Your teams have still been winning...it's not all Indy all the time.
Except 2009/10.
Not so, my friends. Slow down.
A true Colts fan from Indy has ridden through some of the darkest times that any NFL team has gone through.
I was living in Indy when they built the Hoosier Dome...without a team to play in it.
Then I got the phone call saying that the Colts have left Baltimore in the cover of darkness and possibly were on their way to Indy. When they arrived you would have thought that it was the Queen of England pulling into town. It was really the Colts and we had a team for the Dome.
The Hoosier Dome sold out every day since.
We didn't get the Colts of old...no Johnny U., Burt Jones (I remember that Burt was 2nd or 3rd string then retired right after they arrived).
We endured Art Schleeeeester, Jeff George...it was really really stinky times.
Then, after one more losing season (I can't or won't recall, but maybe 2-14) we drafted Peyton Manning.
What I noticed about Peyton that rookie first season was his poise in the pocket. Unshakable, steady and professional. He didn't look like your normal rookie college guy trying to make the transition to the NFL syle offense. He had that in spaids from the beginning.
At that time he had Marshall Faulk and Marvin Harrison and it was a tiny seed, a little germ of things to come. Indy had a team.
But, it would be a long, long time before a Superbowl.
We traded Faulk to St. Louis, who then went to the Superbowl and won.
Each year we got knocked out of the playoffs...Pittsburg, New England...but, yes, finally we got there and won three years ago.
Peyton doesn't have five rings. He has just one.
So, lighten up everybody. Your teams have still been winning...it's not all Indy all the time.
Except 2009/10.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Day Two - Tiger Woods
While I'm waiting for my website to be completed I thought I'd share my thoughts about Tiger Woods.
Although I don't condone or agree with his chosen lifestyle, I understand it. It makes perfect sense. It really does.
Let me explain.
Everyone knows Tiger grew up insulated, sheltered and protected. No new news here.
But, if you played golf in elementary school you were on your own. You don't have friends. All of the other kids are playing the cool sports...football, baseball, basketball...if you played golf, no matter how good you might be, you were not cool. You were a geek.
When you move on to junior-high, it's more of the same, but gets worse. Now you have school teams. Cheerleaders. Not the golf team. All alone, the geek squad. No crowds come and watch the junior-high golf team.
In high-school and college it's the same but elevated to another level. The football team has groupies, cheerleaders and craziness around them. Not the geeky-golf squad. As far as I know, there weren't too many golf groupies running around a college like Stanford.
Tiger was on his own, probably a non-dater through most if not all of college.
Think about it.
So, when he turned professional with all of that fanfare back in the mid nineties, everything happened overnight.
The day he turned pro, he got his American Express sponsorship and he was a millionaire.
What comes with this sudden fame and fortune???
Yep...you guessed it. Instant Groupies.
For the first time in his life he had women hanging out to meet him at every turn, at his hotel door, in the lobby, by his car, at the golf club, the airport, the restaurant, the bar...literally everywhere he went, all day long.
What does a young, single, rich man do??? Just what he should have. Me, you and everyone we know would have done the same thing.
The problem is he couldn't stop once he made the decision to get married.
He had never had women before, and in his mind he thought "I have to give up the groupies only after seven years? Can't I do this a little longer? Maybe, forever???".
Nope.
Although I don't condone or agree with his chosen lifestyle, I understand it. It makes perfect sense. It really does.
Let me explain.
Everyone knows Tiger grew up insulated, sheltered and protected. No new news here.
But, if you played golf in elementary school you were on your own. You don't have friends. All of the other kids are playing the cool sports...football, baseball, basketball...if you played golf, no matter how good you might be, you were not cool. You were a geek.
When you move on to junior-high, it's more of the same, but gets worse. Now you have school teams. Cheerleaders. Not the golf team. All alone, the geek squad. No crowds come and watch the junior-high golf team.
In high-school and college it's the same but elevated to another level. The football team has groupies, cheerleaders and craziness around them. Not the geeky-golf squad. As far as I know, there weren't too many golf groupies running around a college like Stanford.
Tiger was on his own, probably a non-dater through most if not all of college.
Think about it.
So, when he turned professional with all of that fanfare back in the mid nineties, everything happened overnight.
The day he turned pro, he got his American Express sponsorship and he was a millionaire.
What comes with this sudden fame and fortune???
Yep...you guessed it. Instant Groupies.
For the first time in his life he had women hanging out to meet him at every turn, at his hotel door, in the lobby, by his car, at the golf club, the airport, the restaurant, the bar...literally everywhere he went, all day long.
What does a young, single, rich man do??? Just what he should have. Me, you and everyone we know would have done the same thing.
The problem is he couldn't stop once he made the decision to get married.
He had never had women before, and in his mind he thought "I have to give up the groupies only after seven years? Can't I do this a little longer? Maybe, forever???".
Nope.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The first word.
OK, this is my first day blogging.
This blog is about sports, but before we get down a little why I'm doing this...
My background is in the music business. I came to Los Angeles in 1984 to be a rock star...when that didn't work out I moved on to producing big-hair bands on the Sunset Strip then on to the business side of the industry working for Guitar Center, Alesis, AMEK, Paul Reed Smith and HHB.
Music and sports are similar. Professional entertainment. Most musicians are as passionate about sports as music, and atheletes are the same about music. While I went through my career I followed every sport I cared about: Auto racing, boxing, NFL, NBA...a little baseball...and while I watched ESPN and the local sports guys I realized that I picked the wrong career. I really wanted and should have been a sportscaster. I would say to myself "I'm could be better than these guys, I have something to say!".
In Los Angeles, the best sports-radio station is AM570. I have listened to it everyday for 15 years and I've always wanted to work there. Overall, they have the best programming...Dan Patrick (who has the best show on radio, period), Jim Rome, Steve Hartman (Chris Meyers needs to go), Matt Money Smith (Petros needs to be put in check), Tony Bruno (I like him more every day)...I just needed to find a way to get connected with the station and get a job.
So, after 25 years in the music industry I decided to go back to school. I went to CSB School of broadcasting in Burbank, CA to study sportscasting for radio and television. I was the oldest guy in the room.
Since graduating in March I have tried to work my way into AM570 without success..and I've decided to do things my way. The gloves are on.
First is this blog. Second is my sport-radio website: jimmychurchradio.com. Third is my Facebook networking page.
I will broadcast and podcast live everyday from my website. The focus is sports, but I'll have a guest everyday from music, tv, film...I have many friends in the biz...musicians, actors, directors, producers...who you'll know and all who will have something to say about sports.
The great thing about internet radio is I'll be able to speak my mind without offending sponsors, my boss or have to answer to anyone. Nothing frustrates me more than listening to someone on-air who can't or won't say what he really feels or is totally wrong about the issues.
There is nothing worse than watered-down ESPN radio. Barf.
The best thing about AM570 was their local sports coverage. All of Los Angeles felt the station was theirs and AM570 was their voice. When they lost the Lakers last year and went national with FOX Sports things went south for the station. More on this in a later blog.
This blog will be my thoughts, opinions and of course some inside info for everyone to chew on and may be cause for interesting conversation with your friends.
I'll leave you with this: Colts over Vikings in the big one...35-24.
This blog is about sports, but before we get down a little why I'm doing this...
My background is in the music business. I came to Los Angeles in 1984 to be a rock star...when that didn't work out I moved on to producing big-hair bands on the Sunset Strip then on to the business side of the industry working for Guitar Center, Alesis, AMEK, Paul Reed Smith and HHB.
Music and sports are similar. Professional entertainment. Most musicians are as passionate about sports as music, and atheletes are the same about music. While I went through my career I followed every sport I cared about: Auto racing, boxing, NFL, NBA...a little baseball...and while I watched ESPN and the local sports guys I realized that I picked the wrong career. I really wanted and should have been a sportscaster. I would say to myself "I'm could be better than these guys, I have something to say!".
In Los Angeles, the best sports-radio station is AM570. I have listened to it everyday for 15 years and I've always wanted to work there. Overall, they have the best programming...Dan Patrick (who has the best show on radio, period), Jim Rome, Steve Hartman (Chris Meyers needs to go), Matt Money Smith (Petros needs to be put in check), Tony Bruno (I like him more every day)...I just needed to find a way to get connected with the station and get a job.
So, after 25 years in the music industry I decided to go back to school. I went to CSB School of broadcasting in Burbank, CA to study sportscasting for radio and television. I was the oldest guy in the room.
Since graduating in March I have tried to work my way into AM570 without success..and I've decided to do things my way. The gloves are on.
First is this blog. Second is my sport-radio website: jimmychurchradio.com. Third is my Facebook networking page.
I will broadcast and podcast live everyday from my website. The focus is sports, but I'll have a guest everyday from music, tv, film...I have many friends in the biz...musicians, actors, directors, producers...who you'll know and all who will have something to say about sports.
The great thing about internet radio is I'll be able to speak my mind without offending sponsors, my boss or have to answer to anyone. Nothing frustrates me more than listening to someone on-air who can't or won't say what he really feels or is totally wrong about the issues.
There is nothing worse than watered-down ESPN radio. Barf.
The best thing about AM570 was their local sports coverage. All of Los Angeles felt the station was theirs and AM570 was their voice. When they lost the Lakers last year and went national with FOX Sports things went south for the station. More on this in a later blog.
This blog will be my thoughts, opinions and of course some inside info for everyone to chew on and may be cause for interesting conversation with your friends.
I'll leave you with this: Colts over Vikings in the big one...35-24.
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