Usdin.net!

You may remember Andrew’s post about an issue between NJ 101.5 talk show hosts “The Jersey Guys” and their nasty remarks regarding muslims. Well, they’re at it again – only this time – the target is NJ governor Dick Codey’s wife Mary Jo.

This tells the story pretty well. Apparently after some nasty comments from Craig Carton on the nature of postpartum depression and mental illness – which the governor’s wife suffered from and which Carton commented directly on, Governor Codey and he met in a station hallway while the governor was on his way in to do his “Ask The Governor” segment and Craig was on his way out. They had words, and now they’re jumping all over the governor for defending his wife. Yes, his temper flared – but that’s not the point.

The point here is that once again Carton is an arrogant, mean spirited ass who gives an opinion on things he has no education in. I try not to listen to his show – but I often get sucked into a minute or two before a traffic report in the afternoon. What I have heard, I find absolutely abhorrent. He is a lowlife shock jock in the worst possible way. Unlike Howard Stern – who is often funny – Craig is just plain nasty. But hey – it gets ratings and that’s ultimately the goal – ratings mean people are listening and that means there are X number of ears hearing station advertising and that’s how the station makes its money. The station came out yesterday and defended his right to his opinion, but their money is coming from mean spirited nastiness – and that’s absolutely the worst part of this. They can’t even have any shade of standards for their hosts. Instead of disciplining Carton they pretty much praised him – god bless the almighty dollar – any publicity is good publicity right?

Not necessarily – more mean and nasty stuff was happening up in NYC at Hot 97. Apparently their morning show had aired a parody song about victims of the Tsunami. The difference here is that the show staff members were suspended indefinitely and donated a week of their pay to tsunami relief. At least Emmis communications has some concern for the world at large – and shows that they have some compassion for their fellow man.

Millenium radio just takes in the cash generated by an afternoon team who run with a lack of compassion for their fellow citizens in NJ (a group of which the governor’s wife is a member, obviously). That’s pretty abhorrent to me.

The worst part is that there isn’t anywhere else to get a halfway decent traffic report. Damn.

–*Rob

Well, we’ve got a foot of snow. Cars are dug out and it’s just been a quiet weekend at home, stuck inside most of the time. We did get out though and for Melissa on the sled for a little while. Here are some pics from our weekend of snow:

This is what happens when you’re stuck inside all weekend….

Melissa Outside on the sled.

Brenda and Melissa with the sled.

–*Rob

I just put some new music into rotation on Positive Rock. Among the songs – a cover of Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” by a neo-punk band named Frickin’ A. This seems to be the “in” thing – for punk bands to cover top 40 hits. The song’s better as a punk song, actually. When they sing it – it’s a lot more pissed off – indignant at why Jessie isn’t HIS girl. Rather then just being jealous.

Other music I put in: The Bravery - a cool new band who sound a hell of a lot like New Order around the early 90’s – that combination of electronic and guitar sounds – both but not going too far either way; Snow Patrol’s song “Chocolate” which is a bright turn compared to their first single “Run”; and a bunch of other songs by new up and comers I’d never heard of but certainly sounded neat.

Not to pat myself on the back, but damn – I’m ALWAYS ahead of radio by like 3-4 months at least. I was jammin’ to that Bowling For Soup song “1985″ in like April of last year and it didn’t get big until at least August – and I’d already run through two other songs by the band previously on the station. Maroon 5 – I was a year ahead on them, and I managed to sneak in their contribution to the “Spider Man 2″ soundtrack before they released their last single around October/November of last year. Did anyone even play O.A.R.’s cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Fool In The Rain”? It was an iTunes exclusive and was just fantastic.

Can’t the major labels see that music downloading (legal – iTunes and other services) is letting everyone pretty much “create their own hits” – I mean even before I got the iPod I was burning CDs of the new music from Pos Rock, which I would listen to for like a month each on a consistent basis in the car, thus creating my own Top 40. In my head – when I think about a particular time of my life – the music that comes to mind now seems to be what I’ve burned for the most part – not what I’ve heard on the radio. The radio seems to have fallen by the wayside and is purely for traffic reports and occasionally hearing some goofy stuff in the morning with Scott & Todd - but even they take a back seat now to listening to podcasts.

It’s amazing how digital media changes the way you think about music and radio. I hope my stream is turning some folks on to some cool new music. I try and keep a balance of new and old in there.

–*Rob

Podcasting.

If you don’t know what it is – here’s a brief explanation:

You use a program on your PC to download radio broadcasts that are posted up on the web as MP3s. The program then goes and gets them and pops them into your digital music player, or your PC, so you can listen to them at your leisure.

It’s a small community, but growing. Adam Curry, former MTV VJ and internet guru is one of the big names making a big push for it. It is to radio broadcasting as blogs have been to journalism: anyone can do it, anyone can publish it and the FCC can’t do a darn thing about it.

Having just gotten an iPod (and being probably the biggest reason I decided to get one, although I sure am lovin’ having all this music at my fingertips) I’m downloading a few select podcasts so far. There’s not enough time in the day for me to listen to all the stuff out there. The three podcasts I do listen to religiously are:

Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code

Coverville

The Rock and Roll Geek Show.

Adam’s show is a kind of review of the podcast world and technology. Coverville is a show all about cover songs (it does seem to lean to the more obscure and the folk and rock genres – i.e. you won’t be hearing Tiffany’s cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now” on it). The Rock and Roll Geek Show is a mostly indie band rock show – the emphasis seems to be on good ole arena rock and it’s hosted by the bass player of the band American Heartbreak. Slowly, other places are embracing podcasting – mostly public radio, which seems to latch on to things earlier then commercial radio. NPR is – appropriately – podcasting their show “On The Media.” I haven’t heard the show in ages, but now I can get it whenever I want.

Anyway – if you’re looking for something new, unique and different to listen to – check out podcasting. You don’t need an iPod to listen to the shows, you can listen to them on your PC by just downloading them. Or pop them into your iPod or any other digital music player.

Hmmm…maybe I should start my own podcast…but about what….???? If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment….

–*Rob

Apparently President Bush holds a number of balls. In this interview with Jeanne Phillips - chairman of the inaugural ball committee – she talks about one particular ball for servicemen and their guests. The $40 million being spent on the nine inaugural balls would buy a hell of a lot of body armor. They don’t take her to task too much – after all, she’s just the organizer – being a good do-bee and doing what she’s told.

But really – do we need to spend this kind of money on these balls when the money could be used for so many other things? Let’s make the inauguration a covered dish event! I’ll bring a baked ziti.

–*Rob

Everyone knows that Spinal Tap is a fake band. But what about Crucial Taunt? Visiting Day? The Dreggs of Humanity?

Check out the Ultimate Fake Band List to see their exhaustive list of fake bands.

Rock on Billy & The Boingers!

–*Rob