If you spend any amount of time on Facebook, or checking the online news sites, or just cruising around the internet, you’ve come acrossRead more
Month: December 2015
What Would Hopalong Do?
The sun was starting to rise brightly above the Catalina Mountains. To the west, a nearly full moon was slowly calling it quits for the day.Read more
A Christmas to Remember Forever
During the first few years of my life, we always spent Christmas at grandma’s house, on a farm near Bradford, Illinois.Read more
Exploring Two Forbidden Topics
When I started Brainshowers, I said that I would not write about politics and religion. Both topics are so entwined in the news these days, it is really hard to ignore either.Read more
Has Global Warming Affected Santa?
Christmas time seems to bring out some nice television commercials. The Budweiser Clydesdales are the perennial leadersRead more
Okay Bo, What Do We Do Now?
We knew Bo Ryan was going to retire, we just didn’t know when. The timing of his retirement earlier this weekRead more
Could I Be Related to Dick Clark?
It was a typical weekday afternoon in the Quad-Cities, summertime 1969. Everyone alive at the time had their radios tuned to KSTT, or so I thought. Could be that’s why the station was so good. Everybody on the air was taught to perform as if our station was the only show in town. Of course, it wasn’t. I was doing the usual. Read the weather, play a record, play more records and try to squeeze in eighteen minutes of commercialsRead more
Dumbest Radio Contest Ever?
Dumb contests can take many forms. An example of a dumb contest would be asking people to show up at a car dealer’s grand opening dressed like an Impala, orRead more
The Truth About Dolly Parton and Me
On December 6th, in a story titled “And Henry Mancini Brought Pizza,” I wrote about having dinner with Andy Williams and Mancini following their concertRead more
Corny Radio Contest Goes Nuts
Corn Nuts is a popular snack that’s been around a long time. It’s a hybrid type of Peruvian corn that grows large kernels.Read more
Laughable Lines from Commercials
Radio commercials, in a way, wrote my paycheck over the years. That’s how radio stations make money.Read more
Chattering Cancer Gremlins
I can’t speak for all cancer patients, but any man who has had prostate cancer will know what I’m talking about.Read more
And Henry Mancini Brought Pizza
Fast forward to the early seventies. A friend who was a rep for Columbia Records, invited me to join him for dinner with both Henry Mancini and Andy Williams, following their concert…Read more
When Terror Gets Too Close
Bill Vancil discusses how violence could happen anywhere Read more
Recipe for Winning a Radio Contest
Cabbage Patch dolls and Compact Discs were introduced in 1983, the year Magic 98 in Madison, Wisconsin debuted with morning man, Pat O’Neill. He’s still on the air at Magic and during that more than thirty year span he has said an estimated 12,600 times, “Be the ninth caller.” Contests are an important part of any successful station’s format, and Pat has run a lot of them. What triggers listeners to dive for their phone and call? It could be a triviaRead more
