Back on the air tonight… :)

As some of you may have been aware, I was a bit under the weather a little while ago, causing me to miss my radio shows the past couple of weeks.

The worst time for me was nearly two weeks ago, when I had what building staff here described as a case of Bell’s Palsy. For those who don’t know what that is, Bell’s Palsy is an affliction of one of the nerves in your face. How it affects people varies. In my case, it got my mouth and lips, to the point that speaking was very difficult, because the muscles in my lips and the right side of my face were not working.

I’m very grateful that we have an excellent group of people here on the staff. They noticed that something was very wrong with me and called the ambulance to get me to the hospital. I had a series of tests done on me: blood work, x-ray, CT scan, all of which came back negative. That was a very good sign, because whatever had hit me was very likely to be a virus of some kind, and would pass by soon, so I would feel better.

Thankfully, I am feeling much better now. I made sure to relax the previous week or so, to give my body a good chance to recuperate.

I’m pleased to say that I’ll be back on the air at BounceRadio.net as of tonight, with my regular Wednesday night show, Over The Hump, starting at 10pm Eastern, 7pm Pacific. I’m looking forward to being back on the radio – I’ve missed it!

Hosting on internet radio: how do I do it?

Some time ago, a regular BounceRadio listener asked me how I determine what I play on my shows.

For those who don’t yet know: I host two shows every week on net radio station BounceRadio.net.

Over The Hump (Wednesdays, 10pm-1am Eastern) is a mix of what I call “the lighter side of rock” (meaning that it is still mostly rock, but not the driving, head-banging music you hear elsewhere) and contemporary instrumental: new age, jazz, rock instrumentals, and more.

The Musical Journey (Fridays, 7-10pm Eastern) is mostly what is called classic rock, but sometimes I will play something a little different. Hour three of this show is the Double Play Hour, with pairs of songs by the same artist.

Now, what separates internet radio from most conventional radio stations? In addition to the host, I am also the show’s producer and engineer, and the responsibility for selecting the music for the show is all mine. Instead of going to a regular radio station to host my show, I’m able to handle everything here at home. To listen, there are a number of options: you can go to the chat room on our website. We’re a listed station on both iTunes and Windows Media Player. Or you can use a number of other devices: iPhone, Blackberry, and more.

Is BounceRadio.net a legal entity? You bet it is! We’re a fully licensed radio station, and we are bound by the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Now, how do I choose the music for the shows? Well, if I told you everything, I’d have to hire hit men to track you down…just kidding!

One of the best resources I use is the fact that many conventional stations publish playlists of songs they have played. How much of a playlist they put up varies with each station: some post a few hours of songs, while others will have songs from the past few days listed.

Some stations play music that is better suited for Over The Hump, while others play music that I’ll want for The Musical Journey. I go with a mix of songs through the decades – not just one particular era or style, unless I’m using that style for a themed edition of The Musical Journey (which happens around once a month). I’m also careful to not play any one artist every single week. There are tons of artists out there that have provided us with some great music, so I mix up my music choices.

But using radio station playlists is not the only resource I draw from. Sometimes, I’ll hear a song and think, “I must play that one!” and add it to my own playlist. And as always, I welcome requests from listeners.

After I have enough music for the show, I pull each song into my Winamp player, and sort the songs into the order in which I wish to play them. Add the promos to the mix, and I’m ready to go! Just load the playlist into my broadcasting software, and I’m all set!

I’ve been hosting shows on BounceRadio.net for nearly 4 years now – the 4th anniversary is in mid-April. And I’m having a blast with it!

Does hosting a show like this sound fun to you? Why not join us? At BounceRadio.net, we’re always on the lookout for great new voices to join our group. If you think you have what it takes, put together a voice demo of yourself introducing a couple of songs, and send that to jobs@bounceradio.net.

Who knows? The whole world could be hearing your voice soon!

Another reason I enjoy being an internet radio host…

During my Over The Hump show on BounceRadio.net last Wednesday night, a compliment by one of my listeners reminds me why I love being on the radio.

Christine, aka @mousewords on Twitter, told me that the music that I play on Over The Hump inspires her own creativity. Now, Christine is a very talented writer and artist in her own right, but to hear from someone that my taste in music is an inspiration to them is, in my view, one of the best compliments a radio host can get.

An example of her creativity is a picture she drew at the end of 2009, while listening to my show. Here’s a link to the picture:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mousewords/4156055635/

She drew this as she was listening to one of my favourite contemporary instrumental pieces: “In the Court of the Mermaid” by guitarist Friedemann.

Christine, I am honoured that my radio show is an inspiration to you. And thank you for allowing me to share your talent with others.

Ted Bird, The Masters, and The Musical Journey’s 3rd Anniversary

It is neat to see Ted Bird land a new morning show gig.

I know many of you have no idea who Ted Bird is. Ted has been a mainstay in radio in Montreal, Quebec for a long time, and had recently resigned his morning host position at CHOM-FM, for reasons that he describes here.

It was just announced late last night/early this morning that beginning April 19, Ted will join the morning show for one of Montreal’s lesser-known stations: CKRK-FM, known as K103, is a low powered station on Mohawk-owned land near Montreal.

The plus side for Ted landing at K103 is that the station is one over the very few remaining conventional radio stations where the hosts have the freedom to be creative on air – something that was not a possibility for him at CHOM.

Fagstein blogger Steve Faguy has more about Ted in his blog entry from early this morning, which you can read here.

There is also a piece in the Montreal Gazette, where Ted writes a regular blog. You can read that here.

Best of luck to you at K103, Ted!

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I deliberately stayed away from watching the Masters this weekend, because I didn’t want to hear any more about the scandal involving Tiger Woods, and how he appears to be trying to turn his life around. That said, congratulations are in order for Phil Mickelson, who is now a three-time Champion at Augusta National.

It was cool to read how his wife (who’s been battling breast cancer, and Phil himself admitted that there was a time that he wasn’t sure that Amy would be able to be there for the tournament) and their kids were on hand to watch Phil sink a birdie putt to clinch the title.

The past year has been a major roller coaster ride for the Mickelsons: from Amy having been diagnosed with cancer some 11 months ago, to the pinnacle of achievement in golf.

Congratulations, Phil!

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We’re getting closer, friends: my third anniversary with BounceRadio.net is this Friday.

As I have mentioned elsewhere the past week or so, it still amazes me that I’ve been hosting my main radio show, The Musical Journey, for three years. The time has flown by, and every minute of it has been a blast. And it’s the BounceRadio listeners, who have been tuning in every Friday, who are a huge reason why I’ve been having so much fun. It’s true: if the listeners weren’t there, there would be no Musical Journey.

So, as a salute to the listeners, this Friday’s Musical Journey will consist of 100% requests. A little over a week ago, I put out a call for requests for the show, and though The Musical Journey is largely a classic rock show, I’ve taken off pretty much all of the restrictions on the music that will be played this week. The requests that have come in so far go from classic rock to modern rock to just about anything in between and beyond! It is going to be a great way to wrap up three years at BounceRadio, and an even better way to set things up for the start of year #4.

There’s still time if you have a song in mind that you’d like me to play Friday. Drop me a line at todd@bounceradio.net with your request. And everyone is invited to join me for the All-Request Third-Anniversary Musical Journey, Friday 7-10pm Eastern, 4-7pm Pacific.

To tune in, go to our main website at www.BounceRadio.net and click the “BounceRadio Music” button. See you Friday!

It’s been three years??? Wow…

I’m still in awe about this: April 16th marks my third anniversary of being involved in internet radio. And my original radio show, The Musical Journey, is going as strong as ever! Every minute of this show is an absolute blast for me!

And there’s a reason for that: the BounceRadio listeners, as without them, I would have no radio show to host.

And so, as my way of thanking the listeners, my April 16th show will be 100% requests. Yep – the BounceRadio listeners will determine the songs I’ll play that night. And I’ve taken off the restrictions that I normally have for The Musical Journey. It’s usually a classic rock show, but for this anniversary show, listeners can request just about anything they wish! It does not have to be classic rock. Someone requests Crazy Frog? I’ll put it in!

It’s the all-request third anniversary of The Musical Journey: Friday, April 16, 7-10pm Eastern, where the world listens to internet radio: BounceRadio.net!

And if you have a request, let me know! Drop me a line: todd@bounceradio.net – and if you have more than one song in mind, I want to hear about it! The more requests I get, the greater the variety of music you’ll hear on the 16th.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that…

Some things that have come to mind the past few days:

Ouch! The biggest upset of NCAA’s March Madness took place Saturday, with the defeat of the tournament’s top seed, Kansas. More than a few tournament brackets will be feeling that today…

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Following on the success of the Canadian Olympic team, our Paralympians have been having a great Winter Games too! A total of 9 gold medals, 5 of which go to Canadian skier Lauren Woolstencroft. She’s become the first ever Winter Paralympian to reach the top of the podium in five consecutive events in the same year! Congratulations to Lauren, and to all of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes this year. Canada is proud of all of you! Go Canada Go!

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Much chillier around here than it had been the past few days. We’d been enjoying sunshine and daytime highs of around 15C/59F through Friday. Cooler yesterday, and there are reports of the fluffy white stuff falling in part of the region this morning, such as in parts of Toronto. Chilly here – around the freezing mark as I write this, but at least the sun is shining for now, at least off and on.

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Surprise, surprise! The Toronto Maple Leafs have been on a (too little, too late) hot streak recently, having won the last three, including a shootout win over Montreal Saturday night, and 7 of their last 10. Mathematically, it looks as though the Leafs are still in the hunt, but let’s face facts, folks: they’re mired in the basement of the Eastern Conference, and it would take something just short of Armageddon for them to make the playoffs this year.

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Great Sunday lineup on BounceRadio.net today! Beginning at 3pm Eastern, Tom Tearaway with great music and interviews on Outsight Radio Hours. Then, at 5pm Eastern, Lady Mamalade sits in with 2 hours of soul and funk on Moulin Rouge. Our Sunday wraps up with Jammin John and Misty and The Melting Pot, with a little bit of everything, plus your requests! The Melting Pot gets under way at 7pm Eastern.

And don’t forget, there’s excellent music on BounceRadio.net 24/7! Check it out! Go to our home page at BounceRadio.net and click the “BounceRadio Music” button to tune in and join our live chat.

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Have a great day, folks!

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We have website and radio sponsorship packages starting at just $10/month during our Spring Advertising Specials promotion.

For information or rates, drop us a line at sales@bounceradio.net to request a rate card or more info.

Update about my computer situation, and info about Friday’s Musical Journey…

Hi again folks,

Some good news: it looks as though my desktop computer (the one I mentioned I had to switch to last weekend when the laptop failed on me) is going to be just fine. I’ve been giving it a good run over the past week, and no thermal issues have come up. In fact, the ducts behind the computer have been at most slightly warm, and certainly not too warm to be a concern.

So this means that The Musical Journey will indeed be on Friday night as scheduled. I already have the music picked out, and it looks like a great show, with music from The Who and Kim Carnes, and double plays by Smashing Pumpkins, David Bowie, and a whole lot more!

I invite you to join me for The Musical Journey: Friday night at 7pm Eastern, 4pm Pacific, Where The World Listens to Internet Radio, BounceRadio.net!

“We’re Number One” Musical Journey, this Friday, on BounceRadio.net…

Looking forward to Friday’s Musical Journey. After doing the “One Hit Wonders” special last month, I’m taking things to the other extreme this time around, with the “We’re Number One” Musical Journey: three hours of songs that have achieved the ultimate chart success in the US: reaching the #1 spot of Billboard’s Hot 100.

In my research, I have found a number of songs that have reached the magical #1 spot, like Eagles’ “Hotel California”, or “Smooth” by Santana with Rob Thomas. And I found the ultimate resource for these number ones: a page on Wikipedia that lists, by year, every song that topped the Hot 100 since Billboard Magazine introduced the chart in 1958:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_hits_(United_States)

I am taking requests for number ones for Friday. Drop me a line at todd@BounceRadio.net and let me know what you’d like to hear. If it is indeed a number one on the Wikipedia list, it qualifies, and it does not necessarily have to be what is now considered classic rock! As long as it was a number one, it could be on the show!

Join me on Friday for the “We’re Number One” Musical Journey, 7pm Eastern, 4pm Pacific, where The World Listens To Internet Radio: BounceRadio.net.

“One Hit Wonders” Musical Journey this Friday!

Whew! I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into when I announced this.

On Over The Hump Wednesday night, I announced that, for the first themed Musical Journey of 2010, I’m dedicating Friday’s show to the one hit wonder – 3 full hours of them!

But little did I realize how difficult it would be to whittle things down to 3 hours of one hit wonders, especially when there are a number of definitions for one hit wonders. And thus, what is a one hit wonder to some may not be so to others. So, before I started looking through the lists I’ve seen online, I had to set a firm set of criteria myself.

I decided that, even though I’m in Canada, since BounceRadio is an American station, my list should be based on what is considered a one hit wonder stateside. I also defined, for the purposes of my show, a one hit wonder as an artist or band who had one and only one song that reached the top 40 of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, regardless of success on any other chart or in any other country.

While I felt this to be a good limit to work with, it did reveal a few surprises: some artists who had done well in other parts of the world, such as Canada or the UK, but had just the one song to make the top 40, and therefore qualified for my list. Others were well known in other genres, such as country music, but again had the single song that crossed over to the Billboard chart.

You’ll hear samples of both instances on the show Friday. There are many artists that you will recognize as one hit wonders, but some of the artists will surprise you. But that is not necessarily a bad thing.

At the same time, there were a number of what otherwise would be one hit wonders, except for the fact that they had one or more additional songs that, though they barely made it, cracked the top 40, and therefore, had to be disqualified from my show. But even with these artists not appearing, I believe you’ll hear a good sample of one hit wonders this week.

The “One Hit Wonders” Musical Journey airs Friday, January 15, at 7pm Eastern, 4pm Pacific, and you’re invited to join me! Just go to www.BounceRadio.net and click “BounceRadio Music” to tune in and join our live chat.

See you then!

The end of Theater Of The Mind: a few thoughts…

Just a little while ago, I put the finishing touches on the final edition of Theater Of The Mind (TOTM, for short).

For those of you who don’t know, TOTM is one of the shows I’ve been hosting on BounceRadio.net: a collection of the best in classic radio. I’ve been hosting and producing this show for a little over two years, and this Sunday marks its finale.

There definitely are mixed emotions about the end of this show. It has been fun to work on it, and under other circumstances, I would have kept it going. But its time has come. It’s taking a lot of my free time on weekends to produce, and I would like to be able to be out and about on Saturdays, but that has been the day I would set aside to work on TOTM, so going out on the weekend hasn’t been possible for a long time.

So, it will be nice having most of my weekend back starting next week, but I know, for certain, that I will miss putting together TOTM.

Be aware that the end of the series is completely by my choice. There has been no indication at all on the part of BounceRadio.net that it wanted to cancel the show. Quite the opposite, in fact. The decision to wrap things up for TOTM was mine and mine alone.

The finale will be tomorrow (Sunday, October 4) at 10am Eastern, 7am Pacific, on BounceRadio.net. However, this is not the end of my time at the station – far from it!. I still have two live music shows there, which will most definitely continue.