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News item:

It will be fun, fun, fun under the California sun for many well-heeled attendees at today’s Donald Trump fundraiser in Newport Beach — the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday morning that the Beach Boys would be the main attraction performing for the president and his supporters at the Orange County campaign event, with tickets ranging from $2,800 per donor to $150,000 a couple for co-chair status. As hardcore Beach Boys fans know, the group booked for the tony fundraiser is a licensed touring edition led by Love, who has not been shy about appearing with Trump in the past. (Variety)

I’ve written some new lyrics for Mike Love to sing to President Trump the next time he performs for him. I hope he likes ’em.

Kokomo:

Off the Palm Beach parkway
There’s a place I want to stay
That’s where I always like to go
To hide away from the law
Golf balls in the sand
Charbroiled hamberder in my hand
It costs the taxpayers a hundred grand
Every time I want to go
Down to Mar-a-Lago

Continue reading “Trump, Trump, Trump ’til our grandkids take the car keys away”

Apparently the pants exemption card I posted on Facebook and Twitter back on June 24 went viral on those services as well as Reddit, so here’s a high-resolution one as well as a downloadable PDF.

I’m going to go ahead and release it under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0) license.

You’re welcome to have fun with it, but please credit Jay Thurber and link to www.jaythurbershow.com.

Remember, kids: Don’t let the LIBERALS at Big Pants push you around! You have the freedom guaranteed by our pants-less founding fathers!

Clip, laminate and save this card, and if someone tries to say, “Sorry, we require pants to enter this Dollar Tree,” reach into wherever you’re keeping your wallet and pull it out!

The Saturday, Feb. 20 show is only on Internet radio www.wmck.fm, and if I do say so myself, it’s three hours of smokin’ radio.

(Our flagship station, WRCT 88.3 FM, is doing “Massive Music Weekend,” and you should totally check that out, too.)

And hey! Please check out WMCK.FM when Jay Thurber isn’t on, because it’s a lot of great, new alternative and independent rock, soul, R&B and pop.

There are plenty of ways to listen right here … http://wmck.fm/?p=listen

We’re preempted on Nov. 7 on WRCT (88.3) due to Carnegie Mellon football, which obviously we hope you’ll listen to!

If you’re not interested in football, we have a re-run of a December 2009 episode of “Radio 9” on Internet radio station WMCK.FM.

Thank you to Kennywood Park for hosting our live remote! We had a great time and enjoyed talking to folks from Kennywood and from Carnegie Mellon University, which was holding its employee and faculty picnic.

However, this might be the dorkiest photo you ever see on the Internet:

Welcome @CarnegieMellon & @wrct883! They’re broadcasting live from the Parkside Cafe til 3pm! pic.twitter.com/VBRV4UajzV

— Kennywood Park (@Kenny_Kangaroo) June 13, 2015

Syndicated talk show host Dane Remsey has some financial advice for someone who wants to change careers.

As originally aired May 30, 2015 on “Radio 9 with Jay Thurber” (www.jaythurbershow.com). Celebrity voice impersonated badly. Opinions expressed are not those of WRCT Radio Inc.

It’s Easter weekend, but before you go hippity-hopping down the bunny trail, how about hippity-hopping down the Great Allegheny Passage hiking and biking trail?

We’ll be broadcasting live on location from 12 to 3 p.m. this Saturday (April 4) from the McKeesport trailhead next to the McKees Point Marina.

That where there’s going to be a big benefit concert on Saturday night, featuring the Three Sides Band and the Fabulous Booze Brothers. Proceeds will benefit planned improvements to the McKeesport Waterfront Area, and admission is $15 at the door. The doors open at 7 p.m. and the bands start at 8 p.m.

If you’re in the area, please stop by and say hello. We’ll be in the window of the McKees Point Cafe from 12 to 3, “trying desperately to look famous,” as Uncle Dougie used to say.

Our next remote broadcast is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, May 9, from the Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer.

Wake up this New Year’s Day and tie a yellow ribbon around your old oak tree, cue your funky bass line and wear your widest collar. WRCT-FM (88.3) will once again celebrate the new year by returning to the golden age of glorious AM radio when it flashes back to the 1970s.

In a sickening radio tradition that’s now in its 11th stultifying year, WRCT’s resident oldies guru, Jay Thurber, will roll back the clock 40 years on Wednesday, Jan. 1, to count down the top tunes of 1973.

This year’s broadcast will air from 9 a.m. to 12 noon and also will be available online at www.wrct.org.

On Jan. 1, 2014, Jay will fire up the six-cylinder flux capacitor in WRCT’s time-traveling AMC Hornet, speed down Forbes Avenue at 88.3 MPH, and head for Carnegie Mellon’s old student union, Skibo Hall, in 1974, when the station was still at 900 kHz AM.

Kindly Uncle Jay, Your Radio Pal™, who hosts an oldies program on WRCT on Saturday afternoons (www.jaythurbershow.com), will count down the top songs of 1973, interspersed with news reports, commercials and other announcements.

The “number one song of 1973” — as calculated by Jay from a completely scientific (ha! ha!) formula — will be unveiled just before 12 noon.

A listener writes:

I imagine you are one of the more seasoned announcers on WRCT. I have some radio experience … I was wondering how I can get an air shift. How important is it to keep a music log?

I guess I am seasoned if you count Jane’s Krazy Mixed-Up Salt!

FWIW: I’ve been around the station for about 11 years. In that time, the things I’ve seen get people kicked out have included 1.) failing to show up for airshifts, 2.) failing to fill out paperwork, 3.) stealing or damaging music or equipment, and 4.) misrepresentation (for instance, trying to scam freebees out of record labels or sports teams).

Using the station to try and run a commercial business has also gotten a few DJs in trouble. WRCT is a non-profit organization, and using it for commercial activities would jeopardize its FCC license and its relationship with CMU.

Being a DJ at WRCT is a privilege, and getting that privilege means you have to be willing to fill out paperwork and follow the rules. The station needs to have a way to make sure DJs are complying with federal regulations as well as CMU’s policies. (It also needs a way to weed out irresponsible DJs. If someone isn’t bothering to fill out the required forms, they’re probably doing other bad stuff.) So, yes, music logs are extremely important, as are program and transmitter logs.

Music logs are important, too, because WRCT is a “reporting” station for a bunch of independent record labels and music magazines, including CMJ, and they want to know if their artists are getting airplay.

And they’re important because WRCT reports to the three big music publishing agencies (ASCAP, BMI and SESAC) that collect royalties for songwriters, and those agencies need to have an idea of what music WRCT (and all of the other licensed radio stations) is playing in order to proportion royalties. (After all, you don’t want the estate of Michael Jackson missing out on its 0.0001 cent royalty whenever WRCT plays a Beatles song.)

Another key thing at WRCT is making sure to do the required number of public service announcements, promotional announcements, etc., per hour, as well as playing a certain amount of new music (minimum three songs) per hour.

Most DJs regard those as a PITA. I’ve tried to make them fun (or at least interesting) for the listeners.