A (more) Modern Prometheus

The Monster 

In ancient Greek mythology, there is the story of Prometheus. A Titan who was credited with the creation of man from clay and enabling him with the gift of fire stolen from the gods thus promoting his advancement through time. These acts, apparently pissing off Zeus, got him sentenced to an eternal damnation of being chained to a rock only to have his liver eaten each day by an eagle (a symbol of Zeus) only to have it grow back for another helping of liver the next day by the eagle. Legend holds this went on for some time until Heracles, took pity on Prometheus and freed him. Prometheus is interestingly, linked to Athena and Hephaestus which are other Greek deities associated with creative skills and technology.  

See where I am going with this?  Keep reading.

In 1818, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein and subtitled it The Modern Prometheus in relation to man's struggle for advanced knowledge and the risk of unintended circumstances.

Heavy shit, I know. But here of late, I can certainly relate. Allow me to elaborate in my own fashion.

There are those within my inner circle who have made reference to me as Dr. Victor Frankenstein.  Although, at times I have felt to be more of the Gene Wilder rather than the Colin Clive portrayal. In reality, my role in the creation of Radio Memphis was as more of Prometheus himself. My immediate history shows that I too have been chained to a rock and my liver devoured on a daily basis. Okay, not literally... well, partly. Living with the reality of the monster has chained me to a rock, metaphorically speaking. I live with this monster and see what it does on a daily basis. I am often trapped by it and rarely see around the thing.   As for my liver? Well, draw your own conclusions. The monster was created after a pitcher of margaritas, for God's sake. So, some traditions still carry on.

In other mythology, Prometheus is credited with a form of animal sacrifice once practiced by ancient Greeks.  I can also relate to this.

Although no animals were sacrificed in the creation of the monster, sacrifices have certainly been made.  Believe me when I tell you this. Entering this type of endeavor comes with large sacrifices. Some you expect to make, others you never see coming. The sacrifice of any peace of mind is the first that is made. Your fear of failure or success weighs heavy. The fact this monster has an appetite and the material sacrifices that are made to satisfy said appetite become apparent and large. Then there are those personal sacrifices. Those you never think about except in hindsight. Things like time. Things outside of the monster's existence like personal relationships, birthdays, health, holidays, family and sanity. You lose a sense of what it is all about at times. You can in fact lose yourself.

There are times you explore the depths of your own depravity. "Just how far will you take this thing?", you are asked by others. Those words will echo in your head for all eternity. So, you take weird steps of including the monster in your everyday life. Trying to compensate. Giving a pass to the thing like it was some sort of child throwing a temper tantrum. In reality, when you get to the level I am now, your conscience will resemble the aftermath of a room where a failed experiment involving whiskey and gorillas took place.  (Thanks, HST)

In the great score card, I think I have done an okay job of juggling these things so far. But, there have been times of great worry and fear. There have been a few times I fell to my knees and wept at the damage I have allowed this thing to inflict on those immediately around me. But there have also been times I have stood aside and watched the monster do what it was designed to do with a sense of pride as it has taken on a life of its own with little intervention.

The consumption of time has been the biggest thing with the monster. Tick fucking tock. I hear it in my sleep. "Just a bit more time is all it needs..." I repeatedly say to myself and others who have grown weary of this hackneyed line. Those who have stood with me and watched the monster do what it does and helped it further its own cause have been remarkable. But, not without a heavy cost.  

I am not alone in the sacrifices I have made. There are those here at Radio Memphis who share in such things, some more than others. Fear of the unknown is strong in these parts. Lack of sleep over worry. Lack of certain things most take for granted. There are those who made sacrifices the same as I. Loss of some personal relationships. Loss of creature comforts (pardon the pun). The knowledge that we are working with something that has become so large that even we can barely steer it's course.

People have come and gone through here who were afraid. Maybe they didn't have the stomach for this sort of thing. I can't say that I blame them, at times. Perhaps the risks were too high. Or, it looked to be too daunting and the patience and time it requires was too costly. Perhaps they lacked the physical or mental durability to continue. Nevertheless, the monster persevered. It always does.

Then there are those who stand in the presence of the monster. Some stand there in awe of the thing. Not quite sure just how to embrace it or if they should at all. And some of those who look upon it as something they should copy not knowing the exactness it requires. Ripping chunks here and there from it and patching something together like some sort of abomination. Only to watch as it stumbles and fails in it's own weaknesses as their creators are unable to match the raw needs it requires to live on its own. The power the monster possesses at times is enviable even by my own standards. It is that power some wish to see destroyed. Not able to destroy it, the monster turns on you. That's when it will get you. When you turn your back.  

Like Victor Frankenstein, I wanted to create something that would outlive me. I feel I am pretty close to that lofty goal. Something that has some intrinsic value to society. Something that fills the void others have created through greed and consumption. Something those of us here feel is necessary. And like Victor Frankenstein, it might be the death of me.

Like Prometheus, I wanted to create something of value from nothing. Using things not designed to do what they are doing now. Giving it something to further it's own life by giving it a fire stolen from those who misused their technology. This has happened. Tick fucking tock... it's only a matter of time, sooner than later. And like Prometheus, I will wait until some Heracles comes to break the chains that binds me to this rock and truly sets us both free. As for my liver... well, it keeps growing back so there is hope for us all yet.

Stay tuned...

CAUTION: Rant Ahead

A word of warning:  You are going to hate this post.  You may even hate me after you read this.  If that is the case, so be it.  If you even think you are going to be offended, stop right here and go somewhere else.

*****

From time to time, as I sit and think about the state of things now and the state of things to come, I ponder with some amazement and wonder at the world we currently find ourselves existing around.  We as a species are moving faster than ever.  To what end, I don't know.  Some of what I do see is positive and some of it, not so much.  The things, we as a people are affecting are pretty good for the most part.  I have always believed that people, in general terms, are of a good nature.  We try to be accepting of those around us.  We try to be helpful.  We try to be understanding.  Try as we might, we do fail at times.  Lord only knows I have failed in so many of those things.  But, I try.

More specifically, I look around at the world I have chosen for myself.  Away from the madness of the corporate machines (as much as is humanly possible) to attempt to make the world a little bit better of a place than I found it.  Once again, not always successful, but I try.  As I will continue to do so.  As should all of you.  But, I am not here at this moment to preach.  We all get enough of that as it is.  What I am here to do is to get out there, some thoughts regarding the state of things as I see them.  And from my vantage point, at least, there are some things going on out there that are beginning to stoke those old familiar fires of frustration and discontent.

I am often amazed at the lengths people will go through to boldly tell someone else a flat out lie.  Stupid stuff mind you, but a lie is a lie.  As my old friend John McCormack would say in reference to one of these type of people, "He would rather climb a tree to tell a lie than stay on the ground and be honest to your face."  And it is these people who seem to get ahead in the world.  Boggles the mind, don't it?  All those years in the corporate world where I saw this happening as though it was nothing more than standard operating procedure have taught me one thing.  There are some really scary people out there and we have put them in control.

At Radio Memphis, I have been blessed with an extraordinary group of people, that is a good thing.  We are doing very well, thank you very much.  I am proud of what we as a group have created.  Something larger than all of us and I know we are making an impact because of some things that have happened.  We pissed someone off, for starters.  That is a good thing.  That is how you know you are doing something different and remarkable, you piss someone off.  Anger them, frustrate them, freak them out... all these things point back to one emotion. Fear.

On no less than three separate occasions, I have been openly seduced by companies and individuals to leave what I have created and be a part of their operation, the ultimate goal, of course, shutting down Radio Memphis.  I politely turned them down and offered them someone else for their "job", but they refused.  I am flattered, but it gets better.  Recently we were given an outright threat by a large corporation.  The details of which are not important.  What is important is that it proves Radio Memphis is here to stay.  With all of this in mind, this post (overdue as it is) is dedicated to putting a few things out there.  All you major broadcast corporations are officially on notice.  Your industry is dead because it has failed to adapt to technology and public demand.  It is dead because you raped it.  You left it's mutilated corpse at the feet of those who blindly consumed it.  Like hyenas, you laughed at it's death and in your destructive wake, lie the casualties of those who did your bidding for you.  But, you're not done.  You think you can redeem yourselves with continued thoughtless insight to keep you up with the pulse of society.  Or that pulse your consultants have told you about.  You continue your lies to the consumer you count on for your very existence to the point that you are totally unaware you are doing it.  I would hate to think you were actually aware of these lies, that would be downright sick.

How cute it is that you have a computer system in place that is supposedly smarter than the consumer.  It plays the songs your consumer wants to hear.  The question is, where is the human interaction?  Are we that lost in our technology that we don't need people to be entertained?  What the hell do people do all the time?  They are talking to each other, that's what.  They text, speak, share words and pictures, they take videos of themselves or of others and share it with the world.  They post on boards, Facebook and Twitter.  They email, chat, blog, Skype and renew lost connections and gain new ones along the way.  They are plugged in, synched up, friended, included, invited and updated about each others lives, children, husbands, wives, dogs cats and what the hell they are having for dinner.  Complete with photos, videos and instant messages.  But, you corporate idiots can't make money off of current habits.  So, you merely eliminate the human and sell your version of a vacuous and vapid world as something, in your eyes, as what we really need.

Having said that to them, now let's talk about you the consumer.

You have heard this before, but I will repeat it here for the record.  FM and AM radio is dead.  Broadcast TV is dying a slow death.  Satellite radio ain't long for this world either.  Who pays for radio anyway?  Cable companies will soon be reduced to internet providing services.  Satellite TV companies will follow suit.  Your TV is going to have an internet connection (as many already do) and the hottest big ticket item on the Christmas list for 2012 will more than likely be this thing called a "smart TV".  To stay somewhat competitive, mobile phone companies will all offer unlimited services.  The desktop computer will pretty much be replaced by the tablet.  Everything is headed to the web.  I am not just saying that because of Radio Memphis.  I say that because it is the truth.  Increasingly, every bit of your lives are going through your computer.  Be it a laptop, desktop, tablet, pad, pod or that thing little thing we lovingly call a phone.  Think about the possibilities.  Think about the realities.  Then, prove me wrong.

Some truly great things are coming to you, the consumer.  But there is a serious problem.  All these existing systems that are supposed to be providing all this entertainment are lacking something, content.  That is why the media world as you know it is changing and/or dying off or, in some cases, already dead.  Just try and watch something new and creative on TV these days.  Everyone is copying each other.  How many TV shows do you really need about crabbing, fishing, shrimping, auctioning, pawning, picking, logging, truck driving, swamping, detecting, ghosting, singing, modeling, surviving, dating, hoarding, intervening, and for God's sake who the fuck gave the Kardashians TV time?

Are you that starved for entertainment?  Are you that dumb?  Maybe you should ask those idiots on The Jersey Shore what they think.  Judging by what you see on the "news", you are supposed to give a shit what they think.  

All this just proves my point.  If it is available for consumption, someone is consuming it.  Having said that, if you were to get a new pot to piss in, why wouldn't you piss in it?  What is wrong with you people?

Bill Gates once said "...content is king".  Sadly, there ain't much content out there and the stuff that is out there is being raped, copied abused and downright stolen, manipulated and transformed into something that is like everything else out there.  Garbage in, garbage out.

We as a society have allowed our creativity to be smothered or at the very least, stifled.  You accept what is available to you as your only and best choice, because you don't have any choices left to make or worse, willing to make or create for yourselves for the betterment of everyone else around you.  Entertainment and faked drama has permeated your lives so much you have to tune in to some whiny rich people who are living just as fake a life as you can imagine scripted by someone who thinks they know what you want to see to make yourselves feel better about the world around you.  And you lap it up.  You are so saturated with this tripe you no longer have creative instincts. Or worse, you are now an uninspired bunch of lazy, fat, drunk, limp penised, drooling, incontinent, depressed and chemically enhanced sheep. 

Or, are you?

In a sad sort of way, it's amusing to see all these things happening.  I believe I have a pretty good seat to the Entertainment Apocalypse.  While this media meltdown goes down, I'll be easy to find.  I'll be the one maniacally laughing and pointing at the outright downfall of what was once humanity's ability to be themselves.  Now placed in that big blender of time which has a button on it that reads, "Rend Asunder".

From what I am seeing, maybe it's my finger on that button.  Hey, a man can dream these days, can't he?

Stay tuned...

Money Whores

It is high time the record got straight.  Radio Memphis does not and will not pay to play your music.  Period.

It's a scam.

Not long after Radio Memphis was launched, I was approached by a certain organization (local scam artists) who felt it necessary to hip me to this group called Sound Exchange.  Here's a little something from their website "SoundExchange is a non-profit performance rights organization that collects statutory royalties from satellite radio (such as SIRIUS XM), Internet radio (like Pandora), cable TV music channels and similar platforms for streaming sound recordings. The Copyright Royalty Board, which is appointed by The U.S. Library of Congress, has entrusted SoundExchange as the sole entity in the United States to collect and distribute these digital performance royalties on behalf of featured and non-featured recording artists, master rights owners (usually record labels), and independent artists who record and own their masters."

Uh huh...  Now dig this from p2pnet.net "The [un]SoundExchange was originally dreamed up by the RIAA and later spun off as a supposed, “independent, nonprofit performance rights organization” designated by the US Copyright Office to, “collect and distribute digital performance royalties for featured recording artists and sound recording copyright owners (usually a record label) when their sound recordings are performed on digital cable and satellite television music, internet and satellite radio (such as XM and Sirius),” as it says on its site, stating,

"SoundExchange currently represents over 3,500 record labels and over 31,000 featured artists."


The trouble is, as Nashville entertainment lawyer and p2pnet correspondent Fred Wilhelms consistently points out, the not-so-ex-RIAA outfit has an unfortunate, and on-going, tendency to ‘lose’ thousands of the artists it’s supposed to be paying.
John Simson is the organisation’s front man who, “apparently said that SX has failed to track down 40,000 other artists,” said Wilhelms in a post a little more than a week ago."

That said, keep in mind this... Sound Exchange will pay 1 penny for every 32,000 times 1 record is aired on Radio Memphis, granted I give them the minimum of $500 a year.  Think about that for a second.  Take one cent, divide that by 32,000 and that is what they will pay an artist for their performance on Radio Memphis.  That is, should we sign up AND should the artist sign up AND assuming there is some straight up accounting going on which there doesn't appear to be. Do the math, 300 artists (and growing) with 1,500 songs (and growing) so, how much can they make?

ANY artist expecting a royalty check of any substantial amount needs to be aware of this bullshit.  Radio Memphis exists to promote the artists.  If the artists want money, sell records to those who hear it on Radio Memphis and sell tickets to shows and it might not be a bad idea to sell some merch.  I've said it before and I will say it again, if any artist feels any differently, I will gladly stop playing your music. Then, who is going to play your songs?

In the meantime, those out there who feel for the artists, go and do the right thing, buy their music, buy their tickets and for God's sake, my a damn t-shirt.  That is the support they need.

There, it's in print and THAT is the Radio Memphis stance on royalty payments.  Any questions?

Stay Tuned...

OK, Now What?

Back in April, when the idea of this station came to be, there was only one fear I had.  What happens if it works and we have us some listeners?  That was it.  A fear of success.  It seems sort of stupid on the surface to have that kind of fear, but as I learned, that is not necessarily a rare thing.

As it turns out, Radio Memphis is a success.  Listeners are joining the ranks in droves.  With that comes advertisers who have been spending some time getting comfortable with the beast in the room that is internet radio.  Although there are still many people who are unsure of how this medium will do in the long haul and there are those who coming to grips with just how it works, it seems to me that internet radio and Radio Memphis is here to stay.

Several factors point to this kind of happiness.  First off, the listeners.  These folks have quickly come to grips with the fact that terrestrial radio is as dead as a fried chicken.  Everyday, corporate radio does something remarkably stupid that benefits internet broadcasters such as myself.  Limited playlists, day parted music, reduced staff and the insane idea that so called "broadcast consultants" actually have a clue.  They don't.  Thank God.  The corporate broadcasters have found new and unique ways of stepping all over the intellect of the people who listen (or used to listen, as the case may be) to radio in general.  What's more, people have figured out the simple reality that there are more options.

Secondly, the technology.  There is no way in hell we could have pulled off something like this 12 or 15 years ago.  The timing of all of this is just perfect.  Our staff like to think of the fact that we are about 6 to 10 months ahead of the curve.  More and more people are discovering internet radio and indeed Radio Memphis.

Part of the problem has been (and to a certain extent still is) internet radio's perception by the audience.  Change is often difficult and scary.  But, now that we have made it rather simple, people seem to find it a remarkable breath of fresh air within all the polluted airwaves out there now.  Sure, we are a commercial station and we are discovering that with the growing number of listeners we have on a day to day basis come those who have a new platform by which to deliver their messages.  It works for us and it works for them and everyone seems pretty happy.   

Years ago, long before the very thought of Radio Memphis came to be, I once told my wife that one day, after the corporate raping of the industry was done, it would take mom and pop operations to save what's left of a dead business.  I just never thought I would ever be one of those mom and pop operations.

Surprisingly there have been few complaints.  Although there was one naysayer I heard of that made a bet with someone that Radio Memphis would be off the air by Spring.  Well, Spring starts March 20th and I am quite sure we are going to be on the air.  What we'll be doing is beyond me at that point but I can tell you this, there are some BIG things coming that even I find hard to wrap my head around.

When we first went on the air, I learned very quickly the basic stance of this station, we can, quite literraly, do anything.  Is it an easy job?  Not in the least.  But it sure is fun.  Do I worry about much?  Not really.  Except for one little nagging thing, now what?

We'll figure that out as we go along.  As I said, there are some great things coming soon and with the help of those who listen to Radio Memphis, all of us who are a part of this wonderful project will get to take part in this fantastic journey.  Your patience as a listener has been gratefully understood and welcomed.  It'll get rewarded with some truly remarkable things.

Stay Tuned...

The Evolution of Radio

 This is kind of an appropriate graphic in more ways than one.  But, it nicely illustrates a few concepts I've been witness to and a party of which I will illustrate here.  

When I first started in he radio business, there were these little vinyl discs called "45's" and big vinyl discs called "33's" and little 8 track looking tape cartridges we used to call "carts".  These things had pretty much been the standard tools of radio broadcasters for a long, long time.  

I saw the death of the 45's and 33's when the compact disc (or CD as you may know it) came to radio stations in the late 80's.  It was a strange sort of promotional gag DJ's used to lay out on the air, "coming up, brand new music from Bruce Springsteen on a brand new format.  We'll play it from a compact disc!"  Oh yeah, those were the days.

We were bouncing little microwave signals all over the city from a thing called a "Marti" that got us from a car lot filled with hot dogs, balloons, smarmy radio people and even more smarmy used car salesmen.  All of the things were the miracle of the day, yet they were so commonplace to those of us who worked around it we always thought there would never be a change.

Then I saw the death of the CD.  That's when it all changed.

Computers were already established tools in the broadcaster's studio but now they were increasingly gaining the trust of the bosses.  It was always a joke that we would all be replaced by these machines.  Sadly, we pretty much all were.  How prophetic... and pathetic.

So, instead of complaining about it, I decided it was time to embrace the technology with the caveat of putting these machines in their proper place.  Hence Radio Memphis.  (For more on that, read the previous posts)

During my time with the "evil empire", the corporate apes came up with this novel thing called "HD Radio".  Capitalizing on the new trend of HDTV (among other things), these suits thought it would be cool to have a digital signal with some serious "High Definition".  As it turned out, not so much.  The transmitters are still locked in at certain broadcasted rates of information and what you thought was HD Radio was nothing more than a fairly clear signal right up to the second you left the broadcast radius of the tower you were listening to.  Then, BAM! You got nothing.  So, to save this cool moniker of "HD Radio", it was decided to split the existing signals down to other stations so one station could have 2 other sister stations you could only pick up with (you guessed it) an HD Radio.  

Here in Memphis, there are about 40 or 50 of these magical boxes around, most of which are owned and housed in the radio stations themselves as a monument to their "ingenuity".  The concept of HD Radio is pretty much a failure and a minor joke amongst radio people.  

If you'll notice in the picture at the top of this post, the guy in the lead seems somewhat concerned that he is being followed by monkeys.  Ever since we went on the air, as it were, as a strictly local station with a global audience and the acts of "murder" committed by the evil empire behind us, all the other stations (corporate monkeys themselves) love to throw around the word "local".  Kind of tough to live up to that when the music they are playing is anything but.  Not to mention the fact that all of their management are no where within 100 miles of Memphis.  Local?  I think not.  So yes, we seem to be followed by monkeys.  But back to being "high definition".

Enter internet radio and all of the sudden, these things about "high definition" and increased fidelity become a real issue.

When I built Radio Memphis, I felt damn lucky to have a signal on the web that was running right at FM quality.  Then my server guy had a stroke over the amount of data I was shooting to the server.  So, he put the kibosh on me and ran me down to a transmission rate that is slightly less than FM.  Claiming there is no difference.  But, I know better.  Meanwhile, I make the acquaintance of one Crafton Barnes who proceeds to hip me to Web 2.0 and the joys of cloud computing and the unlimited potential of internet radio stations just waiting to be tapped.  Enter our "High Definition" signal.

You can hear it HERE.  This is the test of a new way for Radio Memphis to deliver the station to you, the humble listener.  What you are hearing, which may be subtle to you, is pure CD quality audio.  It has it's little issues from time to time.  Shit, what doesn't?  But, this is what we are testing.  Should this be successful, we will be able to deliver to you a radio station in this highly defined audio in a clarity that terrestrial radio stations cannot.  Scary, huh?

So now, we have evolved ourselves from a little rough signal just under FM quality to something that has surpassed FM quality in the blink of an eye.  Something that would have taken years has now happened in mere weeks.  How's that for evolution?

Oh, but wait, there is so much more to come that even as I try and understand the power of and the simple concepts behind... well, let's just say, it's going to be one hell of a ride!

Stay Tuned...