Save Bob Banfield!!!

Save Bob Banfield!!! There I said it!! What does this mean??

Bob Banfield is the Inland Empire's bureau chief for ABC7 Eyewitness News in Los Angeles. He's been there forever, 1967!!! Remember the Inland Empire is bastard step-child to the Los Angeles area.... no one really wants to claim it. There are many extreme areas... the desert, mountains and other hard to reach areas. So when anything bad happens out here.... they (ABC7) send Bob!!! Every fall we get Santa Ana winds that blow threw our major canyons at about 70mph.... he's there getting blown around!! When Big Bear Lake is suffering threw a 100 year blizzard..... he's there freezing is butt off in the cold!! In the summer when this area is on fire.... yeah you guessed it.... he's there!!

It was about the mid 90's when one of my former co-workers and I were watching Bob in the wind almost get crushed by a big-rig truck blowing over on the side of the freeway, when we both looked at each other and said... "ABC is trying to kill him!!!!" Think about it.... You only see the guy when mother nature is at her worst!! The guy is like Teflon! In some of those snowy mountain shots he looks like he's catching pneumonia!!!! When the fires are burning, i swear he's one bad wind gust from burnin' up!! So to this I say... "SAVE BOB BANFIELD!!!" He's done nothing wrong!!!

We went on the air with this last year on K-Frog and the phones went crazy. Listeners were calling in to express their concern for Bob!! They all noticed the same thing too!!! Even Bob's Granddaughter called in to say they think the same thing!!

"SAVE BOB!!"

Remembering Back A Little

I came across one of those "blast from the past" photos in my collection. This photo was taken in June, 1998. Just after Charlie Van Dyke was hired to take the baton from the late great Robert W. Morgan, most of the K-Earth staff grew the "Van Dyke" beard and took this photo which appeared in the "Radio and Records" trade magazine. I'm number "15"!!

Sadly all but 2 people in this photo no longer work at there anymore.... it's radio, things change!

#9 - Keith Smith is still the Production Director
#14 - Lynn Duke is now the Chief Engineer. (#1 - Bob Kanner passed a couple of years ago)

Raising Money For The Firestorm!

Here we are on Los Angeles' CBS 2 News raising money for the recent Southern California wildfires!

Are You Opened.... Or Closed???

I found this on Broadway Ave. in Nashville the other week while we were there for the CMA Awards! Just thought I'd share!

Is This Thing On????

So as most of you my know.... I've been producing morning shows for the past 15 years. What's a producer??? A producer is the guy/ gal behind the action of a morning show that acts as a support staff and or ring leader.... often we are the ones that deal with all the behind the scenes junk like scheduling guests, research news stories, help with the shows planning... you get the picture.

Generally the producer is rarely heard on the air and is usually only mentioned when something goes horribly wrong!! Since coming to K-Frog over 2 years ago it was quite apparent that my role as a producer came with a few more perks that my previous gig at K-Earth... For example...

At K-Earth I did get airtime, but it was very minimal and it usually involved explaining something. I always felt blessed and knew that I was doing a job that is wanted by 100's of others across the country. When Gary Bryan came to K-Earth in 2002 he opened up more opportunities for me by giving me more mic time doing stunts and on the street interviews. Lot's of fun!!

When I first came to K-Frog, I knew things were gonna be different. First of all, K-Frog is not a "union" shop, meaning that at K-Earth I was legally not able to be on mic for long periods of time. At the Frog, that doesn't apply. The guys at K-Frog invite me on, allowing me to say funny and silly things and all that good stuff.

The Dream.......

My life long goal since I first walked through the halls of a radio station was to someday get the chance to do a morning show somewhere in this country! Well that dream was finally realized today when I basically was given the keys and the go ahead to host the show.....

Here's how it happened......

Scott and Tommy (The Frogmen), never take vacation at the same time… this is to make sure that one is always on the air if one is away. Scott took his scheduled vacation this week with his family to Arizona. So Tommy has been holding down the show, but his wife is 9 months pregnant, and has been having early contractions for the past week. We all sat and drew up a scenario of what to do if Tommy’s wife went into labor this week. Our emergency “fill-in” guy is also on vacation! So our PD Lee Douglas gave the go ahead for me to wing it if I have to….. (worst case scenario). I figured I’d just put together some sort of “best of” show. Well this morning I woke up with a text message from Tommy indicating that his wife was indeed in labor! I suddenly realized that I was going to have to step in.

It was the strangest feeling in the world to be in the control room by myself. Dona Dower, our traffic reporter, was with me from her studio. She made me feel real relaxed when I should’ve been a nervous wreck! Although we kept the show simple, I did take the time to reflect back at my days back at K-Earth and how the ghost of Robert W. Morgan was yelling at me to “shut up…you’re only on til nine!!!!”

My Dream Has Come True..........

Nashville Day 4 On To Memphis!!!!!!

Right now I'm writing from the 5th floor hotel room right smack dab in the middle of Memphis Tennessee! It's about 8:30pm local time. We left Nashville around noon today... More about that later.... but first and update from last night.......

So my last post ended with me talking about going to one of the nightly concerts at LP Field. This was going to be my wife's test.... I wanted to see her reaction to being at a REAL country concert. Now remember, every attending the concert paid really good money to be there, lots of people came from all over the country to be there! So you know for sure that the crowd is going to be filled with some serious country fans!

We show up at the stadium with Frogman Scott, Tommy was already there. You could hear Trace Adkins singing "Honky Tonk Badonadonk" while we were in the parking lot.... by the time we reached our seats in the nose bleed section, we could barley make out the bands!!! Tommy sent us a text message to let us know that our "media passes" would let us go on the field.... So we hustled down there as quick as we could.

When we got down there "The Wreckers" were performing, we staked our claim near the sound booth. After their set it was time to get some brews and food.... just in time for Deirks Bentley to perform... I like Deirks song "Lot A Leavin' Left To Do" so when he opened up his set with it, I caught myself holding two beers and yelling for Dierks!! My wife thought I was nuts. Scott and Tommy just laughed and took pics..... oh boy!

After Dierks.... Brooks and Dunn took the stage and rocked it hard!!! They're amazing on stage. Ronnie Dunn's voice reverberated from every corner of the arena! It was then that I began to notice my wife dancing and singing along.... Every time a they started another song, I would lean over to tell her the title... she looked back and would say.. "I know... I like it!"

Now the act that I really wanted her to see was Alan Jackson. Why... Because Alan is as country as it gets. If she enjoyed his set, then I think she can be a real fan. She has a blast during his set. I caught her singing "Where I Come From", you know, the "Corn Bread and Chicken" song!!! We left after his set and she was ecstatic!

We walked back to our hotel afterwards and found this bar next door called the "Flying Saucer"... over 100 beers on tap! There we found some great music by a cover band playing everything from Aerosmith to Blondie.

Later it was time to pack, because today.. (Friday) was going to be our last show from Nashville. The show went by fast this morning.. not as many artists stopped by, we did see Emerson Drive who's song "Moments" just hit number one on the charts! Afterwards we had to pack our remote gear up and get out of Dodge!!!

Tennessee Storm!

My wife and I rented a car and began our journey to Memphis about noon local time... It was nice and sunny, hot and humid. About 93 degrees! We headed west on I-40 and after about 10 miles out we could see dark clouds and lightning!!! It kept getting closer and closer and closer!!! Before you knew it we were in the middle of one of the worst downpours I've ever driven in!! My fingers were gripping wheel so hard they started to hurt! After about an hour of that we finally passed the storm.

About 80 miles west of Nashville is the Loretta Lynne Dude Ranch. She runs the place. What a beautiful piece of property...think of the place where "Dirty Dancing" was filmed and Country it up a bit... that's what this place is like. I've read that it's haunted by old civil war soldiers or something... (have to research it more). Before stopping there we ate at her local food joint. Real Southern Cooking!!!! We enjoyed some sweet tea, fried chicken, pork, meat and potatoes and lots of grease!!!!

Mississippi River

Now we're in Memphis... resting right now... later we'll head out have some fun... And then tomorrow we go to Graceland!!!!

Until then.....

JB

Nashville Day 3

TIME FOR HAPPY HOUR!

Ok, so when I last left you hangin' we were just gonna get some rest before happy hour. So let me tell you about that..... Radio people will show up to anything if you just offer free booze and food. That was the case early yesterday evening when we ended up at this joint called "Baileys" on Broadway. For 2 solid hours it was an endless supply of free drinks and bar food. Have you ever been at that party where when they bring out all the food and tell you to go ahead and start eating, NO ONE GETS UP??? That's what happened. My wife and I didn't want to be the first ones up to eat. So we waited.... and waited... and waited! Finally I looked at her and said, "screw this, I'm hungry!" So we got up and before you knew it, half the room followed us to the buffet. One guy leaned over and said, "someone had to crack the seal!!"

So we drank, ate and drank some more and before you knew it, it was indeed "Happy Hour".

Angela and Mike take us out to dinner!

Afterwards, Mrs. Bullfrog and I met up with our friend Angela and her boyfriend for dinner. Angela works at CMT Radio here in Nashville, they supply country music programming and prep services for stations all across the country. They picked us up at our hotel... told us this place was haunted, then drove us out of town for some "real" Tennessee BBQ. We ended up at this place about a mile from downtown, the name escapes me, and ate more food... and drank more booze!! While there we ran into Kellie Pickler's drummer who remembered us from hanging out at the second fiddle the night before...... later we ended up at this place near Vanderbilt University called "Rumba's". We had the best mojitos!!!

This morning was a little rough getting out of bed, but I managed to drag my butt out at 4:45am!!! The cab dropped me off at 5:30 and I swear the line coming out of the convention hall went all the way around the block!! It was a good line up of artists today. We saw the likes of LeAnn Rimes (PICTURED), Troy Gentry, Big and Rich, Jamie Oneal, Rodney Atkins, and Billy Currington. Speaking of Billy, my wife has the biggest crush on him!! I told Scott and Tommy about it and they decided to surprise her on the air and Billy about it! She turned beet red!! He got up and gave her a big ol' country hug!

So later tonight we're heading off to "LP Field", where the Tennessee Titans play, for a nightly concert with Deirks Bentley, Brooks and Dunn, Alan Jackson and a bunch of other acts. I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow!!!

Until then....

Ya'll Come Back!

Billy Currington and Mrs. Bullfrog

Nashville Day 2

OK... The last thing I remember from yesterday was ending up at the Second Fiddle with the boys, and our good friend Megan. She used to work with K-Frog, and now lives out here in Nashville. Good Times!!! Scott, Tommy, my wife and I had a blast at dinner last night. We noticed that Emerson Drive was sitting in the next booth over from us. We decided to crash their party and before you knew it, a lot of fans took noticed and the poor guys had to sign autographs all night.


Oh yeah, at yesterday's orientation we got a one on one with Blake Shelton. He's a very funny guy who likes to joke around. My wife got to take a pic with him and I stood up and represented the station by asking him a question.

Mrs. Bullfrog and Blake Shelton

This morning I had to drag my butt out of bed about 5am. Our broadcast went pretty good, we got to see lots of up coming artists as well as established ones. Sara Evans stopped by and the guys could hardly contain themselves. Later that morning my wife woke up and joined us at the broadcast where she sat and watch a press conference with Reba McEntire.


After a loooonnnngggg morning, we're getting a little rest before we head back out in the hot humid sun. Later this afternoon is a Premiere Radio hosted "Happy Hour" at one of the local bars, can't wait. Afterwards we're gonna meet up with a friend from CMT Radio out here for dinner, drinks, and whatever else comes our way!!


Keep you posted!!!

JB

Nashville Day 1

I’m blogging to you from 35,000 feet above the great state of Texas…

Yes for a moment I put on Pat Green’s “Wave On Wave” and gazed out the window. How cool. This Southwest flight we’re on is booked full, lots of interesting characters on this flight. Mrs. Bullfrog pointed out a guy in a salmon colored coat!!! I mentioned to her that it was just a colored blind Elvis!!

Shortly we’ll be coming up on the Mississippi River and will be crossing over Memphis about an hour away from Nashville. Memphis is where our trip will conclude with a visit to Graceland. It’ll be my second time, but I’m excited because now I can share it with someone special.

Once we land in Nashville, life is gonna move kinda fast. We’ll have to get to our hotel, check in… relax for about 30 minutes, then head on over to the Hotel where we’ll need to pick up our badges and credentials. Then from there we head over to the broadcast center to set up and attend an orientation.

Afterwards, the rest of the team, Scott and Tommy, will arrive. We’ll probably head out for a few drinks and dinner. Along the way of course we’ll meet up with some old and new friends in the business. Tomorrow’s blog will have all the details.

I'm Still Here!!!! Heading To Music City USA!!!!

Boy it's been busy here at the Frog!!! The last couple of month's have been filled with concerts, Vegas and lots of sleepless nights!!!!!

Next week we head to Nashville for the CMA Music Fest (formerly Fan Fair). Can't wait!!! Mrs. Bullfrog will be coming, because at the end of the week we're gonna rent a car and drive to Memphis to visit Graceland!!!

I'll try to post updates while we're there... Until then see all the fun we've been having by checking out: THE FROGMEN PAGE or My MYSPACE PAGE!!!

I Met An Oscar Winner!!!

Happy Birthday to one of the nicest people in showbiz!! Earnest Borgnine!! He just turned 90 and he's still great!!

About 10 years ago, my wife and I attended the taping of "The Single Guy", a sitcom starring Johnathon Silverman on CBS. We were guests of one of the co-stars of that show, the doorman, played by the one and only.... Earnest Borgnine!

He and Robert W. Morgan were buddies and he was a frequent guest of the show. I can't remember the exact details... but from what I can recall, Robert read a TV review about "The Single Guy", then a new sitcom, and the review said something like: "if the show fails it'll be because of Earnest Borgnine!" Robert was livid, he spent the entire show ripping apart this guys review.... got him on the phone and tore him a new one live on the air. He called Borgnine and told him about he review. It was great radio!!!

Shortly after that I wanted to attend a taping of the show. Ernest's assistant Jackie set us up to attend and we had a blast! After the taping of the show I introduced myself to him and told him I worked with Robert. He was pleased to hear about Robert defending him and called him a true friend.

One moment I recall during the taping of the show was during the filming of one scene, Ernie had a punchline that didn't grab the audiences laughter the way he wanted it... they wrote and re-wrote that line until it got the laugh it deserved! A true pro!

Now fast forward a few years later. About 3 years ago, I was in the midst of producing the USO Radiothon for K-Earth 101 and KNX 1070. I was lining up interviews with celebrities who were giving testimonials on why you should donate money to the USO. I decided to call Ernie's assistant to see if he would like to stop by the studio and lay something down for us. After going back and fourth, it was decided that the best thing to do was go to Ernie's house and record the interview!!! Wow!!

Gary Bryan a I drove down to this beautiful humble home south of the Blvd. in the Valley, where we set up shop in his living room. Ernest showed up, sat down and got to business. We only wanted to get a couple of lines from him but we ended up interviewing him for over a 1/2 an hour!! At one point we got to talk about him winning an Academy Award for his role in Marty! He pointed to his entertainment center and said, "there it is... what to hold it??"

It was heavy!!!! I was stoked and will never forget that day!

I was great to see him on TV the other day celebrating his 90th b-day.... he still looks and sounds the way he did ... still full of energy, and still a really nice man!

The Super Bowl Is Coming!!!

Well since my Denver Broncos are not in the Super Bowl this year... Like we reallllllyyyyy had a chance!!! I could really care less about this years game!!

Who will I root for?? Well Indy has in the past ruined some key games for me and I've never really been a fan of them. Also, who wants to root for a team with a quarterback that's posing like this?? (Above Photo) JK!!

This year I took a trip to Chicago on business in August, just as football pre-season was getting started. I saw a lot of Bears stuff all over town. It was obvious that this town loves football. I like a city like that! So I guess I'll root for the Bears!! (see now they'll lose!!)

Now just for kicks... I had a little fun with photoshop today and wondered how Peyton Manning would look in the movie "Brokeback Mountain".

Here you go.......

Peyton's Holding Jake's Gun!!!