Ladies and Gentlemen.... The Heat Goes On!!!!

OK, I’ll be blunt!!! “It’s Freakin’ HOT!!!!!!!”

I moved to the Inland Empire about 4 years ago in a house that was built in the mid 80’s. Well…. The air conditioner that I have at home is the original unit. Every summer since we’ve been here its fizzled out in the worst of heat waves. Well we’re in another heat wave, and you guessed it, it’s fizzled out once again!!! I know…. What a wus right?? Well for those of you keeping score, I spend the majority of my day here at home. I work early hours and I’ll usually home around 1pm.

Try taking a nap in 110 degree heat! Today (Friday) I woke up in a puddle of sweat. I got so frustrated, that I got dressed and went to the Ontario Mills Mall just to cool off! I’m hoping to finally get this sorry air conditioner replaced! Until then… the sweat goes on!!!

My Vacation Timed Just Right For Launch!

I'm totally stoked!! I'm on vacation, I have tivo, and the Space Shuttle Discovery is going into space!! So in case you haven't heard on the show, I'm a total space geek when it comes to the Space Shuttle. I guess it's because the first launch of the Shuttle "Columbia" occurred on my birthday on April 12, 1981! My tivo will be tuned to the NASA channel for the next week or so!

It's The Chocolate Chunk That'll Get You!!!

Typical Friday night snack!!!

Beating The Inland Empire Heat, Just 30 Minutes Away!!

So I woke up on Saturday morning dreading the weekend heat! Mrs. Bullfrog just ended her job and is startinga new one this Tuesday. I thought to myself.... "Now's the time to get away! Where do we go??" Lake Arrowhead!!!
We spent the weekend kickin' it in the beautiful mountain communities just north of us!

Summer's Coming: Night On The Town!

Hey, thanks to everyone who's been coming by! Please visit often, I'll be sharing more memories of working with Legendary Boss Jock and Morning Man Robert W. Morgan!

But for now........

The Hometown Handshake Tour is winding down and preparations are now going on for our Hometown Handshake Tour Finale broadcast at “Corona Yamaha”. During the past couple of months we’ve been driving all over the Inland Empire, shaking hands and kissing babies! Unlike our last Handshake, this one was different. We’ve been towing this cool “Waverunner” with us to all our locations. While there, listeners signed up for a chance to win it! The winner will be drawn at our finale broadcast that will be held on the first official day of Summer, June 21st!

Let’s see what else is going on….. We’ll Mrs. Bullfrog and I went out on the town this past weekend. My wife’s cousin has a friend that graduated over the weekend and was hosting a party at one of Hollywood big night spots, “The Standard”. If you’ve ever seen it, either the one in Hollywood, or the one in Downtown L.A., the first thing you notice is the upside-down sign out front. Good attention getter. Our evening began earlier that afternoon when we were invited to lunch by my Radio Genius boss, Gary Bryan, at “Mel’s Drive In” on Sunset. Driving from the I.E. we had an hour and a half drive ahead of us. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it. Cool 50’s/60’s style diner, juke box, and good burgers. After that we went to the famous “Tower Records” location on Sunset and Holloway. This is where some of the biggest musicians have done midnight record release parties. Now it was about 3:30pm. We had to meet for dinner at the House Of Blues on Sunset at 8pm. Well instead of driving all the way back home and all the back to Hollywood, we had planned ahead and packed our evening clothes with us and headed over to my parents house in the San Gabriel Valley.

We spent a couple of hours catching up on family gossip at my parents and before we knew it we were headed back to Hollywood…… ahem…. West Hollywood! We were joined by my wife’s sister at The Standard and we went down to the hotel’s diner to wait for their cousin and friend to arrive. While there we ordered a round of drinks and appetizers. Just a round!!! Total tab: $76!!!! WOW! Later her cousin and friend arrived and we headed over to the House Of Blues. It was only 2 blocks away but the ladies were wearing heels, so we drove. At the H.O.B. we were seated right away (I made reservations). The food was great. Not too pricey, no drinks… saving $$$$ for later in the evening.

We headed back over to the Standard where we then met up with my wife’s cousins friends. About 20 total. Her cousin knew one of the managers at the hotel and he had reserved an area at the night club just for us. No waiting in line!!! Once in the club we socialized, had some drinks, danced, and more socializing! We later went up to one of the rooms and hung out before heading back home. We ended up back at our place and in bed at about 4am!! ZZZZZZZ!!!!

Now the hard part was that the very next day we had been invited to Frogman Tommy’s son’s 4th birthday party at noon. That was rough….. We showed up, barley awake!

Bye for now.....

J.B.

"Good Morgan", Now Get Back To Work!

Ok, here's the deal. The gentleman to the left is Robert W. Morgan. Who is he and why do I have him on my blog?? Let me tell you!

In the Spring of 1994 I was working at Pasadena's KPCC 89.3fm and attending Pasadena City College, taking a bunch of radio / communications courses. I had been at the KPCC for about 2 years and was getting the itch to move on to bigger things.

One day I noticed that one of my classmates had a "Intern Wanted" flyer on his desk. I peaked over and wrote down the phone number. I put the number in my pocket where it stayed for about 2 weeks (yeah, that's how long before I washed my pants!). I was afraid to call the number because it had been so long since I saw the flyer, plus I was turned down a year before to intern for Rick Dees at KIIS-FM. (He wanted pretty girls working for him!) I called and Mitch Lewis answered, he was the producer at the time. "I'm intrested in the intern possition, is there still an opening?" I asked. "Yes," says Mitch.... "When can you come in?" I told him "tomorrow"! "OK, I'll see you tomorrow, be here at 4:30am!" he said.

4:30AM!!!!!!!! My god! I'm a college student, plus I worked 6 to midnight at the college station! How was I going to get up for this??? Well I managed to drag my butt out of bed and before I knew it, I was pulling into the K-Earth 101 studios at 5901 Venice Blvd. Mitch came out and greeted me, he was huffing and puffin' walkin' real fast, all he said was "keep up with me, we walk fast around here!"

I was impressed by what I saw... this was really the first big time radio station I'd ever been in! After about 15 minutes of shadowing Mitch, he looked over at me and said... "Ok, you're going to meet Robert, be prepared, if he doesn't talk to you don't take it personally." Now I had NEVER seen this man, I knew nothing about Boss Radio, KHJ, Solid Gold, Magic 106, KMPC, and so on.... All I knew is that I came across him a few times while scanning radio on my way to college. I remembered who he was because he made all the callers say "Good Morgan".

I pictured him lookin' like a guy in his mid-40's dark hair, skinny and friendly. Oh no!! Was I in for a BIG surprise!!!! I walked into the smoke-filled morning show office (it was the only place in the building you could still smoke in!), and at this desk was a man, I couldn't see his face because he had the L.A. Times blocking it. Mitch says: "Robert, this is Brandon (yes my real name!), he's our new intern." The paper lowers, he looks up at me and says: "How old are you?" I said: "I'm twent...." He interupted me with a big "WHAT?" "I CAN'T HEAR YOU, SPEAK UP GOD DAMMIT!" I yelled: "I'm 21!" He yelled back: "I'm not deaf! Don't yell at me, I just hate it when young kids don't speak up! My daughter's 21, she'll be going to school!" The newspaper goes back up. Mitch looks at me and says: "that's it... let's go..."

I'll continue this story through time on this blog, please check back!

Long Time Listener, First Time "Donor"!!

This week was the 7th Annual K-Frog Blood Drive for the Blood Banks of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. We did a live broadcast from a hospital in Upland. I decided to donate blood live on the air! Oh did I mention, this was my first time??? Yes, after all these years, i've never donated blood. Why? I don't know. I guess I just never gave it much thought... the cause is great don't get me wrong, but I never made the effort to actualy go to a donor location and give! I know there's many out there that were like me. It's really not a bad experience at all.

First of all you fill out an application, answer about 50 medical questions about yourself, just so they're sure you're a safe donor. Afterwards you take an Iron test, this is the part that freaked my out more than anything. They "prick" the tip of your middle finger (ouch!!!, but only for 2 seconds does it hurt!) they squeeze a little drop out and drop it in a liquid. If it sinks you're good to go....

Now you lay down on a bed, a nurse cleans your arm, puts a blood pressure cuff on you and now you're ready to donate! They insert a needle... no worries you don't feel anything but a slight pinch and before you know it, the pain is gone! After about a minute of hooking up the hoses... you're ready to pump!!! Pump??? Yes, they give you a soft ball-like toy to squeeze. The squeezing helps the blood flow out quicker. Now the average donor takes about 7 to 8 minutes to fill up a donor bag... me..... 4 minutes!!!!!

When your done the take the tube out and bandage you up, and tah dah!!! You're done!!! Now for the coolest part, for the next 10 minutes you sit at the recovery table that's loaded with every snack and cookies known to man!!! Chow Down!!! I felt soooo good afterwards knowing that someone will be using my blood to save a life!

ACM's In Vegas BABY!

Well last week I went to Sin City to work the Academy Of Country Music Awards. The trip was paid for by Westwood One, but since we live nearby, they made us drive to Vegas in our own cars! Oh Well! I guess if you consider the time it takes to go to the airport, check in, fly, land, deplane, wait for luggage, wait for taxi, check in to room, it easier just to drive!!

While there we were required to interview a ton of country stars! Here's how it works. We get up early to do our regular 5 to 9am show to the Inland Empire, then at 10am the stars begin to arrive. Now, we're in this conference room with about 35 other radio stations from across the country. Each artist gets escorted around the room to various stations. When they stop at our table, we get exactly 5 minutes with them.... that includes the interview, picture taking, and autographs. They get escorted away and before you know it, another artists is brought in! This goes on for 4 hours!!

Scott and Tommy left on Tuesday after a second round of interviews. That left me to attend the actual awards show on my own. I had a blast! It's amazing how they put on a live national broadcast for the East Coast. They treat it just like you're watching TV. You're get to watch a video feed while the show is going on... even the commercials!!!!

It was the coolest! Afterwards I was invited to attend an after party thrown by Capitol Records. It was an amazing experience! There was a lot of record star power in this room. I couldn't believe I was there! I finally turned in at about 4:30am!! I set a wake up call at 6:30am so I would be able to call in to K-Frog to give a recap of the show. I don't even remember making that call. Later when I returned to the radio station I listened to my mummbling self back on tape!! WOW I was out of it!!!

Finally A New Update - Trip To The DMV!

Finally I actually have time to post a new updated blog!!! Things have been pretty busy here in radio land. We've just kicked off our "Hometown Handshake Tour!" It's that time of year to take the morning show on the road to all the local communities in the Inland Empire area and beyond!

My 33rd birthday was last week. Do I feel older? No. That probably won't happen until I turn 35 or 40. One important thing that I had to take care of before my birthday was to renew my drivers license. I had my old license since 1999! Going to the DMV was quite the adventure. First of all, let me remind you that everyday I get up at 3am!! I get to work at 4am, and usually leave around Noonish. By 2pm it's nap time! Around 4pm I wake up and start working at home on show prep for the next days show. So with that in mind, let me run Monday, April 10th by you.

It was 2 days before my birthday. I knew I needed to get my license renewed before Wednesday the 12th. But before I could do that, I needed to take care of a traffic ticket I received from one of those red light cameras!!!! $300 that I didn't have at the time. Well after work I came home and took care of the ticket online. I called the court to see if my license was clear, so that when I went to renew it, I wouldn't have any problems. They told me "yes" I was clear and there "shouldn't be a problem." Well that wasn't good enough for me. I was paranoid that something wasn't going to be right, so I sacrificed my nap and headed for the nearest DMV..... without an appointment!!

I get the Norco DMV around 2pm (remember, that's nap time!). First I had to stand in a line for 1/2 an hour just so I can tell some dude why I was there! Then he gave me an application to fill out, then he gave me a number and told me to be seated and wait for my number to be called. The running matrix board was scrolling avg. wait times. Non-Appointments: 40 - 50 minutes!!!! My number was finally called and I proceeded to the window. I gave the woman my old license and new application. She looked up and said: "Are you wearing contacts?" Oh my.... I forgot!! I got laser surgery!!! I told her I don't need glasses anymore and she seemed non-impressed. "Cover your right eye and read the letters on the board sir..." Perfect.... "Now cover your left eye and read the letters...." Perfect again! She removed the "corrected lenses required" off my license. NICE!!! So she finally gave me my temporary license and told me to head over to the photo window to take a new picture. Remember, I'm supposed to be napping!!! My eyes are red, my hair is not combed right, I'm not dressed for a picture, and my mind was beginning to get sleepy. (you know the feeling)

So now I head over the photo window.. another line! I get up to take my photo, stand behind the line, look forward, the goofy guy taking the photo says: "Are you camera shy or something??" I glanced up at him cracked and goofy smile and then "FLASH - CLICK" PHOTO TAKEN!!! The result: The UGLIEST PHOTO I'VE EVER TAKEN!!!!

Hollywierd!

Well, another year, another Oscars! Did you watch? I did. I didn't want to, but I had to for work purposes. Jon Stewart I thought did an good job hosting. I kinda figure that if you've never seen his show before, you probably didn't get his material. It's kinda like seeing Dennis Miller for the first time. I enjoyed the opening, it was pretty cleaver. I was surprised to see Letterman, he always makes fun of the fact that he blew as Oscar host in the 90's.

I saw some of the Red Carpet show's. I was watching Joan and Melissa on the TV Guide Channel and during Joan's opening monologue, she was bleeped at various times. I could sort of make out what she was saying and some of her content was questionable. I guess now a days the networks are sensitive to anything that might trigger a fine. Then I switched over to E! to see of Isaac Mazerahi (spelling) was going to grab any breasts! He behaved. Oh well maybe next year!

Less Than Super Sunday!

What a drag! Probably the most boring super bowl I've ever watched in history! Two teams I could care less about..... I've always hated the Steelers, and that was enforced even more when they knocked off my Broncos. And then there's Seattle.... What else is there to say? I guess I was sort of rooting for the Seahawks. My wife and I spent week down there a few years ago. Lovely town!

Now for the commercials! OMG! What the hell is so funny about a Godzilla-like monster getting pregnant with a metal robot?? Everyone at the Super Bowl party I was at just had that stunned "what the hell" look on their faces.

The "Awe... how cute moment" came when that Budweiser spot with the pony pulling the beer cart played. Obviously the ads this year were geared more towards the female audience. The one I liked that won over most of America was the revolving fridge spot from "Bud Light". Love the stoner dudes on the other side. Reminded me of some old high school friends.

I think the most "effective" selling of the product ad that aired was the "Gillette" razor ads. Not Funny... they weren't supposed to be. Instead they actually talked about their product.

All in all I couldn't wait for the game to be over!

Bye for now.....

JB

The State Of American Idol

TV burn-out! Just sat thru the President's State Of The Union Speech and American Idol! Do you think the president will ever come on and say: "Ladies and gentlemen, the state of our union is..... well it sucks!!" I THINK NOT! I want my 52 minutes back! I like watching the speech for various entertainment reasons. First of all, it cracks me up to see grown men and women play the "clap for my guy - don't clap for my guy" routine. The President will say something.... only one half of the chamber applauds..... please!! Ever notice the VP and Speaker of the House dudes behind the President? I swear they almost doze off about 10 times during the whole thing! By the way... he did say "New-Cler"!

Then came American Idol afterwards...... I saw the funniest rendition of "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix A Lot.... Some HUGE large rumped woman from S.F. was singing it and slappin' her BIG booty! LOL LOL LOL!!!!

Anyways...... My eyes have now settled down from the surgery I had last week. Everything is a o.k.!

Check back soon!!

Dr. My Eyes!

We'll it's Thursday night and I'm all done with work. Today was a little tough for my new eyes. I had to take a couple of Tylenol. I was out all day yesterday and I think the lack of rest made my eyes real sensitive. After a nice loooonnnggg nap this afternoon everything feels much better.

I'm watching Access Hollywood right now... Paris Hilton is singing.... what the hell??? I guess all you need is $$$$$ and you can do anything... right???

I kinda bummed out that my wife and I can't attend the K-Frog Poker Run event in Glamis this weekend. Dr.'s tell me that I might get blowing sand in my eyes... not a good idea. Anyway, next weekend in Super Bowl Sunday! Football and guacamole! Yumm!

I Can See Clearly Now........

Well it's Tuesday and I CAN SEE!!! I went in for Laser Eye Surgery yesterday and WOW what an experience! I woke up this morning and without thinking about it, reached for my glasses that were no longer there! My eyes feel a little funky right now.... kind of like how they feel when you've been swimming all day... or like a bad allergy. I highly recommend this to anyone with glasses!

Last Night With The Specs!

Monday night...... no more football.... Watching "King Of Queens". Probably won't make it to 9pm. Missed out on my daily nap today. I guess I'm full of excitement because tomorrow I'm going in for Laser Eye Surgery! Finally! I've been trying to do this for, it seems like, forever!

I was remembering the first time I got my glasses. I has just graduated from 8th grade... I was blind as a bat! I remember seeing a lawn sprinkler for the first time.... I could see all the water droplets! Amazing...... I could see airplanes..... raindrops.... blades of grass. The TV looked weird at first. It was hard to focus because now I could see the actual "screen". The first movie I saw with glasses was "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". My aunt rented on VHS. I think I'm going to go out and buy the DVD version and watch it just for kicks!

I bought my first pair of sunglasses today in preparation for the surgery. The only pair I have are prescription. The last pair I had were the old Carls Jr. sunglasses they were selling in the summer of 1988! Remember those?

I'll let you know how the surgery goes!

Zap!

Sunday Sucked! Well At Least This One Did!!

Oh well, I guess we'll do it next year!!! So I sat at home watching the Steelers lay into my Broncos. Had a couple of ham sandwiches in the first half.... Needed a antacid by the 3rd quarter! Of course I got a couple of calls from relatives and co-workers to harass me.... I was prepared! No worries, I'm just glad my boys had a great season! Tomorrow should be interesting....

It's Finally Friday!

Hey everyone it's Jeremiah Bullfrog! Hope all is well! It was a busy week at work and now the weekend is here! I'm awaiting the BIG game Sunday... BRONCOS BABY!!!