Sunday, August 31, 2014

HOORAY:1 Russian view!


this just in...my first Russian view in months!  Maybe it's VLAD?

FOR LIVE UKRAINE VIEW SEE AFTER MOSCOW CLICK.... 
         
 ...We used to get bunches of Russian views to this blog each day...however for about a month or so no Russian's have checked in to read what I've been saying about "Vlad"!

So...in an effort to find out if this is some kind of censorship I popped up my favorite WEBCAM Galore and click on some cams in Moscow to see if they were working.

It wasn't extensive research...and after about ten minutes I came up with what looks like a live Russian webcam in Moscow.  At least the cars are moving(which is better than most U.S. cities!)

We now take you LIVE to Andropov Avenue...MOSCOW


here it is...give it a click: (then wait...be patient in a few seconds...after the screen goes dark it will go LIVE from Moscow!)


click below:


http://www.probkiizokna.ru/showcam.php?cam_id=8498


UKRAINE (equal time)

for a nice LIVE view of SUMY  (Nighttime shot...Soborna Street) click here:

http://tema2000.com.ua/en/component/content/article/164.html


stanmajor@aol.com

The GOLD STAR PIN



         ....the Gold Star Pin...
I never realized this existed until I saw the tv spot that just “knocks me out” every time.
I am an emotional human being and I wait for the Army officer in full uniform to stop and salute the young man wearing the Gold Pin.
I have tears as I write this.
We have no one in my family who was lost in any war or conflict...my Father served in both world War I and World War II.
My brother-in-law Frank was in the Navy in WW2 and I myself served during the Korean War. 
We all came back home safe and sound.

Here is the official page for you to find out what this is all about:



my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

Saturday, August 30, 2014

don't miss my first play Sunday!


The big game is back......so here's a repost about one of the greats of the game!

Lenny Dawson of the Kansas City Chiefs

  ...The new weather forecast for the Kansas City area cleared the wire in the KMBC newsroom(TV & Radio) during my nightly talk show.
   The guy who was responsible each night for bringing it to me in the studio was none other than Kansas City Chiefs all star quarterback Lenny Dawson.  Len was sports director of the station and there about every night.
    I, of course, would take advantage of that and get him to sit down for a few minutes when I didn’t have another guest and chat about the upcoming Sunday game.
   We seem to hit it off...Lenny had gained fame at Purdue and I was at Illinois for one semester...after my Army years.
   One night he was in an exceptionally good mood so I ask him to take us through some plays.
  “I have no idea what goes on in the huddle, Lenny, so run some plays for us.”
  He took off his suit coat jacket (for TV) and proceeded to call a dozen or so plays like he was in the huddle.  It was a gas...and I’m sure my radio audience enjoyed it as much as I did.
  One Friday evening with a big game coming up Sunday...Lenny waited until I went to a break and was off the air in the studio and whispered in my ear:
 “Don’t miss our first play Sunday”.  Said with a twinkle in his eye.
  I turned the tv on ten minutes before gametime so I wouldn’’t miss the first play.
  The first play came up...and...Dawson fired one of the longest passes ever downfield for a Chief’s touchdown!
   I should have made some kind of a bet on it!
   Lenny would lead the Chiefs to three American Football League (AFL) championships.
   The Chiefs went to the Superbowl in January of 1970 when I was an NBC News correspondent in Vietnam.  I sent Lenny from a wire from Saigon...telling him “go get em” meaning their NFL opponent the Vikings. Lenny posted the wire in the locker room before the game.
   He won...23-7 and was named MVP of the game!

contact: 
stanmajor@aol.com

seeing the future in 1970

one of my favorite posts!


1970...back to the future...with a phone installer!

        Back in 1970 when I finished my fun times in Vietnam and Cambodia...our new house out at the farms was finished (you’ll recall I burned down the old one...an accident that had nothing to do with losing that Congressional race!)  Now we had to deal with the phone company.
        The company at the time was called General Telephone (now GTE) and they primarily served rural areas like ours in the midwest....and they were crap.
        MY dealings with this company in the past were not good so I was concerned about what the installer was up to.
        He and I got into a discussion about the various colored wires he was placing in each box on the wall.  There was a red, a green, a yellow and I guess maybe a few others...and I wondered what they were all for.
        Now remember this was 1970...and there was just over-the -air televison...no cable as yet...at least not where we lived in the Illinois boonies.
        He said “come over here and I’ll explain the future in this box of wires.”
 And he “knocked my socks off” with what he told me.

        “This black wire, he said “is for your telephone.”  
        "The blue wire is for an additional line you might want sometime in the future."  
       
        "The red line well...that is for television...it’s called cable and is capable of bringing in multi channels of televison...maybe up to a hundred!”  
 Wow.  I was stunned!  And here I’ve been in the broadcasting business all my life.
        But then he really slam dunked me with the next wire.

        “That green one there is for your computer.”
        “My what.”
        “Your computer.  Everyone will have a computer or maybe a couple of them in their home in the future.”
        Now this was just too much.
 You have to understand we all considered General Telephone to be the worst phone company in the world and this guy is laying all this far, far reaching into the future stuff on me from a phone company which was so antiquated they couldn’t even give us a private line yet!

       But look at it today.  That box with all those wires and all of them are being used for the things he just calmly mentioned back in 1970.
       It’s like a miracle come true in communications and somebody somewhere invented that stuff at that crummy company and officials of that same company were farsighted enough to ok the huge expense of preparing for the future we all enjoy.
       One wonders who the guy was who conceived this in the 60’s yet...and the top officials he had to convince to roll the dice on installing something  that probably would not show a profit for decades to come.
       Wow, again.  
        I took back everything I’d ever said about that phone company.

my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Robin Williams speaks to me!



       ....The ghost of Robin Williams came to me in a dream tonight.
“Hi there Major...how ya doing?”
“Better than you Robin”  and he laughed that famous laugh for me.
“I’ve sold more magazines dead than I ever did alive!”
“Funny guy even now, Robin.” I replied.
“I’m here so you can pass along my very best wishes to my good friend Joan Rivers who’s having problems now.”
“I’ll do that Robin.”
“Now there...is a funny lady!”
and with that the ghost of Robin Williams disappeared.
A very funny man walking into history.

my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

making $ off a dead man!




    ....BURN THE TABLOIDS!

I’ve got  great idea to make something you do worthwhile and see yourself go viral on the internet:
By a bunch of tabloids...and magazines at the check out counter...those that have been picking over poor Robin William's dead body...call the tv stations....and schedule a huge bonfire in front of Walmart (or wherever) and burn the damn things up!
Make a point for humanity!  
This stuff is just too much. Why can’t they just leave the guy in peace...they way he belongs.  He never did bad stuff to anybody.  Does he deserve this treatment....it’s just plain sick.  Trying to make a buck off a dead guy who never hurt a flea.
---------------------------------
        ATTENTION OLD ALBUQUERQUE!
I’m holding in my hand from my wonderful Mother’s huge (I mean really big) scrapbook of our family’s long...really long Western vacation back in 1960...the menu of La Placita Restaurant.
   I just checked and sure enough that dinning establishment is STILL there...going strong since 1935!
Here’s the rundown on what we ordered and how much it cost in 1960.
Sister Sally and Mom...had “Jugo de Fruta con Tostados...Chili Rellenos con Queso and for their main dish...Torta de Huevos con Pollo and Tortillas a Sopaipillas.  cost: $1.35
Dad and Stanley...doing the real men routine...had the T-bone Steak... French Fries and Chef’s Salad.  cost: $2.25.
I only copy these for you to note the prices...and note that I am now the biggest Tex-Mex food eater in the world!  But then I’d never had the stuff...so I was a chicken!

here’s the Old Albuquerque click:


my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

people calling a LIVE talk show all night long!



CLICK ON LINK AT END OF THIS POST TO LISTEN TO THE STAN MAJOR .....NATIONAL ALL NIGHT SHOW!
...Randy was one of our “original” listeners to the first LIVE all night talk show in America when it began in 1992. He was right...there were NO live talk programs that a guy like him or his buddy, Bill, could call in toll free and participate in the discussions.
I got the idea for the show by doing just what he describes, dialing eveywhere on AM & FM but it was just re-feeds of Larry King’s earlier program...along with a few others from earlier hours in the evening.
The Sun Net in Clearwater had three satillites orbiting ready for us and off we went.
----------------------------------

©1992, 2014,Randy Tedford
title: A "Major" Change in Late Night Conversations
THE NIGHT WATCH
by Randy Tedford

“It sure gets lonely out here on the night watch from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am. While the Friday and Saturday night shifts are usually busier, I find a feeling of isolation especially prevalent Sunday through Thursday nights. There wasn't anything that would remedy the feeling. Until last fall, that is.

Before I continue, take a moment and mentally place yourself in a what is supposedly a constantly moving metal box. Atop this box you'll find a siren and blue light bar. Along its sides are markings that, for all the words they display, could be simply translated into one word, "COP". Inside, there is the sporadic squawking of a two-way radio. Lights and gauges flash their sometimes important, but mostly redundant, information to you, the sole occupant. You are a knight of the night, waiting for the next call of distress or the next violation to occur. There are dragons to be slain everywhere.

There is no one to talk to as you cruise through the darkened streets. You've visited every all-night convenience store and have consumed enough coffee to raise the Titanic. Monotony creeps in like a panther stalking its prey. With weary eyes, you not only prowl the streets, but the store fronts and roof tops, too. Nothing is moving except you and your metal box.

Your subconscious mind tells you how nice it would be to have a partner to talk with. On the conscious level, you notice you're actually acknowledging that thought. You're telling the dashboard, the steering wheel, and the darkness on the other side of the windshield that you want to hear a human voice other than the dispatcher's or your own.

Have I got you in a sufficiently ominous mood? Do you feel the solitude that is imposed upon a cop moving through the night, enclosed in an automobile? Good. Now I'm now going to tell you about the cure I found with the help of another Oak Ridge Police Department officer.

Last November, while working "the night watch", I stopped to spend a couple of minutes talking with ORPD Officer Bill Griffith. He'd also been driving most of the shift and had played "radio dial roulette", searching for something to listen to on the AM-FM radio. Bill and I both tire of the same kind of music every night. And we've tried talk radio before, but we all we got were recorded repeats of Tom Snyder, Larry King and a few others.

Before I had a chance to say much more than "howdy", Bill told me to tune my radio to 92.7 mhz (WLIQ-FM in Harriman, TN.). While I did so, he began telling me about the programming. 

Bill had begun a journey through the radio tuner. He hit the jackpot and found himself listening to a new, all-night, L-I-V-E, radio talk show hosted by a man named Stan Major. I agreed to tune in and listen for the remainder of the shift.

It didn't take long before I was hooked on this show. Stan Major does five hours of live talk radio, five nights a week over the Sun Radio Network. Excerpts from previous shows are rebroadcast on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Due to a rotating work schedule, I only get to listen to Stan Major one out of every four weeks. Even then, my listening time is controlled by what the workload will allow. Starting at 12 midnight, until the show goes off the air at 5:00 am, I keep one ear on the police radio and one ear tuned to Stan Major.

Just about every topic is open for discussion with a few suggestions made at the start of the show. Stan Major is knowledgeable on many topics, but never seems to try to out-talk his callers. His approach appears to be to allow an interesting caller the opportunity to say what is on her or his mind. Only in jest have I heard him mimic Larry King's infamous line, "What's the question?". He does not appear to be as conservative as Rush Limbaugh and is not as confused as Tom Snyder. He is definitely more enjoyable than a taped program.

I've never heard Stan Major cut off a caller whose political beliefs were diametrically opposed to his, even if it is obvious that a difference exists. He will, however, show you the "radio door" if you attempt to sling half-truths or baseless accusations across his air time. I don't always agree with what he or his callers may say, but it is most often interesting. I've noticed that listening and comparing my thoughts on various topics does keep me more mentally alert.

While he will often have an interesting guest for the first hour, the majority of the show is available for call-in commentary from the listeners. (And, yes, while off duty, I've stayed up late enough to hear portions of the show and have actually called in a couple of times.)

Sometime in the last few years, I read that listening to music on the radio, regardless of the tempo or volume, is not really any help if you're trying to stay awake while driving. Whatever I was reading went on to tell that listening to talk radio would be more likely to help keep you awake and alert.

The Stan Major Show works for me. You other night owls ought to try it, too.”
-----------------------------
My thanks Randy...then and now.
Now for a REAL surprise.  Click below and listen to an aircheck we did for that All Night Show.

my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

radio stations ate this up!





....How LIVE all night National talk radio really began!!!
and about getting NO credit for the invention of it!
-----------------------------

Miami 1991
     Sometime in 1991 I sat in my car very late at night and dialed around the radio.  The only talk shows I heard were re-runs from that day...most were Larry King off his Mutual network show which was live from about 9 or 10 at night until about 1 am.  Then Mutual re-fed the show for the late, late night folks.
    There was basically NO live talk on the air all night.
    An acquaintance in Miami Beach had told me of a small network that had set up shop in the Clearwater/St.Petersburg area in Tampa bay.
    I called and made an appointment to meet with the boss man there the next day.  His name was Bill Wardino and he liked the idea of a live national talk show from midnight to 5AM each night.
    At that time I had no idea who the moneymen were behind the Sun Radio Network.  It didn’t take long to find out.  
    I would be following the Tom Valentine show and Tom was sponsored by Spotlight...a conservative publication backed by Willis Carto of Liberty Lobby. 
    I didn’t care.  Nobody talked that stuff to me...nobody said we’ll put your new show on the air for five hours a night but you have to toe the Liberty Lobby party line. I had free rein and nothing was ever said about content...although Carto loved my Kennedy assassination shows.
    Money was flowing freely into the network to make it work.    My deal was....I sell advertising...I keep the money.  They liked that as they were getting me for free...but they did pay me a stipend which was helpful in the initial stages of the show.  The network could also sell spots on the show and keep their share.
    The part that really worked was Wardino and our new affiliate guy...Bill Miller.  In the next nine years of live national talk I would never work with anyone as smart and successful at getting stations as Miller. My show would move through four or five networks and nobody came close to Bill for getting new stations on line.
    We were helped by Wardino who contacted “Talkers”...a brand new publication on talk radio and worked a deal for advertising with them.
    Miller devised some ads about me and the show and I was surprised to see them as full page ads in Talkers each week for months and months.  This and Bill’s constant emails and calls to potential stations began to pay off and before the first six months ended we had a strong station list and I was able to pick up some excellent advertisers like Oreck VacuumCleaners, Gold Bond and Ovaltine...and several money making outfits pushing gold or investing deals.
    Wardino also helped by arranging trade for hotel rooms in the area for me as I had to remain in the area Monday thru Friday and then drive back to Ft. Lauderdale and return Sunday nights.  I was really living out of suitcases for months.  I missed my family and the baby but things were getting exciting with the show.
    The station list just kept growing. I had no competition in 1991-92.  It wasn’t difficult to get stations to commit...the enticement was their listeners could now call an 800 number and participate in our discussions. The name Art Bell was  unfamiliar...I think he was on a few stations in the northwest...but my show was already on KVI Seattle...KSDO San Diego...WWRC Washington DC...KLIF Dallas...WTIX New Orleans...WXYT Detroit plus about 50 other stations.
   One station...KDXU St. George, Utah had a powerful signal booming into southern California resulting in calls from Los Angeles and San Diego and all parts nearby.  In fact some nights my show would sound like it was based in L.A. which made me happy as hell!  (Remember all those times I drove out to L.A. looking for work?)  
   Within the first year I was picked up in several Florida markets...WBZT West Palm Beach (probably regularly listened too by Rush Limbaugh who once got a call about me and responded that he didn’t like my politics)...WWNZ Orlando (great because I got free suites and dinners for years at the fabulous Peabody Hotel...which included doing my show live from that hotel a few times.)...WHNZ Tampa and in Melbourne, Key West, Vero Beach, Panama City and Naples.

my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

Monday, August 25, 2014

Selena...THE LAST TWINKIE!

Twinkie Cates
Gomez: The Last Twinkie?





oh no!  The TWINKIE plant is closing!
No kidding...no more Twinkie’s again (this happened before.)
So...Selena Gomez may truly be “the very last” of the “Twinkie” chicks....in Stan Major history.
Oh we’ve had some good ones thru the years...hot girls who’s elevator didn’t exactly go up to the higher floors!
Brooke..Phoebe, Sandra, Annette, etc...great bunch of “twinkies”!
Oh and don’t forget Neil & Stan’s favorite....Donna Rice!
here’s more on the Twinkie plant closing:

------------------------
This stuff about the Ferguson, Mo shooting...has now developed into another ‘WAG THE DOG” for Obama.
I’m not talking about the actual shooting which is tragic...but to see the “not for profit” “do-gooders” jumping on the media band wagon because that’s where the media is.  
And guess what we haven't heard a word about for days:  
The border problem!  
    Isn’t it interesting Obama’s got more officials at the kids funeral than he’s got down on the border.  It’s a WagThe Dog and the media fell for it and loves every minute of it!
You see...the liberal media has a real problem reporting the border crossing...but no problem reporting a white cop shooting a black kid.

my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

Sunday, August 24, 2014

WOMAN WANTED for Crazy Isis, before another beheading!


                            
...Get “Crazy Isis” a woman  for god’s sake.
...surely the big bad CIA has chicks for this kind of thing!
Get him laid well and maybe he’ll stop chopping off heads!
Find one who will keep him busy! 
...then slit his damn throat!
We need another “Geronimo” for God and country “Geronimo”!
-----------------------------
Stop worring about Obama playing golf.  The way he’s been doing things in the Oval Office makes his golf game look great!  He’s another guy who could use a good lay!
----------------------------


Surrogacy in Thailand: 
Big Biz In Thailand
Big $$$ in baby business.

Thailand --- A commercial surrogacy ring has "exported" more than 100 babies and earned more than $1.95 million each year.

For more, please visit: 


my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

Saturday, August 23, 2014

World in Crises, baby in crises

THIS IS A STAN MAJOR BLOG instant REPOST!

   
We still  need your good thoughts and wishes...


A new brand new baby named J.R. has arrived in our family.
.....But the little tot continues to have some breathing issues.
I want to use this blog for a good purpose...so if anyone in the 81 nations agrees...
just pause for a moment and “wish baby JR in America good health” ....and yes...we are asking again but wouldn't you?  
I’m sure his parents and the rest of us would be so grateful for that.
-------------------------
Who knows....maybe the internet CAN be used for 
something GOOD!
We all thank you for your well wishes.



my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

Thursday, August 21, 2014

baby needs well wishers...tell ALL your friends!


   
We need your good thoughts and wishes...


A new brand new baby named J.R. has arrived in our family.
.....But the little tot has some breathing issues.
I want to use this blog for a good purpose...so if anyone in the 81 nations agrees...
just pause for a moment and “wish baby JR in America good health” ....  
I’m sure his parents and the rest of us would be so grateful for that.
-------------------------
Who knows....maybe the internet CAN be used for 
something GOOD!
We all thank you for your well wishes.



my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

Elvis serves more than HITS!

Sgt. Elvis Germany 58-60!

Then I began another experiment.
I had about a half dozen friends at big stations around the country.  I got a box of records from an artist named Troy Shondell...and as an experiment to see if I could make this crummy record a hit just by asking my buddies to play it. I sent it to them...
they did play it...and you can check to see that Tory's THIS TIME was
one of the top ten records in 1960.

Getting fired...well almost.

I have to be careful how I write this so bear with me.
As PD it was my job to program the records WJJD would play and how often.  We generally based this on Cashbox Magazine which was everyone’s bible.  Nobody even read Billboard.  Now...all the libraries have Billboard and has a lot of information on record popularity our of sink with that Cashbox had.  It’s a shame but nothing can be done.
There is someone trying to keep the Cashbox dream alive and they contacted me a few years ago because they had read something I wrote about using Billboard for toilet paper.  You might Goggle:
Cashbox Magazine
                  and see what pops up. a whole bunch...take your choice⁄
One of the big record companies representatives kept giving me a hard time...I wasn’t caving in to his records as much as he wanted...so I finally had enough and bared him from the station.
Turns out he was friendly with company execs who didn’t take kindly to my decision on the guy.
Orders were giving to fire me over this.  I was giving two weeks notice as we were an AFTRA (American Federation of Tv & radio union)
operation.
They brought in a nice guy named Mel Hall...and he assessed the situation quickly and ask me to be his sign ON guy.  This was a tough shift..getting down to Michigan Avenue at the river at about 3:30-3:45AM six days a week to sign the powerful station on at 4AM.  I would do a DJ shift until the funny sing off at 7AM and then the regular morning guy would follow me. 
I would be free from 7AM until 4am the next day.  Not bad except for the winter snow blizzards and winds that chill every bone in your body off the lake.  I took the job...never saw anyone...no record promoters...no management types.  I did this for some months until I just couldn’t take the weather anymore. 
I had the Hollywood blues and decided to pull up stakes and give LA one more try.

stanmajor@aol.com

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Chicago (Part 2)





As the new PD at WJJD I had to make some decisions that would reflect the music...more than the personalities.
As a result I fired Jack Spector.  That’s right...THE Jack Spector who wasn’t a big name yet....but who would return to New York City and become one of the WMCA “Good Guys”.  He’d be working for a long time.
   And he never thanked  me for canning him!
I would have a similar situation in 1985 after five years of talk in Philadelphia at WWDB(FM).  Change of ownership brought in new managers and they bounced me out.
If that hadn’t have happened I probably wouldn’t have come to Miami (again),,,wouldn’t have worked again with my friend Neil Rogers nor would I have met my lovely wife, Lauri, who bore me a son, Christopher in 1988.  Chris has made life worth living for me with all the ups and downs of my profession.
Also...when the Miami run ended I then got this great idea to do a national midnight talk show...LIVE... inviting listeners to call in from all over the country.  There was no LIVE national program like this at the time, 1992, and we hit a gold mine doing it! 
But there’ll be alot more on this later.
We had some trouble with the City of Chicago...the police...and about a thousand unhappy concert fans who couldn’t get into see a station sponsored show featuring (I think) Johnny Rivers.  He had the number one record at the time and we booked a “too small” arena and couldn’t handle the crowd.  There was a riot.  Memphis and local management came down on me but I just shrugged as it was great publicity for us. And it showed the impact we were having in the city.
Then...there was “Stan Major’s mystery girl” or something like that.  
I was shopping at Marshall Fields Department store and I noticed this real beautiful girl doing the same.
I went on my show the next day and out of the blue...started challenging her to call in.  I described what she looked like..what she was wearing and the time and place I spotted her. I punched it between record for about an hour. 
She called.  It WAS her (I had not revealed a couple of things and she confirmed them.) How’s that for impact. Out of the millions of females in Chicagoland this one I chose actually heard the show and called to confirm.    Wow.  We were riding high.
end Part 2

stanmajor@aol.com