Rocco's Rants

2011-04-02T04:58:00.001-07:00

Rotten Russell's Rescue Ranch is in need of blankets, towels, pillow shams, etc. A no-kill shelter, they rescue not just Jacks, but all dogs. Please help them continue their great work! → cinrome@aol.com http://amplify.com/u/bxfd0

Mentally unstable or fascism?

2011-01-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

A question that just has to be asked: If this "ejaculate inside a used condom", who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, were of middle eastern lineage, would news organizations be so quick to describe him/her as being mentally unstable? And if this is truly the situation, what role does Sarah Palin's depiction of Gabrielle Giffords in the cross hairs of a rifle scope play in all of this? And what about the hateful, venomous broadcasting of Glenn Beck: Here's what N.Y. Daily News columnist Michael Daly says: "Palin would no doubt say that she was only speaking in metaphor, that she only meant her followers should work to unseat Giffords and 19 other Democrats who had roused her ire by voting for health care. But anyone with any sense at all knows that violent language can incite actual violence, that metaphor can incite murder. At the very least, Palin added to a climate of violence." I don't know about you, but this certainly sounds like the work of the Nazis of the 30s. Fascism is alive and well and growing in the U.S. Ok, apologists, you're turn.

2010-11-30T06:29:00.001-08:00

This week on “Two Of A Kind”, it’s “Angel Dance” originally done by the Grammy winning band Los Lobos and legendary rocker Robert Plant’s funky interpretation. Enjoy and vote for your favorite on Radio W.T.H. http://www.radiowth.com http://amplify.com/u/gvhi

2010-10-08T15:48:00.001-07:00

Not quite sure what the requirements are for play-by-play person for T.B.S., but if Ernie Johnson can do it then anyone can do it! What are they thinking down there in Atlanta? Except for Ron Darling, it's nearly unwatchable. http://amplify.com/u/c44z

2010-10-08T13:19:00.001-07:00

Since I'm picking up lottery tickets later: An interesting fact about October 2010: This October has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays, all in 1 month. It happens once in 823 years. These are money bags. Paste this on your status and money will appear in 4 days. Based on Chinese fengshui. Whoever stops this will experience none. http://amplify.com/u/c3u1

2010-10-08T13:00:00.001-07:00

I am the reason for you to set your clocks for 6AM ET on Saturdays!! It's an All-Classic weekend on I95. Some of these bad boys you haven't heard in awhile. Plus it's the snappy patter that your crave! http://i95rock.com http://amplify.com/u/c3rw

2010-10-08T12:56:00.001-07:00

2010-10-08T12:54:00.001-07:00

Peppers & Egg Fritatta tonight!! http://amplify.com/u/c3rs

2010-10-08T12:52:00.001-07:00

Jazz Stew's latest: Lazy, Rainy, Sundays, Coffee & Stew! There's also a Sunday Breakfast Bake recipe on the Recipe Page. If you haven't sampled Jazz Stew, try the archive page...it's all Good & Delicious. http://jazzstew.com http://amplify.com/u/c3rp

2010-10-08T12:43:00.001-07:00

http://www.google.com to see how Google is celebrating John Lennon's 70th birthday. http://amplify.com/u/c3qw

2010-10-08T12:37:00.001-07:00

At the time of John Lennon's murder, David Sancious recorded a stunning solo version of "Across The Universe" for WNEW-FM. Over the years, and that's many, I've tried procuring it to no avail. If you have it, why not share it? It's absolutely amazing. http://amplify.com/u/c3qc

It was 40 years ago today, that Sargent Pepper took our lives away!

2010-05-01T03:51:00.000-07:00

May 4, 1970. I was student at Kent State. I was on my way to an Italian language class. The Professor, a tiny Italian woman from Rome, started the class. She faced the windows with a view of the outside. In less than 10 minutes she gasped, her face lost all color and, in her broken English said, "...You should all leave!". We looked at each other and with shrug and an expression of, "what was that" on our faces, we left the classroom. I headed to my dorm to find friends or maybe they's be in the cafeteria. I had to pass the old football stadium where they had the P.A. blaring a News radio station from Cleveland. Here's what the newscaster reported: "2 National Guardsmen killed and 2 students injured on the Kent State University campus....". When I got to the dorm my head was spinning. I tried finding roommates. No one was around. I went to get my mail on the first floor. As I came downstairs I had a view of the Commons where a sea of people were sitting. The Commons is an open space where students threw Frisbees, hung out on a blanket reading or perhaps "making out". However on May 4th, the Commons was the route the National Guard took to fire into a crowd of students, taking four lives. The Guards final destination was the parking lot, behind the Architecture building, right next door to my dormitory.

I made my way through the crowd and found one of my roomies, Lew Goldberg from Fairlawn, N.J. He was visibly upset and nearly in tears. When I told Lew what the news was reporting he screamed, "They're liars! They killed 4 kids!". It was at this point that everything changed. I was 19, trying to get a college degree, but Ohio's Governor James Rhodes, who called the Guard into Kent, decided that none of us might make it. As I was trying to make sense of what was happening, a sobbing Professor was on a bullhorn urging us to disperse because the Guard's guns were loaded and they'd take more lives. Then, just minutes later, we were told that the University was closed and we were to leave. Really?! Where to? A few of us, from all over the country, got into a friends "hippie" van and headed to Pittsburgh. Trouble was that he was on fumes. We all chipped in to buy gas. We stopped at one gas station. I remember it being a Phillips 66. Closed. No problem - there's another one just down the road. Closed. As we pulled out, I looked out of the rear window and noticed a representative of every law enforcement department in Ohio on the rear bumper of the van, lights flashing, sirens blaring. We pulled over and the doors were flung open and voices screamed at us to get out with our hands up! I was just in Italian class!! This was surreal and truly an out of body experience! We were put up against the wall, in true 60s style, and frisked. The only woman with us was frisked and I could see that this sheriff, cop or whatever he was, took his time and was enjoying himself. We explained that we were students from Kent State trying to gas up and leave the city, the law enforcement representatives said that it looked like we were looking for gas to make Molotov Cocktails in this "hippie" van. Sorry but back then, these law enforcement representatives were truly pigs!

After we were let go, we decided to stop in the next town, Ravenna. Here we could gas up and get something to drink. Inside the gas station there was a woman customer and a woman behind the counter. They were discussing what happened earlier at Kent State. One said to the other that they found 2 of the students not wearing any underwear. I believe this is the very first time, in my 19 years, that I uttered, "What the fuck?". We couldn't leave any faster!

We reached Pittsburgh without further incident in the "hippie" van and we were fed and put up for the night at Chuck's parents house. (Forgive me, Chuck...I've forgotten your last name.) His parents let all of us call home to let our parents know that we were physically OK. Imagine having a kid at college, hearing about the shootings and not being able to get in touch with your kid. No cell phones, email or internet. The next day, they drove us to the airport and Lew and I flew back to New York. We had to finish our classes via mail.

It's been 40 year's and the impact on all of us, who were students at Kent State, is still with us. For me, I can never trust a politician again. After all, Governor Rhodes was running for Senate on a "law & order" plank in his platform. Kent State was an ideal way for him to prove, to his constituency, that he meant business by calling in the Ohio National Guard. The blood of 4 kids is still on his hands.

Crime And Punishment Rocco Style

2010-04-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

I'm a reasonable person.....really. In fact, if you knew me, you'd say that I lean toward being a liberal. But enough is enough! At a party, 5 young men had sexual intercourse with a 7 year old. Yes, you read correctly, a 7 year old. It was a gang bang. Of course the 7 year old's 15 year old sister 'gave' her sister to these scumbag miscreants. By the way, the 15 year old was 'charging' for sex during this party. So what should be done with these six columns of fecal matter? The males should have their sexual organs cut off, without any pain killers, and let them bleed out until they are dead. The 15 year old sister should have her ovaries and fallopian tubes pulled out via her vagina. All of this shown on national television. It should be mandatory that all high schools and colleges have assemblies and all students should be forced to watch. Let the the 6 animal's screams be forever etched in the student's minds so that they all would know what's in store for anyone who would dare do something similar. Oh! If you're a priest and have sexually abused a child - boy or girl - you're going to face the same fate. If you're the head of a small nation and a church and you're proven to have helped these bastards in any way, you should also face the same fate. There's no excuse for this.....EVER!

How come it's always the air staff and never, ever Sales?

2009-04-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at Clear Channel, another 590 folks lost their jobs. The vast majority were on-air people or support people like Creative Directors and Production Directors. Even Receptionists! Several people at headquarters got the ax too....all Marketing folks. How come Sales is rarely touched? How come they come away unscathed? At clusters where you have 3 Sales Managers each making 6-figures and none of them make 'budget', how is it that they're still employed? Instead groups like Clear Channel get rid of local air talent to save money. Their rationale for this is that they can bring in syndicated shows or voice-tracked shows to save money. I've got new for all of these radio groups: this will not work! It's like putting a styptic pencil on a very large cut! Back in the Spring Book in the Stamford/Norwalk, CT market, I did nights at Oldies WKHL. I was up against Delilah who was on WEBE. Delilah, for those who don't know, is a syndicated show. I kicked her ass with the result that WEBE dropped Delilah. My point is that a solid, good local program always beats a syndicated program. Now, if Sales Managers and their minions can't sell ratings, then it's time for them to lose their jobs. Why are you in the radio business? To sell air time! Sorry....the economy is not an excuse. In fact, cut your rate card and go back to people you've pitched before and tell them that you'll slash the rates even more. Isn't a little money better than no money? Radio lost control when Sales took over from Programming. It will never, ever recover as long as Sales suits are in control. They've no idea how to sell. They only know how to count beans.

Rocco's Rants

2009-03-11T10:02:00.001-07:00

Jazz Stew

2008-10-01T05:11:00.000-07:00

Some years ago I had the great fortune of working at WJAZ-FM in Stamford, CT. It was a great sounding radio station that played Jazz. Now with Jazz on terrestrial radio being close to gravely ill, my friend Annie Taylor and I have been working on a Jazz podcast. She calls it "Jazz Stew". Each podcast has a different theme. We have 4 so far and are about to produce a new one. Go to --

http://jazzstew.podOmatic.com/

and see what you think. If you like it, please tell everyone you know. Or at least e-mail everyone in your address book who you think would appreciate "Jazz Stew".

Disgraziata!

2008-06-17T05:16:00.000-07:00

In 2002, Nelson Doubleday sold his ownership share of the Met's to Fred Wilpon. At the time I told people that we would rue that day and that day has arrived. After all wasn't it Fred "Coupon" who did NOT want to trade for Mike Piazza but Nelson said to do it? Wasn't it Fred "Coupon" who balked at signing Vladimir Guerrero because of his 'back problems'? How's that working out for you Fred? The man and his son Jeff are wealthy, but that does NOT mean that they have class. It's like being in radio: you may get paid to be on the radio, but that doesn't mean that you're a pro. The Wilpon's own the Mets and they can do what they want with the team. But the manner in which they terminated Willie Randolph was so over the top classless that even George "Carpetbagger" Steinbrenner is embarrassed! And George The Carpetbagger was the worst! Now Fred and son have outdone George! Disgraziata!!

Build that beautiful new stadium, name the 'rotunda' the "Jackie Robinson Rotunda", bring in new personnel on the field, even replace Omar Minaya because his track record isn't the best, but you are classeless and will always be classless. If you had to fire anyone, you should have fired your hair stylists because you both look like 'cafoni'.

What's Wrong With Public Radio?

2008-05-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

I enjoy Public Radio. It does broadcast music and subject matter that it's commercial contemporaries can't air due to stockholder commitments. However, why is Jazz, one of this country's true art forms, rarely broadcast on Public Radio? Here in Coastal Connecticut, I can get a station from the U. Of Hartford that does program some Jazz. The community station in Bridgeport programs some Jazz a few times a week. But why is there no full-time Jazz station in Connecticut or on the East End of Long Island? Yes, the station at Southampton College/L.I.U. broadcasts quite a bit of jazz, but you also get "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" cutting quite a few hours of Jazz out of the 'broadcast day'. If you scan across the non-commercial end of the FM band during morning drive and afternoon drive day parts, you'll get 6 to 8 stations all broadcasting N.P.R. network programs. WBGO in Newark is a great Jazz station but, alas, we can't receive them here in Coastal Connecticut. Yeah they stream ... but that doesn't help me in the car, now does it? Here's an idea: why doesn't the Ct. Broadcaster's Assoc. put together a committee of Public Radio programmer's so that they can all see for themselves how ridiculous they are broadcasting the same N.P.R. morning and afternoon programs. Don't they have to pay hefty fees for the rights to these programs? At least that 's what they tell you when they have their 'fund raisers'. Drop the N.P.R. programming for local programming and while you're at it, a little more Jazz would be nice!! Come on Public Radio!! Wise up!!