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Happy Birthday Cassette Tape

I originally posted this article on the Como Audio blog (which no longer exists) 2 years ago. In honor of the cassette tape’s Birthday, I’ve updated it and present it here for the first time on my own blog.

In 1964, sixty years ago last month, the same year The Beatles invaded America, Philips introduced the US to the recordable cassette tape (trademarked under the name “Compact Cassette”). Though the new plastic fantastic invention was intended for dictation, two years later, prerecorded music tapes hit the market. For the music enthusiast, the cassette’s size proved much more convenient than 7” diameter reel-to-reel tapes, 12” records, and bulky 8 tracks, with the ability to easily slip a tape in one’s shirt or pant pocket. Reel to reel music tapes were harder to source and the playback machines were expensive, heavy, and occupied considerably more real estate. Records had been the dominant format, and despite the cassette’s obvious advantages, according to vintagecassettes.com, it took a solid twenty years until cassettes finally outsold their vinyl counterparts.

Illustration from a Sony insert card.

As advanced as cassettes were for the time, they weren’t without their flaws. Almost every cassette owner experienced the tape spooling inside their tape deck or portable player. If you were fortunate enough to catch it in time you could extract the tape and wind it back into the cassette housing by sticking a pencil in one of the reel holes and rotating it. The nightmare scenario was the tape getting mangled around the pinch roller and/or capstan, “eating” the tape, and effectively relegating the cassette to the dust bin.

Tape decks needed attention as well. They had to be cleaned and demagnetized regularly to maintain good performance, and sometimes required head re-alignment and bias adjustment. Cassette owners also had to be careful to keep their tapes away from magnets which could erase tapes (never a concern with records or CDs).

Press to play: The revolutionary Advent Model 201 home cassette deck (sans its tinted dust cover). Photo by Peter Skiera.

One consumer electronics product to give the fledgling cassette format a shot in the arm was the Model 200 from 1971 which was made in Massachusetts by Advent Corp. I read this model cost $260. If true, that would be over $2,000 today after adjusting for inflation! Advent was founded in Cambridge in 1967 by Henry Kloss and built high-quality home loudspeakers. Advent was also the first company to produce a projection television long before cable or home theater ever became part of our lexicon. But I digress.

From 200 to 201

The 200, which used an unreliable Nakamichi transport, was replaced by the Model 201 which used an industrial-strength, commercial-grade 3M Wollensak transport. It had an analog tape counter, a generously-sized analog VU meter which could be switched between channels or combined to measure both channels, a single rewind/fast forward lever, a removable dust cover, and came housed in real a wood case. These were not the first consumer home tape decks, but the Advent models were the very first high-fidelity home decks to include patented Dolby B noise reduction for recording and playback (reducing tape hiss by 9dB) and CrO2 (chrome) tape support.

The importance of the Model 201 to the evolution of recorded music cannot be overstated. From the Model 201’s original user manual: “…the 201 incorporates more than the usual number of user-accessible adjustments to permit the serious recordist to achieve the recording quality, that, just a short time ago, was thought possible only with the best and most expensive open reel recorder.”

Together again: Peter Skiera (left) and Bruce Gregory at Como Audio in Boston in 2019. Photo by Ben Merberg.

My friend and former long-time colleague, Bruce Gregory, was a young engineer at Advent Corp. in the 1970’s and was asked by Henry Kloss to handle the electronic design of the Model 201. I spoke with Gregory by phone and asked him about that landmark project.

Peter: Advent was your first major engineering gig?

Bruce: “Yeah. They hired me because they went in production with the Model 100 Dolby [Noise Reduction Unit], then they [found] out [it didn’t] work. So, they hired me to see if I could straighten it out, which I did. Then we did the [Model] 101 Dolby which [was] either record or playback but not both. Ray Dolby did most of that and I did some of it. I probably started the [Model 201] in late 1970. It took nine months before production “

Peter: What can you tell me about the design of the Model 201? Was it difficult?

Bruce: “Well, okay, for me, it was hard. The electronics…I had never designed a low-noise pre-amp before. So, you know, I went to my transistor theory book [from] college and read through it until I found out the tape head impedance [was] a real factor and you [could] pick some transistors that [worked] with that better than others…pick the right transistor to get low noise. When we were done, it was substantially better than the electronics in the Revox…It had a regulated power supply in it so line voltage wouldn’t affect its performance. It had adjustments on the back for bias…trim pots for regular tape and chromium tape, so if you wanted to you could adjust your own machine to be super flat. The heads came from Michigan Magnetics who [made] all the heads on, like, your Ampex half inch tape. We had a really good quality tape head. The wow and flutter [were] pretty good. Henry [Kloss] did a kind of unusual board layout. When you [went] from record to play, you [had] to switch about a half a dozen-things. So, we put the switches all over the board and Henry made up this, like, spider steel thing that tied them all together, so when you moved the lever on the top it moved all the switches together. And they had little nylon bushings that it ran in. That was kind of unusual.”

A fashionable Bruce Gregory during his Advent days in the 1970’s. Note the tie and polyester sports jacket. Photo courtesy of Gregory.

Peter: In those days, the cassette wasn’t really being taken seriously for music until the Model 201. Did Henry Kloss ever explain why he decided to make a hi-fi tape deck?

Bruce: “Henry felt you could get open-reel performance on a cassette deck. And our standard demonstration [was], we’d go somewhere and record a song from the record onto the cassette deck and then we’d play them back synched up and nobody could tell which was the record and which was the cassette. It was really good. It was head and shoulders above everything else out there. The Harman Kardon and the Fisher [decks] weren’t very good.”

Rare Advent music tapes from the 1970s. Photo by Peter Skiera.

Peter: Advent was the first to make and sell their own blank and pre-recorded chromium dioxide cassette tapes. How did that work?

Bruce: “The cassette tape [came] on, like 7” reels, which is thousands of feet cassette tape, it’s really, really thin. So, the operator would put in an empty cassette, splice the leader to the big reel, record it, and then at the end [he] would splice the leader on the other end…The classical music, Andy [Kotsatos] and I recorded a lot of that…We did some live recording at Sanders Theater and at Brandeis Theater…we recorded [the Boston Camerata] in the Museum of Fine Arts so it would sound like it was in a castle. We had one tape of Bob Wier from the Grateful Dead…Anyhow, Henry dealt with, I think, Dupont directly on the tape. I mean, chromium tape was pretty new. Nobody else was really doing anything.”

The Bridge, founded by Tom DeVesto (center with the long hair), was one of Advent’s most successful dealers. Photo courtesy of DeVesto.

It Started With Video Tape

According to Como Audio’s CEO, Tom DeVesto, who founded what would become one of Advent’s most successful dealers, The Bridge in North Carolina, and eventually went on to become Advent’s International Sales Manager, Advent’s cassettes originally used video tape. From a vintage Advent advert in Stereo Review magazine: “Although DuPont’s Crolyn tape was being used extensively in video recording applications, and justifying its advance press notices, no one had made the leap to marketing it for audio purposes for home use. We decided to do so because we felt that Crolyn was necessary for the very best in potential cassette performance…and better overall high frequency performance than any other tape we know of.” *

My amazing Nakamichi RX-303 with UDAR compartment. Photo by Peter Skiera.

As time went on, the record/playback devices became more sophisticated, offering features like Dolby C, Dolby HX Pro, Dolby S, auto reverse, and multiple motors. One of the better-known manufacturers was Nakamichi. Their top-of-the-line 1000 ZXL sold for almost $4,000 and that was forty years ago! “Nak” as they were affectionately referred to by audiophiles, brought a number of innovations to the table. They were the first to employ three dedicated heads, one each for erasing, recording, and playback. Their transports were so accurate they made the cassette’s pressure pad unnecessary and actually lifted it out of the way. Their head-turning UDAR (Uni-Directional Auto Reverse), as used in three models, physically pushed the cassette out and flipped it around to play the other side, thereby saving the listener a trip out of his chair (and eliminating concerns over alignment issues from a reversing playback head).

Train Your Dragon

Nakamichi’s legendary Dragon cassette deck brought high performance (very low wow and flutter and 20Hz-20kHz frequency response) and a super-sexy style to the consumer tape deck (along with a hefty price tag). I vividly remember drooling over a Dragon at a Tweeter Etc. store in R.I., knowing I would never be able to afford one. One day I was in the store, my heart sunk as a salesman gave a deal on their demonstration model to a woman who was buying it as a present for her boyfriend. What a gift, and what a girlfriend! I bought a used one on eBay (a Dragon, not a girlfriend) about two decades later and still own it today. Based on my success rate, a girlfriend never would’ve lasted that long.

Load ‘em up: My Pioneer CT-M66R “Multi-play” tape deck changer with motorized carriage. Photo by Peter Skiera.

Jukebox

In addition to the Nakamichi Dragon, I also own a Pioneer CT-M66R circa 1990, a kind of cassette jukebox accepting up to six tapes that can be played in order or randomly shuffled. Not to be out done, Mitsubishi’s DT-156/157/160 auto changing models held up to 7 tapes. Sony came out with their TC-C05 in 1992 which housed an internal carousel that accepted up to five cassettes.

Stack the deck: Denon’s Cassematic.

It might surprise you to learn that the cassette jukebox wasn’t an invention of the 1990s. The very first consumer multi-play cassette machine actually came out in 1970. Denon’s “Cassematic 12” supported up to twelve tapes, was housed in a wood cabinet, and sported prominent mechanical push button controls typical of the 70’s.

Round and round she goes: The Panasonic RS-296.

The mother of all multi-cassette players, however, was the Panasonic RS-296 from 1972 which held a whopping twenty cassette tapes in its sleek, rotating aluminum carousel. It’s a rare treat indeed to see one of these babies in action. The push buttons on the right were used to directly select the cassette you wanted to listen to or to program the playback in a specific order. Once selected, the tape would disappear below the carousel to play and then pop back up again when it was finished playing or was stopped and ejected.

The $500 Teac W-1200 in black. Photo from Teacusa.com

You can still find decent home cassette decks being manufactured today by Teac and Tascam, but most others are inexpensive, low-end affairs. Since Dolby noise reduction is no longer available for consumer decks, The Teac W-1200 uses its own noise reduction akin to Dolby B, includes a wireless remote control, has a two year warranty, and is available in black or silver.

The home tape deck gave rise to the “mix tape”. This was a homemade compilation of the listener’s favorite songs culled from other tapes and records. When you got tired of the songs, you simply recorded a new mix on top of the previous set, and presto, you had yourself a whole new playlist. You could trade your tapes with friends and hear what songs they were listening to. These were custom playlists well before playlists were a thing.

Walk this way: My near mint condition Sony TPS-L2 Walkman with the box, included headphones, and still sealed Sony batteries. Photo by Peter Skiera.

Anywhere, Anytime

Another huge boost for the cassette’s public acceptance was the legendary Sony Walkman, introduced in the US in 1980. With the Walkman, which was powered by a couple of standard AA batteries, cassettes were no longer limited to home or studio use, but could now be enjoyed while traveling, jogging, sunning at the beach, riding the bus, lying on the sofa, or rollerblading (it was a thing back then)…just about anywhere you wanted to take your music. Over the course of three decades, Sony sold about 200 million Walkmans (Walkmen?) worldwide according to Wikipedia. Today, first generation Walkmans sell on eBay anywhere from several hundred dollars to upwards of $3,000! Nostalgia is fun but expensive.

Orange you glad they made this? Photo from wearerewind.com

If that’s too pricey for you, take heart. There are several companies making portable tape players today, with We Are Rewind and FiiO being the best known.

Knobs, jacks, and buttons, oh my! FiiO’s R13. Photo from FiiO’s Facebook page.

Tape under glass: Ninmlab’s “It’s Real” turns the cassette player into a retro work of art. Photo from ninmlab.com

New tape players aren’t just for older folks looking to experience the nostalgia of the past. I’ve read that young people like that portable cassette players don’t use their phone’s battery power as is the case when they play music from their phone, and that they enjoy the tactile sensation of pressing buttons and handling tapes. In the case of We Are Rewind, its player has the added benefit of being able to stream its audio to Bluetooth headphones, earbuds, or speakers. The colors and industrial designs of these players are also very appealing.

On the downside, a lot of reviews complain about the reliability of these players. From a sound stand point, there’s a considerable amount of playback hiss since there’s no noise reduction. There’s also no tape counter which can make finding that particular song you want a hear little harder. If you’re in the market for a portable cassette player and want the best sound, you might have a better experience going with a used vintage player even if it costs a little more and you have to buy batteries for it.

Take it outside: My massive Clairtone boombox. Photo by Peter Skiera.

Boxing The Boom

In the early 1980’s, the boombox took cassette tape portability to the extreme. As time went on, boomboxes grew bigger, louder, and heavier. With lighted VU meters, dual cassette decks for dubbing, multiple input jacks (including dedicated phono and microphone inputs), tone controls, Dolby noise reduction, AM/FM tuner (some models included shortwave!), and dedicated tweeters and woofers, the boombox became a full-fledged, shoulder-mounted, hi-fi stereo system. The Conion C-100F, for instance, was a monstrous, 3-way system that took ten D cell batteries! You can’t truly appreciate the sheer scale of this model without being in its presence. It even had a very loud alarm that, when set, would activate if moved. I own the Canadian version which was branded under the Clairtone name.

GPO’s Brooklyn boombox. Photo from GPO’s Instagram page.

A few new boombox tape players are still available today like the “Brooklyn” by GPO Retro for $260, but they pale in comparison to their predecessors.

Back then, music formats had a greater chance of success if they could be enjoyed in vehicles. Auto makers began including radios with tape playback in their vehicles allowing cassettes to get out of our dreams and into our cars. There was also a plethora of aftermarket head units. Philips was the first to come out with a car radio/cassette combo back in 1968.

A curated collection of homemade Grateful Dead recordings.

Dead Tapes

One unique activity that stemmed directly from portable cassette recorders was the “Tapers’ Section”. This was a designated area at Grateful Dead concerts where fans were actually allowed to bring in recording equipment and record the live performance. While almost all other bands prohibited recording of their live concerts, The Dead welcomed it, likely making them the most recorded band in the world. Fans would trade their tapes with fellow tapers. Many “Deadheads” have since digitized their recordings and posted them on the web. Archive.org has nearly 15,000 live “Dead” recordings.

Listen To A Book

Tapes weren’t just for music. Over about a ten-year span, from the mid-1980’s to mid-1990’s, publishers released books on tape, with many read by the authors. At its peak, the audio book market swelled to $1.5 billion annually according to Wikipedia. “Readers” could hear a book on tape when it wasn’t practical to actually read one, such as in the car, riding public transportation, jogging, cooking, or doing housework. They were also embraced by the blind and those with reading disabilities. Audio books could be purchased at traditional bookstores and music stores, and were lent out by public libraries. Even the Book-of-the-Month Club and Time-Life got in on the act. Like used music tapes, used audio books can be found at thrift stores and on the web. According to an Audio Publishers Association survey, audio books remain very popular with sales up 9% last year at $2 billion. The survey identified history/biography/memoir as the most popular genres.

The big, beautiful Panasonic RS-DC10 player/recorder with piano gloss solid wood end panels.

DCC

I’m not done with the history lesson. In 1992, Philips took the cassette tape to the next level with a new format called DCC (Digital Compact Cassette), not to be confused with Sony’s Digital Audio Tape (DAT). Don’t feel bad if you don’t remember it or never heard of it. It all but vanished a mere four years later. DCC touted better sound quality since the tapes stored the music digitally like CDs and were 18- bit vs. CD’s 16-bit. The hardware was backward compatible with analog tapes for playback only, not for recording- a rather significant drawback. Tapes were loaded into a slide-out tray, not a pop open door like analog tape decks. Another cool feature lacking from its analog cousin was meta data…the playback machine’s display could show the artist, track number, and song information embedded in the DCC’s auxiliary track of the playing tape, something many CDs didn’t do at the time.

Smooth operator: My Pioneer CT-05D connected to my Musica. Photo by Peter Skiera.

The DCC was not the tape deck’s last gasp, however. In 1996, as the cassette was preparing to meet its maker, Pioneer brought out several new models featuring a 20-bit digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converter which digitized and processed the cassette’s analog audio and then converted the digital signal back to analog for superior sound. These decks also had Pioneer’s proprietary Digital Noise Reduction which virtually eliminated all tape hiss. Finally, Pioneer included what it called Digital FLEX which measured the tape’s frequency response and automatically “filled in” any missing high frequencies. With Dolby C engaged, these Pioneer decks could achieve a signal-to-noise ratio of 90dB, approaching CD-quality. Unlike the DCC format, Pioneer’s new technology was designed to work with standard cassette tapes. I have a gently used Pioneer Elite CT-05D I bought on eBay which has the same suite of digital features. The Digital Noise Reduction feature is quite remarkable. I well remember selling these Pioneer decks when I was the Assistant Manager at Cambridge SoundWorks in Portland, ME. We did not sell many, but kudos to Pioneer for having dug deep into their bag of tricks to try to rescue the cassette deck. Unfortunately, it was too late for the tape. 

Rinse and repeat: My Allsop cassette deck cleaning kit. Photo by Peter Skiera.

In the musical words of George Harrison, all things must pass. When the compact disc burst onto the scene in the early 1980’s in all its shiny, futuristic glory, it was the nail in the cassette’s coffin, metaphorically speaking. Analog tapes had a warmer sound compared to the CD’s colder, digital sound, and made recording easy. But let’s face the inconvenient truth- the cassette didn’t stand a ghost of a chance against the CD. By 2003, the cassette tape had all but vanished from the major music labels’ catalogs.

My Billie Eilish “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” cassette (in limited edition transparent red plastic) and Madonna’s “Madame X”. Photo by Peter Skiera.

Like records, the cassette tape has been making a comeback of late, albeit on a considerably smaller scale. As the song goes, everything old is new again, or as the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Last year in the US, 436,400 cassette tapes were sold. There’s even a Cassette Store Day (CSD), though it has not enjoyed nearly the same traction in the USA as Record Store Day has.

Top 10 List

Naturally, you can source used tapes on eBay, at your local thrift store, and on-line from web shops like 3rd floortapes.com, tapeheadcity.com, and Etsy.com, but some chains like Urban Outfitters and Newbury Comics sell new cassette titles by artists such as Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift. You will even find cassettes at Walmart.com and Amazon.

Here are the top 10 tape titles from last year according to stereogum.com ranked by highest to lowest sales:

1. Various Artists – Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 1: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (18,000 copies)
2. Taylor Swift – 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (17,500)
3. Various Artists – Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 (16,000)
4. Various Artists – Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 (13,000)
5. Taylor Swift – Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (11,500)
6. Nirvana – Bleach (8,000)
7. Metallica – 72 Seasons (7,500)
8. Various Artists – Guardians Of The Galaxy: Cosmic Mix, Vol. 1 (6,000)
9. Various Artists – Barbie: The Album (5,500)
10 Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher (5,500)

In a race to the bottom, like new tape decks, new cassette titles are not encoded with Dolby noise reduction because the Dolby chip set was discontinued years ago. Call me old school, but new cassette releases without Dolby is like Las Vegas without gambling.

Be that as it may, tapes are like musical comfort food, and a tape collection will occupy less space than records. They also require less cash, as most new titles retail for much less than new vinyl records. That’s because cassettes are inexpensive to make, even in short runs, making them a “reel” deal. Used tapes, however, are the ultimate bargain. I bought a half dozen used music tapes at a local thrift store for $1 apiece (and they have Dolby NR).

Bid Early And Often

Of course, you can spend much more if you wish. How about a tape of Aerosmith’s “Just Push Play” for a mere $50,000? Too expensive? There’s a cassette of Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti “ going for a cool $2,800. If you’ve got a box of old tapes in your attic or basement, you might want to go through them before you drop them off at the Salvation Army.

Sourcing blank audio cassettes for recording is a different story. Maxell’s blank chrome and metal tapes were highly regarded back in the day. Who could forget the iconic black and white Maxell advert of the cool dude in dark sunglasses holding on for dear life in his high arm chair while getting blown away along with his martini (complete with flying olive) by his JBL loudspeakers? You can still find Maxell’s Type I blank cassettes for sale, but their Chrome and Metal tape formulations have been out of production for some time and are quite expensive today on eBay.

Making tape great again. Photo from NAC’s Instagram page.

A New Take On Tapes

National Audio Company is one of only a handful of US companies that still make cassettes and is the last remaining company in the US to manufacture its own tape. The family-owned, 135,000 square foot factory is located in Springfield, MO and has been in business for 55 years. They exhausted their supply of consumer-grade audio tape about three years ago but developed a new Type 1 formulation which they say is “designed specifically for maximum performance when recording on real-time consumer cassette decks.” They also developed a new Type II formulation which uses cobalt instead of Chromium Dioxide, yet uses the same bias and equalization as Chrome. The company claims their new recipe results in better frequency response and improved bass.

Music tape duplication accounts for most of NAC’s business. They made the best-selling Guardian of The Galaxy tapes. NAC has done cassette projects for Pearl Jam and the Smashing Pumpkins and they have partnered with Disney, Sony, Universal, and several independent music labels.

I interviewed NAC’s President, Steve Stepp, for this original article but that information is outdated so I’ve removed it. I asked Stepp a new set of questions for this updated article but he refused to respond in writing. I guess he wanted me to buy one of his tapes and tape the interview.

My cassette tape coffee table by Taybles.com. Photo by Peter Skiera.

Why is a 60 year old music format popular again? Perhaps it’s nostalgia. Perhaps it’s because they’re cheap. Perhaps because, unlike playing a digital music file, they provide the full sensory experience…ripping apart the cellophane like unwrapping a Christmas gift, popping open the plastic case, unfolding and reading the artwork insert, and finally, grasping the tape and inserting it in the player, and pressing the Play button. See me. Feel me. Touch me. Heal me. Or, perhaps it’s simply because they’re analog. After all, our ears are analog. We weren’t born with a DAC in our brain. Whatever the reason, know that cassette tapes completely altered the music landscape, in a good way, and they’re still relevant for many music lovers, yours included. Long live analog.

*Dobly is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories. Crolyn is a trademark of DuPont.

Trivia (from to Wikipedia): The 2010 Lexus SC430 was the last domestic car to include an in-dash radio/cassette combo player as standard equipment.

Trivia: A C60 cassette (30 minutes each side) contains a total of 279 feet of audio tape.

Trivia: According to bands.co.uk, if every cassette sold from day one until today were placed end-to-end, they would stretch from the earth to the moon and back again four times. Houston, we have a resurgence.

Trivia: In a previous life, Bruce Gregory sold and repaired marine electronics, and was one of the last to be on and off the Andrea Gail before she was lost at sea with all hands during the perfect storm of 1991.

Enjoy vintage music and equipment? Check out my YouTube channel.

An Internet Radio Update

This post pertains to Como Audio music system owners. I’m trying to get a message sent to all Como Audio radios worldwide through the station aggregator. If I’m successful, then you’re reading this because you saw the message directing you to this website for more information, or I’ve replied to your email query directing you here.

The point of this post is to educate Como Audio users who have no idea what’s been going on with their Internet radio and podcast service and why they can’t access My Favorites. Also, to let you know about a helpful resource.

The Internet radio service was dropped by Frontier Silicon, the Wi-Fi module supplier, due to the cost of maintaining their legacy Wi-Fi modules. The service was taken over by the station aggregator. The aggregator required all audio brands (not just Como Audio) with radios using these older modules to pay an annual fee to continue the Internet radio and podcast service for those radios or else the service would be discontinued on October 31, 2024. Several brands opted not to pay the fee and those users unfortunately have no recourse to have their service restored.  

Since Como Audio went out of business 18 months ago and was therefore unable to pay it’s $5,000 fee, I didn’t want Como’s customers to be amongst those that had their Internet radio and podcast service disabled. As Como’s former General Manager and a multiple Como radio owner myself, I launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise the $5,000. I did my best to try to get the word out but I’m only one person and my resources were limited. That said, we successfully raised the $5,000 for the first year’s fee, then we raised another $5k for the second year, plus an additional $1,000 towards year #3’s fee. All of the money was wire transferred to the aggregator who confirmed receipt in late September. Images of those documents were posted to the GFM campaign as well as on Patreon for Como Elite members. The remaining balance of $4,000 for year #3 will be due by October 31, 2026. I expect to start a new GFM campaign to raise that money as we approach that deadline. Also as that deadline approaches I should know more about Como’s fee for 2027 and beyond.

Whether you contributed to the GFM campaign or not, your Como radio will continue to have Internet radio and podcast service until October 31st, 2026, as it was an all or nothing proposition. There was no way to disable service to radios of Como owners who didn’t contribute to the fund.

In addition to Internet radio and podcast service continuing, the My Favorites feature, which allows an almost unlimited storage of your favorite Internet stations and podcasts, has also been transferred to the aggregator. Plus, a new smart radio web portal has been built, both of which would’ve been disabled along with Internet radio and podcasts had the fee not been paid. Frontier Silicon no longer has control over the 75,000 Internet radio stations, 100+k podcasts, My Favorites, or the smart radio portal. As of 10/31/24, these services and features are entirely the responsibility of the station aggregator which is why you cannot access My Favorites.

If you weren’t aware of this Internet radio service situation, you probably also don’t know about Patreon. Please allow me a moment to explain. Around the time Como Audio went away, I started a service on Patreon to report news on the kinds of issues important to Como customers along with other exclusive content, as well as to provide unlimited 24/7/365 tech support, knowing that there would be zero support once Como Audio closed. Having product managed every Como Audio model, no one knows more about Como’s products than I do. There are currently several hundred Como customers taking advantage of this unique resource. The service costs $3 per month and the small income helps me pay a few bills since being let go by Como Audio after 7+ years with the company. There is also a $1/month tier but that doesn’t get you Como news and support.

If you’re not a Como Elite Patreon member, here are some of the topics you’ve missed: GoFundMe updates, an exclusive Q&A with the station aggregator, Como items for sale like Amica speakers and accessories, never before published frequency response specifications for every Como model, product FAQs, features you didn’t know about, tuning HD Radio stations, improving FM reception, how to deal with gremlins, the top Internet stations Como customers are listening to, what happened to the Como Control app and what you can do, the new Musica that almost was, how to tune iHeart radio stations, which universal remote works with Como models, and much more. My 10/30 Patreon post reveals the URL of the new station portal and instructions on how to transfer My Favorites from the Nuvola smart portal to the new portal. If you’re not interested in joining Patreon on a monthly basis, you can purchase just that single post. I also wrote a few posts on Patreon addressing issues some users have experienced (including yours truly) with podcasts, stations not tuning, and issues with the registration code all caused by the transition.

With Como Audio gone, there’s no other source for this kind of information or for technical support. To be perfectly clear, you don’t have to be a Patreon member for your radio to work, but you do have to be a member to access this kind of content and support.

A Holly Dolly Christmas on 8 track tape. Photo by Peter Skiera.

I’m also going to take a few seconds to plug my new YouTube channel while I still have your attention. It’s a fun look back at things like 8 track tapes and other analog music formats as well as vintage audio equipment.

Enjoy your Internet radio and podcast service for the next two years. I hope you’ll contribute to year # 3’s fee when the time comes, especially if you’re getting the next two years for free.

Peter Skiera

Links:

Patreon

YouTube

Beware of Killer Klowns!

In honor of Halloween, my favorite “holiday” of the year after Christmas, I present an exclusive interview with composer John Massari. Massari is best known for his score to the 1988 cult classic Killer Klowns From Outer Space, but he’s also written and performed music for The Wizard of Speed and Time, The Cell 2, Retro Puppet Master, and the theme to The Ray Bradbury Theater. He’s worked with HBO, MGM, Disney, and Sony Pictures and owns his own sound and music production company, Cinematic SteamPunk.

That’s me on the right in my ‘Killer Klowns’ shirt with the stars of the movie. The actor to my left is laughing because I just said, “Oh, I’m getting a massage!”

Although I’ve never met Massari, a few months back I had the pleasure of meeting some of the people involved with Killer Klowns From Outer Space including the Chiodo brothers who conceived of and wrote the film and designed the Klown masks. I also met the men who played the Klowns in the film along with the three main stars! Now, on with the interview…

My rare first CD release of the KKFOS soundtrack on Percepto Records signed by Massari and the Chiodo brothers. WaxWork records reissued the CD a few years ago but it’s out of print.

Peter: Your audition for the Killer Klowns composer job was more like a contest, wasn’t it?

John: “It was indeed a unique audition process. The Chiodo brothers held auditions where multiple composers submitted their interpretations of what the music for Killer Klowns should sound like. It was competitive, for sure. I fell in love with the film when I saw that gorgeous spaceship in the forest. I’m grateful that my particular musical interpretation resonated with them.”

Peter: I read that the Chiodo brothers asked you to approach the music for the film differently…to use different instruments than you would typically use for certain types of music. Did that take you out of your comfort zone?

John: “It was such a relief NOT to emulate another composer’s horror score. They needed me to distinguish my music for this film. The Chiodo brothers wanted to achieve a particular sound, which involved using unconventional instruments to create a unique atmosphere. I was free to explore new creative avenues, resulting in a score that defined the film’s quirky and otherworldly tone.”

Peter: The Chiodo brothers were pleased you took their film and the music seriously. Why did classical music heavily influence your compositions, especially considering the kind of film it was and that a punk rock band recorded the title track?

John: “Classical music has always been a profound source of inspiration for me, and I felt that incorporating classical elements into the score added depth, richness, and, most importantly, contrast to the overall sound. While the title track by the punk rock band was a defining aspect of the film’s fun identity, I wanted to approach the score with a level of seriousness, that extra something that creatively works with the campiness. The juxtaposition of classical influences with the film’s crazyness (sic) creates a unique experience for the audience.”

Peter: What was the most challenging aspect of developing the soundtrack besides the low budget and very short time frame?

John: “My first step was composing all the thematic material. I originally wrote the piece known as ‘The Killer Klown March’ for my band in high school. My band mates thought it sounded too Jazzy, but it worked for the film. Then one to programmed totally original sounds on my synthesizers. One of the most challenging aspects of developing the original soundtrack was balancing the film’s playful and comedic [side] with its darker, more sinister undertones.”

Peter: You’ve recounted some great “Klown” stories for liner notes, personal appearances, and other interviews, but is there anything about the Killer Klowns soundtrack or the movie you’re aware of that few if any people know about?

John: “Besides me composing ‘The Killer Klown March’ when I was a teenager, there is this story: ‘As John Massari returned the music master tapes to the studio, people in the accounting and legal departments completely dismissed Killer Klowns as ‘A complete failure that will die a quick death.’ Massari responded: “Well… YOU don’t get it! There are people who will LOVE this movie.’ Then, this gem: ‘John Massari‘s music for the entrance of Klownzilla was originally composed a year earlier for the Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives movie trailer. Massari’s music for that trailer was rejected in favor of a more cliche musical approach.’ Lastly, The Chiodo Bros despised all the scores from 80s horror. So, I had the rare joy of creating my score. To this day, I am still expanding the score. Follow me for more updates.”

Peter: Are you surprised at the huge following Killer Klowns has amassed? Why do you think the movie continues to be so popular? It’s supposedly the most requested movie on Svengoolie.

John: “I believed in this movie from the very beginning. It was just a matter of time. We have the fans to thank for all of this popularity. There is a subtext of creativity that resonates with audiences. Hence, it rises from the ashes like the majestic Phoenix! LOL”

My KKFOS “Reimagined” CD signed by Massari and the Chiodo brothers.

Peter: Why did you decide to release a “reimagined” Killer Klowns soundtrack in 2018?

John: “The decision to release a ‘reimagined’ Killer Klowns soundtrack stemmed from a desire to revisit and revitalize the music for a new generation of fans with a real orchestra. Since the score is based on classical music, we can approach the music with fresh eyes and ears.”

Peter: You’ve accomplished much in your career and are still very active. Does it bother you that you’re known as the Killer Klowns composer by many?

John: “Not at all! While Killer Klowns holds a special place in my heart, I’m proud of the projects I’ve composed throughout my career.”

Peter: If you were a zombie, who would you want to eat first and why?

John: “Ha! That’s certainly a unique question. As tempting as it might be to sink my teeth into the brains of… YUK! I prefer to stick with a more traditional nutrition plan.”

Peter: What was your favorite Halloween costume when you were a kid and what was your favorite Halloween candy?

John: “Astronaut and Snickers.”

My thanks to John Massari for taking the time to answer my questions and sign my CDs. Happy Halloween!

Trivia (from halloweencostumes.com): The 2024 top trending girls costumes this year are witches, Inside Out 2, Minions, and Disney Princesses. The 2024 top trending boys costume are Spider-Man, Sonic the Hedge Hog, Minions, and Transformers.

Trivia (from candystore.com): Halloween candy sales for 2024 are expected to reach $3.5 billion, which is actually down from last year. The top 5 trending Halloween candy for 2024 includes M&Ms at the top spot followed by Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Sour Patch Kids, Skittles, and Starburst. Last year saw Reese’s in the #1 spot.

Trivia (from hers.com): The three healthiest Halloween candies are Jolly Ranchers, Salt Water Taffy, and tied for third place are Blow Pops and Hot Tamales.


More about Killer Klowns From Outer Space

Video Killed The Radio Star

I worked in commercial radio broadcasting for nearly 7 years. As they say in the radio business, I had a great face for radio. That’s not meant as a compliment. Translation: I’ll never make the cover of GQ Magazine (unless GQ stands for “Geek Quarterly”) and no one’s going to swipe right on me in a certain dating app. I was comfortable speaking on the radio to tens of thousands of people because they couldn’t see me. So, it was out of character for me to decide to start making YouTube videos, though I agonized over the decision for months.

Fool Me Once

Having seen many a video on YouTube, one thing is certain: There are vloggers of all shapes, sizes, ages, orientations, and levels of attractiveness, not to mention levels of talent. Regarding the latter, I’ll warn you right now…My video skills are on the same level as my aesthetic appeal. Nevertheless, I’m giving it a go. I can’t afford a snazzy new digital camera so I’m using my old Android smartphone. When you’re financially challenged you must improvise like MacGyver. Accordingly, this will result in audio and lighting issues. There will be no green screen effects, no custom music, and no fancy graphics, at least not for a while. Worst case, I make a fool of myself. It wouldn’t be the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Hey- If I’m going to be made fool of, I’d rather it be at my own hands.

The Wall

To be clear, I’m operating under no delusions. I’m not aiming to become a video star, or a major social media influencer, or have my videos go viral. My singular motivation derives from the fact that I’ve hit a wall when it comes to getting the word out about my free website blog and my subscriber-based Patreon blog. I can’t afford advertising and I’m not into Facebook or TikTok, so YouTube seemed to be the next logical step. YouTube has only been around for about 20 years. I guess I’m not exactly an early adopter.

GFM

My first YouTube video was to educate Como Audio owners about our GoFundMe campaign and what’s happening to the Internet radio and podcast service. The video was only available for a week or two and then I took it down after the campaign ended.

My second video, posted early last month, is a very basic overview of how to search for Internet radio stations and to also introduce my own Internet radio station, Wind Chime Radio.

My video for this month is about light organs. What’s a light organ? You’ll just have to tune in to find out. And in this video, you’ll notice a subtle change in my attire along with a new hairdo. Links are at the end of this article if you dare.

Do you know what this is? Photo by Peter Skiera.

I’ll be uploading another video October 15th with more fun vintage fare. The above photo provides a hint to the subject matter.

Vintage Videos

Each month I’ll post a video that will focus on music, approaching it from a vintage angle…vintage audio gear, records, CDs, 8 tracks, and more…kind of like a video version of this Recommended Stations website blog. I’m going to try to keep it laid back, like a conversation between friends who are into music. I might devote some videos to horror films since that’s my second passion behind music. It’s possible I’ll broaden the subject matter even more, especially if I start to run out of music related ideas, but for now, this is my plan.

“…it was out of character for me to decide to start making YouTube videos…”

Nasty Boys

One important decision I had to make was whether to allow comments or not. It’s tricky because I’ve found some people can be quite nasty and YouTube’s filter doesn’t seem very aggressive. I don’t mind if someone disagrees with something I say, but there’s no need to get personal. Moreover, personal attacks do nothing to further one’s argument. I think constructive comments contribute a lot to the overall YouTube experience. I enjoy scrolling down and reading viewer comments as I watch a video. Accordingly, I’ve enabled the option, though not notifications if someone posts a comment. I don’t plan to monitor the comments. I openly provide my email address in my YouTube channel information so if someone has something they want to say to me they can do so. Otherwise, feel free to comment if you feel so inclined, just please be civil. We’re all friends here.

Suggestion Box

Please check out my YouTube videos, “like” them, subscribe to my channel, email me with some music related topics for future videos if you wish, and most important, spread the word. With a few exceptions like this month, I’m going to try to commit to posting 1 new video every month. One video per month might not seem like much, but it’s a lot for me with the other things I have going on in my life.

This YouTube thing is a totally new chapter for me, and frankly, it’s a little scary. But I’m hoping it’ll be fun and you’ll enjoy it. As I remarked before- worst case, I embarrass myself, we share a few laughs, and then I fade away into oblivion. If that happens then it really will be video killed the radio star.

Trivia (according to Wikipedia): The first-ever YouTube video was uploaded on April 23, 2005. “Me at the zoo” lasted 19 seconds and featured YouTube’s co-founder, Jawed Karim, at the San Diego Zoo standing in front of 2 elephants.

Trivia (according to broadbandsearch.net): YouTube has nearly 2.68 billion monthly active users; 45% of people use YouTube daily; and; Google paid $1.65 billion for YouTube 18 months after YouTube started.

RS’s YouTube Channel

GoFundMe

09.10.2024 update: The GFM campaign reached its goal and is no longer accepting contributions. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Last month I launched a GoFundMe campaign. No, it isn’t to benefit me. The purpose is to keep Como Audio’s Internet radio and podcast service alive, along with the smart radio portal and the popular My Favorites feature which allows storing an almost unlimited number of Internet stations.

You see, those services and features are being taken over by the station aggregator, Airable, because the platform provider, Frontier Silicon, will no longer cover the costs to maintain them. Accordingly, the aggregator is charging the audio companies that use Frontier Silicon’s legacy Wi-Fi modules to continue the service. Those brands that don’t or can’t pay will have their radios’ service disabled on October 31, 2024.

This placed Como Audio customers in a precarious position because Como isn’t around to pay it’s $5,000 fee since it went out of business 18 months ago. As I had a long-term relationship with both Frontier Silicon and the station aggregator, I intervened and launched a GoFundMe campaign last month following an agreement with the aggregator. No one asked me to do this and I wasn’t required to, but if I didn’t act, the service would be terminated on all Como radios.

The $5k invoice from the station aggregator with personal/banking details redacted.

Thanks to the generosity of Como users, the GoFundMe campaign met the $5,000 goal in less than 30 hours. There was no way to disable service only for radios of owners who didn’t contribute. That means every Como Audio radio around the world will retain it’s service until October 31, 2025 whether you contributed anything or not.

A copy of the $5k wire transfer with personal/banking details redacted.

If you’re a Como Audio user and didn’t contribute, considering you’ll be getting free service for 12 months, please do your part for year #2’s $5,000 fee. The GoFundMe campaign is currently accepting contributions for year #2, and although we’ve made excellent progress, we’re still several thousand dollars short for year two.

One friendly piece of advice if you contribute. GoFundMe automatically adds a generous tip for themselves to every donation. This money doesn’t go to the campaign but to GoFundMe. Believe me, they’re making enough money, they don’t need a tip. Use the tip bar to adjust the donation figure down to zero before you submit your donation. If you’re feeling especially generous, instead of tipping GoFundMe, you might consider buying me a coffee or making a PayPal donation for my time and effort on everyone’s behalf.

If/when the second year’s goal is reached, I shall close out the campaign and if possible, pay the second year’s fee in advance. As the date gets closer I will consider launching a new GFM campaign in August of 2026 to raise funds for the third year’s fee.

Paying a fee to keep our service alive isn’t a scenario I or anyone else envisioned and I’m sorry we have to go through this. Thank you to those who have contributed. If you’re a Como Audio music system owner or just appreciate music, I hope you’ll reward my voluntary efforts and support our cause. I can’t imagine life without music.

Thank you again,

Peter Skiera

Album Spotlight: Truth, Part 2

Part 1 of last month’s Album Spotlight covered the fascinating details behind the 1970 album Truth. In this, Part 2 of my interview with Truth’s Michael DeGreve, we cover life in the late 1960s, DeGreve’s Gypsy’s Lament solo album, and what he’s up to today.

Peter: In 1969 you were around 20. What was it like growing up in the 60’s in California as a young man? Was it really peace and love and all that?

Michael: “Yes, (laughs) it was.”

DeGreve during his hippie days. Photo courtesy of Michael DeGreve.

Peter: You know what they say- If you can remember the 60s, you weren’t really there.

Michael: “I know. I was going to slip one of those lines in…Yeah, there was a lot of that going on. I always tell this story and the younger people look at me like I’m from Mars. Yeah, I did get drunk with Janis Joplin in the studio. I did drop LSD with Jimi Hendrix at The Whiskey [a Go Go]. I was an all-American basketball player in high school. My last semester I started going to The Whiskey. I would see bands like The Doors when they were the opening act.

Bob Smith’s legendary The Visit double LP.

 “I was working at the LA Times on the editorial staff, a glorified copy boy, but I did some rock reviews. I was kind of like in both worlds and this opportunity came up to quit my job at the LA Times, not go back to college, and join a rock n’ roll band called The Lid. My poor mom (laughs). The next thing you know, things started happening. The Lid didn’t stay together. The guy I was in the band with, his name was Bob Smith, and if you go up to YouTube or whatever, there’s an album called The Visit…Daryl Dragon from The Captain and Tennille’s on it, Don Preston from Frank Zappa’s band [The Mothers of Invention]. That album is a double psychedelic album and it’s got wings. If you can find that one out there it’s quite a bit of money to get it…the back cover, me in a hat. We were all pretty high for some of those sessions. Yeah, it was just those days.”

Yogananda. Photo from Self-Realization Fellowship’s Facebook page.

Peter: You were a real hippie back in the 60s.

Michael: “I was. I was. You know, I was always a hippie with some governors on me, Peter…I had a brief psychedelic era until I got into eastern philosophy and [Paramahansa] Yogananda. Every hippie worth his salt had a copy of an autobiography of a yogi. I was peripheral…but that’s what it was. Yeah, we all smoked pot and preached love and free love. All that stuff’s true until crazy Charlie Manson made everybody afraid of hippies. It was a glorious couple of years.”

DeGreve with Neil Young. Photo from DeGreve’s website.

Peter: I was born in the late 60s so I missed all of that. Maybe I was a result of it.

Michael: “My lady’s quite a bit younger than I am. When I do my shows…and it surprises me, Peter, how many young people, when I do all these Eagles or Neil Young [songs]. Neil and I, we did a big benefit together at Cheyenne after a terrible flood. The Governor asked me to put on a show and I called Neil. But how much those days mean something. Bob Dylan’s kid, Jacob, just did a thing I saw on HBO called Echo’s from The Canyon which is all songs by The Byrds, The Turtles, Buffalo Springfield, and in that two-episode thing from Laurel Canyon, there’s a real nostalgia, a real interest in that era of LA rock ‘n’ roll. Which I think [that’s] how Truth got to Jay’s attention because that’s kind of what [Sundazed Records does], lost things from that era. I was shocked beyond belief when all this started in November [2023] (laughs).

Peter: If I get too personal, just tell me to shut up, but since we’re talking about that period, did you burn your draft card or go to Canada?

Michael: “No worries. No, no…That seed had already been planted, Peter…I’m an asthmatic. I have pretty bad asthma. Not being in college, I went back and went to work for the LA Times. My number came up and I went down to the draft board. I can’t remember, 1Y, or what the designation was, but there but for fortune, I would’ve gone over and done that.

“I’ll tell you one quick story: On the new record that I’ve just started, it’s an old song now because I wrote it in Cheyenne. I just haven’t recorded all these songs yet, but I’m starting now. Cheyenne got around to dedicating a memorial in a park to all the guys who served in Vietnam and the Vietnam Vets motorcycle club asked me if I would write a song for them. I said, ‘Guys, I’d be more than flattered, but it’s my era, it’s my war, but I wasn’t there. They said, ‘Michael, we know, but we trust you’. The day of the dedication, the TV and all that stuff, and the mayor, and I played the song, and 200 brothers on Harleys showed up. A guy I knew pretty well named Big John walked straight up to me and…I thought, “Oh God, I’m going to get killed’, and he started crying and started hugging me. I had 200 bikers kissing me. [The song’s] called ‘American Soldier’. There’s a lot of songs with similar titles. I wrote this way before Toby Keith’s… I have absolute respect for everyone that serves this great country and I just hate war. There you go.”

Good times: Graham Nash, Susan Sennett, and Michael DeGreve. Photo from DeGreve’s website.

Peter: Staying with the personal questions, your ex-wife became an actress. How did you meet her?

Michael: “My ex-wife, Susan, I met her…I never told this story. When the Truth album came out, we did a concert [at the Hollywood Palladium] with a bunch of the bands from that time [Blue Cheer, Flash Cadillac, The Continental Kids]. We did a TV show in Palm Springs called The Visual Girls. It was just a…teenage girls, fashion and all that. That was Susan…17-year-old Susan Sennett. She went on to do some movies. She did one called Big Bad Mama with Angie Dickenson and William Shatner, the cover of 17 [Magazine], did a bunch of national commercials. We split up [after] about 4 or 5 years and she met [Graham] Nash and they were together 38 years.”

Peter: Didn’t I hear somewhere that Susan called you up while Graham Nash was in her bathtub?

Michael: “That’s exactly the truth (laughs). It was my Birthday. I was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and she called. We almost got back together, but I went on the road and I’ve got these gigs I’m doing. She called and said, ‘Mike, I just want to wish you a happy Birthday. There’s actually someone in the bathtub that would like’…I said, ‘Okay.’ It was the house we lived in. I said, ‘I’m game.’ We weren’t together anymore. It’s not my business. He said, ‘Hey, Michael, it’s Graham.’ I went, ‘Nash’ (laughs)? He said, ‘Yeah, man, I’m just letting you know Suze and I are seeing each other. When will you be coming in to LA?’ He picked me up at the airport. He’s just a consummate English gentleman. We’ve always been friends. A great friend.

DeGreve (right) with Graham Nash in Nash’s home studio. Photo from DeGreve’s website.

“When I went to visit the two of them in Hawaii in the mid-80s which was when my Gypsy’s Lament album started, I played him a couple of songs. He said, ‘Well, what do you want to do? Do you want to go golfing or do you want to go in the studio?’ There’s a picture on my website of he and I in shorts around his recording equipment when we started it. He’s just a great friend. I love him.

“When I was in high school, he was in The Hollies. They wrote songs like [sings] Hey, Carrie Anne, and ‘Bus Stop’ was a big hit. He’s in the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame twice, so it was really fun for me to get to record with him. Just a great time.“

Peter: You’ve mentioned your Gypsy’s Lament CD several times. Tell me more about it.

Michael: “I did an album about 30 years ago. It was my first solo album. The only person I think on it that’s not in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame is me (Peter laughs). Graham Nash is on it. Randy Meisner, bass player in The Eagles…Jackson Browne’s band, great bass player, Leeland Sklar, and David Milley. It’s never had a national release…it’s never been on all the [streaming] services, and now I think Jay at Sundazed [Records] wants to do it. But to my mind, it’s the record I’m known for.

“[Jay] got a hold of me yesterday. He said, ‘Hey, I’ve been working on Gypsy’s Lament.’ He said, ‘Boy, the recording doesn’t need much.’ I said, ‘I know’. It was done in the best studio in LA [Soundcastle Studios] with Graham Nash’s producer. I’m really hoping he’s going to do that, get it on all the [streaming] services. I’ve got a lot of people that’ve got their fingers crossed. “When we did Gypsy’s Lament in Graham’s House in Hawaii, that picture of us in shorts, it was such a great afternoon. He was my harmony hero. You know, it’s just weird he was married to my ex-wife. He’s always been one of my favorite musicians ever. I was feeling so saucy by the time we got done recording, I think I actually asked him to produce my record. He said, ‘No, Michael, it’s not what I do…but I’ll tell you who will and who is going to.’ The next thing I knew, Don Gooch flew out, set me up a bedroom studio, I cut demos, and Don, and one guy who ended up being a [arranger] on that was named Jeff Boydston. I literally had to take time off my Hitching Post gig in spurts to get out and do the sessions. It wasn’t like I was in LA.

DeGreve performing live in Russia. Photo from DeGreve’s website.

“I don’t know if you saw any of this, but the Gypsy’s album…when it came out, I didn’t have a label, and it was big regionally, but I sold them all off stage and everything…Wyoming’s a big oil and gas place. These guys from Russia were coming in all the time. It was 1991 and the Soviet Union had just broken up and the wall was coming down. They said (imitating a Russian accent), ‘Misha, you must come, you must come to Moscow. You play the Opera House. We’re going to do a film and you’ll be one of the first Americans ever to play the big festival in Belarus for all of eastern Europe and Russia.’ So, my lawyer looked at the contracts and the next thing I knew I was on a plane to Moscow and it was everything he said. I got off the plane and my songs off Gypsy were on the radio with Garth Brooks and Madonna…It’s all centralized there, Peter…All the radio and TV is like in one place, so I was going from one show to the other show to the other show. They did a TV thing and they did a film which I’ve got a VHS [tape] of and I’m thinking about trying to get, just for my friends that might care, putting it on a DVD. What an adventure that was. I’m old enough to have lived through Kennedy and Khrushchev and when we all had these things pointed at each other and I went over there and drank all their Vodka and made love to all their women and had a pretty good summer.” (laughs) That’s one of the craziest things that happened with the Gypsy’s album. It took me to Russia. I’m so thankful to have had that experience. It was just incredible.”

“…I did get drunk with Janis Joplin in the studio. I did drop LSD with Jimi Hendrix at The Whiskey [a Go Go].”

Peter: And you’re in Vegas now?

Michael: “I was.”

Nevada’s Mt. Charleston Lodge circa 1969. Photo from Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas. 

Peter: Oh, okay. You’re tough to keep up with! Where are you now?

Michael: “I’m in Grants Pass, Oregon [in] a little house just north of the California border. My wonderful lady, Kris, now we’re a duo, when we’re ready to do this, I’m about ready to launch a YouTube channel. I went out to Vegas after the whole Hitch [Hitching Post] thing collapsed. Two years back in Wisconsin up in lake country. It was too cold for me. I was done. Went to Vegas…I was 60-years old or whatever. What am I going to do? I’ll be darned. I got a house gig at a really cool place about 30-40 minutes from the strip up in the mountains called the Mt. Charleston Lodge. It was a place where everybody went in the summer because it was cool and beautiful, and everybody went in the winter because there’s all this snow and everybody would go and do all their stuff. I packed the place three nights a week the last 8 or 9 years I was there. Then I’d come down off the mountain and we’d go by the strip and all that stuff. Kris would try to drive around Vegas. ‘Michael, I hate it, I just hate Vegas, I hate it.’ And I love her, and boy was it hard for me to give up that house gig in Vegas, but I did. The guy I had worked for…good friend. I worked for him at The Pioneer…and he lives in Grants Pass. He was trying to get me up here for 4 years. He said, ‘Michael…what are you doing? Come up and visit. It’s all wineries…you’re going to love it’, la, dah, dah, dah. And I got up here and COVID shut everything down.

“Then, only going to a doctor once in fifty years caught me. I have prostate cancer and I was pretty sick. For a year I couldn’t even play guitar once, not once. Now I’m back at it. Starting to record a little bit. We’re rehearsing everyday getting ready for this show, and somehow, angels like you are just coming out of the cosmos to light fires under me to say, ‘Come on, man, you’ve got another chapter to do here.’ And if I have a gift, Peter, it’s putting love in the air when I do a show. I won’t do politics; I won’t do any of that stuff. I’ll sing ‘Imagine’ and ‘Peace Train’…and live shows are my gift. To have people come up and say, ‘Michael, you just made our night. You made our wedding.’ Whatever. It was such great magic and they’d come back. I’ve built a 30-year audience, but it’s what I love to do, and just getting back to that. So, I’m excited about it.”

Peter: You do what you love and you get paid for it. I mean, you can’t beat that.

Michael:No. No, that’s that old thing…I used to do a lot of career days and things in Cheyenne, and I’m not the first to say it, but pick something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Peter: Do what you love and love what you do.

Michael: “That’s right, my brother.”

Peter: I’ve seen a few videos of your live stuff and your toasts (Michael laughs) and you’re definitely having fun and building a connection with your audience.

Michael: “Yeah, they’re all wearing that t-shirt with a toast on it (laughs). I saw that recently.”

Peter: So, what did I not ask you that I should have, or anything you want to say that we didn’t cover.

Michael: “Let me think for a minute. To be honest with you, my friend, I’ve really enjoyed this.”

Peter: Well, I’m sure you’ve been asked a lot of these questions a million times and you must get sick of it, but for me it’s fun.

Michael: “I honestly don’t. If people take the time like you to care enough about it, and it also gives me a chance to go back there in my mind with some of these things…

“Kris (yells)! Come out and say hi to Peter! I live with an angel. She sings like an angel. I’ve always been a solo. She plays nice guitar. We’ve got great two-part Crosby-Nash harmony kind of stuff…I’ve been working a lot of her songs even before mine.”

Peter: I think I’ve seen her in a couple of pictures.

Michael: “Yeah, beautiful long, blonde hair…Peter, this is my lady, Kris.”

Peter: Hi, Kris. Nice to meet you by phone!

Kris: “Hi, Peter. Nice to meet you by phone.”

Peter: You’ve got a Birthday coming up, Michael. How do you feel about that?

Michael: “Fine. Age doesn’t mean anything. It’s kind of funny. My sister said, ‘Your hair looks just like it did in ’68.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s a little thicker.’ She said, ‘I’ll betcha I know why. Because this cancer drug you’re taking, it’s a hormone suppressant thing (laughs).’ I get hot flashes and everything (laughs). I feel fine, Peter….I feel fine about being 76…the only thing I’m asking for, if it’s in God’s graces, to give me a little time to do some of this stuff and hang out with my puppies and my lady.”

Peter: What keeps you going? You’ve been doing this a long time. Obviously, you love it. I’m assuming you don’t have to do it. So, what keeps you going?

Michael:Well, Mick & Keith, The Stones (Peter laughs), they are in their 80s and they’re on tour. Graham Nash, my friend, now living in New York. Graham’s on tour and he’s in his 80s. You know, if you’re blessed enough to do what we do, I’ve never taken it for granted, my friend, and I’m the happiest. I am…I love it. I love it. I’m not sure about not having to do it. I have a gorgeous home that’s paid for and a guitar collection that’s beyond my belief (laughs). I’ve never saved much, you know…but I love it. I’m excited right now. I’ve got all these songs and I’m trying to learn computer-based recording now. Us old analog hippie guys trying to learn some new tricks. I resisted it for a long time. But the truth of it is, that toys have gotten so good, I’ve got to learn. They’re wonderful, incredible. I get up in the morning and watch YouTube and I’ve got everything I need downstairs in my recording studio. You know, I can watch as many Dodgers and Lakers games up there, but does it make me as happy as music? No. Well, sometimes. When my Lakers are winning (laughs). The short answer is, I think if you’re blessed enough like I have been to do it for your life’s work and your living, what’s better? I love it. I love it.”

If you want the original vinyl pressing of Truth on People Records, it will cost you, especially if you want a sealed copy or one in mint condition. On the other hand, the Sundazed CD reissue costs $16.99 while the LP is $26.99 (link at the end). Unfortunately, there are no bonus tracks and the vinyl isn’t colored. In the spirit of the time, it would’ve been cool to have included a bonus track of one of the songs played backwards. It also would’ve been a great opportunity to press a limited edition, psychedelic-colored vinyl edition. Sundazed, if you’re paying attention, I’m available.

There are still hippies today even if they don’t dress the part, but the music and musical experimentation from that era is no longer practiced. I’m sure there are a lot of people who don’t even know what a sitar is. Truth is an entertaining snapshot of hippie philosophy and music. As the back of the album cover proclaims, “Truth is…Love…Beauty…Honesty…”, which we can all use a little of even 50 years on, and that’s the truth.

My eternal thanks to Michael DeGreve for being so generous with his time answering my questions. If you missed Part 1, read it here.

Trivia (from Wikipedia): Hippies: ”…originally a youth movement that began in the United States during or around 1964 and spread to different countries around the world. The word hippie came from hipster and was used to describe beatniks who moved into New York City’s Greenwich Village, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, and Chicago’s Old Town community. The term hippie was used in print by San Francisco writer Michael Fallon, helping popularize use of the term in the media, although the tag was seen elsewhere earlier.”

Did you enjoy Parts 1 & 2? Show your love and buy me a coffee (or two). No registration or commitment required. Thank you for your support!

Michael DeGreve’s website: https://www.michaeldegreve.com/index.php

Sundazed: https://sundazed.com/truth.aspx

Album Spotlight: Truth, Part 1

Image from Sundazed.com

Album: Truth

Artist: Truth

Record label: People Records: PLP-5002

Year released: 1970

Number of tracks: 12

Genre: Psychedelic Rock & Folk

The purpose of my Album Spotlights is to bring lesser-known albums to your attention, often vintage albums, with backstories you’ll find compelling and music you’ll find enjoyable.

Let me take you back to 1970. Gas cost 0.36 cents per gallon. The average cost of a home was $23,450. The hourly minimum wage was $2.10/hr. A McDonalds hamburger cost less than 20 cents. Some of the top shows on television included Hawaii Five-0, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, The Partridge Family, The Flip Wilson Show, Mary Tyler Moore, and The Wonderful World of Disney. Four students were killed at Kent State University. The Vietnam War entered its 15th year. Apollo 13 returned safely to earth days after an oxygen tank explosion. The Beatles broke up. Star Wars was released. The first Earth Day was held in the US. And Truth was released.


Reaching for the Truth: My sealed original copy of “Truth” from 1970. Photo by Peter Skiera.

Truth wasn’t a novel or a movie. It was the debut album by hippy musicians recorded under the same name. Recorded in 1969 and released in 1970, Truth’s members consisted of Micheal DeGreve on guitar and vocals, and Bob Doran and Janice Kerr on vocals (strangely, none of them were identified on the record’s jacket). DeGreve was close friends with Doran and Kerr who were married. The three were backed by select members of The Wrecking Crew, a well-respected group of Los Angeles session players who performed anonymously on hit songs by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, The Byrds, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Sony & Cher, Simon and Garfunkel, The Mamas and the Papas, and producer Phil Spector. As if that weren’t enough, Truth was produced by three former Motown execs.

Despite all of the enormous talent behind it, the album got little traction. Doran and Kerr split up which effectively killed the group, thus making Truth a one and done release for the promising young trio.


Image from Van Morrison’s official Facebook page.

In all fairness to Truth, it had some pretty stiff competition on the record store shelves in 1970. You might recognize some of the other albums that were released that year: George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, Paul McCartney’s McCartney, The Doors’ Morrison Hotel, Woodstock, John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, Van Morrison’s Moon Dance, Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys, The Beatles’ Let It Be, The Velvet Underground’s Loaded, and Badfinger’s No Dice, just to name a few.


The fact that Truth was released on a small, unknown record label called People Records (not to be confused with James Brown’s People Records from 1971) didn’t help. The newly established label apparently did little to promote the record. People Records’ complete “catalog” included only one other album…Kim Weston’s Big Brass Four Poster, also released in 1970. It’s got some great music, but like Truth, it didn’t make any serious impact. To add insult to injury, various bios of Weston don’t even mention the album. Weston’s husband, William “Mickey” Stevenson, was People Records’ founder and producer. It’s nice to have friends in high places. That aside, People Records disappeared about as quickly and quietly as its only two album titles.


After being out of print for 54 years, Truth was reissued for the first-time last month by Sundazed Records. With song titles like “Far Out”, “Let It Out, Let It In”, “Contributin’”, and a wild song about Lizzie Bordon simply called “Lizzie”, you know you’re listening to something from a different era. Sundazed describes the music on Truth as “sitar head-swirlers, sunny, melodic harmonies and a country folk influence…” I would call it a great trip without the drugs.

Truth be told, Truth was actually issued on CD for the first time back in 2012 by Relics Records, though it was an “unofficial” release. That’s code for saying it was a bootleg. I don’t own a copy of it but I’ve read reviews complaining about the sound quality. So much for Relic’s motto, “Cuts for Connoisseurs”.

Like his personality, DeGreve has a gentle voice, reminiscent of John Denver’s. But paired with Doran and Kerr, the trio sound more than a little like The Mamas and the Papas with some extra spunk. They may have been hippies, but they could harmonize like crazy.

“I would call it a great trip without the drugs.”

Michael DeGreve and his girlfriend, Kris, circa 2021. Photo from DeGreve’s Facebook page.

I tracked down Truth’s vocalist and lead guitarist, Michael DeGreve, and in a lengthy phone interview, I asked him to reflect on this gem of a 1970 musical time capsule along with some of his other memories.

Peter: Were you the guy who was holding on to the Truth tapes?

Michael: “Mickey Stevenson [Truth’s producer] had them and I don’t think they exist. Mickey Stevenson was the head of A&R at Motown. He put The Funk Brothers together at Motown, he wrote songs like ‘Dancin’ in the Streets’, produced Martha and the Vandellas. I mean, I was 19 years old and I knew who Mickey was…I think [the tapes] are gone. I connected with Mickey but he was so crazy busy. He just gave me a thumb’s-up, go for it, I don’t have them. God bless him. But Jay Millar [the GM] at Sundazed [Records] took a virgin copy of the album and did all that work. It’s never sounded any better. It had never been [officially] on CD before. I had a couple of extra pictures that are on the inside cover of the CD.”


Image from Mickey Stevenson’s official Facebook page.

Peter: Where did the name “Truth” come from?

Michael: “I think it came from Mickey…my best memory. I wasn’t really supposed to be a part of this, though.”

Peter: You kind of came into Truth by accident. Bob Doran, one of the vocalists, asked you to come along and play guitar for the audition and Mickey insisted you be a part of the group.

Michael: “Exactly right. Exactly right. Bob and Janice, my neighbors (laughs), it’s so funny, I had only been playing guitar a couple of years. I was really a basketball player. I had scholarships everywhere…I worked at the LA Times. So anyway, they said, ‘We’ve got this interview with Mickey Stevenson.’ I said ‘really?’ They said, ‘Would you play for us?’ I went, ‘Yeah!’ So, I went over to Mickey’s office and blah, blah, blah, and he said, ‘Well, you’re a part of this, right?’ I said, ‘Mickey, no, man, I’m waiting for my friend. We’re going to do more of a rock ‘n’ roll thing.’ He said, ‘We’re going to use some of The Wrecking Crew, but will you put you band together and do all your guitar parts?’ I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’ We got to the end of the first vocals and I could see him talking through the glass. Janice had said, ‘Hey, Michael’s got a part on this.’ “I was living with [Bob and Janice]. We had been, you know, 3 hippies up in the hills rehearsing all those harmonies. Mickey said, ‘Well, get out there and do it.’ Which is what you did at Motown. So, I did it. I could see him talking through the glass and Mickey said, ‘Get in here’, and I got this 10-minute thing- ‘you gotta be a part of this and whatever you do next is whatever you do next, but please be a part of this.’ You know, this is Mickey Stevenson for God’s sake. I said, ‘Of course, alright, I’ll definitely do it.’ Peter, I’m 19 years old and Tina Turner played with my hair in the studio one night. I met everybody at Motown through Mickey. I wish I would’ve been old enough musically to walk through some of the doors Mickey was trying to open, but it was an amazing influence in my life.”


Image from The Funk Brothers’ official Facebook page.

Peter: John Latini played bass on Truth, but besides him, the three of you, and some unspecified members of The Wrecking Crew, I don’t believe the record identifies anybody else. Do recall any other names?

Michael:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. My best friend, ‘The Bear’,David [Smith], plays acoustic guitar on [‘Being Farmed’]. I think Jimmy Curtis, my drummer that was in The Lid, my first band, was on it, and of course, I played a lot of the guitars.

“And then the other half of the album was…I was too young to even appreciate it. Trust me when I tell you, I did not know who The Wrecking Crew was. I mean, I should’ve. I just knew Mickey brought all these guys in. One time, one of the guys, I don’t know if he was actually a member of The Wrecking Crew, Jerry Sheff, a bass player, did one of the tracks. Now, I know all their names and got introduced to a bunch of them. There’s a song of mine called ‘Thoughts’…Ben Benay, he plays that sitar part on my song ‘Thoughts’. So, it’s really a mixture, you know. Mickey, he put The Funk Brothers together, the band that did all the Motown hits, Mickey put that band together. He and Clarence Paul and those guys would run the sessions and I put the sessions together that we did. It’s an amalgamation…I haven’t listened to it in years…But I’m just so thankful [the reissue] happened…

“I just sent a long Facebook thing to Gabe and Andy, Bob and Janice’s two boys who were born right at that time…but when all this [publicity] first happened, I left out a lot of that, so I did a kind of Mea Culpa, and said, ‘You know, I didn’t mention Bob and Janice and told some of our story about we lived together, all that stuff. It was great.’”



Peter: You mentioned all of the incredible talent behind Truth including yourself and Mickey. So, you must have been surprised when the album got out there and sort of disappeared?

Michael: “I was. I was. Especially because it was Mickey. I don’t know if it was that just people didn’t exactly know what to make of it or what. Mickey and I were really close in the studio. We did some social things. He opened the door, like me meeting some of the people that were my legends…Stevie Wonder, I mean, God, I didn’t know him, I just got to meet him. It was a label [Mickey] just put together. Other than Kim Weston, his lady, we were the only other thing on it. So, I never really understood what the business thing was. I know people have gotten a hold of me over the years in places in Europe and things saying they had it and they loved it. I think it was called in those days, Peter, rack jobbing, or something. Whatever they didn’t sell they went out, you know, you’d see [records] in grocery stores in those days or whatever. Somehow, he did that. Yeah, I think I was a little disappointed about that time.” 

Peter: Since Truth wasn’t exactly a huge hit, did you ever see any royalty checks?

Michael: “Never received any royalties! Bummer!”

Peter: Is there any standout memory you have from Truth’s recording sessions?

Michael: “Lots of them. I guess the first one, of course, the one I told you about, Mickey actually wanting me to do it. Right when we were doing it, I had a fire. I was living up on Sunset and there was a fire in the middle of the early morning. The firemen broke down the door and got me out of there alive. I had nothing in the world except one pair of pants that were too short…my guitars were burned, and Mickey took me shopping to get a beautifully built 12-string.

“My memories are, we used to record in the evenings. That’s how that Tina Turner story happened. One night we got there and Mickey said, ‘Michael, I’m so sorry, can we do this tomorrow night? I promised Ike and Tina [Turner] could do vocals.’ And I [said], ‘Yeah, can we stay?’ (laughs)

“My memories are of my very first lead guitar solo ever, is the last thing on the album. Ah, pretty primitive. I go, ‘Oh, man, I hope my real lead guitar player, Bob, doesn’t hear this’ (laughs).


Image from Johnnynash.com

“What it was for me, it was being around, if my memory serves, I know he was in the studio with us, Johnny Nash, the guy that wrote ‘I Can See Clearly Now’ and having a real cool conversation with Johnny about, he was also a vegetarian, which I’d just recently become in ’68, and I think he sang back-up a little bit.

“Everybody came in and did stuff. Mickey’s on ‘Anybody Here Know How to Pray’ and a couple of other things. What was fun for me and what I remember about the most was the collaborative experience of all of us when we rehearsed, and did the album, and wrote all the harmony parts, and being in the studio in that environment with Mickey Stevenson and Jim Saunders and the great engineers. It was just an amazing experience. Lots of memories doing the sessions. I can look back and remember looking through the glass and being in the room and watching the guys from The Wrecking Crew go, see my friend John Latini. I still keep in touch with John, not in a few years, but I used to. He’s on that Bob Smith Visit album along with Jimmy Curtis, my drummer for years who I’m still in touch with…”

Peter: So, do you have a favorite track from Truth?

Michael: “Yeah, I have two. It’s the one Mickey loved the most. It’s the first one on the album. One of my very first records, a little bit of my Justin Hayward/Moody Blues influence, called ‘Have you Forgotten’. I also love the song ‘Let It Out, Let It In’. I thought that was just really well done. The harmonies are beautiful. But you know, I’m liking it more now, Peter.

“I quit listening to it. Life just got busy. Susan and I met and that part of my life started. Then I went out and did a two-year gig in Milwaukee, then went back. My agent called me and said, “What do you think about Cheyanne?” And I said, “I don’t. Where is it?” I went out there for two weeks and stayed 6 nights a week, 11 shows per week, on a handshake, for 30 years.”

Peter: Well, I love “Far Out” because I think it’s so emblematic of the time, but I also love the harmonies.

Michael: “You know, that’s what was fun about it, the three of us sitting around with a glass of wine and a joint, working out those three-part harmonies. That’s one of Bob’s songs, and of course, it was the hippie expression, ‘Hey, man, far out!’ (laughs). Bob wrote it. Cool! (laughs) I love that you love that one. I’m going to send Bob some spiritual vibes wherever he is in the cosmos. It would just make him smile so much.”

Peter: And what was the deal with “Lizzie”? A song about Lizzie Bordon!

Michael: “When you find that out, tell me” (Peter laughs).

Peter: You all kind of crack up or go a bit bonkers towards the end of that song, so it sounded like you had some fun doing it anyway.

Michael: “I think so.”


The naked Truth?

Peter: Maybe you don’t remember, but that great black and white picture on the back cover of Truth- were the three of you topless or naked?

Michael: “I think we were topless, but…I know we were topless, even Janice, but I don’t know if we….I don’t know. I think we had pants on.”

Peter: It’s my perverse curiosity. I can’t help it.

Michael: “No, no, I don’t mind visiting any of these things. If I knew the answer for sure I’d say, yeah, we were. Nudity was not much of a thing back then, brother. I thought it was a beautiful picture.”

Peter: It was! You look very Christ-like.

Michael:“Well, thank you. I wish (laughs), it’s an aspiration (laughs). Not sure I’ve lived up to that, especially when I was into rock ‘n’ roll and all of that. Trust me. But I never did anything past a brief psychedelic era, and then I smoked pot daily for 20 years. I’ve been battling cancer the last two years so I don’t even do that anymore. I don’t even drink.”    

Peter: One thing I wanted to ask about is there’s not a lot out there as far as photos of Truth or the sessions.

Michael: “There isn’t. There isn’t. No. That’s it. Jay [from Sundazed Records] wanted more too, but I gave him the two [pictures] that are on the CD. But that’s it. I have no other pictures of Truth…we just didn’t; it wasn’t a big thing, or, I don’t know. I thought, ‘Why isn’t anybody taking pictures’, you know?

“That’s kind of the same thing about Gypsy’s Lament [DeGreve’s solo album]. Why do I not have pictures of the first session when I walked in. I had Leeland Sklar [bass] on one side of me, David Lindley [guitar, violin] on the other, and I looked around and went, ’Oh God, please freeze frame this. I just want to do this.’ And the whole thing with [Graham] Nash and I. There’s no pictures of all that stuff…I wish there was. With all my heart I wish there was.”

Peter: I know the other two vocalists on Truth, Bob and Janice, were married. They divorced shortly after Truth came out and that pretty much ended the group?

Michael: “Yeah, that was certainly a part of it.”

Peter: Did Bob or Janice go on to do anything else musically or was that pretty much it for them?

Michael: “Ah, that was pretty much it for them. Janice sang a little bit of vocals in a cover band. I was already on the road by then…but [Janice] sang with Bob’s cover band right after The Lid broke up…he had a band like we all [did] trying to make a living playing. She sang and she had two kids and Bob had gone back to Florida, what little I know. I really don’t know much after that. We had a really good mutual friend that I’m in touch with and he said Bob was living with one of the soap opera stars on one of them deals, and Janice raised her kids and moved to New Jersey…”

To Be Continued

That concludes Part 1. Come back here next month for Part 2 of my interview with Michael DeGreve and find out what it was like to be a hippie, the big names in music who performed on his solo album, and what DeGreve is cooking up these days.



Trivia: On June 21, 1967, 75,000-100,000 hippies converged on San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district to celebrate peace, love, and freedom. It became known as the summer of love.

Trivia (from udiscovermusic.com): “During the 60s and 70s, Los Angeles producers needed reliable standby musicians who could be counted on to contribute to records in a variety of styles and deliver hits on short order. The Wrecking Crew were musically versatile performers who were usually brilliant at sight-reading. Their contributions feature in pop songs, television music, theme songs, film scores, and advert music. The reason The Wrecking Crew’s contributions to so many hit recordings went unnoticed at the time was that record labels wanted to keep it that way, maintaining the illusion that famous bands, such as The Monkees, always played their own instrumental parts.”

Trivia (from nbcnews.com, Nov. 2004): A man who placed a lava lamp on a hot stove top was killed when it exploded and sent a shard of glass into his heart, police said. Philip Quinn, 24, was found dead in his trailer home Sunday night by his parents. ‘Why on earth he was heating a lava lamp on the stove, we don’t know,’ Kent Police spokesman Paul Petersen said Monday. After the lamp exploded, Quinn apparently stumbled into his bedroom, where he died Sunday afternoon, authorities said. Police found no evidence of drug or alcohol use.”

Links:

Michael DeGreve

Sundazed

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An Unusual Name & An Unusual Hobby

We Americans love our hobbies. A survey conducted by Statista.com released this year revealed the surprising finding that amongst 18-64 year olds, the most popular hobby was baking. This was followed by reading, pets, and video games (respondents could pick more than 1 hobby). “Radio”, “audio”, and “music” weren’t categories, though “making music” was.

Also not an option was collecting radio station bumper stickers, yet that’s exactly what Phil Bytheway does. By the way, that’s his real legal last name. It’s British and it’s pronounced just as you think. Since I try to focus on radio and vintage music related topics, I thought this subject, which combines both radio and something vintage, would be perfect for this month’s blog article.

Bumper stickers are indeed vintage. You don’t see them as often as you used to, perhaps because newer cars don’t have bumpers, or at least not like how bumpers used to be. According to radiostationpromotions.com, “the bumper sticker as we know it today can be traced back to a screen printer in Kansas City, Mo., named Forrest P. Gill. In the 1940s, he had a surplus of two wartime technologies: adhesive-backed paper and fluorescent paint. He combined the two, and the bumper sticker was born. His new creation significantly improved handmade signs that were easily worn down or fell off cars…Radio Stations began using bumper stickers in the 1950s and 1960s to promote their stations to listeners, often with a contest.”

Bytheway, a retired electrical engineer, has been collecting radio station bumper stickers for nearly 35 years. I emailed him at his home in Washington state to learn more about his hobby, which is as unusual as his last name.

Some bumper stickers recently listed on eBay.

Peter: When did you start collecting radio station bumper stickers? I imagine it’s not a very expensive hobby compared to others.

Phil: “I have been seriously collecting since 1991 when I purchased a collection from a long-time collector. He had some 20 boxes of radio promo items… mostly paper (which has since been recycled).

Check out the prices for stickers on eBay… they can be pretty expensive… but I don’t bid on singles… usually collections, so I increase my collection and my traders.”

Peter: What was the genesis behind this unusual hobby?

Phil: “When I was in Jr High (1968), I got interested in tuning my AM radio for distant stations. I started collecting verifications of the stations I heard, which required me to tabulate program details for around 15 minutes and sent a letter asking for confirmations. Some of the stations would include a sticker with the verification… and I started collecting them. Eventually, I started writing stations asking for stickers. Once the internet became available, I started searching for websites and emailing the stations. Much quicker, and occasionally I send an SASE.”

Peter: How many stickers are in your collection?

Phil: “I have around 50,000 US and Canadian stickers…an unknown number of foreign ones and around 100,000 extras for trade…”

Peter: What’s the most unusual item you have?

Phil: “I have a stuffed Tookie Tookie bird (from George of the Jungle fame) from a station on the east coast.”

Peter: What’s your favorite sticker in your collection?

Phil: “Tough question. Many stickers from Hawaii are the most colorful ones. Favorites I guess would be stickers from stations I’ve heard on the AM band… there are many. Kinda nice to have a visible representation of the stations I’ve heard. Note, not every station will verify reception, nor is it always possible to get enough program information to ask for one!”

Peter: What’s the most distant radio station you have a bumper sticker from?

Phil: “Many from Australia/New Zealand. Also, quite a few from Europe/Asia. I don’t do distance, so not really sure the farthest. Maybe I should add a column [in my spreadsheet] for distance?”

Bytheway with his bumper crop of bumper stickers. The sticker he’s holding is for full service AM station WAIK 1590 out of Galesburg, Ill which went dark in 2019. Photo courtesy of Phil Bytheway.

Peter: What’s the oldest sticker in your collection?

Phil: “I presume many of the stickers are from the 60s or 70s… although not many. Same is true for the air checks… although there are a few from the late 50s.”

Peter: Is there a station you really wanted a bumper sticker from that didn’t cooperate?

Phil: “Can’t think of any. Most stations today do not do stickers… the popularity amongst the “normal” folks has dropped off dramatically. I really don’t see many on cars anymore… and the ones I DO see tend to be older. I think there is a different focus for stickers now. There are many that are smaller than what would work on a car, so I think they are intended for laptops or cell phones… not sure though.”

Peter: What’s your success rate when you ask for items from radio stations?

Phil: “I do exclusively email now… and get around 5-10% response… of those, around 10% say they are going to send something, but don’t (very frustrating). I really wish they would be honest with me. I do keep track of stations that say they are going to send something, and when I get the items in the mail, I always send a thank you. And, I have sent a follow up request from time to time… but the response to those is really small!”

Peter: What do your friends and relatives think of your hobby?

Phil: “[They think] it’s weird… and I have no one in the family to pass my collection on to!! Then again, a lot of folks collect sports cards… and I think that is odd (our son collects them). Sports cards are worth something though… and stickers don’t tend to be worth much, even though folks on eBay tend to think they are worth a lot.”

Peter: You have a little radio experience, right?

Phil: “I did the news at UW’s KCMU (now KEXP) when I was in college during the summer once. That’s my only on-the-air experience although folks seem to think I have a “radio voice”. I volunteered at KING-FM, but only did clerical work. I was hoping to go into radio as my second career, but health issues prevent me from holding down a full-time job now…. I’m not much of an ad lib person, except for an occasional joke… so being a DJ would not work too well.”

Image from Classical King’s Instagram page.

Peter: What are some of your favorite radio stations?

Phil: “I enjoy classical music… and listen to [Seattle’s] KING-FM a lot… also other classical music stations on the internet. No real favorites though… I enjoy the variety radio has. I guess I enjoy listening to older top 40 stations… so I’m starting to collect air checks.” 

Peter: You also have some vintage air check tapes (recordings of DJ patter). Do you have any plans to post them on the net for people to hear?

Phil: “I recently acquired a large collection of reel-to-reel and cassette tapes, CDs and DVDs from a former collector in California who passed away. I am in the process of inventorying them, so I can offer them for trade. Posting on the internet might also be possible if I can figure out how to do it. There are 24 boxes, so it’s going to take a while. So far, I’ve inventoried the CDs and DVDs… but there are a lot of cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes to go. Will also need to figure out how to “convert” them to .mp3 before posting… that’s going to take a while. And I thought I could take it easy when I retired!!!”

Peter: Bytheway…that’s your legal last name. You must take a lot of ribbing.

Phil: “Yes. We’re from the UK, where someone lived on the road… and thus they were ‘by-the-way’. Mostly, folks don’t believe it… and I’ve had to get out my driver’s license a few times! I learned to not get upset when folks kidded me… a bit of armor reinforcement.”

Image from Honeywell.com

Peter: What’s your professional background?

Phil: “I was an Electrical Engineer for 36 years, working for Honeywell, Alliant Techsystems, Hughes, Raytheon and Technologic (a consulting firm). I designed circuit boards and eventually ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) which were used on the boards I designed. I participated in the design and check out of a series of testers that use software and cables to test various modules. My last job was debugging and repairing circuit boards returned for repair. I did quite a bit of traveling around the US to integrate and debug many of my designs… a few times being sent last minute to help fix a problem.”

Photo from the Washington Athletic’s facebook page.

Peter: Any final thoughts, Phil?

Phil: “I did design the “W” for UW [University of Washington] football helmet while I was a student manager for the UW football team (5 years in college). Guess that fueled my interest in stickers!! Given that I designed a large number of electronics… the “W” is really the only thing that has lasted… electronics are usually obsolete soon after they are on the market!! I am clearly a football nut… having played co-ed flag football for a number of years with the Underdog Sports group. Had to stop doing that when my medical issues prevented it!!”

One of Bytheway’s newsletters.

In addition to growing his bumper sticker collection, Bytheway is also involved with a couple of extensive monthly newsletters that take deep dives into radio stations and tuning distant AM stations.

Image from the JB105 facebook page.

I worked in commercial radio for almost 7 years. I was even a Promotions Director at one point at a classic rock station in New Hampshire. Yet I never amassed a collection of station stickers, T-shirts, or coffee mugs. I worked with a guy at one station who had an extra JB105 bumper sticker. JB105 was a very popular hit music station in Rhode Island when I was a kid. He promised to give me his extra sticker, but he never did. I definitely would’ve put that on my car.

Although I spot plenty of political stickers (which, unfortunately, are mostly offensive), rarely do I see radio station bumper stickers on cars. As Bytheway pointed out, fewer and fewer radio stations offer bumper stickers even though they’d likely receive a lot more exposure than other promotional items and are cheaper than T-shirts. With the cost of new cars today, I think people are more reluctant to permanently stick things on their cars. In any event, it’s nice to know there are still people in the world who appreciate radio station bumper stickers. Keep sticking it to them, Phil.

Trivia (from clashgraphics.com): ”In 1991, a Georgia resident was charged with violating a state law prohibiting automobile owners from attaching “any sticker, decal, emblem, or other device containing profane or lewd words.” In Cunningham v. the State, the owner successfully argued this law was unconstitutional. The court agreed with him, ruling that the law violated the 1st and 14th Amendments. As such, the bumper sticker was now protected by freedom of speech.”

Trivia: January is National Hobby Month.

Trivia: According to a June 2023 Gallup poll, 66% of adults aged 18-34 said their hobbies and recreational activities were “extremely or very important”. That dipped to 61% among 35-54 year olds, and 59% for the 55 and over crowd.

Trivia: This website honors a different radio station bumper sticker every day.

If you like discovering new Internet radio stations, or would like to help support articles like this on my website blog, please consider becoming a Patreon member today for as little as $1.

Do you have unusual music-related hobby or would like to suggest a subject for an article? Let me know about it: stationsguy@gmail.com

Albums That Weren’t Albums

Bang The Drum All Day. Photo by Peter Skiera.

Photo by Peter Skiera.

They looked like albums. They were the same size as albums. They were sold in record stores. Yet these series of “records” weren’t records at all. They were essentially a series of large greeting cards made to look like records. Instead of containing a vinyl record you could play, each contained a thin, 12” cardboard “record” with the printed message: “I bought this Album for you as a gift… sorry, I couldn’t afford the record!’ (a blank “From” area at the bottom was provided to write a personal message to the recipient).

Photo by Peter Skiera.

Long playing vinyl record sales were really taking off in the 1960s. A company by the name of Kanrom saw an opportunity to cash in by selling gag “records” as unique gifts for Birthdays, Wedding Anniversaries, etc., or just to give to a friend (or a former friend) for a laugh. The company promoted them as “Wild, Whacky, Bawdy…and Screamingly Fun!…A Truly Wild Group Of Conversation Pieces.”

A record company that wasn’t a record company. Photo by Peter Skiera.

There was a total of 12 “records” in the series, released under the name High In-Fidelity Records. As the “label” implied, most of the titles had a sexual theme and featured naked or partially naked women on the covers (I used puzzle pieces in my pics to obscure the nudity). The Rated-PG artwork (remember, this was the 1960s) definitely took some attention away from the real records. They didn’t chart like real records did, so how much of that attention turned into actual sales isn’t known.

Each “record” cost $1.25. That seems impossibly cheap, but adjusting for inflation, that would be almost $13 today. That’s not that far away from the cost of an actual record.

Swing Out Sister. Photo by Peter Skiera.

The back of each “album cover” listed “suggested [song] titles suitable for enclosure” that played off of the album’s title and artwork. For example, Songs For Swinging Mothers, the cover of which featured four very pregnant women on a swing set, included suggested songs like Get Me To The Church On Time, Things We Did Last Summer, Careless Love, and Don’t Blame Me.

The cover says it all. Photo by Peter Skiera.

Some of the other titles in the series included Victory At Sea (featuring four couples on the deck of a boat), Music For Casual Affairs (picturing a pair of male and female bare feet at the end of a bed), Great Piano Pieces (depicting four naked ladies strewn across pianos), Music For You (the cover of which showed a horse’s rear end), and a similarly-themed Music For Half-assed Friends (featuring ½ of a toilet on the cover). The “suggested” songs for that latter title included Just In Time, Doing What Comes Naturally, At Last, I Gotta Go Now, You Go To My Head, and Just A-Sittin’ And A-Rockin’.

Politicians are the same all over. Photo by Peter Skiera.

Perhaps the most controversial “album” of the High In-Fidelity series was Communist Party Music, complete with a Nikita Khrushchev look-a-like along with several topless ladies. A few of the “suggested” songs for this release included Cuban Love Song, How The West Was Won, West Of The Wall, Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf, and He’s A Devil In His Own Home Town.

It’s fun to look back on these risqué fake records from 60+ years ago. Even with the resurgence of vinyl, with our politically correct environment, I’m not sure you could get away with something like this today. That said, I can definitely imagine some amusing album covers poking fun at various news headlines…

My thanks to musiceureka for some of the information featured in this article, and my thanks to my Patreon members for helping to make this blog possible.

Radio Rewind: Lime Kiln

Lime Kiln Lighthouse. Photo courtesy of SMRU Consulting.

Website: https://www.smruconsulting.com/lime-kiln-live-hydrophone

Stream URL: https://proxy.tpa-01.stream101.com/proxy/smrucons?mp=/;stream

Radio Rewind is a random “pop-up” series that looks back at a Hitchhiker Station (a strange radio station) from the past. As last month’s post was 2 years since my last “Rewind”, I’m making up for it by posting another.

The historic lighthouse in Lime Kiln Point State Park on the west side of San Juan Island in Washington State is an impressive sight. But the 200,000 people who visit every year mainly go to see killer whales, gray whales, sea lions, and porpoises swimming along the shoreline. The Park claims to be “one of the best whale-watching spots on earth.” So much so, it’s nicknamed “Whale Watch Park”.

One reason why it’s such an ideal location for whale watching is because the ocean floor drops to 960 feet just a mere 25 feet off shore. This gives the whales plenty of room, yet at the same time, puts them very close to the shore resulting in ideal whale watching. The area is also rich in cod and salmon which the whales feed on.

Besides being a killer whale research hub, the site also includes a hydrophone node (an underwater microphone). The sounds from the microphone are streamed live, 24/7, over the Lime Kiln Hydrophone Internet station. Yes, this is an Internet radio station that plays nothing but sounds from an underwater microphone. No hits, none of the time.

Submerged in twenty-three feet of water southwest of the Lime Kiln Lighthouse, the hydrophone was installed 8 years ago and is maintained by The Whale Museum and SMRU (Sea Mammal Research Unit). Tune in and at any given time you’ll hear what sounds like either water running furiously in a bathtub or white noise (it’s very low 32 kbps streaming bit rate doesn’t help). However, the sub-aquatic stereo microphone has, on occasion, picked up whale calls and sounds of Orcas crunching fish bones. Yum.

“Yes, this is an Internet radio station that plays nothing but sounds from an underwater microphone.”

Lime Kiln was recently “off the air” for a week due to Internet equipment failures, but they fixed the problems and it’s back on. Those of you who need your underwater fix can rejoice again.

If you want to get closer to nature, or you would like to be under the sea in an octopus’s garden in the shade, tune Lime Kiln Hydrophone…a Hitchhiker Station that’s underwater.

Trivia (from lighthousepreservation.org/history/): One of the first known lighthouses was also the greatest and most famous of all lighthouses. It was built in 285 BC at Alexandria, Egypt, on an island at the entrance to the city’s harbor. This lighthouse, called the Pharos of Alexandria, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was over 440 ft tall and stood for 1500 years, until it was destroyed by an earthquake.”

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