God Bless Mr. Willis Carrier

The ozone reading is high, the temp is at 100, smoke from the burning forests of Northern Canada has returned, the 4th of July is on a Tuesday, and the folks are buying lots of vinyl!

The summer of 2023 is lining up as a weird time. Ryan Seacrest has been called in to host another iconic TV program. Taylor Swift is expected to helm the first billion-dollar ticket sales concert tour. And reviews are terrible for the final “Indiana Jones” film. Is this how things are supposed to be?

One thousand-dollar George Strait tickets in Nashville to match the $600 downtown hotel rooms. Every lunch is 20 bucks, and every fill-up is 60. Is this the new normal?

Vinyl is back, but I’m fine with Apple music’s 60 million-song library at my fingertips. Does the jock at the beach radio station still tell you to turn over every half hour or so?

I’m ordering a large Sonic grape slush and halting this crushed ice cruise down memory lane.

How great was it to see two Country artists at #1 and #3 on the Billboard Top 100 chart? Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” is #1, and Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” is #2. First time in over 42 years that’s happened. The Billboard folks say Dolly Parton and Eddie Rabbit were the last two Country stars to top the chart in those positions.

Add the Music Row-birthed Swift and her potential BILLION-dollar tour gross and things are pretty amazing.

I keep hearing about longtime radio talents leaving the business. Former WSM/Nashville jock Pat Sajak is almost done with “Wheel of Fortune” to be replaced by Seacrest. The shiny, digital PD is sterilizing the radio product. Morning TV is serving the public like radio with resources used to do.

I keep going back in my mind to vinyl. There are 100 things negative about a needle sitting on a hard wax shell, but vinyl is cool again. Radio needs to become cool again, too!

Is Country radio empowered by the huge success of Morgan and Luke? You would think so, but are they strong via streaming numbers and radio is following them?

Radio in some places is just fine, but that lure of digital jukebox is strong. You can’t beat a jukebox with commercial radio. The radio has to have a product so unique it’s a must have/must listen/you are out of step if you miss.

I pay real money to hear Howard Stern. He doesn’t play music. Rush Limbaugh never played songs. So the trick is to entertain with music and the folks will be missing great content if they just stream the jukebox. You can’t have great content with no employees. Complicated times.

TV networks are living the same dream. Cutbacks equal smaller audiences. People go to stream when content seems to be unlimited. Complicated times. I sure hope someone finds that magic formula soon.