Listen At Your Risk

Rendezvous with Radi-Yo

2008-08-29T05:13:00.000-07:00

“When you see celebrities everyday, you realize that they’re just like us,” remarks Michael Yo.

And he should know. The self-described “half-black brother with the Korean mother,” delivers entertainment news, celebrity interviews and gossip daily as the host of Yo on E!, a three-hour live show heard on Sirius and XM Satellite Radio.

With a popular radio show, celebrity friends and TV appearances on the Daily 10, Chelsea Lately, ShowBiz Tonight and Nancy Grace, Yo has come a long way from his high-school days spent toiling inside of Fuddruckers and Taco Bell.

Yo grew up in Houston, Texas, with dreams of becoming a football player. He played football at the University of Arkansas for a couple of years until a concussion took him off the field (he was knocked unconscious for several hours).

His Korea-born mother, a restaurant owner with a high-school education, wanted him to finish college. But his father, who has a Ph.D. in nuclear physics, knew that college wasn’t right for him (“My father has the book smarts,” Yo says, “but my mother has the street smarts). So, Yo left.

Yo never thought of any other professions besides professional football, and the only two jobs he ever had were grilling burgers at Fuddruckers and working at the Taco Bell drive-thru. But Yo met a friend who thought he had the right personality for radio. By age 25, he had his own show in Austin, Texas.

“Radio is hands-on,” Yo says. “You have to have personality, and you just gotta do it — nobody can teach you how to talk.”

He says the biggest challenge in starting his career was getting a chance.
“It’s so hard to get your foot in the door,” he says, “and once you get that foot in the door, you have to be ready for it because the door won’t open again.”

Yo noted that before he became popular on the radio, his mother’s Asian friends were “showcasing” their kids who were becoming doctors, lawyers and engineers and bragging about their achievements or successes. Working in radio may not be a typically prestigious career, but once Yo became well-known, his mother was no longer afraid to “showcase” him.

Now based in Los Angeles, Yo says the best part about his job is going to work to talk.

“It’s great to meet stars who actually want to talk to you,” he admits, “and I even become friends with some of them too.”

Yo’s favorite TV personalities include Carson Daly, Jimmy Kimmel and Ryan Seacrest, whom he especially admires because he has his own production company and is the host of E! News. Yo hopes one day to have a show that is a mix of David Letterman and Oprah — a show that’s funny but helps women too.

Yo says he was most nervous about interviewing Madonna the first time. After four interviews, they now are good friends. His hardest interview was with Avril Lavigne in 2002, when she first became popular.

“She was young back then,” Yo says. “Our interview lasted forty-five seconds, literally. She kept giving one-word answers, so I just let her go. One-word answers kill you.”

Who would he interview if he could choose anyone, living or dead? Michael Jordan. “I never thought I’d have posters of a grown man on my wall,” Yo says.

His advice for anyone who wants to start a career in entertainment: Make realistic goals and build your way up. “So many people get caught up with wanting to be a star,” Yo says, “that they don’t have realistic goals. You have to prove that you can do it.”

KBND Tops Talk Radio Ratings

2008-08-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

Cheers to KBND

A report (the Bulletin) published on August 11, 2008 reads that talk radio station KBND (1110 AM), home to conservative talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh, had the most Central Oregon listeners, ages 12 and older during the spring listenership survey conducted by Arbitron Inc.

The company's "12-plus" ratings, released last week, gave KBND an 8.8 percent share, followed by oldies station KQAK (105.7 FM) and contemporary pop station KXIX (94.1 FM, also known as "Power 94") both of which tied for the second most listeners with a 7.9 percent share.

A share represents the estimated percentage of all radio listeners, 12 years of age and older listening to a particular station at any time from 6 a.m. to midnight during the week.

Mike Cheney, general manager of Combined Communications, which owns KBND, said the talk radio ratings aren't particularly useful because they don't divulge key demographic data but are still a compliment. Arbitron doesn't release listener demographic data to the public.

"For listeners up to 30 years old, KBND might come in last, but we're still happy with the performance," Cheney said. "It's a very consistent station and it continues to roll on and shows that people moving here are interested in politics and lifestyle-oriented things, such as money and health, and those are the things that KBND tries to focus on."

The station also airs a morning news broadcast as well as nationally syndicated talk radio shows with on-air personalities such as Portland-based conservative commentator Lars Larson, Bill O'Reilly, Dr. Dean Edell and Dr. Laura. The station recently dropped Sean Hannity, the nation's second most listened to talk radio host, according to Talkers Magazine, due to a contractual disagreement, Cheney said.

Public Radio Showcased Story of PdC Babies Switched at Birth

2008-08-06T03:04:00.000-07:00

The popular radio show “The American Life” will showcase the story of two girls accidentally switched at birth at a Prairie du Chien, Wis. hospital.

Martha Miller and Susan McDonald left the Old San Hospital with the wrong families in the summer of 1951 only to discover this fact after a long 43 years. One of the mothers, Mary Miller, could guess that she was not handed the right baby as she weighed less than what she weighed at hospital and behaved quite differently from the rest of her children. However, she did not take any initiative and kept mum.

The radio show is a an hour long documentary with four chapters from the two mothers, Mary Miller and Kay McDonald; and the two daughters Martha Colwell and Susan Boutni.

Sarah Koening, producer of the show “The American Life” said that all of them very honest about what happened with them. "I think there is something so powerful about biological connections," she said. "I think both girls always felt a little different in their families, growing up."

The show was aired at 3 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday on Minnesota Public Radio 91.1- FM.

Discover Pandora’s Latest Haven

2008-07-23T04:41:00.000-07:00

The Pandora Radio was one of the first applications promising to make available streaming internet radio on your iPhones. This was truly unique as personalized music based on your favorite songs, artists, or composers could be delivered via the Music Genome Project.

Installation and registration for Pandora is highly simple. All you need is to enter the names of your favorite artists and you will get a play station automatically generated with the music you like. You can further refine your collection with “thumbs up” or “thumbs down”.

The iPhone has also been applauded by TechCrunch. Reports suggest that iPhone listeners attracted 3.3 million tracks every 2 seconds the other weekend. The music stream functions on EDGE, 3G, and Wi-Fi networks.

Check out the World’s Tiniest Radio

2008-07-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

The world’s smallest radio is here! According to a new study, the carbon nanotube- a hollow tube-shaped molecule 10,000 times smaller than human hair- can perform all the basic functions of a radio when it's wired up to a few other simple parts, a new study shows.

When a radio wave of a specific frequency impinges on the nanotube, it begins to vibrate vigorously. An electric field applied to the nanotube forces electrons to be emitted from its tip.

This nanotube radio is over 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 times smaller than the Philco vacuum tube radio from the 1930s.

The single nanotube serves, at once, as all major components of a radio: antenna, tuner, amplifier, and demodulator. (Berkeley physics research)

Radio Star Alan Jones to undergo surgery for Prostate Cancer

2008-07-03T04:59:00.000-07:00

Sydney’s top rated radio personality, Alan Jones, announced that he is suffering from prostate cancer and will undergo surgery.

In a press conference in the boardroom of Macquarie Radio Network, Jones said that he would be back on air 4 weeks post surgery.

Jones, now 67, is the owner of 2GB and also hosts its breakfast shows. The surgery will keep him back from fans for quite a long time.

Further, Jones said that he had been diagnosed with cancer in the middle stage of seriousness. The surgery would be carried out at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital in two weeks, and Jones said he intended to be on air until the eve of the operation.

The Power of XM Radio

2008-06-27T04:37:00.000-07:00

How will react if you get more than 130 digital-quality radio channels of music, news, sports, talk, comedy and children’s programmes anywhere within the US and that too at an extremely affordable price?
Say Yo! to the power of XM Satellite Radio, which made its first appearance in the United States and is expected to change the experience of listeners forever? Since its launch in 2001, the XM Radio has been widely adopted; the rate of adoption being second only to that of DVD players among consumer electronic products in the US. The XM Satellite has been widely appreciated on account of its amazing clarity and uninterrupted entertainment 24/7 anytime anywhere in the country. So why not give the XM a try? :)

Listeners Beware!!!

2008-06-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys! This blog is not to deter you from listening to your favorite shows but a warning to prepare yourself take on the route of non-stop entertainment. So tighten up your spirits- en route to Addiction 24/7!

Check out America’s Longest Running Radio Show

America’s longest running radio show happened to emerge out of a Barn Dance. In 1925, a Nashville radio station WSM, went on air. Its director, George D. Hay organized a Saturday Night Show, also called “barn dance”. Live performances ranged from minstrel acts to military bands, traditional numbers to country-side music.

The show that preceded the “barn dance” was a classical music program named The Music Appreciation Hour. Hay introduced the barn dance by saying “For the past hour you have been listening to music taken largely from the Grand Opera, but from now on we will present the Grand Ole Opry.” The name was stamped, and it continued to be broadcast under the same name for the next six decades.