Woke up getting news I didn’t expect to ever thought would have happened. Damn it, won’t 2021 ever go away?

Guys, suicide is NOT the answer. It is the other end of the spectrum and leaves so many more questions than answers and a whole lot of pain for those who love you. Communication is key and if you need to talk, there are many ways I can be contacted. A lot of people know this and it you don’t, now you do. Pick a preferred method listed on my website (Www.thebigjohnshow.com), call me direct if you have my number, message me here, email, ect…, telling me you need to talk. I have spent hours, even in the middle of the night talking with folks who were total strangers helping them out. It is not an inconvenience to help someone see the way out of their darkest hour. I’m not a counselor by any means, but sometimes you just need someone to talk with, somebody to help you see there is daylight on a cloudy day.

We all have struggles in our daily lives (i.e. I am struggling to find employment in this area which makes for a hell of an emotional ride daily), but the only thing we can do is keep marching forward. Yeah, it is a tough time in our country, but you are NOT alone in this. Sometimes asking the advice from a total stranger while waiting for your ride to pick you up is worth gold because that person has been where you are in that moment. You never know until you try.

One of my favorite wrestlers, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, once gave the advice I heard so often as a cliche, but hearing him say it in the context he did, it made perfect sense: if you’re afraid or unsure of doing something, “just ring the bell”. That is all you need to do. Something in his mind changes when he does hear it and believe me, something as simple as that actually works for me. Someone says something that sets you off, you may hear an imaginary bell go off in your head, and suddenly you may be giving that person a piece of your mind (or a foot in their behind), but sometime it is just that simple to flick that switch that alters your thought process from bad to better. Just getting it off your chest and clearing your mind is the most important (sometimes hardest) decision you can make. Just ring the bell…

 

    We have added a portal for our clients to log in to see their invoices and to pay online. This is for our Voiceover, Advertising, Oklahoma Public Notary, and other services we provide. Our clients will need to click on the “Clients” link located in the tabs bar on our site (www.thebigjohnshow.com) and will be taken to the login site. If you haven’t gotten your password yet, you should send us an email with your requested password. DO NOT GIVE THE PASSWORD TO ANYONE ELSE NOR WILL WE LET ANYONE ELSE KNOW!!! If you choose to print out your invoice and mail in your payment, you may do so or you can pay online (via Paypal) once you have logged in to the client portal.

We are proud to announce that we have remodeled our online store along with updates for better service and convenience! You can see it by pointing your smartphone or desktop browser to shop.thebigjohnshow.com and let us know what you think. Our online store will continue to have a range of audio products that you hear on the shows (“The Big John Show” & “Bravo Sierra with Big John”) with some physical products from our other brands you can purchase. This is our little space in the world where you can help support the show. You can sign up for email updates, send gift certificates, get additional services from our partners, and more!  In addition, we will be adding more to it soon and making minor updates / fixes over the next week. So if you happen to see something glitch, don’t panic, we are working on it behind the scenes. Again, we welcome you to our online store, shop.thebigjohnshow.com, and look forward to serving you in the future!

     So I got some feedback about my comments on social media from last night (10/12) concerning other radio stations in Western Oklahoma job performance when it comes to Severe Weather. Funny thing is it wasn’t just from other jocks, but from regional / locally-known artists as well criticizing my “professionalism” for calling out some of the other stations markets. Allow me to make my points and you (whoever) can either agree to disagree or just disappear from my friends list as it makes no difference to sway my mind about the argument. Your loyalty will only get you so far until the listener turns off the radio or changes the station if you song comes on.

 

     First and foremost, who is going to remember what artist or song was playing when the EAS tones come over the radio or the LIVE jock comes on and says “The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Warning for…”? Are they going to be listening more to the LIVE jock announcing the details (where, when will it be over their specific location, will it be over their destination if they are driving home, work, or to the grocery store, or how much time will they have to get to their tornado shelter?) or do you honestly believe the listener will be complaining that the jock rudely interrupted your song that was playing during that time? If you think the latter, you better get your head checked and maybe that particular listener.

 

     Second, radio stations are supposed to serve the communities for which they are licensed in. One way to serve the community includes keeping them up-to-date on harmful situations that may or may not be caused by Mother Nature. If a radio station has no jock during a serious (and potentially deadly situation), that is going to hurt the credibility of that station and may not save the lives it could have potentially. Radio stations should be helping their community by broadcasting the information that is NEEDED (a.k.a. weather hazards, local area disasters, topical community situations, ect…) because it is a condition of their license issued by the Federal Communications Commission, no matter if they are a Low-Power FM, Non-Profit, or Profit station. Your spins are thrown out the window at that point and no one in radio thinks twice about that.

 

     Third, if a station claims to help the community, it should be LIVE, even during severe weather situations. I’ve done it so many times, even while the funnel cloud when directly over the station. Any good jock worth their salt usually preps ahead of their show. That prep should include watching the weather, days ahead if possible. Just let it stay in the back of their minds as to be prepared for what might be coming. Wouldn’t you do it if you plan on touring? Same concept. The jocks in western Oklahoma had several days in advance to prepare for the possibilities and if they didn’t, that is on them and they should own up to it on-air by apologizing for keeping their listeners un-informed on the hazardous situation possibly coming into their coverage area.

 

     Fourth, in this day and age, technology is everywhere. Smartphones, laptops, desktop computers, tablets, apps, ect… It’s all around us. However, not everyone can be around a TV set or the internet to watch someone else from another market over a hundred miles away to tell them what a Severe Storm is going to do. It’s the main thing I can’t stand about Fayetteville, Arkansas TV stations because they don’t report accurately for Southeastern Oklahoma. That’s why radio is such an important tool and resource for the average listener who is sitting in their storm shelter or driving around in their vehicles. Those folks most likely are listening to the radio for vital information during that time. With that being said, most radio stations have what is called “Remote Capabilities” allowing them to call into the station board or internet connected transceiver (I have a Telos Z/IP one for my personal use along with LUCY app) to broadcast LIVE from a remote location for business or safety reasons (it was heavily used in a lot of markets this past year in the name of COVID-19). So, not a single station can tell me they didn’t have anyone available or able to handle such an important event. If they did not go on the air ahead of time and during the events as they unfolded, they did NOT do their job, it was poor planning on the station managers (or owners) part and it was bad planning on the Jocks part. Plain and simple.

 

     Now, as for the artists (promoters, vendors, & personnel) who were butt-hurt for my harsh suggestions for the stations who were NOT covering the tornadic situation in western Oklahoma, you are only complaining because they might be playing your music. I’m going to tell you something that none of those stations are going to tell you: The only thing any FCC Licensed station has to do is protect the license at all costs. That’s it, plain and simple. Your music is at the bottom of the list and a benefit to you if they actually play it. That is the God’s honest truth. Yes, it can be a partnership, working hand-in-hand with each other, but you know as well as I do that when the song is over, so is the handshake until your song plays again. In between those songs, might be a while if another tornadic storm pops back up. Any station that doesn’t go wall-to-wall during a tornado warning doesn’t care for its listeners. I’m not so sure that would be a station that if I were an artists would want to have my music played on. The listeners are what makes the station. The listeners support the advertisers who then buy advertising on the station that they know the listeners are tuned in on. Your music is a tool to pass the time, not a necessity if the community sees fit. The community must be served well for the station to be successful. I have nothing against your music, but if I have a choice to play your song or warn people about a destructive force heading their way, you better believe I am going to break into that song and crack the mic open for the duration of the warning. If I get any flack for it, the next button I push for that song will be the “Delete” key.

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