Here's Nicole's first podcast as she starts all over....

One little song rose as an anthem of sorts for the firefighters and other first responders in New York.  It was "Superman" by John Ondrasik or, as he is more widely known, Five For Fighting.

John is a dear friend of mine.  I happened upon a copy of his first album, "Message for Albert" while I was writing for the now-defunct music trade magazine, Album Network.   I pissed off the powers that be at his then-label, EMI, for writing about this unknown and non-priority record instead of the Queensryche tripe they were pushing.  It turned out not to matter either way, as the label folded before any other than a small few had heard "...Albert".  But in championing the record, I made a new friend.

Fast forward a few years, and John had put together a demo of a few songs, and was signed by the small, but burgeoning, Aware Records.  After I received an advance copy of what would eventually be released as "America Town," I remember leaving a message on John's answering machine that said something to the effect of "Superman is one of the best songs ever written." 

Luckily for me, when the album was released, I was Music Director of Channel 103.1 in Los Angeles, and was the first, anywhere, to play "Superman" on the radio.  It went on to become a hit... but, as I said before, took on new meaning after the events of 9-11-01, when the firefighters took some strength and comfort from it.

So, as we approach the 5th anniversary of that day, I thought it fitting to call my old friend, John Ondrasik, and look back.

I will not play the song "Superman" in this podcast, as I just can't afford the licensing fees (although John would have no problem, but that's another story), so I'll invite you to find it on iTunes or your local record store and listen again!

So, I recently started a new job.  I'm producing The Jim DeFede Show, a new morning show at South Florida's Progressive Talk Station, AM 940.  Since music radio in South Florida is so awful, this is the station I find myself listening to most of the time, so it made sense to go there.

I do participate on-air as well, and in my role on that show, I had the opportunity to interview Graham Nash a couple of days ago.  He was in town for the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young South Florida stop on the "Freedom of Speech '06" tour.

As I knew it would be, the interview was wonderful, so I thought I'd share it with you here.  I hope you enjoy it!

Gina, who I believe is in the Netherlands, wrote "Itâs for the contents of the interview, the things that are being said, people tune in i guess... Hearing the music is cool too, but we can play those ourselves.. Perhaps you could delete the music but show in a message what songs were played...
If you have more interviews in stock that are worth listening to, iâd say go for it...
... And yes, listening to interviews isnât any less attractive if thereâs no music in it..."

And from David in Santa Monica... one of the old-time KSCA listeners, "Keep doing the podcast if you can; interviews, stories, whatever. You always had us as soon as we heard you, the music was only a fraction of the attraction."

The kind words mean more than you know... So, let's give this another shot...  I will let you know which songs were played, so you can find them and plug them in yourself, if you so choose.  (And perhaps a kindly worded email might get me to share the live version with you!)

So, today we travel back to October of 1995... the very first Los Angeles radio appearance by Ben Folds Five....

The cost of paying ASCAP and BMI fees is prohibitive, especially since I don't make any money from this site.  So I have no choice but to discontinue the podcast.

Thanks to all who've listened, and especially those of you who've written in to say you enjoyed what you heard.  Perhaps I'll take the show back to the airwaves one of these days.

In the meantime, you can still reach me at radioornot@gmail.com, and I'll try to keep up with a blog of some sorts at radioornot.com.

Thanks for listening!
Nicole Sandler

The high point in my career spanned from 1994-1997.  The radio station was KSCA... Southern California's Album Alternative (at the beginning) or LA's Finest Rock (at the end).  It was the last station in Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters chain.  It was fun while it lasted!

We had a little hallway situated between the air studio and the production room, and that's where the musicians who came to visit would play live on the air.  Our General Manager, the late and wonderful Bill Ward, dubbed it The Music Hall.  The name always elicited a chuckle from our guests because it was... a hall!

The sound, however, was flawless.  A big part of the reason was the skill and talents of Pat Dorn, who has graced many a record as engineer, and who ran the sound on almost every single Music Hall session at KSCA.  He was so good, in fact, that Lyle Lovett hired him after working with him in the Music Hall, and Sting wanted to take him on tour!

I'm now at a bit of a crossroads.  Due to some bad decisions on my part, and the state of radio today...(as well as planetary alignments and other elements beyond my control), I've been out of radio for the past couple of years.  I attempted to start my own business... but I've found that I'm a much better creative sort than I am a business person. I've been seriously looking for a radio job again, but luck has not been on my side.

This podcast is costing me more money that I can afford to pay right now. I am trying to stay as legit as possible, so I'm paying ASCAP and BMI fees.  As you can tell, this podcast isn't generating any money (I've never asked for any...), but I had hoped it might lead to some work. 

I also ask for approval from artists and/or managers before posting any of the interviews.  This has been getting more and more difficult of late.  Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose....  (If anyone can get to my old friend Ben Folds, I'd love to post his very first LA radio appearance. It was with me in October of 1995.  Unfortunately his new management is holding back on approving it!)

That's one reason that I haven't posted any new shows for a while.  The other is time.... Trying to make a living takes most of mine these days and, of course, I have a little one to tend to!

I was reading through some listener emails, and one suggested that I re-post the very first episode so it'll be available on iTunes.  And judging from the numbers who've listened to my 25th Anniversary tribute to John Lennon, I'd say there are lots of listeners who haven't heard it yet.

So... here it is. A tribute to the work we did at KSCA.  It was December of 1994, and we started playing a song by the then-unknown Dave Matthews Band.  Listen.. you'll hear us talking of a couple of shows at The Whisky, a little bar that holds maybe 200 people... The show that night was sold out, but there were still some tickets available for Saturday night's show!

Discovering new artists and playing them... based on the quality of the music... that's what it was about.  Hopefully I can do that again one of these days, preferably sooner than later!

If you happen to be in the radio business and have a job for me, or perhaps a venture capitalist who wants to go into business with me (and just let me handle the creative end), please feel free to contact me at RadioOrNot at gmail.com.

Thanks for listening....

Nicole

I'm happy to share with you Part 2 of the interview we recorded for the "World Premiere Broadcast of Two Against Nature. Once again, instead of just posting the show as it aired, I've taken the raw interview and edited in the music we talked about, whether it was used on the final broadcast show or not. You also get to hear all the behind the scenes and background chatter, as well as segments that didn't make it into the show.

I hope you enjoy it, share it with your friends, and send in your feedback!

And please visit our sponsors: LegacyGroup.MyPhotomaxUSA.com and Legacy Video Productions .]]> music interviews & performances Mon, 15 Aug 2005 20:16:00 GMT http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=16501# RadioOrNot@gmail.com No http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=15659# podcasts Tue, 9 Aug 2005 17:17:00 GMT http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=15659# RadioOrNot@gmail.com No http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=14120# My Odeo Channel (odeo/48d8940a15a386b1) -->]]> music interviews & performances Fri, 29 Jul 2005 01:24:00 GMT http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=14120# RadioOrNot@gmail.com No http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=11100# music interviews & performances Tue, 5 Jul 2005 17:18:00 GMT http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=11100# RadioOrNot@gmail.com No http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=10571# music interviews & performances Fri, 1 Jul 2005 16:18:00 GMT http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=10571# RadioOrNot@gmail.com No http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=9632# music interviews & performances Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:30:00 GMT http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=9632# RadioOrNot@gmail.com No http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=9626#
Unfortunately, KSCA was the last station owned by Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters, and when they sold the signal, it went Spanish. But some of the sounds that emanated from fm101.9 live on in recordings made off the air.

I have a pretty extensive library of interviews I conducted with many of the artists who visited our little studios on Forest Lawn Drive in "Baja Burbank", and those will comprise the core of material offered on the Radio Or Not Podcast.

The first episode of the Radio Or Not Podcast features another first...Dave Matthews' very first Los Angeles radio appearance, from Dec. 6, 1994. Be sure to listen for the references of Dave talking about opening for Phish, and playing two nights at the Whiskey, with tickets still available for the second night!

I was lucky enough to be at one of those shows, and knew this band was destined to be huge.... but no one knew how huge!]]> music interviews & performances Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:42:00 GMT http://radioornot.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=9626# RadioOrNot@gmail.com No